Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-09-13
RESTING FROM GOLD WASHING.
SUNDAY in the Camp of the California
Miner.

Miner.
This i the Sunday sun that streams
through the cabin window and through
the chinks of the cabin wall. 1t is the
same sunshine as that of the weekday.
Yet as the miner wakes and realizes it
is Sunday it has different appearance
and CONVEYS different impression from
that Of tie weekday sun. Everything
seems mere quiet more restful and
even more staid and serious. There be-
longs to it and to the landscape as he
looks out flavor of PARKWAY Eastern
Sabbath bells and Sunday mornings
hush and longer family prayer than
usual and Sunday school. But there is
not church-bell within ten miles and
there never will be one heard on this
flat There is not, so far as known, so
much rs man in the least reli0iOusly
inclined. We are hard lot. No work
on the claim to-day. The pick and
shovel will rest where thrown Saturday
afternoon and only q trickle of yellow
ISL water from the reservoir will seep
through the long line of sluices instead
OF yesterdays muddy surge rushing
through-sand, gravel and grating,
pebble and bowlder.
PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAY.
But there is work of another sort to
be done and a great deal of it. After
breakfast. shaving. Black pantaloOns,
white shirt, = felt or straw hat, linen
buster and the Sunday boots. This is
his dandy outfit. In his pocket is q
buckskjn purse, once yellow, now faded
to dull cray, holding gold dust, a few
ounces more or less, perhaps five, per
haps ten. It is the company dust and
is 10 be sold and turned i.to bright
yellow cold pieces. And why al this
prepare on? To 90 to camp" Camp
$ three .Ilys away over the mountains
1orJlag. : group Of ramshacble cabins.
sItcr.&-..ay VITA saloons, three grocery
stores. y ,a."3. an express office and Il
,iu~ Pe2cr, all in Il hot guIcb,
vi. ~..ts long 400 swept OF trees,
ems and streaked with
ri ,r.irWish LEDGE. ''Camp'
"u tie Importance and in
terest Of q great metropolis 1t is the
center Of news The stage passes
through it on its way to larger camp.
The boss gamblers reside there. There
Is . faro game on occasions, q billiard
table with mountainous sort of bed,
where the balls roll rs they please and
after aa eccentric fashion of their own.
Camp is reached after q long, hot
walk. He suffers in his store clothes
from the heat. In his working every
day fannels he would not so much
mind it, but the restraint and chokiness
of starched linen are fatiguing.
LIKE THE SHADOW OF A GREAT ROCK.
lie repairs first to the Magnolia He
has long in Imagination seen it from
afar. How cool is the big bar-room.
The landlord keeps the floor we'll wet
down. That Magnolia floor is one of
the few places where water, unmiXed
with other fluid, is useful and grateful.
How comforting and soothing is the
first drink. A long drink in a long
tumbIer, with plenty of ice, soda-water
and whisky. Ii Heaven be anywhere
rs q material locality it is in that first
cool drink after three-mile july tramp
over the kiln-dried hills and heritage of
the California foothills. The Magnolia
IS the social heart-center of camp.
There he finds the doctor. The doctor
drinks With him. The Justice drinks
with aim. The Judge drinks with him.
The Judge generally drinks The prin-
cipal camp gambler IS at the Magnolia.
He takes 4 drink. He is a wise man
and knows the advantage and profit of
keeping cool head. The regular camp
drunEard sits in the rear in one of the
arm-chairS back of the billiard table He
looks SO humble, SO reSpectfUl-and so
dry. that our miners heart moves to
pity and he tasks him up He cOrn-
plies, but not with undue haste This
treats OF the era between 1865 and 1870.
They stand in row at the bar. The
barkeeper IS mixing the long and the
short drinks. Each man waits. saws
nothing and eyes every motion of the
bartender The silence is impressive.
All is ready. Each glass is grasped and
raised, and then from each to each, and
more than all, from all to the drink
donor, there is a nod, that incantatory
phrase is uttered: ''Well, here's luck
and the poison is down. AS it rasps
they CRY. .-ahemr' with varied degree
of meditation. But this is a careful
and prudent miner, and he now repairs
to the store. There his dust is weighed,
sold and the weeks provisions ordered.
His combined partners s'divvysn are
put aside in q lump and safely stored.
Now the weight is off his mind. He re-
turns to the attractions of camp.