Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-01-17


Of the willy foe. This plan seemed
feasible 10 us--as feasible as catching a
bird by putting salt on its tail-for
when the trigger was pulled the ham
mer acould come down with a terrible
snap. Could an Indian stand that?
We didn't think he could. We would
risk it anyway. The savage Cheyennes
and Arapahoes of the plains never
knew the peril their ears escaped by
the failure of that, in some respects,
unparalleled expedition.
Among the other wonders of Califor-
MIA which our guide described, he said
there was reading on the stumps, and
that California was oil papered over!
At that date in that frontier town, wall
paper was unknown, and the family
that had saved up enough Grant County
HERALDs TO paper the inside walls Of
their cabin was considered rather
aristocratic. But California was all
papered overl
Our guide led us over the hills by
miners path for perhaps half mile,
when We came out upon an open space
OF about half an acre. 1t was probably
miners leng-deserted garden. The
sward had grown over it green and
smooth, and surrounded by low
growth of bright green oak trees, it was
quite pretty place.
This, the guide said, was California.
Two circumstances about this so called
California disappointed me and made
me suspicious. In the first place,
had got some idea of California from
a wall map which / had once seen. On
that map Wisconsin was represented
as green patch and California as a
yellow patch. Now, Wisconsin sCaS
green, at least in summer, except the
numerous "dirt-piles' around the
mouths of the mines, which were yellow.
California, being represented as all
yellow, was probably one vast dirt-pile
on which the boys raked out chunks
of gold with old hoes. just as the boys
pitched mineral around home. But
here before us was California (f indeed
it t0aS California; and it was all green
with hardly dirt. pile in sight. Wasn't
it likely only a part ofgreen Wisconsin,
In the second place the guide had SAID
that California was all papered over,
and we saw here not scrap of paper.
When confronted with the discrepancy
between his glowing statements and
the cold fact, he shuffled around it in
some way, and. leading us TO "A hollow
stump, showed us his hidden treas
ures. These were some bright sand
which he called gold dust, and some
stones-small comedians and pieces
of quartz-which he called diamonds.
l suspected that the so-called
diamonds were what the miners in
that region called "tiff' which was
not considered very valuable, even by
the small boys.
The stump had been indented in
many places with pick and had be-
sides many insect holes. These the
guide called the reading he had spoken
of and tearing off piece, he pretended
TO read with great fluency. was no
connoisseur in gold dust and might be
humbugged in that line, but was some
thing of reader, young as ] was, and
the guides bare-faced pretepse disguised
me, and he fell very much in my estima-
ton, never TO rise. His horse pistol
without barrel, | even began TO think,
might DO a fraud too.
After thoroughly inspecting Califor-
mia we returned to the village. Coming
to Beetown creek, we found in it q
drowned cat. The innate passion of
our guide for humbuggery showed itself
again. He pretended he would bring
tuC Cste W llict duu tuO pOooOo anu III
he went through over the
body of the cot would not have been
to an African or Indian
medicine man. But before the cat came
to life the guides father came along,
and, angry with his truancy, led him
away by the ear. The Boosting hero
of several California expeditions was
reduced to very insignificant and
sniveling boy, and we rather rejoiced
at his discontinue.
Returning home, we had 10 explain
as best we could the phenomenon of the
missing biscuits and matches and our
long absence. However unsatisfactory
that explanation and its results might
have been to all concerned, and especi-
ally to US in the matter of the results,
we always after that looked upon our
selves as, to some extent, returned
Californians.