The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-01-11

A
"uZ&bN apt TO be a lit
t@U, tie stiff in the
morning. Or if not stiff, they lacked
action. Working all the day previously,
possibly in the water, or with it splash
Ing all about, Juggling at heavy boulders,
shouldering wet sluices, to say nothing
of the regular pick and shovel exercise,
would make itself felt even when the
limbs and blood were younger than now.
Dressing was short job. A pair Of damp
overalls, a pair of socks, pair of shoes, or
possibly the heavy rubber mining boots.
Flannel shirts we slept in. A face swab-
bling with cold water in the tin basin
outside and click and promise" for
the hair with the comb That was about
all for week days. Vanity of apparel
there was little for the working miner.
Who was there to dress for? Woman?
The nearest was half "A mile, 80 years of
age, and married Then breakfast. The
fire kindled in the contrary little stove
Possibly it was necessary to attack with
an axe that dried old stump near by and
hack off a few chips to cook with. The
miners wood pile was generally small.
He got in fuel on rainy days, or at the
odd intervals to be spared from work
You put on the worn tin teapot, lowered
The gauze covered meat safe from the
tree, cut n steak from the chunk of bull
mahogany within called beef, slung a
dab of lard in the frying pan, put therein
the meat and let it sizzle, Two or three
boiled potatoes might be sliced, fried
more or less brown in the gravy, and
this, with bread and tea, formed the
breakfast. The bread was the bread of
your own laborious baking, the loaf Of
an irregular shape, the crust very hard
and thick, the color often "pied," being
black where it had burned, brown where
1t had baked, and of Il pallid whiteness
where it had not baked ut all. Within
the loaf might be close, heavy, and in
color either a creamy or a canary yellow,
In proportion to the improper amount of
yeast powder used.
The table is a broad shelf against the
wall. There is no tablccloth. You did
not always wash up after breakfast, for
the dishes, as they stood, were all in
place for dinner. Some fastidious min
ers washed their dishes after each meal
most of us did not. 1t was too much to
expect of hard worked humanity. The
cabin door is open while you eat and
from it you look forth on the claim.
There lies the bank of red earth rs you
Iatt unCtnr,IDv nf M -
There is the reservoir full of coffee col
ored ditch water which had run in dur
ing the night after being used for wash
ing in a dozen claims "up country"
Then you draw on those damp. Clammy
rubber boots, either to the knee or hip
high, the outside splashcd with the dried
reddish mud, and smelling disagrecably
Of rubber AS you pulled them on and
smelling worse as you became heated
and perspiring. In these you waddle to
the claim. | forgot. Breakfast over,
one of the most important acts of the
day was next on the programme. That
was the filling lighting and smoking of
your pipe. Nothing could hurry you
through this performance. The filling
was cut in slivcrs with n careful and
solemn consideration; the weed was care
fully bestowed in the bowl; the match
was applied with a deIiberation savoring
Of y religious act; the first puff rose in
the air as incense to the early morn, and
smoking thus YOU waddled in your big
boots to the claim. There you met your
three partners, all likewise smoking
There they stand on the bank, looking
into the ground sluice. There is no good
morning or other greeting; if anything,
grunts. There lay the tools-shovels.
picks, crowbar and sluice fork-help-
lessly about, as left last evening. a
little muddy water tricklcs through the
line of sluices. One of us goes To the
reservoir, a few hundred yards or, and
turns on the water. Another goes TO
the tail of the sluiccs with the sluice
fork. Then is heard the clicking of the
pick and the grating of the shovel against
the red dirt; down comes the muddy
water over the bank and the days work
has fairly commenced.
We stand i'll "A row, allowing sufficient
room between each for swinging the
pick. We are undermining the bank,
the water running at our feet and be-
tween us and the bottom of the bank.
Each chunk of red dirt dislodged by the
pick falls into the running water, and
If it be hard and will not readily dissolve
1t must be broken up by pick or shovel
to keep the stream clear and unimpeded.
The large powders are picked out by
hand and thrown behind us-not in dis
srdered fashion, either. Room in tn,