The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-31

| Denver, and brought with hlm reg ular mining kit-picks, mattocks, hammers, shovels, blasting powder, and other useful articles.
 Two weeks passed, and again the postmaster of George Washington gulch "went through with Bill"- this time loaded down with samples of rich silver ore.
 By the following spring the gulch was alive with population of over three hundred white men and three women-not counting Indians and Chinese. George Washington gulch contained 8 rich vein of silver enough to make it scene of much activity for five whole years.
 About year after the postmaster's important trip to Denver, George Washington gulch was floating bravely on floodtide of wealth and and prosperity. The Hon. Samuel Green actually had considerable postal business to transact, besides which, double coach service had to be put on the road, while gulch pas sengers arrived or departed with every coach. Add to this the fact that the postmaster owned an inter- est in the richest claim in George Washington gulch, and it will be readily understood that he had de- veloped into an individual of consid- erable importance.
 Still, if one had about that time quietly investigated among the strange characters who formed the curiously cosmopolitan population of that Colorado valley, with view to learning who among ther number was held in the higl est esteem, the Hon. Samuel's name would scarcely have received mention. The parson was the favorite among "the boys;" and hardly man but would gladly have given his last dollar, ay, or his life's- blood, had anything so serious been necessary, to help the parson out of tight place. Never let it be imagined for moment that the parson at the gulch was the orthodox pastor, in the habit of wearing broadcloth of cler- ical cut and white cravats. He wore broad brimmed hat, certainly, but it was of the approved cowboy pat tern: to a coat he was well-nigh a stranger, being content to appear in heavy red woolen shirt; while for trousers he substituted the highly ornamented and picturesque buck skin brooches affected by Mexicans, Indians, and other denizens of the far west. It is also certain that the title of reverend has never been, verbally or in writing, pretixed to his name i; yet he knew and the boys knew that to be called "Parson Jim" was in itself mark of distinction in a dis trict where men were supposed to have no official titles or surnames, while Christian names were invaria- bly, reduced to monosyllables.
 Parson Jim's record and capabilities were hardly such as would recommend him as a candidate for church-work in communities laying claim to advanced civilization. He could not read the Pentateuch in the original Hebrew ; nor discuss the "Thirty mine Arti- cles; ;" but he was dead-shot with a revolver, and could gracefully ride the back of bucking broncho. The 'Westminister Catechism" was a sealed book to Parson Jim; but he could. set broken limb, raise tent, or build shanty with the next man. And because he was cool as ice when fiery blood coursed through the veins of other men-because he was brave as a lion-because he was gentle as a woman with sick men-because he had a big heart-because he spoke kindly words, and because nothing came amiss to Parson Jim, the rough specimens of humanity in George Washington Gulch loved and re- spected him as they never could have loved and respected grave and learned doctor of divinity from the east.
 Now, in western mining town it is gross breach of etiquette to make inquiries as :o mans pedigree, or to attempt to learn more than he chooses to tell of his history prior to his ar- rival in the camp. So long as he is "square" and behaves himself, he is one of "the boys" "and as such is bound to them by sort of free-masonry. Hence, when Parson Jim came to the Gulch and announced himself as a preacher, the miners asked no ques- tions. They did not take "much stock" in preaching, but they were disposed to give the newcomer a "show;" and when time passed, and Parson Jim proved to their satisfac- tion that he was made of the right "stuff," they not only tolerated him, but made him heartily welcome.
 There was no church in the Gulch ; there was no school house; there was not even hall of any kind. There was, however, large frame shanty used for a whisky saloon, named by it's proprietor the "The Rocky Noun