Fort Cummings N. Mex. Dec 26, cds on orange cover bearing 3¢ rose (65), lifted and hinged in place, appears tied by grid cancel to Dodgeville Iowa, manuscript "Paid 25" at upper left, original six page letter datelined "Pinos Altos, N.Mex. Dec. 15" and "Dec. 22 '67" with some interesting content "I very much fear Central City (some 10 miles south of Pinos Altos) will share the same fate that Befel Cave & think that before many months have rolled around Central like Cave City will only be inhabited by cayotes and Jack Apaches", expressing a gloomy view of friends going into the area on mining prospects "I have come to the same conclusion about gold bearing quartz that I came to in regard to Placer Mines in this locality & that is that the longer a man works at it, the poorer he gets. There is but one forlorn hope for this place yet & that is the silver quartz. If that is a success, men here in Pinos Altos will yet hold up their heads. If not, then au revoir to the City of the Pines. There is one smelter just started which promises to be a success. A few month will tell the tale or sound the funeral knell of Pinos Altos-Selah." and he writes of killings over gambling, and his support for hangings of murderers…"The Indians killed two men last Wednesday some 10 miles below Ft. Bayard. Took 4 mules from them… The demon Jack Apache is high muck in this country."; small faults, Fine, ex-Meroni. Estimate  $300 - 400. The manuscript "Paid 25" possibly was a fee for stage coach to carry the letter from Pinos Altos that was on the old Butterfield Stage route to the post office at Fort Cummings. The fort was designed and buildt by Gen. G. McClellan in 1862-63, at the mouth of Cook's Canyon, to keep New Mexico from joining the Confederacy and to control depredations of the Apaches led by Cochise, Geronimo, etc. The post office existed there from 1866 to 1887, and this is an exceptionally early letter from there. $0 (Image)