Grass Valley telegraph., 1854-04-06
Life i'm the Mountains.

customs, habits and successes of the miners
and to the innumerable hosts that have al
ready been given, we will now give publ
city to our own, and we think that from an
experience of several years. we can give
correct representation of the true condition
of the miners among us at the present time.
1t is not with us now, either in point of for
tune or misfortune, as it was two or three
years ago. The extreme hardships of '49 and
80 have passed away-the days of flap
jacks" and ''pickle pork" are only remem-
bered as tale that is passed their reality
has become romance of our history, and in
their stead, the luxuries of more than COM
mon life in the States are now to be found on
the tables of all our industrious miners. In
'49 and 80, those luxuries were not to bel had.
In many instances, bedding and clothingwere
not to be found money could not 6aty them
and the man of tceGlth was poor. inasmuch
as he could not procure food for his stomach,
or a resting place for his head. AT that time.
men were obliged to work, now they can live
without it-and the consequence is, that ma
nv do live without it, and here we might sug-
gest two very good reasons why there are SO
many now among us complaining OF hGrd
times, and first, there does not at present ex-
list the same necessity for active labor that
formerly existed, the reasons OF which may oe
found in the increase of population, and the
conseouent increase of commerce and the I'M
81 lft1r0
fare has been reduced to a comparative low
rate, and as to clothing, it can be had at as
low rates in California, as at any of our At
lantic cities, and consequently, man that is
naturally predisposed to laziness may indulge
in his favorite propensity at a comparatively
small sum. We might here add that the vo-
luptuous tendencies Of our climate is in no
respect unfavorable to such indulgencies. A
second reason which we give as solution to
the hue and cry against hard times, is to be
found in the fact of the increasing confidence
which our Atlantic loafers entertain towards
the new world, resulting in their emigration,
hopeing thereby to accumulate fortunes with
out an effort, but after their arrival, not fin
ding things as they had expected, being too
indolent to labor, they aspire to politics or
live from off the hard earned savings of re-
IationS and friends How often is this the
case among US? We feel sure that this truth
will be recognized and acknowledged by hum
dreds of our honest laborers who are in the
habit of furnishing means to friends who are
too lazy to work themselves, and are cO1se-
quently dependant on others for support. All!
and frequently for gambling money and for
money spent in prostitution.
1t is thus we have hundreds among us who
are constantly complaining of hard times,
failure of the mines, etc. etc. Again. among
those who are truly industrious, we find ma
ny who are willing to hazard the proceeds of
their daily labor in gaming tables in the vain
hope that by so doing, they may double their
weekly income, but alas! there are too many
professed gamblers among us whose only bu-
siness is to swindle and cheat, and who are
thereby supported. for a comparative honest
man to reasonably hope for moment that in
this he will ever prove successful, yet, the
hope is cherished, the die is cast and the man
is ruined-the report to the world is, the
mines are failing!
Others again who are both industrious and
strictly honest, after q few unsuccessful at
tempts at mining. become discouraged they
long for the homes of their childhood they
suffer themselves to dwindle away into stupid
inactivity, when if friends do not lend help
ing hand-they sicken and die, and that too
in land of gOld-a land flowing with more
than the natural luxuries and riches of India.
Here-is an undisputed fact. and for the truth
OF it we challenge the world. Our mines are
rich, there are numbers of them that would
''pay" if worked it is knO,oq that they will
pay by economising, and that too, larger in
come than they could possibly realize in the
States-but they are in California, and they
will not submit. They would prefer doing
nothing, gamble or any thing, to such life
OF "nremuper0tiUe labor; they would rather
cry the mines are ''failing" and then if DOS
sible, feed on the a0orld, as they say the aoorld
OtCeS them living. There are any amount
of mining claims that will pay there are
many that will pay handsomely, and we un-
hesitatingly make the statement that no man
who has good health can with reason saw.
there is no chance for money making in Cali
fOrnia! What we recommend is labor, in
dustry and economy with these, three vir-
tues added to honesty, California could be
made to 'blossom as the rose" No land
could be found SO highly favored; no coun-
try could be found so endearing in all that is
calculated to constitute home. Society
would become permanent and refined, while
every mountain would yield her yellow trea-
sure, and every Valley would bloom with
noVers and yield her fruit and herbage to