The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1888-06-11
SAVED BY THE P0G0NI 4
BY E. L. MERRILL

men whom the newspapers mention only
on occasion OF their birth, marriage and
death-three times in all; and as Joe
was still living and not yet married, the
''mighty engine of public opinion had
thus far contented itself with very
brief notice of his adv into this
world. s..-.s. III :. r.
Joe was my partner, and I was as much
like him as one man can we'll be like an
other. We were both "no account"
men, raised way back in IAN eastern
county, and had taken the gold fever
and gone to California together about
five years, too late to ACHE We success.
Il AT last, in 20, We drifted around to
the then young mining town of Austin,
Nevada, at about the time its citizens
were engaged in 'friendly". war for ex-
lstence with the Getty" Of Clifton, lower
down the mountain, and were building
l. the famous grade" which gave Austin
the lead and Clifton the ''go-by." \.
But Joe and failed to ''strike it rich"
there. The best we could do was to
labor by the day at the quartz mills. for
we had no capital to Set up at silver
mining on our own account All bread,
stuffs were SO dear at that time that it
took about all mans earnings at good
wages to pay his board -. i +
Potatoes and garden vegetables had
to be brought, either on mules or in
wagons, for hundreds of miles. In fact,
a mess of potatoes was literally worth its
weight in silver, for all the neighboring
country is a desert of mineral lodges
rocky hills and aHali ''sinks.". I wish
to give no present offence to Austin peo-
pie, but that, at least was WHAT it looked
ton ct that time--a place where, by no
possibility, anything lik E kitchen gar
den ever could fourth. T. c...>
Joe and used to ''prospect" little
now and then during the first six months
of our sojourn at Austin, for we were
still hoping ito strike it, somewhere.
One day we did strike il, though. mod
pected. - ~
At distance of*eight or len miles
from Austin there is a rivulet which Isl
dlgni6ed by the name Of river Reese
River" 1t flows down from the north
ward, and not far below Austin loses it.
self entirely in the desert, and that is the
end of it, for it differs from most.rivers
in that it gets larger as you follow it
back. toward its source. il. :, l.,
AS we were making across the coun-
try, we came to kind of creek, or arm
of Reese River, at distance of twenty
five or thirty miles from Austin, where
there vast seems almost incredibe-a
little soil of alluvial formation, a plot a
few acres in extent where it looked Dos
sible to cultivate. We had stopped near
the spot to make coffee and fry bacon,
and noticing how much darker the earth
was in color, and how mucn better
grown the grass stalks and sage brush
were, Joe remarked that he reckoned
struck" might be raise ed there.
Nothing more was said about it at that
time, but, as we went back to town, we
got to figuring up what common truck
patch would bring in to man at Austin.
The enterprise promis ed so handsomely
that Joe became really Somewhat excited,
enough so to exclaim: 'By hemp, let's
try it!"
They told US at Austin that no vege-
tables could be grown thereabouts, but
we were. not satisfied with their dis
couraging statements. wrote to a man
knew in California to send me bushel
of the ''seedends' of Irish potatoes, and
! Frost wrote home tothis brother-it was
the first time he had W ritten for more than
two years-to send him lot of garden
seeds and quart of sweet corn, in two
packages, by mail; also some ''string''
beans and pease. f..
In Q. few weeks we got in quite a
quantity Of such seeds, also the potatoes.
for the transportation of which [ paid
seven dollars. Then in March we bought
mule and went out to the scene OF our
proposed effort to supply Austin with
garden truck.
| First> we built a ''root -out' shantv,
which We thatched with dry grass stalks
| and other brush, and then set TO work to
grub up couple of acres of the soil
The place was alon g the east bank Of
the little creek above mentioned. A
rocky hill, or mesa, Enclosed it on the
north and eastward at a distance of a
couple of hundred yards, while to the
south the view. opened out toward the
| channel of the Reese. ~ H.. =
We grubbed up our ground, planted
our potatoes, corn, beans and seeds, and
constructed dam across the bed Of the
arroyo to hold back water for irr: ga,ion,
as we had seen done in alifornia.
1t was by no means the best of soil.
| Nevertheless, the most o. the seed came
up, and the vegetables thirty ed much bet
| ter than we had expected to see them.
On the, seventh w eek we were pedlino
green truck in Austin, and found good
market for all we had. 1t is rather a
large story,to tell, but before the first dav
of October we had sold nearly six hun
| dred dollars worth Of truck grown on
two acres of land r. = .
We decided to stick to the business
at least, to try it a mother year. During
October and November we built an adobe
hut and corral, and began work on a
large reservoir for storing up water. fol
water was the one thing needful to make
truck grow. It was while we were at
work on the reser voir in the creek bed,
on one of the last days of November,
that we were attacked by a party OF
eleven Indians. : yt>.;
We knew very little of the habits O,
Distinguishing traits and appearance o1
different tribes of Indians. These were
4 the first we had seen there, and at Austin
there had been no talk of Indians,
Whether they were Utes or Apaches dc
1 not know.