The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-04-24
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

the way Of Colfax, for Nevada City,
where we had an appointment for the
evening. Our road lay through the
lonely valley of the Sacramento, whose
exquisite verdure of spring-time green
was gorgeousiy variegated with every
imaginable shade of floral beauty.
Cattle stood 10 their knees in the muddy
waters of lazy, sluggish sloughs, chew
ing the cud OF sweet contentment, while
jaded horses tugged away at the rolling
sod, their drivers perched upon the
spring seats of sulky plows, seemingly
in need OF nothing but umbrellas, fans
and bottles of cologne to render the
curse of eating bread in the sweat Of
their faces as imperative as the most
devout of them fear that woman's curse
of being ruled over by husbands will be
in the new dispensation which is just
upon her.
Arriving at Colfax, a little railway
station, perched among the foothills of
the bold Sierras, we learned to our disap
pointment that the staging to Nevada
city would occupy us till far into the
night, and prevent the possibility of our
meeting our engagement for the even
/ ing. To make the best of circumstances
was the only alternative, and we lugged
our basket to the nearest hotel and took
lodging for the night, specializing upon
/ the uncertainties of mundane calcula-
tions in general and ours in particular
Nine o'clock ON Tuesday found US
aboard the stage, with the usual crowd
Of passengers and baggage. We never
saw a stage that wasn't capable of hold
ing one or two additional passengers after
it was already full When about twenty
feet from the hotel door, the horses
plunged into q mud-hole, going down
until, but for many similar observG-
tions, We should have expected to lose
sight of their ears. But the horses came
up and down went the coach, throwing
the travellers into heap upon the for
ward wheels aud righting them again
with the next lurch, only the matter
was so badly overdone that the cerebel-
lum of the undersigned received the
next confusion, thereby through SYM
pathy, restoring a painful equilibrium
between the organs Of intellect and an.
tagonism. Miles of tedious repetition
of the first moments experience sufficeC
to reconcile US TO our fate; besides, when
you get your spinal column snugly tele-
scoped, you become in measure stage
hardened, aud you learn to endure
everything but the patient suffering o.
many pairs of rat-tailed, ewe-necked
ring-boned, knock-kneed horses, fol
whom we humbly hope there is fu-
ture life, where cruelty will be un-
known forevermOre. The lady passen-
gers walked up some of the worst pulls
and down some of the deepest gorges
through pity for the patient animals and
alaudibleambition to preserve their own
bones unbroken.
In justice to the Colfax and Nevada
stage company we make grateful men,
, ton that their horses are as well kept
and kindly cared for as the nature OF
their occupation will permit. But the
J roads are lined with teams of the above
description, drawing ponderous wagons
which without a load would weigh ton
These wagons cut up the roads with
their broad, ladened wheels, making
channels which the mountain torrent:
soon wear into gulches, and the travel
. ing is fearful. But the railroad era II
already upon these people, and ere the
vicissitudes of our mission bring u.
here again we hope the iron horse, Il
whom SPAWN is stranger, may g
snorting through these fastnesses
bringing ease and security to both mar
and beast.
: Arriving at Nevada we were made
welcome by our good friends, Mr.. anC
, Mrs. Crawford, in their elegant home
! where all the implements of civilization
are utilized in perfection, and where thu
. good husband and wife, with souls aliv'
: to every needed work for the promotion
|. of lrumanity's best interests, use liber
ally Of their substance to sustain tn
friends of Human Rights in their mission
of love to the people.
The success of our meetings here wa
largely due the efforts of Mrs. Emil.
Rolfe, a whole-souled, wide-awake, Tenn
perance woman and earnest Woman
Suffragist, who exerts powerful infiu
. ence for good in the community at large
: While in Nevada we INDUCED in
visit to the hydraulic mining works
Steady streams of water with over tw
:. hundred feet fall, are brought through
large pipes, with six-inch nozzles,
q bear upon the solid mountain sides will
4 a force that disembowels the complain
4 Ing earth, and sends il crashing TO tn
n plain below. Occasionally blasting
A resorted to, thereby aiding to loosen th
= solid mountain wall from its founda
!, tion, upon which the eeaseless water
4 play with such stupendous power as n
= army with strongest Notifications coul
long withstand. The fumes that gathe
up the debris of the elements extend 70
many miles through the gulches, an
woe to the robber, who, when the water
= are turned from their course to allow 70
. the full ''cleaning upr of the sluices
shall essay to prospect here for "tail
ings.r His life would quickly pay th
: forfeit of his ill-advised cupidity. Thes
2 mines yield an immense annual rev
e enue, but are owned by wealthy com
!, panies and the laboriDg mans wage