Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 315 - Numismatic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 539

Fur Trade: [Campbell, Robert] Three very early letters to Campbell in St. Louis, all 1825, from business colleagues. The first, from Cape Girardeau, MO, is from James Keyte on April 30, sending goods up the Mississippi on the Phoenix. Keyte writes again on May 9, this time from Wheeling, (now WV), during a trip East. Because of low water, he will skip Pittsburgh, and will take the mail stage to Baltimore. Keyte´s instructions to Campbell about their stores suggests that he is in the position of authority. Eventually Campbell would become one of the richest men in St. Louis.The third, from Philadelphia, is from Robert Wiley on May 25, while he is apparently being visited by Keyte, who carried the letter back to St. Louis. He reports that business is slow, and "nearly every species of merchandise has advanced in Value in consequence of which country dealers have curtailed their orders.. A few years like the present would convert the whole of you southern & western folks into nabobs...Your time is coming." All letters suffer from condition problems.In 1832, Keyte would found the town that still bears his name, Keytesville, Missouri. The year 1825 would later see Campbell´s first expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in the company of Jedediah Smith of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.

Sold for
$130