[Railroad, Local Business, Farming] Author Signed letter consisting of two folded sheets making 8 pages in total from Carrollton, Illinois dated January 2, 1870

[Charlie], 1870. Very Good.

The letter has an embossed bust of a young woman in the upper corner and is lined paper. Measures 8 by 5 inches. Originally was folded in thirds, the outer page (with signature) is a bit age-toned. The writing is in a legible uniform period cursive.. The letter is authored by "Charlie" and there is no indication of gender but the embossing and style of handwriting lend to my belief that the author was a young woman and if so to have a bookkeeping job away from her home may have been out of the standard.

Most of the letter is an apology for not writing due to the author's [Charlie] strenuous workload [something to do with the railroad and bookkeeping].

The last fourth of the letter describes economic conditions: "the farmers are all pleading poverty". "Wheat was poor but hogs good".

The authors employment/business hopes are in the arrival of a railroad and exactly where the line runs.

 Of a trivial interest is that the date is written over a '7' over a '6' as the letter was written on January 2 and the previous year was begun to be written.