The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1882-03-11
DRY DISTRICT HABITS.
Dayton Times.l

Inc MANNERS anu CHStOus Vi tHt III ,
districts are attracting attention now
that their rich mines are drawing tarvel-
ers within their boundaries. The men
who live in barren hills, miles away from
wood or water, working their claims
alone and carrying their ore on their
shoulders to some distant station, exhibit
pluck and energy worthy Of the rich re-
ward which some of them are now OBJ
tanning for their years of patience and
toll. The life of the dry district pros
pector is much harder as rule than that
of any other. Every drop of water he
uses must be carried a long distance.
Usually it is not OF the best to begin
with, and it certainly does not improve
with age. Wood is also scarce as rule,
and the lonely miner is obliged to depend
on stunted growth of grease wood,
which while supplying fuel sufficient to
cook meal does not go far towards
warming cabin, or taking the chill
from the air around an outdoor bed.
Water being so scarce washing is but an
occasional relaxation. The brackish
water carried up from the nearest spring
is kept for drinking, but the mountaineer
learns to take advantage of circumstances
and also learns to rise above the pre-
JUDGES Of inexperienced people. When
snow comes he is for time sup
piled, and often gives away to the
promptings of former propensities and
washes dishes, but the weight Of gallon
of water after tramp of many miles has
taught him its value when up in the
hills, and the dish water washes hands
and dishes alternately for many days.
1t is seldom used for coffee, because a
little more trouble when there is snow
enough to make dish water will furnish
enough to fill the coffee pot, and although
the average prospector is not epicurean,
he has likes and dislikes, as have other
people, and much prefers the taste of
coffee made from clean snow water even
at the expense of extra labor. This &C.
casional waste of water is looked upon as
legitimate by most Of the inhabitants OF
the dry districts, but waste of fuel makes
a shiftless new conner Every little piece
of grease wood root must do all the work
it possibly can; while the meal is being
cooked or the bread is being baked on a
cold evening the fire is often moved in
order to allow the cook to stand on the
hot ground where it was and keep his
feet warm. The Goals on top of the bake
oven boil the coffee, and some, even after
breaking their bread in the evening, put
the warm loaves in the blankets to keep
their feet warm during the night. Not
withstanding the habits of economy en-
gendered by necessity, this latter custom
is not looked upon favorably by the ma
jority of the dry district men, as it looks
too much like efieminacy, and hardness
is to them both pride and necessity.
Economical as they are where the nature
OF the circumstances compels, there is no
mere hospitable or generous class of men
to be found The wayfarer freely re-
ceives share of their bed and is made
welcome to bacon, bread and water,
articles which represent in those places
more of toll than can be understood by
any one that has not been in the barren
hills. Generous with his provisions, he
is also generous with time and labor, and
will unhesitatingly walk many toisome
mile through canyon and over mountain
to show a stranger the road to valuable
mine which can be bought cheaply, or to
show him where he can make a good 10.
cation for himself, and in parting give
him drink from his scanty supply of
water, which may have been carried by
him over weary wastes of alkali or
squeezed from snow balls with fingers
numbed by cold while his small pile of
grease wood is boarded to be used sharp
ening tools for work on the ledge which
is to bring fortune and happiness to him
and all his friends.