Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-08-25
LETTER FROM EXCELSIOR.
SUMMIT CRY, NEVADA Co., CAL, !
August 23d, 1865. )

august LOAp 4oOOs
FRIEND LYNCH Before leaving the
Silyerland I promised to write you from
here and give you my impressions as to
the prospects of this district. 1 will now
redeem that promise to the best Of my
ability. Summit City is located on the
most eligible site for q town that any man
could pick out. 1t is on a level plain on
the western shore of a very picturesque
little lake (Meadow Lake,, and consists Of
over one hundred wooden houses, besides
q large number of log-huts. The houses
are, of course, nothing to brag Of in the
way of beauty. They have all been put
up very hastily, some in the short space
of twenty-four hours, and are merely
adapted, in their present condition, for
temporary use, but most OF them can very
readily be made servceable for winter
habitations. Businesses OF all kinds are
already established, and I presume the
population would number about twelve
hundred persons. Altogether the town
forcibly reminds one Of the mining camps
in California in the early time, especially
is it so at night, when the streets are lit
up at short intervals BY log fires and are
throngcd with human beings. The noise
and confusion, the music Of the "hurdy
houses" the incessant cry for an obscure
individual by the name Of "Joe," (some
man found him the other night BY bring
ing his dexter eye SOMEWHAT sharply IN
contact with Joe's fist. the groups OF men
gathered round the log fires, the ringing
Of bells, etc., bring forcibly to my mind
Dante's picture of hell. But oil this gen.
orally quiets down by about midnight,
and until the next dawn a man has q
chance for a few hours sleep, from which,
however, he is then ruthlessly awakened
by the inccssant clamor OF breakfast bells,
the sounds of these internal machines
seemingly coming from every direction,
above him, below him, and every side OF
him. Two houses out Of every three are
boarding houses, and three-fourths Of the
remainder are whisky shops, all Of which
arc doing O pretty good business. During
the day the town looks rather dull, owing
to the fact that moro than one half the
population are out prospecting. A great
number Of people still continue to come
in daily, although by no means in as large
numbers as they did two or three weeks
ago. Some are leaving, with the intention
Of returning in the spring, they having q
big disgust for the small amount Of snow
that falls here during the winter-which
is seldom deeper than twenty-five feet.
As for the lodges, l can only give you a
hear-say account. I understand the richest
are the Enterprise, Excelsior and Wiscon-
sin claims. l have been told by reliable
authority that tho Wisconsin have struck
O very rich pocket, and that they cleaned
up $1,000 on a few days work. Ger
tainly, the rock that is brought in as
specimens from all these lodges is exceed
ingly rich, and from what I can hear, even
if they do not strike rich rock below, the
top rock and surface diggings will pay
here for some time. Several new lodges
have been struck within the past week,
one Of which runs through the upper part
Of town, from which very promising
specimen ore has been taken. Inside OF a
couple Of weeks there will be at least two
mills here. One Of them is to be worked
by water power, a dam having been con-
structed at the upper end Of the lake. II
the mines will stand the test Of these mills,
there can be more room for doubt as to
the permanency Of this district. On great
thing that is much needed for the develop.
ment of this district is q road that will
connect somewhere with the Henness
pass or Dutch Flat road. The mode Of
access Just now, that from Wcbber's, is
unworthy q name Of road, and besides
being far out Of the way, strongly re-
minds one of the stony path travelled by
"Christian," in Bunyan's Pilgrims Pro-
gross. A road to Dutch Flat-only about
twenty miles distant-is, l think, very
practicable, and certainly in every way
desirable.
The weather just now is rather hot du-
ring the day, but pleasantly cool at night.
Two days ago, however, we had quite q
cold spell-so chilly was it that an over
coat in midday was q very acceptable
piece of personal property. Last Sunday
we had quite IN exhibition here. An
honest miner, who assumed the modest
cognomen Of Mons. Delay, entertained
the inhabitants by walking a wire rope,
and to do him justice, he did it well. The
rope was stretched about thirty yards, on
an incline, the one end being about four
feet from the ground and the other about
thirty. The performer walked up the
rope and back again, besides sitting down,
holding up one leg, etc., to the entire sat-
isfaction Of the audience, who, however,
did not evince their qualification in any
much O solid manner than applause
twenty dollars being the extent Of the
collections made. I think Mons. Delay
was slightly disguised.
As to the other stations. Baltimore, or
Whitman's, I can not write you anything
about, for the simple reason that I havn't
been there. When l do go, you shall hear
nooin from PIP.