The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-07-17

while we were delivering the closing
sentences, and, stepping forward, said,
in voice fairly choking with baflled
mans rights dignity, "YOu will now
choose your partners for a cotillion."
We gently reminded the heel protecting
Major that we were speaking under the
guardianship of the Marshal, but never
theless we shouldn't detain him a min
ute. That explanation didn't stop him
or the music, and we bowed to the au-
dience, smiling, aud saying "heels were
trumps," left the platform, only to be
conveyed little distance by the enthu-
siastic crowd to a big open farm wagon,
which was soon filled with ladies, in
whose midst we stood, while the aug
mented throng gathered in the sun and
wind and dust and listened for full
hour to the gospel Of Liberty as we had
learned 1t from the Declaration Of Tnde-
pendence and the Constitution Of the
United States. The work Of this hour
has broken the back of the opposition to
woman's complete emancipation in the
county Of Jackson. Lots Of subscribers
are coming in unbidden, and invitations
to lecture are crowding upon US from
every direction.
The Fourth is over! Thank Heaven
And now we're ready for Sightseeing.
1t is the morning of the fifth, a bright,
balmy, beautiful forenoon, and we are
off, accompanied by our hospitable
friends, the McDonoughs and good Mrs.
Dean, their neighbor, our destination
the diggings, two or three miles away,
hard by the site Of old Fort Lane, where
a few logs are yet lying to mark the
spot where troops were stationed during
the memorable Indian war of '55 and Sc
Mr.. MeDOnough discovered this mine
about four years ago, the placer gold
having lain undiscovered a few inches
beneath the surface Of the ground, over
which hundreds OF soldiers had in the
years gone by tramped for months, in
innocent Inconsistencies Of the aurifer-
Gus wealth beneath their feet. Owing
to the scarcity of water, the work in
these diggings is slow, but with plenty
OF this element the yield would be sim
ply marvellous. Nuggets weighing hund-
reds of dollars have been picked up,
and many pieces of from five to fifty
dollars weight have been found. The
quartz ledge, from whence these out
groupings Of the ages have descended,
runs in azigzag course up the mountain
side, into which a shaft has been sunk,
from which quartz essaying $500 to the
ton has been taken. But Mr.. McDon-
ough is not wild over gold mining. He
takes a common sense view Of the en-
terprise, and tills his broad fields In
their season, and raises blood stock and
reads the newspapers, and with bis
amiable consOrt, to whose efficient aid
the woman movement owes much Of its
vitality and good standing in this CON-
muniiy, enjoys a well-balanced life tc
the uttermost. It does ones heart good
to see such people get rich.
In the evening we return with Mrs
McDonough to Jacksonville, and on th,
morrow a genial party, ably engineered
by Mr.. and Mrs. PIymale, depart for th,
Sterling mine, prepared to make a day
Of it. The morning is glorious and th,
scenery grandly magnificent a ride o.
ten miles, up and down the billowy, zig
gag Eales aud bills, and the elittle villag,
OF Sterling comes in sight, and we are
soon met by Mr.. Ennis, the gentlemanly
superintendent Of the niue, who, after
a bountiful lunch beneath the trees
conducts the party to the hydraulic
works, where a head of water, brought
in a ditch from Applegate Creek
eighteen miles distant, aud conveyed
into the mine through a 24-iuch pipe
which at the base Of the gulch is divided
into two branch pipes OF fifteen inohe;
in diameter, and from thence into FIVE
inch nozzles, pours a laundering, in.
cessant stream Of angry water as a Wig.
orous brOadside into the resisting heari
of the rock-bOund mountain, disembow.
cling the complaining earth and sending
it crashing to the gulch below. Rocks
some of them weighing half ton, are
torn by this double-headed hydraulic
monster from the ledge's side, and
placed by miners upon dumps, from
which they are lifted by mighty der.
rick, also worked by hydraulic power
and cast in piles upon the ridge above
Mr.. Ennis, the conductor, managing
the machine with a tow-llne a little
larger than the band Of an old-fashioned
spinning wheel. We looked limo
Gently around for his "hollyhoek," oI
which a certain editor had said a good
deal in the Sentinel, but were laughingly
informed that said "hollyhock" was
simply a cataract in the said editors
eye. This is "goak."l
After the hydraulic ram has spent its
heaviest power against the mountain
side, it gathers its remaining forces al
the head Of the gulch, whose depth il
constantly increases, and forming q
roaring, muddy cataract, is collected in
sluice-boxes, and goes tearing onward
toward the lowlauds, leaving behind in
the boxes an auriferous deposit sufll-
ciently captivating to tempt the cupid
ity Of even a political missionary.
We learn that the company, Of which
ex-Gov. d. P. Thompson, present Mayor
Of Portland, is President and principal
shareholder, has spent a hundred thou
sand dollars in developing this mine