The weekly Placer herald., 1854-02-11

although Knocking at Deaths door he
again escaped by the goodness Of God,
two doses of calomel and the kind nursing
Of faithful friends, while he lay in his
wagon week by the roadside, the rain
pouring down in the mountains as if the
sluices Of heaven had bust instead of
being opened. 1t was in this weakened
condition, crippled with disease, that the
poor devil aforesaid, slowly cruwled q 'ong
to the first foot hill on Feather River,
where Ophir now rejoices in "loca
habtaton and name," and there he be-
came mud hound for three weeks, within
ten miles of his camp. Any one who has
visited the mountains during the winter
knows the utter impossibility of moving
on new and unbroken ground, horses and
cattle sink down and not unfrequently
perish miserahly in the mire. The road
then was new and the mud so deep that it
was an utter impossibillty to get through
with wagon. Well, the honlbre afore-
said being compelled to stop, and in the
polite idiom Of the Upper Ten to "fi,h or
cut bait," he conceived the grand idea of
turning his provisions to account by open
ing a splendid hotel. Near Il fine cluster
Of Msnsinetas, he drove down four crotch
ed stakes, on these were as many trans
| verse poles, and the frame Of mansion
WAS thus erected about eight feet square,
The top of this splendid edifce was cov-
cred with few boards which he had
bought in Sacramento, at eighty cents
foot, and which he was hauling to the
mines to make cradles-(recollect reader
it was not the days Of babies then in CAL
ifornia You know what mean by era
dies for the sides Of this Gothic build
ing,) don't think the Goths or Vandas
used a more primitive one,) with much
labor, he cut and lugged willows from
the river bank, and these he stuck up end
wise around three sides of the frame; the
front being open TO let in the air, and
smoke of the burning log; and for seats
mean sofas-and shelves, stakes were
driven in the ground and small poles laid
across them; and thus an edifice was
erected, after three hours labor, which
King Alfred might have envied, especially
when he lived in the marshes without any
shelter, and which Old Block, for he it
was, justly felt proud Of.
And now, nothing was wanting but Il
name to christian it, and customers to
give it celebrity. So in the benevoence
Of his disposition he called it the "Uni-
versal World HoteI;' meaning by that it
was opened to all Coos creatures uho had
any money to pay avith, and those who
had none should not go away hungry.
And now comes the strange Ito us now)
part of the story. Although miners in
lS49 had gone only about fifteen miles
into the hills, so scarce were supplies that
many feared starving to death if they re-
NAMED during the winter, as provisions
could scarcelyhe got to them at any price,
and hundreds returned to the valley
where the bread of life COULD he obtain
ed. Every day wandering Esaus passed
the "Hotel;" and as it was the only place
where crumb could he obtained for
twenty five miles, the poor fel ows often
stopped and looked over the bill of fare
and waited on the cook. And now, TO
drop the third person puraD for my stock
in trade: A barrel of hard bread, five
hundred pounds Of -four, half barrel Of
pork, keg of molasses, one keg of whs-
key, and one Of brandy, both necessaries
of life in those anti-temperance days,
I little pepper, pipes and tobacco, and few
nick nacks, comprised my whole stock.
When a customer called with stomach
that could digest pine knot, the usual
salutation was s.What in Gods name
can you give me to eat; Pm starved al
most to death?" "Pork and hard bread,
with cup of coffee, and slap-jacks and
'uolasses for DESERT" was the stereotyped
repy. "Slap jacks and moIasses! 60 it
by -! I've had nothing but hard bread
for month"
Instantly my coat was off, my shirt
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