New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-07-25
A washington Lady in California.

Miss Avonia Jones gives the following sketch Of
some incidents Of her life in California, which she de-
tails with much freshness. We copy from the Rich
mond Enquirer:
Yesterday We saw an entire new phase Of life. 30
ar We had only seen the surface digging, but now
We nave sen the mining far below the earth Before
dressed Us up Our party Consisted Of three ladies
snq sWo gentiemsn, and you never saw such hard
,ooAing cfowo. we wore our Oldest dresses, and no
hoops mems India rubher coats and boots, and our
heads done up niger fashion, In cotton cloth.
Then we went into large shed, where they have q
steam engine, and you zee the commencement Of 4
railroad track, which nddenfy disappears into an
intensely DARK hole. On this track vss low, almost
sat down, the gentlemen holding The ladies The
word was given and away we sped into this dark
hoe down an inclined plane at an angle Of fortydye
degrees, for $50 feet expected 70 be frightened,
but was not in the least in fact liked II, The sen
sation was 40 novel, When we got Of the track. "
found ourselves in an alley way, beamed and boarded
on all sides. These alleys extended in oil directions
and so low you have to stoop all the time IN walking
Mother could not stand the strain on her back and
we left her seated on pile Of dirt, talking to mi
ner. We were oil provided with candles and such
trip az we passed through. First we went along tht
railroad track, In deep mud, and then along alley
ways where the decomposed granite is very soft bu
dry. Sometimes We had to crawl on our hands ant
knees, then again, slide through feet foremost. u
was hard work, but very funny, and never laughed
80 much in my life.
At last we got through into quite an open place
which Mr.. Seymour had fixed for Us that morning; il
was most ridiculous sight to see u.s. thoroughly ex
hausted seated on pile Of dirt with candles 10 oul
hands. Mr.. Seymour dug rs pan OF dirt apiece
which yielded SIG each when they were washed out
We are going to have ornaments made for oul
watches. After we had rested, We started oil again
1t was the same thing over wherever we went Aftel
time we got back 70 mother the truck came down
and We came up. In going up you feel q IL you
were about 10 slide of. After We came up we went
into the wash house to see them clean up They have
large troughs through which the water PUSHES, carry
ing dirt and stones with it. The water Is impreg.
mated with quicksilver which makes the gold sink "a
the bottom, and it catches under ribbed wood laid at
intervals When they clean up, these pieces Of wood
are raised and the water carries away all the dirt and
stones leaving only the gold The entire mining
try is intersected with these fumes, sometimes on
tresses, which look like immense suspension BRIDGES
then running along the ground disappearing in the
sides of the hills =
They have another mine here. where you 20 down
in bucket, but man was killed there last week,
and don't want to CO. rather like this isinerasna
business but for the frightfnly dusty roads NJ
would have nothing to complain Of. However, II w
continue to make money we can bear It.
We rather guess that pan Of dirt was Stocked BY
the fascinating young actress polite cicerone, whs
could afford to indulge such expensive "hocusiDg" fo
the pleasure Of gratifying the adventurous lad,
traveller.