Robert Atkins Tovey, Sr., wrote to his wife, Eliza (Matthew) Tovey, at their home in Albany, New York. Tovey reported that, since the freezing of the Missouri River, mail was slow, and he had lost his job making stove fixings because of the inability to obtain materials from steamboat transport. Tovey also described his friend Swifts' problems maintaining ownership of his land claim, and the prospect that he himself may participate in a new town's development.