Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-02-01

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sshyA17to to the mines.
1CL~ went. BY boat
EE and stage ! got
MWG over the 200 miles
EELINy intervening
'twixt San Fran
cisco and the
"diggings." had friends on Hawkins
Bar, on the Tuolumne river, In Tuolum-
ne county. Thither went. When
"struck" Hawkins in 1853 1t was on Its
last legs. Still II boasted store and
q dozen houses. Golden hopes were
still anchored in the bed of the river.
Expensive river claims were then be-
ing worked from Red Mountain down
TO French Bar. But n premature rain
and consequent freshet swept the river
that season from end to end with
the bosom Of destruction, and sent
for the winter the miners back to their
two dollar per day bank diggings.
It was at Hawkins that had first
"buckled to the mines" My first "buck-
ling" however, was In the capacity Of a
meat peddler. became the agent OF a
firm Of butchers up on tho mountain for
distributing their tough steaks to the
Hawkins Bar miners. Through the in
strumentality Of horse, over whose
back was slung a couple OF huge PAN
niers, continued the agency for a week.
Then one morning the horse kicked up
his heels and ran away. AS he ran, ut
every kick raw and bloody steak would
fly out Of the boxes, flash in the brilliant
morning sunshine, and then fall in the
fine red dust of the mountain trail. fol-
lowed hard after, gathering up these
steaks as they fell, and when the burden
became too heavy piled them up by the
roadside in little heaps OF dusty, very
dusty meat. At last, dusty, perspiring
and distressed beyond measure, man.
aged to catch that villainous horse. For
no, after having elected nearly the whole
load of meat, concluded to stop and be
caught. loaded the panniers again with
the dusty, carnivorous deposits, led the
horse down the steep trail to tho river,
then muddy and Of rich coffee color from
up country mining sediment. Herein I
washed my steaks, rinsed them as well
as could Aut unf dnst, ,rttii, ass- vas then the
custom, hung up piece after piece In the
gauze curtained meat safes ut the miners
cabins. think Hawkins got its share
of grit that day in its beef. Shortly after
ward went out of the beefsteak distribu-
ting bureau.
Then went into the service of the
man who kept the Bar store, saloon and
boarding house. was errand boy, bar.
keeper, bookkeeper, woodchopper, as
sistant cook and general maid of all
work, and possibly worthlessness. One
day tho storekeepers horse, packed with
miners supplies, was given into my
charge to lead three miles up the river
to the camp Of the Split Rock river
claim. The load was strapped to a
"cross- jack" saddle. 1t consisted mostly
of -four, potatoes, bacon and demijohn
of whisky. was advised by the mer-
chant, on setting out, not to let that
horse get ahead of me. II he did it was
prophesied that he would run away,
'sure pop" But had not gone forty
rods from the store when the beast made
rush, got ahead Of me, tore the leading
halter out of my grasp and set of along
the narrow mountain trait at the rate Of
twenty knots per hour. followed on q
run Of about ten knots per hour. Hence
the distance between us soon increased.
As he ran, the motion burst the bag Of
-four, ditto the potatoes, and then the
whisky demijohn broke. 1t was fine
sight. The -four rose in the air like a
white cloud above the horse, out of and
above which flew potatoes, and the whole
was interspersed with jets of whisky. 1t
looked like snow squall travelling on
horseback. When the animal had split
all the flour, all the potatoes and all the
whisky, he slowed up and allowed him
self to be caught. His mission was ac-
complished. found remaining the sad
die and the empty potato sack. The
trail was white with flour for mile,
and SO 1t remained for months after
ward. i led the animal back to tho
store. My heart was heavy and his load
was light. The storekeeper gave me
his blessing. did not thereafter remain
long in the service Of that transportation
bureau.
After this I borrowed rocker and
started to washing some river bank
gravel. 1t took me several days to be-
totlt III utSiSc III VIC ubS VI
the rocker. l had no teacher, and was
obliged to become acquainted with all its
peculiarities by myself. First set it on
dead level. As it had no "fall' tho
sand would not run out. But the hard
est work of all was to dip and pour water
from the dipper on the gravel in the
sieve with one hand and rock the cradle
with the other. There was a constant
tendency on the part Of the hand and
arm employed in pouring to go through
the motion OF rocking, and vice versa.
The hand and arm that rocked were
more inclined TO go through the motion
Of pouring. seemed cut up in two
individuals, between whom existed a
troublesome and perplexing difference of
opinion as to their respective duties and
functions. Such conflict, To all in
tents and purposes. Of two different
minds inside of and acting on one body,
shook it up fearfully and tore 1t all
TO pieces. was AS q house divided
against itself and could not stand.
However, at last the physical and men
tai elements thus warning with each
other inside Of me made up their differ
ences, and the left hand rocked the cra-
die peacefully while the right hand
poured harmoniously, and the result was
about $3.50 per day. Soon after found
my first mining partner. He wandered
TO the Bar, a melancholy looking man,
with three dogs accompanying, and was
always i'm a chronic state of red ban
danna and nose wipins. He and joined
forces and went up the river " "crevice"
among the rocks near the Split Rock
claim. He had all the skill, all the ex-
perience and all the dogs, and all the