Lot
733 
Camp Simeahmoo, W.T., "Nov 6" 1858, well-struck cds with ms. "Nov 6" date on yellow cover bearing 10¢ green, type II (32), small faults, tied by fancy five-point star cancel to Mrs. J.W. Denver in Washington, D.C.; light stain spot in cds, reduced slightly at top and two tiny edge tears, otherwise Very Fine and rare. Estimate $2,000 - 3,000.
THE EARLIEST DATED CAMP SIMEAHMOO USE OF ONLY FOUR RECORDED.
This cover was sent by August V. Kautz to his cousin, who was the wife of General James W. Denver. Kautz had emigrated from Germany to Ohio and was graduated from West Point in the class of 1848. At the time of this letter he was a Lieutenant. During the Civil War he rose to Brigadier General and then to Major General in 1864-65. He was a member of the military commission that tried the conspirators for the assassination of President Lincoln.
Camp Semiahmoo was founded by the Boundary Commission in 1858 as a base of operation for the northwest boundary commission survey on Canadian soil, among the remnants of the earlier British camp, on a little strip of open land near the mouth of the little Campbell River close to one of the Semiahmoo winter camps. The site was just north of the forty-ninth parallel; contained a fresh water supply, and the Campbell River channel provided water access over the tidal flats. While at this site the troops constructed about a mile and three-quarters of good road along the shore of Semiahmoo Bay between the boundary and Camp Semiahmoo. This base was later used while the boundary was slashed and marked from Semiahmoo Bay to the Sumas Flats.
Realized: $3,000