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

! to-day. me PICK ana Shovel VIII rest
where thrown Saturday afternoon, and
only trickle Of yellowish water from
the reservoir will seep through the long
line of sluices instead of yesterday S
muddy surge rushing through-sand,
gravel, and grating pebble and bowlder.
But there is work of another sort to
be done and u great deal Of it. After
breakfast, shaving That small mirror
Of most imperfect glass, whose rcilec-
ton distorts the features, screwing up
one side of the face and charging the
other in an unnatural fashion, is suit
ably adjusted. \ smell of soap pervades
the air He fathers and shayes and re-
fathers and reshaves with tedious and
painful precision, the while making
faces at himself in the glass as he brings
one portion of his countenance after
another more directly under the sweep
of the razor. In some cases he comes
off with a few scratches or leaves a
hirsutc oasis here and there of uncut
bristlc Black pantaloons, white shirt,
a felt or straw hat, linen buster and
the Sunday boots. This is his dandy
outfit. In his pocket is a bucksliin
purse, once yellow, now faded to IA dull
gray, holding gold dust, a few ounces
more or less, perhaps five, perhaps ten.
1t is the company dust and is to be
sold and turned into bright, yellow gold
pieces. And why all this preparation?
"To so to camp" Camp is three miles
la, ,,,,t,,t,i, ,-,nlar A
group of ramshackle cabins, alternating
with saloons, three grocery stores, a
hotel, an express Office and justice of
the peace, all in hot gulch, with hill
sides long ago swept of trees, SCARED
with cuts and streaked with patches of
dry yellowish ledge. Camp to him
has all the importance and interest of a
great metropolis 1t is the center of
news. The stage passes through it on
the way to larger camp. Two boss
gamblers reside there. There is a faro
game on occasions, billiard table with
a mountainous sort of bed, where the
balls roll as they please and after an &C.
Centric fashion of their own.
The camp is for him the first nerve
center of civilization and the only outlet
to the great world which he has left.
You, fresh from the great city, regard
this dilapidated place as an out of the
way corner; but to him, living on his
remote fiat, with but two cabins in sight
'or as many miles, camp is a place of
importance.
He repairs first to the Magnolia. He
mas long in Imagination seen it from afar.
lord keeps the floor well wet down. That
Magnolia floor is one of the few places
where water, unmiXed with other fluid,
is useful and grateful. How comforting
and soothing is the first drink. A long
drink in long tumbler, with plenty of
ice, soda water and whisky. If heaven
be anywhere as a material locality it is
in that first cool drink after three mile
July tramp over the kiln dried hills and
heritage of the California foothills. The
Magnolia is the social heart center of
camp.
There he finds the doctor. The doctor
drinks with him. The doctor drinks with
every body. There, too, is the justice of
the peace. The justice drinks with him.
The justice holds his court at the Mag
nolia. The proprietor of the Magnolia is
the camp constable, and between drinks
during trial calls viva voce the witnesses
in the case. The judge drinks with him.
The judge generally drinks. The prin-
cipal camp gambler is at the Magnolia.
He takes light drink. He is a wise man
and knows the advantage and profit of
keeping a cool head. The regular camp
irunkard sits in the rear in one of the
arm chairs back Of the billiard table.
tie looks so humble, so respectful-and
so dry, that our miners heart moves to
pity and he tasks him up" He com
plies, but not with undue haste This
treats of the era between 1865 and 1870.
The camp drunkard had not then so lost
his grip" as to be unmindful of certain
slowness. deliberation and dignity befit-
ting a gentleman. But when he does ar
rive at the bar he takes a "four-fingered"
drink.
They stand in row at the bar. The
barkeeper is mixing the long" and the
short drinks. Each man waits, says
nothing and eyes every motion of the
bartender. The silence is impressive.
All is ready. Each glass is grasped and
raised, and then from each to each, and
more than all, from all to the drink
donor, there is a nod, that incantatory
phrase is uttered, "Well, here's luck
and the poison is down. AS it rasps,
they call "Ahcm!' with varied degrees
of meditation. But this is a careful
and prudent miner, and he now repairs
to the store. There his dust is weighed,
sold, and the weeks provision ordered.
His combined partners "divvys' are
put aside in lump and safely stored.
Now the weight is off his mind. He re-
turns to the attractions of camp.
These are not numerous. There is the
the Bella Union, the Court
Exchange, the post and express office.
There are the boys He learns the
news of the county o. district. The