[CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH]. Autograph letter signed, between two insurance agents, Tecumseh, Michigan, 29 January 1849. One-page on bifolium, small 4to (254 x 203 mm), old wax seal residue, mailing stamps, old folds, some sunning at outer margin. Addressed to Dr. Guy Rowland Phelps (1802-1869), founder of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, regarding the insurance policy of “15 to 20 young men from 20 to 35 years old of age who are intending to leave here in the spring for California. They are wishing to get their lives insured… They intend going by land, by way of Fort Leavenworth and on through by Capt. Fremont’s route”. The Gold Rush began on 24 January 1848 when gold was first found by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. The news brought approximately 300,000 people, mostly young men, to California looking to strike it rich.