The Richard D. Cotter Papers consist of Richard D. Cotter diary discussing the journey Cotter took through Idaho and Washington territories after leaving New York Gulch. The collection also includes a book recording the membership and financial transactions of the New York Dancing Club, as well as legal documents recording the sale of a mining claim.
An unknown miner wrote the three small diaries for the years 1865, 1866, and 1867 as he traveled from Idaho City in southern Idaho through the Beaverhead, Big Hole, and Deer Lodge valleys in Montana Territory.