The Portland daily press., 1871-04-08
TIL E p r e So f.
tF1om the Overland Month'y.]
BALTY.

solved to be man, to be strong, TO proc,n'tiI
nate The spree he had promised hlinsep al he
lie reached Sonora. Time after tiiha ne h'ck.
fail retreating back to HaWhlns' LII, and
skin purse depleted OF u its Is dust denosited
bearing his receipt in iull ior uu:t
IN varons excheduers al Chinese, IN The shape
81 rrf' hlacl< bottles tied together 10y string.
T., JseS there happened to Baty one of
,hosa events of a moment, which decide and
mn n mans whole future career. Coming,
as nsual. to Chinese from Hawkins on a
hired horse, the animal ran away with him,
carving him past the Camp, against which
he had 30 often dashed, and up the road to-
ward Sonora. Balty kept On and accomplished
the trip.
endeavoring TO accomplish an aim, to solve
problem; and when, at last, we give it up,
Accident takes hold, and in a flash carries us
straight to the point. Balty tried il for SIX
teen years to reach Sonora. The man 1alled.
horse won.
Sonora was benefited Balty always had
dust when he visited Camp. Most OF it went,
sooner or later, into the saloon-keepers till.
True. be purchased some provisions. His ver-
bal order or winters supply once run thus:
81 guess. Jones, you may bring me sack OF
-four, ten pounds of pork, ten pounds of to-
bacco, and bar'l of whiskey."
Phoenix and Pike saloon-keepers never in
their hearts torgave the man who let to Balty
the mustang which carried him beyond the
charmed circle of Chinese. He never renew
ed his allegiance there. 1t was clear loss of
at least thousand dollars yearly to the
Camp.
There seemed mysterious affinity between
this man and gold. He was sure to strike
somewhere in his range of the river and bank
diggin9s rich deposit once in two years.
People at last grew to have faith in Balty's
luck, and trusted him by reason of that faith.
Balty was lucky while honest, sober, but PEN
niless Industry stood by and cursed.
Apart from the selrch for gold, Balty was
dull, uninterestiDg, even stupid. On the trail
after a lead, he frightened up. All sense and
keenness seemed poured through that chan
mel. The rest were dry. Something led him
uneIringly to the place in the Flat where
lay ''dollaT prospect" Industry and sobrie-
ty sank their shafts through foot after foot of
"hard pan" and barren gravel. On the ledge,
Industry and Sobriety found half a cent to
the pan prospect, ''fne -four gold" Fine
thousand colors"-so fine that glass is need
ed to reveal them but in weight they are as
the dust on the buttelfy's wing.
There was Crane Flat. For years, the riv-
er and bank yielded richly, it had been over
looked. But Balty had ever kept an eye on
it. A ragged scrawl on certain live-Oak in
formed the public that
"We. the undersined, clame this ground,
and are going to work the same as sune as
we have chance. "BALTY,
"GoTHAM."
Such notice was neither legal nor def
mite. 1t was not desired that it should be-
Old settlers like Baty and Gotham felt they
had certain feudal right to territory hear
which fhey had so long lived.
Miners law required of them to state how
many feet they claimed. That was what
Balty and Gotham did not wish to do. Their
claim was indefinite. 1t overshadowed the
whole Fiat. A stranger might come along
and Jump" portion; but, in SO doing, he
would incur dangerous unpopularity with
the whole community. Balty and Gotham
constituted the whole community. OF the
hundreds, yes, thousands, whose rockers
crashed and grated the river pebbles in 80
from Red Mountain 10 Indian Bar, Balty and
Gotham now alone remained.
Miners law in 80 gave thirty feet front to
the mar. Miners law in 1865 was whatever
Balty and Gotham chose to make it. In 1850
it concerned thousands; in 1855, hundreds
in 1888, two-Balty and Gotham. VoG pop
ut, etc.
~, of the tag-end of the Flat, out of a
light, alluvial sand, mixed with irregularly
shaped guIch powders, Balty PANIED "two-
bit prospect" Two sober, hard-working men
living near by, whose lives were patterns OF
order and neatness; whose cabin was mar
vel OF mans housekeeping; whose bread was
the lightest on the river, but who tor years
had never been able to strike anything better
than two -dolia' per day claim" (Balty, IN
scorn. called such grub and whiskey dig
gns",) made him liberal offer for four hun
dred ieet OF this ground. Baity never pros
pected another pan from that 'gouge' in the
bank. he was i'll want OF ready cash. He
was ever thus. He owned much and in
definite ground above. He accepted the offer,
That "gouSe" proved the only play spot in
the claim. Balty's golden instincts always
told him not 10 prospect saleable ground too
much. Leave well enough alone. When a
prospect-hole develops two bits to the pan
leave it in statu quo. Leave it with the big
gest berries on the top of the basket, as does
the fruit-dealer.
Baity accumulated stores of whisky in his
cabin. He stayed by it and pursued an il
dustrious life OF inebriatlon. WheI Haw.
kns' Bar-once lively camp of eight hun
dIed souls-was reduced to its last house and
its two last residents; when the traveller, on
some still, hot summers afternoon, passed
through, hearing only the ceaseless roar OF
the river over the rifle, seeing ouly IN imaei
nation the life and excitement of 80, he
might then be hailed from the last house by
one of the last residents in tones of jovial in
ebriation. This would be Balty, arrived at
the afternoon stage in his cups, when be was
desirous of fraternizing with everybody. When
the domestic whiskey was exhausted, when
the Chinese in the vicinity would no longer
hospitibly offer their tea-bowls of "blaudy"
Balty, half-crazed with thirst for stmuIant,
would go home, discipline by degrees his
stomach to its natural food, and restore, day
by day, the steadiness of his nerves. In a
week he was at work. In a few months.
some overlooked spot in the fat or bar, some
rll1e, untouched for years, on which the fine
DRIFT gold" had been steadily accumulating,
"panned out' richly for Balty, and industry
and sobriety stood by again and cursed.
Balty was the principal owner in the Gen
eral Scott, river-bed claim. None save he
and Gotham lived near, who, twelve years be-
fore, had seen that portion of the bed laid
bare. Baty had long waited this chance to
work this ground. Year after year had the
Franklin Pierce claim, just below, put up
their dam, backing water" over the General
Scott rifle. At last the Franklin Pierce was
worked OUT. The General Scott people
could now ego in" They did so. Fifteen
years before, the General Scott Company
numbered dozen persons. One by one they
had dropped off. Hawkins Bar dwindled
from forty houses to twenty, from twenty to
ten, from ten to five, from five to one. Only
Balty and Gotham were left. They now con-
stituted the General Scott company.
At the end of the season, when the river
rose, Balty stood upon its banks five thousand
dollars the richer man. Phoenix and Pike.
hearing OF Balty's luck, again cursed the un-
disciplined brute which had borne him once
and forever beyond the spell of Chinese
Camp. Sonora anticipated. All We're disap-
pointed. Balty said lie was going East
Ever body in secret laughed. As soon should
Table Mountains slip its moorings and 20 to
San Francisco. But Balty was in earnest.
He bought team OF mustangs and rickety
buggy. Gotham opened his eyes. Balty had
certain ideas as to the style in which Opu-
lence should travel. He dashed around the
country for few days. Every groggery re-
ceived new financial impetus. People won
dered how soon the team would run away
and the buggy become wreck. They won
dered and waited in vain. Balty, after corus-
eating about Fuolumne for fortnight, sud-
denly dashed OH at tangent-gold, mustangs.
buggy and all. The establishment was never
seen nor heard of after. Balty was invisible
for two months and two weeks. At the end
Of that period. he dropped d. wn again on
Bar, without cent, and the two
bottles tied together by a string-one full. the
)ther empty. Receipt in full. He had been
East, He had seen his native city.
1t was a miracle that Balty-tor eighteen
rears not able to get farther than twenty
niles from Hawkins should weather all the |
emptations OF San Francisco, and 60 on
board the steamer, with a sound skin, and |
comparatively sound purse, as he did. But |
me marvel of the miracle was, that he saved |
money to buy return ticket. The miracle |