Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1871-07-12
ALADY LosT N THk WOODS.
seysniy.tws Hsan without Feed
{. lsR AhvonenreS.

& From the 8. r. Alta Of July l1th.l
A young lady, Miss Matilda Steen,
left San Francisco six OF seven weeks
ago, where she had been following the
business Of q dressmaker. to join her
brothers. who are engaged In making
tan bark In the nelg6borhood Of the
Garcia river, Point Arena, Mendocino
county. She had been living with them
some weeks, when one morning about
'llk.H the seth nlt.) she discovered
that she had forgotten to put knives In
their lunch basket, so she determined
to take, them to the spot where her
brothers were working. She did so,
with great diG1cnlty-the forest being
like those Of many parts of Oregon and
British Columbia, a dense mass Of I'M
~dergrowth, Immense fallen log., etc.,
and very mountainous country. She
then started TO return, m of her
brothers Offering to accompany her.
This she declined, saying that As she
had found her way In, she surely could
get out again. II was at this time she
got lost. Hear her story:
"When I first found I was lost, I was
badly frightened. I ran through the
brush as fast as I could, bowling at
every step, but after a while I cooled
down and confined my locomotion to
q fast walk. About an hour, I should
think, after I left my brother, I hoard
the sound Of an ax. and I hallooed to
the chopper and plainly heard him
answer. If I had kept on hallooing and
remained where I was, the chopper
would have come TO me, as I have
learned since l got In, but I thought
that l could surely follow up the sound
of the AK, and l tried 1t. Alas! l was
following the echo. I was going down
a deep canyon, and tho sound died
away and I was LEFT alone. Great God!
alone In such a place! For a while my
very sight grew dim-all things reeled
around me. What would become OF
me If I should never find my way outP
All! a bright thought flashed through
my mind-a thought which gave me
10y In an lnstant-there Is n God who
Is able to save! From this time on
ward I was, perfectly resigned to my
fate, feeling that II 1t was Gods good
pleasure to save me, He would do 80
In good time. All day ! traveled-now
pulling myself up steep. brushy noun
tains; now rolling, sliding, tumbling
down Into the deepest canyons / ever
beheld. Sometimes the mountains were
so steep that 1t was utterly impossible
for me to walk down them, and I was
forced to wrap my dress around my
feet and actually slide down on my
back. 20 F~@ d
The first night found me on the side
of a mountain, about halt way to the
top. I looked around me to find q
level place where / could rest through
the night, but no SUCH place could I
find, 50 | Just placed my feet against a
tree to keep from sliding down the
mountain, and In this attitude I re-
manned during the night. Occasionally
I.would wake, and whenever I awoko
Iwould halloo at the top Of my voice,
thinking that perhaps some n might
hear ME. Vain hope! l had no fear
Of any wild beast. amE
As soon as morning dawned | re-
sumed my toilsome journey up. up, up,
down, down, down. The bright sun
seemed. to greet me with a smile, and
beckoned me to him rs he doomed
grandly above the distant mountains;
and I wondered whether his bright face
looked upon another human being In.
all this wide, wide world so utterly
lost, lost rs poor me.
The second day I came to two or
three mountains covered with chapar-
raj and white thorn, and l was obliged
to crawl through 1t like n snake. When
I would get through, all torn and
bleeding, 1 would involuntarily ex-
claim, as l looked behind me, How In
the name of God did I ever get through
that?
As 1 was going down a mountain l
heard a step behind me, and looking
around, discovered that 1t was . deer
following me ; and when | picked up
q stick and threw at II, It ran OFT and
I saw 1t no more.
tried often, the first day, to retrace
my steps, but every time l failed, find
ing by a shred of my dress, a broken
twig or something or other, that | WAS
only going round and round. l have
been asked why / didn't follow the
streams, az, II Icould, they would have
led me out. But l could not /; there
were 90 many large logs and rocks In
them that It was Impossible. I had a
gold watch and bunch Of keys with
inc, and, as an evidence that I didn't
20 crazy, as many supposed l would, I
didn't lose either. I deeply regretted
that I didn't have the key of the watch
with Inc. -
On Thursday, about noon, I suddenly
came out to q trail, and, like Robinson
Crusoe, I saw a human track! That
track gladdened my heart rs never a
track did before. l followed the track
and saw a fence, and next n house !!
Thank God! am saved! When I got
close to the house I stopped and hal
looed, and some gentlemen came out
and invited me In. Invent In and told
them that l was the lost woman. They
said that they had heard Of my being
lost the night before, and were on the
lookout for me. They prepared, some
food for me, and were very much
afraid I would eat too much. / ate.
very little. Somehow I was not hun
cry. When I had finished my meal /
told them that l wanted to 90 home,
but they would not hear Of It. They.
said l was too much atlgued to attempt
It that night, and II Of them got on
a horse and went to the Garcia mill 10
bear the news. One Of my brothers
came out that evening rs soon as he
heard the news, and l rode home on
Friday morning"
When the news reached Garcia mill
that Miss Steen was found, and alive
and we'll, the widest excitement en-.
sued. About 400 men had collected
there for the purpose ola more organ
lied hunt. Hitherto they had been
hunting at random, without any or
p~anlzation, and now they had all COLI
iected In from all quarters to organize
and search the woods systematically In
all directions. Gas, aT 81 gyITa
! Miss Steen Is n native OF New Bruins
wick, twenty-five years OF age, and
came to California about three years