Letters were brought from Salt Lake first at a cost of two dollars and a half each, and later in the season at one dollar each.
All money at infinite risk was sent to the nearest express office at Salt Lake City by private hands." Practically every man in the new gold-fields was aware of the existence of a secret band of well-organized ruffians and robbers.

The general feeling was one of extreme uneasiness.

There were plenty of men who had taken out of the ground considerable quantities of gold, and who would have been glad to get back to the East with their little fortunes, but they dared not start.

Time after time the express coach, the solitary rider, the unguarded wagon-train, were held up and robbed, usually with the concomitant of murder.

When the miners did start out from one camp to another they took all manner of precautions to conceal their gold dust.