An 1869 Letter From Bozeman, Montana Discussing Financial Trouble In Westward Settlement

(MONTANA). ALS. 2 pg. 8 x 10. October 22, 1869. Bozeman. An autograph letter signed W.S. Darby in Bozeman to Major Kinney, Virginia City: We arrived all O.K. evenig {sic} before last and our mutual friend the Marshall {sic}at once took possession of the goods, wares & merchdise {sic} ofDoughty & Wilcot. The latter have evidently been going in for a big thing and are much crestfallen at the customary proceedings. The stuck left is in very good condition but being all displayed in a very handsome store looks worse than it really is. I have been placed in possession of it and am now making an inventory under the order of the Court: If I can purchase very low, I could make some money out of it. The writer is also clearly in some debt to the sendee, as he discusses returning $200 at the bottom of the page and visiting him: I shall make time to go to Virginia for a few daysI fully spect I can get around to it in a week. However, at this time he can only offer a check for $40 (he crossed out $35). While little is known about either gentleman, the fact that the letter is going from Bozeman, Montana to Virginia City, Nevada reveals the intertwined finances and societies of new post-war Western settlements as friends and business partners struggle to develop financial stability in their new situations. Condition is fair, with fading and minor tears on the bottom of the page and professional repairs to the verso. (Inventory #: 5863)