Collection includes a manuscript letter from Thomas Smith to George H. Himes, 1908, naming the first settlers in the Umpqua River Valley; and a manuscript letter to Harry L. Wells, a historian, 1884, providing a detailed description, including dates and places, of his journey to Oregon in 1847 from Fort Hall to Eugene Skinner's cabin by way of the Southern Route to Oregon (now known as the Applegate Trail).