Almon writes about his winter, cutting wood, wages, hunting, and shooting ducks

Almon writes about work not being very steady this winter, he is out of employ as of this letter and cannot say where he will be in the fall

Almon is at Uncle Shubel's, one of them is unwell with small pox; Almon is getting over a cold; a relative, Damsel, died on January 15; Shubel is well, if he has time he will put in 40 or 50 acres of grain, and he will plant 15 acres of corn

Almon has been in Leavenworth since the last of March with a surveying party

Almon has been occasioned by sickness over the summer and fall brought on by exposure during the war, but is well now and earning good wages; likes the country and will settle it in preference to any he has been in yet

George arrived in Kansas after Almon, does not like the country well enough to settle in it; timber is scarce and so is fencing; Almon's health has not been good over the summer but is better now; Kansas has been sickly and will probably continue to be until it becomes more settled

Almon describes how much timber, corn meal, and potatoes are worth in KS this season; he does not think KS is rough country at all, the prairies are not flat like in WI but rise in 'gentel swelles' and slopes; he admits timber is more scarce than WI, but it is more plentiful than in IL

Almon has made some money catching logs but it is an unsteady business; he expects to spend the fall and winter logging, rafting logs, and boating them across the indian reserve

Almon is on the road, currently opposite Manhattan on the south side of the Kansas River; he intends to spend the summer in the mountains

Almon has been in the mountains a year and two days; he has been making little of his own money lately; he lives in a house made of pine logs; he wants Mother to write more

Almon regrets not writing often and will try to write more

Almon doesn't know what to write that would be interesting to Mother; he is sending a picture to Mother and will send Sister one soon

Almon still wants to go beyond the mountains and take a homestead

Almon regrets not writing more

Almon is in poor health, he was working on a building, the scaffold gave way, and he fell and hurt his back; he reminesces about the old hills of his youth and that he should like to visit them once more, and then turn his steps to the west and come again to the Pacific Slope, but knows his life is too far spent and he is too broken down to accomplish much there

Almon came across one of George's old army comrads in the Home

Almon has a family living in his house and is boarding with them; he muses his destiny seems to be to keep moving to the front of civilization and may move again soon if nothing turns up where he is

Almon's doctor has told him he has cataracts coming on both eyes, but Almon has not noticed anything developing in the months since the doctor told him that

The winters have been hard on Almon the past two years; he is living in a place that can be described as a lot in town or a farm; he is planning to go to the soldier's home next winter; he is thankful to have had a part in trying to make the world better for having lived in it, though short of what he would like it to have been and with a feeling he will be glad when it is all over

George has hired out for two years to learn the tinner's trade

George likes it here better, it is a rolling prairie, and is very healthy; he has put in 65 acres of wheat, 100 of corn

George visited Almon at uncle Shubil's

George is working in a tin shop, he was hired for two years

George is staying at uncle Shubil's; he will work about three months and then go to Kansas with the intention of making it his home if it comes in as a free state