1. This letter is about a husband writing back to his wife about the new land that he has bought out west in Nebraska describing his surrondings, the features of the land, and how beautiful it was. He also went into great detail of the financial apsect of all of the land. He also made sure to insure that if the wife and baby moved out there then they would be off fine with the money that they have. In the second letter the husband is writing back to the wife and baby delivering the bad news that he is down to 20 dollars and he will not be able to find work for the rest of the winter.
2. The main thing that stood out to me is that 160 acres cost only 600$. Back then, 600$ translates to around 11,000$ today. Today, however, 1 acre of land would cost around 4,000$.
3. Letter writing was very importat to the people travling west back then. It was there only way of communicating with family back home, its not like they had phones. Also every time that the family back home recieved a letter it would let them know that their family member out west was not dead.
William Porters Letter Home: http://www.oregonpioneers.com/porter2.htm
