Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-07-06
IN THE SIERRA NEVADA,
THE MOUNTAINS NOW WEARING THEIR
CHOICEST RAIMENT.

THE MOUNTAINS NOW WEARING THEIl
II CHOICEST RAIMENT.
Jones' Bar, Historic Spot on the Yub:
-Rattlesnakes Ia Camp-A
Romantic Nook.
The Sierra Nevadas are now, to quote tn.
words poet who has lately arisen anc
shown great brilliancy, clothed in theil
best suit of Clothes" To be sure, the grass
is no longer green, and the flowers are gone
to seed, and the brooks that were murmur-
ing month ago have taken unto them.
selves the wings of evaporation and evap-
GRATED, and taken their murmurs along
with them. But all the same. the Sierra
Nevada mountains are dressed in their
best. ION the highest peaks there is the
eternal snow and between them and the
plains there is one broad, rolling, unbroken
| line of green. In that line of unbroke en-
| green there is world of unseen things; a
world of sorrow and joy, pain and pleas.
ure, tears and smiles" and so on and SO on.
| That is the way. or about the way, /
would have begun this article in the good
| old days of slavery, when l was doing my
| flrst work as reporter.
But now the httul fever of enthusiasm
| has passed, and can sit round and tell the
| q oh ,oJ
| truth, mind you, and make it as plain,
| naked and unvarnished as anything. Hy-
! perbole is not so necessary now. The fact
remains, however, that the Sierra Nevada
region is looking, like Mr. Riley OF the old
song "quite WE'LL" The late unpleasant
winter gave vegetation a set back, and
nature is now making up for lost time
So far we have had q very cool and pleas
ant summer. Yesterday there was little
furry of the elements, and it rained, but
to-day the sky is clear, and the air is crisp
and pure.
But enough of that.
AT the present writing / am rusticating
on the south bank of the south fork of the
Yuba river, near Jones Bar. II there is
anything love more than hard work i. is
rusticating. Especially when l have a
very romantic spot in which to rusticate
After one has had winter or two in
stuffy newspaper office, with all kinds of
| people coming in to shake up and misplace
! the machinery of his think box, one natur-
ally longs for few weeks of rustication.
| Rustication is the eradication of mental
and physical rust, and here, at Jones Bar,
| | am shedding my mental and physical
| ecrGstations in huge scales. / may even
| get fat before the next month has gone,
| but that is mere supposition. Those who
| nv Sh bo5
would doubt me at once were l to make
| statement to that effect.
Jones Bar is moi of much account now
| as bar. There are no refreshments sold
over it at present. and ii has been some
| what neglected lately. The bar maid who
dealt out soap mot whisky away back in
the early days, when old man Jones was
| here, has married, raised a family and
! died, and the bar has not been paying
| stand since. Even old man Jones does
| not own the property now. He is dead
| So also are his heirs, | suppose, if he ever
! had any, for 1t is not known that any of
| them have ever made an effort to claim
Jones Bar. But there is time enough for
( that. A century hence there will sill be
| time enough for that.
Old man Jones, so tradition says, and
| tradition in this case is nothing more than
| the statement OF one of the oldest inhab-
itants, was never very shining light In
this land of gold. He came from No
| where, and was going to Nowhere when he
discovered the bar in the Yuba, and be-
cause it was a bar be stopped, and went
into the river-mining business. He mined
| first with pan, then with a rocker, and
finally with sluice. He was quite old
when be came to the Bar and ne lived
until he was so full of years and other
things that grew up spontaneously in the
| system of the nomadic man that his kind
friends came and took him, one cold, star
lit night and pitched him into the river.
He had Just few minutes previous to
his death, settled an bccount with one
of his partners. The partner after the set
Element, took the Jones claim, with all of
its goods chattels and accouterments, and
did do assessment work on the same &C.
cording to law. And so ends the blogra-
ply of the late Mr.. Jones. 1t is moi very
long and is probably inaccurate but it is
awfully full of pathos. Some people to
whom have stated this thing have had
| great difficulty in restraining their emotion
| 1t is very sad, / guess. But Mr. Jones is
reposing at peace in the locker of his uncle
Davy. by this time, and our sad, heart
rending sobs of regret cannot reach him
| now.
| The Yuba river is not as rich in gold as
| it used to be. The crevices in which the
| dust was gathered through the slow pass
ing of unknown centuries, have been thor
| oughly ransacked, and now the only indi-
| viduals who make living by mining the
| bed of the famous stream are few China
men. A few days ago took pan and a
! pinch bar and went prospecting in the
river bed. Result: l fell into the river
and had u nice snow-water bath, and los.
the pan and suffered for three days with
| lumbago, sciatica. neuralgia, toothache
and spinal meningitis.
| There are several men living around
| Nevada City who made a raise on the
Yuba. The most of them are in the
| County Hospital, but a few are still at large,
and have bank accounts.
| Once a man, who was until recently a
Nevada City merchant, made pile" on
| the Yuba, and started for "the States. :"
| via Panama Before reaching Panama he
| lost his money, and one day he suddenly
reappeared at the old camp on the river,
without cent and in rags. He asked an
| old friend, who owned a claim, for money
with which to buy food and few tools
| for prospecting.
| no" said his friend, II haven't the
| money. But there is rich crevice in my
claim; I'll give it to you, and you may use
some of my tools, and all you get out of it
you may nave. The crevlce was rich.
The man made q fortune, and there is no
danger of poverty ever knocking at his
door, but he who gave him the crevice
from which he took the gold that has
raised him from poverty to affluence is,
and for many years has been, lonely,
broken down waif of misfortune, depend
ent upon charity for the bread he eats and
the clothes upon his back.
| But the rich man has not forgotten him.
| No, indeed Whenever that heart broken,
weary and generous old man. who succored
him in the days of old, happens along, the
rich man always gives him Kindly nod,
and sometimes, when there is not much
business going on, he talks to him few
| minutes about his old-time prosperity, and
so soothes and comforts him, and the eyes
of the weary, heart-sick old waif fill up
with tears, probably out of gratitude to
Fate for having blessed him with friend
like that And then he goes on his way.
as poor and heart-sick as ever, and the rich
man lights cigar and murmurs:
Poor old cuss somebody ought to help
him."
Aye! Let us be thankful that there are
two worlds after this.
Our camp on the Yuba is, as limited in
the beginning, in a romstic spot. 1t is
| 10, 80 1 r n ~ :.