The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-05-20
Misttllanrous.
THE FACTS IN THE
GREAT LAND SLIDE CASE.
BY MARK TWAIN.

From the Buffalo Express.l
1t was in the early days of Nevada
Territory. The mountains are very high
and steep about Carson, Eagle and
Washoe valleys-very high and very
steep, and SO when the snow gets to
melting off fast in the Spring and the
warn surface-earth begins to moisten
and soften, the disastrous landslides
commence. You do not know what a
la ndslide is unless you have lived in
hat country and seen the whole side of
mountain taken off some fine morn
ing and deposited down in the valley,
leaving vast, treeless, unsightly scar
upon the mountains front to keep the
circumstance fresh in your memory all
the years that you may go on living
within seventy miles of that place.
General Buncombe was shipped out
to Nevada in the invoice of Territorial
officers, 10 be United States Attorney.
He considered himself lawyer of
parts, and he very much wanted an
opportunity to manifest it-partly for
the pure qualification of it and partly
because his salary was Territorially
meagre (Which is strong expression.)
Now the Older citizens of new Terri
tory look upon the rest of the world
wi tn calm, unmalignant contempt as
] ong as it keeps out Of the way-when
it gets in the way they snub it. Some
times this latter takes the shape of
practical joke.
One morning Dick Sides rode furious
ly up to General Buncombe's door, in
Carson City, and rushed into his pres
ence without stopping to tie his horse.
He seemed much excited. He told the
General that he wanted him to defend
suit for him and would pay him five
hundred dollars if he achieved a victory.
And then, with violent gestures and a
world of profanity, he poured out his
griefs. He said it was pretty well
known that for some years he had been
farming Tor ranching as the more Gus
to mary term is in Washoe District,
and making a successful thing of it, and
Furthermore it was known that his
ranch was situated just in the edge of
the valley, and that Tom Morgan own
ed ranch Immediately above it on the
m ountain side. And now the trouble
] was that one of those hated and dread
ed landslides had come and slid Nor
gan's ranch, fences, cabins, cattle, barns
and everything down on top of his
ranch, and exactly covered up every
single vestige of his property, to
depth of about six feet. Morgan was
in poss ession and refused to vacate the
premises-said he was occupying his
own cabin and not interfering with any
| body else's-and said his cabin was
satnding ON the same dirt and same
ranch it had always stood on, and he
would like to see anybody make him
vacate.
"And when l reminded him." said
Sides, weeping, "that it was on top Of
my ranch and that he was trespassipg,
he had the internal meanness to ask
me why didn't l stay on my ranch and
| hold possession when see him comingl
Why didn't l stay on it, the blather-
ing lunatic--and by George, when l
heard that racket and looked up that
hill it was just like the world was rip
ping and tearing down that mountain
side--trees going end over end in the
air, rocks as big as house jumping
about thousand feet high and burst
ing into ten million pieces, cattle liter
ally turned inside out aud a coming
head on with their tails hanging out
between their teeth-Oh, splinters, and
cordwood, and thunder and lightning,
and hail and snow, odds and ends of
hay stacks and things, and dust-Oh,
dust amt no name for TIT was just
clouds, solid clouds of dust -and in
the midst Of all that wreck and destruc-
tion sot that cussed Morgan ON his gate
post, awondering why didn't stay and
hold possession likely! l took just
one glimpse of that specticle, General,