The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1877-02-22
Lite and Occupation in the Black Hills
.o.a,,.Ia. Gold Diggings. . g. "a

/ !
.. There is no regularity about any,
thing. A man opens a place af bus.
incss and makes lots of money then
he gets the prospecting fever, starts
for the gnlches, and shuts up his
shebang, When place is closed up
it means that the owner is out Dig
ging, has been killed in a fight, or
is off on q spree. We have no mu-
nicipal government at all. Every
man thinks he Is mayor of the town.
Every once in awhile the boys cali
mass meeting, draw up resolutions,
etc, and decide to incorporate the
town and have board of aldermen;
but at the end of the week nobody
knows what in the HI has become
of the resolutions or the aldermen,
We start new city government evo
cry two weeks, and burst one every
week--if there is any. .... ...
THE THEATRE.
The orchestra chairs are made of
stakes driven into the ground with
round piece OF board about the size
of your hand nailed on top. Admis
sion $3.50; reserved seats. IS. They
run a sort Of variety show, and sling
in the jokes and stage business as
broad as possible. The "can-can"
was danced for some time until the
boys got tired of it, and they said
give us some singin' or We'll clean
out the place; we want something ell
evatin';" and the manager had to
import female sentimental vocalist
at big expense to appeaee the pa
irons. She sung "Sweet spirit, hear
my prayer" Consider the lillies,"
know that my redeemer hveth," and
other high toned music, and l thought
the boys would 60 crazy with delight.
but they got tired Of it in about a
week.
| SALOONS.
There are saloons all over the
place and whiskey four bits for a
drink. They put two barrels up On
end, nail board across for the bar,
and deal it out. A miner who wants
to treat pours some gold duet on the
barrel head and says, "set 'em up"
They never weigh the dust. Some
times a man won't put down enough
dust, but they never say a word; and
if he's tight, andT pours out $40 or
15 worth, they never mention it.
They have three faro banks running
all the while. They don't use checks
for the boys; when they won pile
of checks they threw 'em all over the
place, and some were too drunk to
handle 'em. So the checks played
out. Now man puts lite gold
dust in a dollar greenback and it goes
for two dollars. Ten dollars worth
of duet in ten dollar greenback
goes for twenty dollars, and so on
They never weigh dust at all, but
guess the amount. .
THE DEADwooD DAILY PAPER.
We have daily newspaper-that
is sometimes it's daily-and then
when the compositors get drunk it
don't come out for several days. II
man wants gun wadding he goes
and pays four bits for a paper
Whenever they start new city gov
ernment they printa lot of ordinan-
ces; then there's a grand rush for the
paper. Sometimes itcomes ont twice
a week, and sometimes twice day.
A GROWING GRAVEYARD.
Every man in Deadwood carries
about fourteen pounds of firearms
hitched to his belt, and they never
pass any words. The fellow that
gets his gun ont first is the best man
and they lug off the other fellows
body. Our graveyard is a big insti-
tuition, and a growing one. Some
times, however, the place is right
quiet. Pve known times when q