Columbia gazette. [volume] (Columbia, Tuolumne County, Calif.) 1852-1855, 1854-11-11
M Z S G IS 4 q a NJ y.
FROM THE SIERRA CITIZEN )"
THE CALIFORNIA MINER


People in the East have strange mo-
tions about California Miners nor is it
to be wondered at, when they form their
opinion from the outlandish caricatures
of human beings, squalid and filthy look
ing, with full cargoes of frying pans,
picks, shovels, ETC., to be found in the
pictorials got up in this State and sent
home. The good woman who sent her
son to the gold mines looks at the pic
ture, and fairly shudders at the bare
possibility Of her boy being such rag
amufin looking creature, at the same
time looking apprehensively at the nice,
clean bed, prepared for him when he
returns, thinking that sundry additions,
scrapings and combinga will be necessary
before he could be permitted to have free
run of her house.
Our own ideas of California miners
were much the same before we came
among them. and it must be confessed
when we did lin '4e) they were gener-
ally a ''hard looking nation" Rags and
patches were no disgrace then, because
they were fashionable but now people
dress respectfully, though in plain clothes,
adapted to their vocation. Now and
then one meets with Irregular old
brick'' coming from the canons above
the settlements, who would make a re-
spectacle sign for paper mill, provided
paper could be madesfro rags SO badly
damaged.
Two years ago we met with miner
whose daguerreotypc would make the
fortune Of the getters up Of caricaturcs:
Here was the real ''liye critter'" and
more savage, ugly looking human be-
ing could not be found in the noun
tains. He was returning from long
prospecting tour, driving melancholy
looking donkey, covered with blankets,
frying pans, tin cups and kettles, mining
implements, and the whole worldly es-
tate of his master. The man carried
long, heavy rife, huge Colts revolt
yer, and a Bowie-knife about fifteen in
ches long. His beard was long, and his
whole appearance was grotesque in the
extreme. Bis hat was set firmly on
his head, with an AIR of determination,
and as he slowly climbed the bill, every
now and then applying stimulus to the
donkey, with long switch, we thought
we could distinguish an air of manly in
dependence and self.confdence which.
some day or other, would force the hills
and streams to reward him for every
step he had taken and we were not
mistaken he is one of the wealthiest
miners in Sierra County, always in ad-
vance Of the crowd, and "about" when
new diggings are discovered. Rough as
he looked, he was well educated and
we'll informed but mining was his vo-
cation, and he cared little for appear
ances
A jolly, independent fellow is the
miner, when the world goes we'll with
him, and the diggings pay. Seated on
a stool before roaring fire, he listens
to the pattar;1g Of the rain on the roof,
Or watches the snow piling up round his
cabin, with the utmost indifference
knowing that when the storm is over, he
can shovel away the snow, and every day
lay up something for that much talked
of day-the day of going home. Not
so with the nnlueky ope-every thing
he touches seems to wither and fall to
the ground like rotten branch.-He
has toiled long and faithfully, and the
harder he worked the less he had at the
end Of the year. Others, apparently
idle, loa6ng about, doing nothing, seem
ed to get possession of what he was seek.
ing after, While he was working early