The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-07-26
THE GOLD HUNTERS LIFE.
The Wearisome, Fascinating, Never Salts
flying Search for THE Color in
Early California Times.
MORNING.

we got out OF our blankets heavily
Legs and back were apt to be a littl.
stiff in the morning Or if not stiff, they
lacked action Working all the day
previous. possibly in the water, or with
it splashing all about, tugging at heavy
powders, shouldering wet sluices, to
say nothing Of the regular pick-and
shovel exercise, would make itself felt
even when the limbs and blood were
younger than now. Dressing was a
short job. A pair of damp overalls, a
pair of socks, a pair of shoes, or possibly
the heavy rubber mining boots. Elan
mel shirts we slept in. A face-swabbing
with cold water in the tip basin outside
and lick and promise" for the hail
with the comb. That was about all fol
week days. Vanity of apparel there
was little for the working miner. Wht
was there to dress for? Women? The
nearest was half a mile, so years of ag.
and married. Then breakfast. The fir.
kindled in the contrary little stove. Pos
sibly it was necessary to attack with an
AK that dried old stump near by anc
hack of, a few chips to cook with. Th.
miner wood pile was generally small
He got in fuel on rainy days, or at tn.
odd intervals to be spared from work
You put on the worn tin teapot, lower
ed the gauze-covered meat safe from the
tree, cut steak from the chunk of bull
mahogany within called beef, slung
dab of lard in the frying pan, put there
in the meat and let it sizzie. Two OF
three boiled potatoes might be sliced,
fried more or less brown in the gravy,
and this. with bread and tea, formed the
breakfast. The bread was the bread OF
your own laborious baking. the loaf of
an irregular shape, the crust very hard
and thick, the color often pied" being
black where it had burned, brown where
it had baked and of a pallid whiteness
where it had not baked at all. Within
the loaf might be close, heavy, and in
color either q creamy or a canary vel.
low, in proportion to the improper
amount of yeast-powder used.
BEGINNING THE DAY.
The table is broad shelf against the
wall. There is no table-cloth. You did
not always wash up after breakfast. fol
the dishes. as they stood, were all in
place for dinner Some fastidious min
ers washed their dishes after each meal;
most of us did not. 1t was too much to
expect of hardwor6ed humanity. The
cabin door is open while you eat, and
from it you look forth on the claim.
There lays the bank of red earth as you
left it yesterday after the "cave." There
is the reservoir full of coffee-colored
ditch water which had run in during
the night after being used for washing
in dozen claims ''up country" Then
you draw on those damp, clammy rub
Der boots, either to the knee or hip high,
the outside splashed with the dried red
dish mud. and smelling disagreeably of
rubber as you pulled them on, and smell
ing worse as you became heated and
perspiring. In these you waddle to the
claim. | forgot. Breakfast over, one
of the most important acts of the day
was next on the programme. That was
the filling, lighting and smoking of your
pipe. Nothing could hurry you through
this performance. The first puff rose
in the air as incense to the early morn,
and smoking, thus you waddled in your
big boots to the claim. There you met
your three partners, all likewise smok-
ing. There they stand on the bank,
looking into the ground-sluice. There
is no good morning" or other greet
ing; If anything, grunts. There lay the
tools-shovels, picks, ,crowbar and sluice-
fork-helplessly about, as left last eve
ming. A little muddy water trickles
through the line of sluices. One of us
goes to the reservoir, few hundred
yards off, and turns on the water. An
other goes to the tail of the sluices with
the sluice-fork. Then is heard the click
ing of the pick and the grating of the
shovel against the red dirt; down comes
the muddy water over the bank and the
days work has fairly commenced.
WORKING THE STREAK.