Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1888-09-04

there Tor "life.
when | speak Of - or sj per day as
decent wages" mean deoen, wages
for ,hs, period. A decent meal COS, 3
q shave twenty-five cents. the stage fare
from our camp to Stockton, distance OF
bu, eighty miles. would now carry one
from New York to Chicago. and no man
could safely ueA, himself at the saloon
wi,hou, treating the house. There was
generally large house.
Common report said In 1852 tha,
one could make an average Of 81 per day
working the river banks with . rocker.
In reality. taking one day with another.
men did no, average more than 80 per
day. ~ miner found q new piece Of
gold bearing ground be generally Adver-
,ised Il q. yielding "bit" twelve cents
TO the pan. tie vas in luck II !, yield.
ed for any reasonable length Of time three
cent. TO the pan. There was more gold
In imsgina,ion than In the dirt But we
would no, "so back" on the country.
So We lied nobly. homes, miners ,ha, We
were.
In tAi. gold.bearing, noised.abro.d
and mueh.,Alksd.of country a miner
knovn as the pos.essor Of $4,000 was
regarded a. very well OF BY his eOn,sm.
porarie., who seldom counted $50 they
called their own.
The land in 1860 was full Of the poor.
est, Intelligent and educated white
men on the face Of the earth. There
va. good reason fof the frsquen, "Poy.
sr,y bars" and poverty hills one found
there. These men lived year after year
in ,quslid cabins There was little at.
tempt TO ornsmen, them. A pair Of blue
blankets, = frying pan. coffee pot and
the bundles, table furniture might con.
s,i,u,e the bulk Of their worldly wealth.
There was no indueemsnt 20 make per.
manen, home. They bad come TO
scratch whA, gold they could from the
.oil and ge, back With /, . quickly {.
possible. In this frame aud determine
ton Of mind they stayed year after year.
OF these some were men Of .obristy aud
regular habits. and more were not. |
think the hard drinker. aud the "shifi-
les" were the luekie.,. They changed
their base" more often than the steady
aud temperate. II the latter pitched on
. poor place they would stick TO Il.
ThA, often mean, sticking 10 bad luck.
or four men who ,uaek IL rich q, or near
my locality all were "hsrd eharAeier."
II Satan did lure the crowd TO CAlifornis.
he semed to favor hi. own there.
There va. Jim Cole. Of Hawkins. Bar.
Cole seldom allowed sobrie,y TO get the
best Of him. lie rarely had over hf,y
cent. Ia cash on hand AZ once, lived. a.
be expressed il, for moa,h. "on the smell
Of an oil rss." and struck il rich every
three years. From ground ,ha, other,
had worked. aud. as they supposed work.
ed oa,, Cole would bring 10 light new
treasure out Of some overlooked corner.
Then be took bis dust 20 the neNe.,
camp, .old il, pa, fifteen or twenty
twenty. dollar gold pieces in hi. pocket.
treated the crowd. went into q whiskey
oblivion. walked therefrom in three or
four day. pennile.,. borrowed a dollar
from tie proprietor Of the PhGa ak saloon,
10, a bottle Of cocktail. on trust, aud
logged back over Red mountain to his
solitary cabin. sPP.ren,ly serene and con-
tented.
The riches, claim saw va. struck
by . whi.ksy drinking crowd q, Indian
bar They were n,er bank disger',
without any regular claim. They work.
ed here to-day there tomorrow . the
ground paid. They were a shiiIle''
crew. aud reproaeh TO the camp.
Their leader, Pat Me0uifk, was a true
born ruihln. lie thrA.hed bis three FOL.
lover. and partners Abou, once q week,
and apparently for ,hi, reason they stuck
TO him. These gentlemen were no, after
the "big thing." they were pseking
away a, the iiver bank. eonten, With
making "grub and whiskey money"
when one day they struck an old channel
Of the Tuolumhe, back in the bowels OF
. mountain. IL was very rich-aggra.
va,ingly rich to those Of u. who had
walked over !, for years and deemed IL
yaluele.s. |, gave MeGuifks crowd
more prosperity than they could stand.
Prosperity with them msapt plenty Of
whi.ksy. think i, took aboa, four
years to finish OF oil but MeGairk with
delirium tremens, more commonly known
in our parts a. the snakes" Bu, Me-
Gairk survived. Satan held him in too
high esteem TO allow him TO perish pre-.
ms,urely. The claim pAnnsd out about
5000 900, mos, Of which went into the
pocket Of hard working, thrifty Massa.
ehuse,ts man, who bought MeGuirk out,
made hi. fortune aud was At his wits.end
What TO DO with himself on finding he
had no longer TO work for living. lie
too, would nave died. but fortunately a
woman sued him ior breach OF promise.
This gave hi. mind needed exercise and
KEEP, him from rus,ing TO death.
An agreeable lo.ier wen, one day out
Of the town Of Columbia. seated himself
under tree. prOdded in the ground With
a stick, and pTodded Oh, a $4,000 lump
Of gold. lie would never have proddsd
10 such purpose had be been an indu',ri-
Gus, steady going man who would stick
patiently, perseveringly and properly TO
one thing. This golden lump made OF
him for a time a respectable personAge,
and hi. opinions on divers subject. were
held in much higher repu,e by the com
muni,y a, large the day after his find.
Near lone trail in M.ripOsa county.
a wandering miner seated himself on a
ledge Of rock. ate his dinner and smoked
hi. pipe. Looking indiferen,ly a, the
rock be saw gold ia IL. He had seated
himself on . fortune.
These facts came under my own limit
ed field Of observation. Any old miner
can ill you full Of them. The aggregate
would all large volume. II seems TO
show iha, q, times and In some localities,
industry, perseverance, and temperate
habits do no, always bring wha, is ex-
p,cled from their exercise.
do not believe that the average for
the California gold digger since isi9