Weekly Trinity journal., 1870-05-14
RAKER's CAT.


Speaking of sagacty, it reminds me of Dick
Baker, pocket miner of Deadhorse gulch When
ever he was out of luck and a little downhearted
he would fall to mourning over the loss of n
wonderful cat he used to own (for where women
and children are not, men of kindly impulses
take up with pets, for they must love something).
And he always spoke of the strange sagacity of
that cat with the air of man who believed
in his secret heart that there was something hu-
man about it-may be- even supernatural.
heard him talking about this animal once He
said "Gentlemen, used to have n cat here,
by the name of Tom Quartz, which you d a-took
an interest in, | reckon-most anybody would.
had him here eight year, and he was the re-
markablest cat | ever see. He was large gray
one of the tom specie, and he had more hard,
nat'ral sense than any man in this camp, and a
power of dignity-he wouldn't let the Gov 'ner
of California be familiar with him. lie never
ketched rat in his life-'peared to be above it.
He never cared for nothing but mining. He
knowed more about mining, that cat did, than
any man | ever yet see. You could tell him
nothing about placer diggings, and as for pocket
mining, why he was just born for il. He would
dig out after me and jim when we went over the
hills prospecting, and he would trot along be-
hind us for as much rs five miles, if we went so
far. And he had the best Judgment about min
ing ground-why you never see anything like it.
When we went to work, he scatter a glance
around, and if he didn't think much of the indi-
cations, he would give look rs much as to say:
Well, I'll have to get you to excuse me, and
without another word he'd hyste his nose into
the air and shove for home. But if the ground
suited him. he would lay low and keep dark till
the first pan was washed, and then he would
slide up and take n look, and If there was about
six or seven grains of gold he was satisfed-he
didn' I want no better propectn that-and then
he would lay down on our coats and snore like
steamboat till we'd struck the pocket, and then
get up and superintend
"Well, by and by, up comes this quartz ex-
element. Everybody was into it-everybody
was picking and blasting instead of shovelng
dirt on the hillside - everybody was putting
down shaft instead of scraping the surface.
Nothing would do Jim but we must tackle the
lodges too, and so we did We commenced put
ting down n shaft, and Tom Quartz he begin to
wonder what in the Dickens it was all about.
He hadn't ever seen any mining like that before
and he was all upset, as you may say-ho
couldn't come to right understanding of it no
way-it was too many for him. lie was down
on it, too you bet you-he was down on it pow
erful-'and always appeared to consider it the
cussedest foolishness out. But that cat, you
know, he was always agn new tangled arrange
ments-somehow he never could abide em. You
know how it is with old habits But bye and
by Tom Quartz begin to git sort of reconcilcd
II little, though he never could altogether under
stand that eternal sinking of shaft and never
panning out anything. At last he got to coming
down in the shaft, hsself to try to cipher it
out And when he'd get the blues, and feel
kind O. scrufy, aggravated and dsgusted -
knowing, as he did, that the bills was running
all the time, and we warn't making cent-he
would curl up on gunny-sack in the corner and
go to sleep. WELL one day when the shaft was
down about eight foot, the rock got so hard that
we had to put in n blast-the first blasting we'd
ever done since Tom Quartz was born. And
then lit the Gu az and cumh nd rot off
about fifty yards 49, and forgot and left Tom
Quartz sound asleep ON the gunny sack. In
about minute we seen puff of smoke bust out
of the hold, and then everything let go with an
awful crash and about four million tons of rocks
and dirt and smoke and splinters shot up about
n mile and a-haf into the air, and by George /
right in the midst of it was old Tom Quartz go
ing end over end, and a-snortng and a-sneezng
and a-clawing and a-reaching for things like all
possessed. But it warn't no use, you know, it
whrn't no use. And that was the last we seen
of him for about two minutes and a-half and
then all of II sudden it begin to rain rocks and
rubbage, and directly he come down ker-whoop
about ten foot off from whore we stood. Well,
reckon he was p p'raps the orncrst-looIing beast
you ever see. One ear was set back on his neck
and his tail was stove up, and his eye-wnkers
snged off, and he was all backed up with
powder and smoke, and all sloppy with mud and
sush from one end TO the other. Well sir, twarn't
| no uob W ITJ W upOlOBNb-We COuluH u say IL
word. lie took sort of dsgustcd look at his
self, and then he looked at us, and il was Just
exactly the same as if he had said Gents, may
be you think it's smart to take advantage of n
cat that amt had no experience of quartz min
! ing, but think different and then he turned
on his heel and marched off home without ever
saying another word. That was Jest his style.
And may be you won't believe it, but after that
you never see a cat SO prejudced agin quartz
mining as what he was. And by and by, when
he did get to going down in the shaft agin, you d
been astonished ut his sagacity. The minute
we'd touch on blast and tine fused begin to
sizzle, he'd give n look as mach as to say
Well, IN have to get you to excuse me, and it
was surprising the way he'd shin out of that
hole and go for tree. Sagacity 1t amt no
name for it. Twas inspiration /"
| | said "Well, Mr. Baker, his prejudice
against mining Was remarkable considering how
he came by it. Couldn't you ever cure him of
! itY'
"Cure him! No. When Tom Quartz vas sot
once, he dtieays sot - and you might II
blowed him up as much as three million times
and you d never n broke him of his cussed pref
udice agin quartz mining"
The affection and the pride that lit up Bakers
face when he delivered this tribute to the firm
ness of his humble friend Of other days, will al
ways be vivid memory with me.
MARK TWAIN
| MADAM REY's METHoD.-In the mines of the
| French Aims n very curious proceeding is