The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1856-09-22

day. This side OF Cash Greek they only
paid 81, and farther out on the plains the
wages were So. | worked from sunrise
til dark, eat as much as three Irishmen and
became remarkably fat and sunburnt-
discovered that had perseverance to stick
il out till threshing was over, and that
contained considerable "hard mule work. "
There was one mighty mean, stingy man
Ae did lev days ihreshing for, who had a
"buaermilk COW" AT last We had but
teTmiIk three times day, and never saw
say bntter--worth 6s cts. in market-so
NC naturally supposed the COW gave the
pure article!
Last "Wednesday arose at daylight,
walked three miles TO breakfast, threshed
90 bushels Of grain, washed myself and
SHIRT, lay around till the latter dried, walk
ed two miles to dinner, and then "a miles
farther INTO the city. Considerable OF
days saved four dollars stage fare
by walking the "a miles. That night |
slept under 8 root for the first time in near
II month! This working in the hot sun
Tor sa.5o day gives me an idea OF the val
We OF money, which never possessed be-
fore, and resolved hereafter TO squeeze
every four-bt piece till it gave forth sever
al quarters before let 60 OF it.
All the land near Knights landing by the
| river and on Cash Creek, 10 clsimed and
| cultivated these ranches are quite extern.
| siye and ysluable, though their title is rem
dered imperfect by old Spanish grants
Farther out on the plains the land is as lev
el as foor, covered with Tulla (not SPELL
ed rght) swsmps, and so highly alkaline as
10 be incapable Of supporting blade OF
grass or grain. The ranches are very e1-
tensive, generally several hundred acres
enclosed by prairie ditch fence, and cult
vated by bachelor, who lives in misera-
bic little cabin, without garden, fruit trees,
or anything to make him comfortable
There are many scattering exceptions 10
TINS, where families are fixed comfortably.
The land is very poor compared with your
rich Iowa soil The timber Is scattering, |
presenting the appearance of an old orch
ard Of scraggy aPPle-uees.
Upon my return sgain 10 the city find
great many miners, who have left their
"diggins7 on account of the failure Of wa
Ter. They wish to procure work here till
the rainy season again sets in, but in most
cases this < impossible. Some have OBJ
tanned work on the ranches for $50 per
month. and some as deck hand, on the riy- !
er steamers ioi $50 per month, harder |
work than on the lower Mississippi and no
Better pay. They represent their claims as
paying well, that Is, four or five dollars
DAY sirsgh; along, as they must necessar-
IL lose some days: this doss not amount to
over 500 per month These claims con-
tain eli the latest Improvements of sluics-
res, heayy work, etc, and require the
hardest Of labor to work them. They
would all alike to 20 back home from this
miserable country. their words if they
could only &C.! ;her claims well; but still
Ties intend to work on one more season as
they think they could save & few hundred
1 yilars, snd not spend it as they have the
most Of last seasons earnings.
Blu. the persons mos, 10 be pitied are the
; iorty-niners." There are great many
Of them here and through the mines, scarce
" one Of them 'wolth red" They GER
tainly present singularly moral lesson TO
persons sho can read the human character.
These persons, many OF them the most in
I ligent and liberal men in the State think
Jaal California has wofully changed and is
Dot worth d-u;" they look upon emf
z ants as inierloper5 and express q kind Of
queer pity" for their ignorance Of mining,
and the same for those who have only been
here t@o or three yesrs. They cannot be
made to believe but that these newcomers
expect TO rake the gold right up with q
katie.
The "loriy-niners' don't like the laUorI-
ous method Of extracting the gold now prac-
tieed, they long for the time OF Rockers"
and Long Toms" that time which has
passed for California. No Involvement
short Of actual starvation will cause them
10 work for wageE. Why! they have been
here since A., and should have adVanta-
ZEE over these uPstsrtsl They know that
hey know too much. They must be pros
,eclng, and even when working their own
;lai ms are Dissatisfied with four or Eve dol
ar. day; they want something Big" they
5 ant to make "a strike" but al the same
inc advise others, rightly, that they are
polish for leaving three dollars day, sure
> sshings.
Many miners would not hire a "forty.
4 ner' even il they would work by the day,
fst these miners agree that they are the
,est men in the country. Poor fellows
aey have been toiling Tor years, still led Oh
by The delufiYe beams Of hope; bat "hope
e,eued msklih the heart sick" but still !
hey toll on,let BY the iuiatustion that Ihey
nav make "chance strike" 1t il n0w
nfatuation and can hardly be clasaed as
,hsh, hope alone. They cannot bring
down to mere pay and hard la
,Jr, when once tney rocked and panned
heir ounces. They will still continue to
oil On and would scorn the idea OF any
ne expressing pity Tor them. This IS the
most singular feature Of California Aie' yer
have never seen an item Pubiished ia re-
-afd to il, Tough true in every particular
Col. Sam. Medsry and Wm. Deshler' Of