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Letter, 28 April 1876
Item
Thomas Belt was born in 1832, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
He was an English geologist, naturalist, and author. At a very young age, he became interested in natural history through the Tyneside Naturalists Field Club. In 1852, he went to Australia where he worked at the gold-diggings and acquired a practical knowledge of ore deposits. In 1860, he proceeded to Nova Scotia to take charge of some gold mines. After a serious injury, he returned to England. He published a book entitled “Mineral Veins: An Enquiry into their Origin, Founded on a Study of the Auriferous Quartz Veins of Australia” (1861). In 1862, he was appointed to take charge of some mines in Nicaragua. He documented his experience in the book “The Naturalist in Nicaragua” (1874).
While working in Colorado, he contracted Mountain fever and died on September 21, 1878, in Denver where he is buried.
Letter from Thomas Belt to John William Dawson, written from Vera Cruz.