Shirley Letters Short Story

The Shirley Letters are a total of twenty three letters written by Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe to her sister named Molly. Louise uses the name “Shirley” as her writing name for these letters. These letters included the life of a woman (Shirley) in the mid eighteen hundreds during the California gold rush. She talks about how wild the miner 's life was during the time she lived in mining camps. The twenty three letters offer great insight on how life was back then during the gold rush of these miners, especially from a woman 's perspective being in a male dominated environment. In the beginning Shirley is talking about her husband who is a Doctor and he is looking for better health and business. He goes to a mining camp because a friend had told them there is only one doctor for a thousand men, also the atmosphere is wonderful for his health. Shirley decides to meet him there. Shirley even falls off a mule while traveling in the very beginning. Shirley talks about being tired and hungry while on the journey to the mining camp. She was even crying that she was not going to make it, but she pulled through. They arrive at a rancho for the night and everyone says how lucky they are that they didn’t get killed by Indians, very dangerous for women. “A few weeks ago a Frenchman and his wife were murdered by them. I had thought of the circumstances when we camped, but was too sick to care what happened. They generally take women captive…” (Clappe 17). They encounter