Saint Paul, Minn Nov 23rd, 1865
To His Excellency Stephen Miller Governor of Minnesota
Sir,
According to your instructions I have Assayed the Quartz collected by me during my recent examinations of the Formations contiguous to Vermilion Lake, Saint Louis County’ and find it contains gold to the amount of Twenty eight Dollars and 35 cents ($28.35) to the Ton of 2000 lbs.
Your Obedient Servant
Henry H. Eames
State Geologist
of Minnesota
In the Minnesota Gold Mining Company promotion pamphlet, an asterisk was added to the letter's text:
*It is proper here to state that from the collection of quartz brought down from the mine, all of the best and average specimens were inadvertently given away; and the foregoing assay was therefore made from the poorest quality, the refuse quartz in which no gold could be seen with the naked eye.