Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-02-08

stltks CRY. U. r. Dec. %. 1861

shvhs CRY, q. T. Dec. 20, 1850.
Dear rGazetts:--We, in "Silverado," are
having most delightful weather; in fact We
hate had but an Inch or two of snow this
winter, to nut it altogether, and but one slight
shower of rain. Last night the ground was
frozen to the depth of an inch, which it has
not been before this winter. We sometimes
have veryghiel1 winds, and II is nothing very
uncommon for the air to be filled with sand
and gravel stones. The other evening we had
a pretty severe gale, though but little damage
was done only one house blown down. The
owner of this house had just stepped out of a
saloon, and finding the wind strong, said
addressing the Almighty 80, blow you old
-" (using most blaspbemous language,
"you can't hurt nothing!" The words were
hardly out of his mouth before his house, a
large adobe building, lay pile Of ruins, while
not another house, OF, even tpt, in the town
was damaged in the least Verdict of the
citizens, Served him right" is
The mines here still continue to yield vast
amounts of rich ore. Another company ION
the I" Potasi," extension of the Comstock,
have got in with their tunnel, and struck good
rock; and friend Of mine has just received
Geographic dispatch from Virginia City, in
forming him that his company have "struck
metal-good." Anew process for extracting
silver from the ore has been discovered by a
mechanic Of Sacramento, which surpasses
any method known in the United States; a
mill has been erected in San Francisco, and
five tons of Ophir ore operated on, and it is
stated that the result is such that it will near
ly double the value of silver veins. The pro-
cess is kept secret, though the silver, in the
form, and about the size Of, common building
bricks, is exhibited.
We hear a great deal of the disunion troub-
les in The States but people here, and in
California, don't appear to let trouble them
much. They say if it comes to civil war,
they will take no part, but will form out of
Oregon, California, and part Of Utah, an. in
dependent Republic. a q ,a!.~-< 20
In the way of amsemcnts we are pretty
"hard up" here. once, If I remember
rightly, spoke somewhat favorably of the Cal
ifornia saloons, that in some Of
them one might spend an hour or two very
pleasantly in reading and chatting with ones
friends, and that they were not altogether the
shells y many persons suppose them to be.
lam sorry cannot speak SO favorably Of the
saloons in Washoe; but the fact is, that per-
sons who prefer peace and quiet to noise and
rowdyism, must spend their evenings at home.
We did have theatre here,-the performers
being amateurs, citizens of the town,--but
after performing two evenings the thing 'went
up the flume," 4. c. a"petcred." The first
evening the effect of the performance "were
slightually" injured by an accident which
happened to the tights" Ga pair of wooden
drawers,) Of one Of the actors. On the Sec
ond evening the nerves of the performers
were somewhat unsettled by the obduracy of
the curtain; which stubbornly refused to rise,
divers and sundry frantic
efforts made with that very desirable end in
view. The bell would ring, and the audience
lean forward, watching with brrathless inter
est for the striking scene about to be disclos-
ed to their admiring gaze,-up would go the
curtain about two feet, revealing to the ex-
cited and enthusiastic audience, row of legs,
here and there foot planted defiantly for
ward, and the hens of pair of pctticoats, -
a frantic tug, jerk, and down goes the cur
tain. Then comes shutting Of feet; the
actors fall into attitude, the bell rings, and up
goes the curtain about two feet, and sticks
another grand and striking display of legs,
ditto petticoathems down goes the curtain,
and the hats and cheers Of the delighted and
highly edited spectators 90 up. 1t is but fair
to add, that when the curtain did " go loose"
the majority of the performers acquitted them
selves exceedingly well, --all things considered.
Since wrote last, there has been bit three
men killed in fights. I had supposed, till
after arriving in this fighting country, that
the revolver was weapon sufficiently deadly
for any purpose; but here they are consid-
cred old-fashioned, slow,-and no man who
makes the least pretension to being BLOOD"
will be seen with such a stool" The Der
ringer is the approved "utcnsil," and the
gamblers, saloon keepers, fancy men, in fact,
all who are son the Shoot" go about with
their derringers at half-cock in their pockets.
The advantage in this weapon is, that you
can shoot your enemy before he can make
move towards drawing revoIver,-if he
should be armed with that weapon. In fact,
if necessary, you may shoot through your
pocket, Gas is sometimes done, without bring
ing your pistol out in sight Mt all. No fast
young nan but has his derringers, costing
from $50 to $50 per pair. .-se li1
Having nothing particularly interesting in
the way of news to write. / viii give you a
short sketch Of an "Arkansaw's Nest" which