The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-08-07
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

We ANhNhUGA HpGnAAhb ~
Monday night after leaving Jackson
vile with the excellent family OF Mrs.
Dean, Of Willow Springs, from whose
hospitable home a party Of US were
taken 10 hack on Tuesday morning to
a noted mining camp, where we were
shown over the auriferOus grounds by
Mr.. Beck, the gentlemanly owner Of one
of the richest gold bearing gardens In
Jackson county. The diggings are dry
now, aud further operations have ceased
for the Summer, though all Of the nee
essary arrangements for mining remain
upon the grounds. We listened with
much interest to the proprietor's
graphic aud well illustrated description
Of the various methods Of securing the
ore. There were rockers, sluiee-boxes,
fumes, ripple-Loxes, dippers, sleeves,
aud what not, the half Of which we can
not remember or describe.
For number OF acres the earth has
been burrowed out, turned over and
thoroughly washed, leaving the surface
all SCARED and corrugated, as though a
cancer had been gnawing at its vitals,
and had left it spent and desolate at
last, because it could no longer find food
to its liking upon which to forage. Mr.
Beck, a thorough gentleman, whose
only fault is protracted single blessed
ness, located this claim a dozen years
ago, and has added to it from time to
time by purchase, until he now has
paying ground enough to keep half
dozen men at work for lifetime. But,
like most successful men, he is not car
ried away with his good fortune, and be
takes life philosophieally, as a sensible
and prosperous gentleman should
There is also a very rich quartz mine on
the Dean rancho, a mile or two above
Mr.. Beck's; but we did not have time
to visit it, although the camp where the
miners were at work was plainly visible
from the post Office, where we all waited
for half an hour for the arrival Of the
stage-eoach, the view We enjoyed from
the front door the while being passing
beautiful. Mt. Mclaughlin, looking
for all the world like a NAM
moth muskmelon, with the gaps
between its corrugated ridges filled
with snowy lines of melting loaf sugar,
loomed high above the hill-encircled
valley, that, like a huge table laden
with fruits and cereals, smiled placidly
in the face Of the bending sky, while
Flora, Ceres and Pomona swayed their
magic scepters everywhere. Gorgeous
Summer, resplendent in her trailing
robes Of ripened wheat, had seated her
self at her harvest feast, and stated
Plenty reveled in the very height of her
glory. But yOnder comes the stage, and
we must stop these reveries for the
nonee, while we climb to the dusty
boot, aud, hooked by our tightly clasp
ing digits to the iron rods that fairly
scOrched them in the blistering heat, 90
crashing down the road.
Eight miles and Rock Point, where
We enter the one hotel aud seek a room
to rest for an hour, and then sally forth
to reconnoiter- The little burg is fast
asleep, though it is midday. The few
people here seem to neither think nor
act-that is, if we except the landlady
and the stage men and their wives, who
deserve commendation for the courtesy
and kindness with which they treated
US, aud without which we should have
simply counted the time in disgusted
discomfort during every waking minute
of the next twenty-four hours. For
some reason, which we leave the reader
to conjecture, the bills sent from Jack
sOnville announcing the lecture had
not been received or posted. The man
who had charge of the schoOl-house
didn't appear upon the scene, and but
for the aforesaid stage men, who used
the coach candles to light the school,
room, aud the advent Of large hack
load Of young gentlemen and ladies
from Willow Springs, the lecture would
have been an entire failure. But, with
these efficient aids, we captured the fort
and held it, And the next time we stop
over at Rock Point somebody besides
the landlady aud the transportation
people Of the otherwise dead asleep little
hamlet will know il. There are men
here pretending to do business as mer-
chants who would think you were tell
ing a Woman Suffrage lie if you should
inform them that Andrew Jackson was
dead. or course such men are furious
for the revival of the "lost cause" and,
having no colored slaves to subjugate,
they insist upon the-further subjugation
Of the women.
We are much relieved when the
stage-eoaeh takes US aboard on
Wednesday at twelve NJ, and, with our
face turned northward, we go crashing
on toward Roseburg, every turn Of the
revolving wheels hurrying US further
away from the thugs of Jacksonville
thank God-and bringing US that much
nearer heaven.
Three o'clock and Grants Pass. Now
we are among reading and thinking
people, aud, Of course, among friends.
The hotel here is kept by Mr.. and Mrs.
Dimick, who also have charge Of the
store and post Office. Here We rest till
half-past eight, and then meet a goodly
audience 10 the school house, who listen
gladly to the gospel Of liberty. We
have long had several subscribers to the
Peoples Paper here, and wherever the