WING, Dr Henry (John Wesley Powell)Biblio.com
Autograph Letter Signed "Henry Wing" to his son written while on John Wesley Powell's Second Western Expedition
rif. 391704Unbound. Very Good. Four page letter dated July 7 1868 from "On the Cars between Clinton Iowa & Omaha Neb." with original envelope postmark "Aug. 26 Nevada C.T." Old folds some smudging but nice and very good. Easily readable although occasionally a little shaky: "I can not write so you can read it while the cars are going but Mother can." To his 10-year-old son Horace written by Dr. Wing during John Wesley Powell's second expedition to explore Colorado and the West. Wing is mentioned in Wallace Stegner's Beyond the Hundredth Meridian. The letter to his son describes the plains of Nebraska with fairly detailed descriptions of fields plants birds and towns. He mentions that Powell has left ahead of him and referring to the telegraph: "When I got to Chicago Prof. Powell was gone hundreds of miles. What could I do Why I could send lightning a telegram to tell him to wait for me and I did. I sent to Denver you must look for it on the map and the lightning said he was not there. Then I sent to Cheyenne called Shyan and he was there & he told the lightning to tell me how to get passes on the R.R. and to come on." He then suggests that his young son make his own telegraph and give some instructions on how to begin. Accompanied by a nice gravure portrait of Horace Wing Jr. taken by the photographer Pratz of Los Angeles and also with some later newspapers with biographical information on Wing who became a prominent owner of orange groves around Los Angeles. A nice letter connected to an important exploration. unknown
