The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-06-20
yx1rSI,NrISST, AVG3IITNJIEa 0n 1899


and soleturning to Oregon ! bought a
band of cattle and we set out with our
baby and a party of friends and rela-
tiyes to. reach the new mining camp,
Canyon City, in Eastern Oregon. In
fact. had gone before TO spy out the
land We fought the Indians and got
some foothold and we selected this loca7
cation for our future home. yii9 s,f. at
81 And what q journey was This of ours
over the Oregon Sierras, driving the
believing cattle in = the narrow trail
through the dense woods, up the steep
snowy mountains, down through the
roaring eanenI 1t was wild, glorious,
fresh, full of hazard and adventurei
Minnie bad made a willow basket and
swung it to her saddle, horn, with the
growing and good-natured baby inside,
looking up at her, laughing, as she
leaped her horse over the fallen logs or
made full hand with whip and lasso,
slashing after the cattle. But when we
descended the wooded mountains to the
open plain on the. eastern side of the
Sierras the Indians were ready to re-
ceive US, and we almost literally had to
fight our way for the next weeks jour
ney, every day and night. And this
woman was one of the truest souls that
ever saw battle. 1 think she meyer,
even in the hour of death, knew what
fear was. She was not only a wonder
full horsewoman, but very adreit in the
use of arms. She was very much bet
ter shot, indeed, than myself. In our
first little skirmish on this occasion I
had taken position on hill with a few
men, while the cattle and pack animals
were corralled by the others in blight in
the foothills below to prevent a STAN
pede. And thus intrenched, we waited
the attack from the Indians, who held
the further point of the ridge on which
had stationed my men. Suddenly
Minnie, baby in arms, stood at my side
and began calmly to discuss the situa-
ton and ts pass merry remarks about
the queer neisss the bullets made as
they flattened on the rocks about us and
glanced oyer our heads I finally got
her 20 go down, or, rather, promise to
go down to camp for the better safety
of the baby. But in a moment she was
back. She had hidden the laughing
little baby in the rocks, and now, gun
in hand, kept at my side until the brush
was ever and the Indians beaten off.
Here is one leaf from her journal, or
rather, think, her recollections of the
/ journey, which she left me along with
her othe: papers when she died ~
Zone night of that journey l shall
not soon forget. There had been some
fighting ahead of US and we knew the
foe was lurking in ambush. They made
a kind of fort of the freight and while
we lay down in the canon, baby and 1
away up on the high, sharp butte, Joa-
quin stood sentinel. And 1 say this to
night, in his behalf and in his praise
that he did brsvely and saved his loved
ones from peril that night. That h,
stood on that dreary summit, targe
for the foe and no one but me to take
note Of his valor-stood till the morn
ing shone radiant, stood till the nigh
was passed. There was no one looking
on to praise his courage and echo i
\ over the land; only the frozen stars il
I mystic groups far away and the slendel
moon, like sword drawn to hold hin
at bay" iI ts-it a2=l 81 ''
Reaching the mines in safety l, as de
tailed in previous sketch, practicet
law, mined, fought Indians, and Indeed
was the busiest of men in trying al
means to get on. 1 planted the frs
orchard in all that land, pushed aheat
as hard as could and tried to be punct
ual and steady and thoughtful Yet
was still but a lad in years. forget t
mention that was meantime electe,
Judge of the county and had begun &
write the Songs of the Sirrea s' NJ
! life was a sober and severe one Fo
4 without learning, I was trying to ad
minister the law; without knowing hoy
to read or spell, J. was trying to write
/ book. Il was walking q new road o
life now All was strange. Wha
availed my knowledge of woodcraft i
the courts of law? The mystery 0
making fire by the friction of two stick
4 of wood, the secret of finding water i
the desert by the flight cf a bird, til
cunning of foretelling the force of tn
coming winter or the depth of the sne,
--a'lthese and the like were of no us
now sd aslW bEls @ oa
If the shrewd and sharp lawyers VIII
bullied and beat me had come into m
. elements had beaten them. But ha
chosen to enter theirs and must be equs
te the undertaking. And so it was
] worked and studied as never man worl
. ed and studied before. Often I neve
: left my Office until the gray dawn, afte
aday of toll and night of study. NJ
health gave away and was indeed oil
: and thoughtful Well, all this you ca
: see did not suit the merry-hearted an
spoiled child of the mines at all. The
: she was not so ambitious as / was; the
: she had not such strange, wild life b.
c hind to haunt her. She became ii
7 spoiled. child here that she had been
: her fathers and naturally grew imp
5 tient at my persistent toll and stud.
e. But SHE was good all the time; good ar
z honest and true in all things and in q
I ways; understand that distinctly. Al
. let me say here, once for all, that j
t man or woman can put a finger on al
c stain in this woman's whole record
:, life, 30 far as truth and purity go. B
1t she was not happy here. Impatient
e the dull monotony Of the mining cam
d and longing for the sea and the o
y home that almost overhung the SCUM
4 Il 4. Il.