The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-11-12

i spent tBe Wtnttf Oh loOs~v ."""
i'm on the Sierra summit, at Eureka var
lev, on the Sonora ana Mono road, some
8. 900 feet above the sea level. l bad tue
COMPANY nj two men, Dave Hays and Jack
W.lrh. both good mountaineers, GOOD
hunters. good miners, rancbmen, hotel.
KEEPERS. good men, and true at anything
they chose TO turn their hands to. Both are
alive now and are deserving OF lair
share of IMMORTAL fame. Hays had most
OF his toes frozen OF Of The second
foiut = winter or two afserwafd, rs he
mad become overconfdent, and Thought ne
could risk ans thing in the mountains. lie
wa beiated one winter night crossing The
"Mountain Brow." distant some forty miles
east OF Eureka Valley. Over the " Brow )"
swept the coolest Of winds, and Hays be-
took himself for shelter TO SOFT OF cave,
and when he emerged IN the morning he
was rs good as toeiess. In point Of weather
the Sierra SUBMITS are fearfuliy deceitfuL
You may cross and fad II as fair as an Octo-
her day in New England. In two hours
storm may come UP, the air be nled Win
Gne, needle-lise particles oil snow blown
ffom the surrounding peaks, and these stri-
king against you like millions on millions OF
fine neede-poi will carry the heat from
your body much faster than the body can
generate IL. / was once nearly frozen 10
<iestb In one OF these snow-driving gales
when less than three miles from our house.
Hays built the house we lived in, and Il
would have been credit TO any architect.
II was fifty feet In length by eighteen In
width, aud made OF logs, squared and dove
tailed ut the ends. Ii was intended for
"Ioad house." Hays was landlord, cook,
chambermsid, and barkeeper. have
known him TO cook supper for dozen
guests. and when they were bestowed in
their blankets, there being no -four for
breakfast, he would Jump on horseback and
ride to Niagara Greek, twelve miles distant,
supply himself, and ride back to cook the
breakfast.
When the winter set in at Eureka Valley,
and IL set out TO set in very early. II CON-
,nepced showing. IL never really stopped
showing until the next spring. There were
intervals Of more or less hours when it did
not snow, but there was always snow in the
air: always somewhere in the heavens that
grsyish Witty look Of The sDow-coud; al
WAYS that peculiar chill and smell, TOO,
which betoken snow. Itsnowed when we
went to bed; 1t was showing when we got
up; itsnowed all DAY, or at intervals during
the day; il was ever monotonously busy,
busy sometimes big flakes, sometimes little
fakes, coming down, down, down; coming
deliberately straight down. or driving III
riously in our faces, or crossing ana re-
crossing in ZigZag lines. The snow-heayens
seemed but few feet above the mountain
tops; they looked heavy and fun OF snow,
and gave out crushing sensation. we
seemed lust between two great bodies OF
snow. one above our neads, one lying on
the ground.
Our house, whose ridge-pole was full
eighteen feet from the ground, began grad.
ualy TO disappear. AT Intervals OF three
or four days il was necessary TO shower the
ehoy from the roof, which would otherwise
have been crushed in. This added to the
accumulation about us. Snow covered up
the windows and mounted 10 ibe caves.
The path TO the spring was through cut
high above our beads. That to the barn
was through another similar. snow all
about us lay 1T an average depth OF eight
feet. Only the sloping roof OF the house
was visible. and so much IN color did II
assimiate with the surrounding rocks,
pines, and snow that one unacqnalnted With
the locality might have passed within few
feet OF it without recognizing ii as human
residence.
LONG NIGHTS.
December, January, February, and March
passed, and VI heard nothing from the great
world outside OF and below us. We arose IN
the morning, cooked. ate our breakfast, rot
out fencing stuff till dinner-lime, going aud
returning from our work on sDow-sboeS,
and digging in the snow pit large enough
TO work in. We ate our noon beans, re-.
turned to work, skateG back to the house
by half-past to get in frewood for the
night, and at half-paSt or The dark
winters day was over, and we had fllleen
hours TO live through before getting HE
next days nieagre allowance OF light,
for Eureka Valley is narrow cleft
In the mountains, not over quarter
OF mile In width, and lined on either side
by ridges 800 TO 900 feet III height. The
sun merely looked IN at the eastern end
about o A. NJ, said &C Ood-day," and was
off again. We rolled in sufficient irewOod
every night TO supply any civilized family
for week. Two thirds Of the calOric gene
rated went up our chimney. 1t did not
have far TO go, either. The chimney was
very wide and very low. At night person
upaeQllainted with the country might have
tun, bled into the house through that CHM
ney. The winds OF heaven did tumble into
Il frequently, scattering ashes and sometimes
cinders Throughout, the domici. S0me-
simes they thus sssaied us while getting
breakfast. We consumed ashes pientfully
in orr breakfast; we drank small charcoal
In our coffee; we found it in the bread. On
cold mornings the fapiacks would cool on
one side ere they were baked on the other.
A warm meal was enjoyed oaiy by placing
the tin coffee-cup OH the hot Goals after
drinking, and a similar process was neces.
sary with the ether viands. The "other
yiandso were generally bread, bacon, beans,
and beef. Ii was peculiar beef. II was beef
fattened on oak leaves and bark. Perhaps
some OF YOU ancients may recollect the two
consecutive rainless summers OF "63 " and
HR4.o when tens OF Thousands OF cattle
were driven from the totally dried-up plains
into the mountains for iced.
During those years, at the Rock-river
ranch III Stanislaus county, where the
plains meet the first hummocks OF the Nc
yada foothills, have seen that long, lean
line OF staggering, starving, dying kine
stretching away as far as the eye could
reach, aud at every hundred yards lay a
dead or dying animal. So they went for
DAYS, urged forward by the vaquero's lash
and their own agony for something to eat.
Even when they gained the grass OF the
mountains it was only TO find IL all
eaten of and the ground trodden to
a dry, red, powdery dust by the hun
CRY legions which bad preceded them.
. II was dreadful sight, for those
poor bru.es are as human in their
sufferings through deprivation Of food
and water, when at night they lay down
and moan on the parched red earth, as men,
women, and children would be. Wei, the
strongest survived, and portion reached
the country about Eureka Valley. They