The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-01-04

my first mining partner. He wandered
to the Bar, melancholy looking man,
with three dogs accompanying, and was
always in chronic state Of red ban
danna and nose wiping. He and | joined
forces and went up the river To "crevice'
among the rocks near the Split Rock
claim, He had all the skill, all the eX-
pcrience and all the dogs, and all the
general Ignorance and incapacity. !
deemed it great advantage to have thus
secured a real "old miner for partner
and felt that such man must turn up
gold.
We built ourselves "A rude brush house
on a shelf of the rocky ledge in "A can
yon whose sides sloped at an angle of
forty.iiye degrees, Even this shelf was
not level. 1t pitched toward the river,
and there was so little of it that during
the nights repose our legs stuck out of
the house entrance. We were obliged
to "chock" all our supply of provisions
in their respective packages to prevent
them from rolling out of our wigwams
over the brink and into the Tuolumnc.
If a potato got loose it ran like thing
possessed over the rocks and down into
the muddy, raging current We We're
obliged to peg ourselves at night while
sleeping to prevent like catastrophe.
1t was permanent and laborious exist
ence at an angle of forty-five. To stand
erect for any length of time was very
tiresome. More frequently, like Neb-
uchadnezzar, we lived on all fours.
"Crevicing" did not prove very profit
able. BY day the bare rocks become
heated by the sun to a clustering ca
pacity.
With pick and sledge and crowbar
and bent bits of hoop iron we pried and
pounded and scraped, and scraped and
pounded and pried all the hot day long,
or else were doubled up in all sorts of
back aching back breaking, body firing
positions, drawing up ut arms length
from some deeper 'pothole' or crevice
spoonful after spoonful of yellow mold.
1t did hold considerable gold, and heavy
gold too But it took SO long to get the
mold. This was in the latter part of
September. The termination of the dry
season was reached. The first rain came.
1t came at night. 1t drizzled through
our brush house. 1t sent tiny streams
down the rocky mountains, and some of
these streams found their way under us.
We had lain and endured the rain from
above dripping on our faces and wettlng
our clothes. In those times ones day
suit served for a nightgown. But when
the aqueous enemy undermined our
position we had to turn out.
1t blew a gale. How the wind howled
and tore up the canyon! We tried to
kindle a fire. Match after match was
blown out. Finally blaze was attained,
Then the rains descended heavier than
ever and put it out The chief misery
was, we could not at night find our way
out of the canyon to any place of shelter
Nor could we walk at all to keep warm
There was standing room only" All
about us were the steeply inclined rocks,
nodded into every irregularity of shape.
We were obliged all through the night
to "stand and take it as it came, SILVER
ingin our thin summer clothing. With
daylight we made our way to the camp
of the Split Rockers. They gave us
some gin. 1t was common gin-very
common gin-but the comfortable and
soothing remembrance of that gin after
such a night exists for me even unto
this day. | wore black cloth cap
The rain had washed out the dye,
and this dye had courSed over my brow
and cheeks in tiny rivulets Of jet. |
noticed that | seemed to be more than a
usual object of interest to those about
me, and wondered, until a friend adj
vised me to consult a mirror. | did SO,
and found my face marked like a rail
road route map. Such was my inau-
guration in mining at Hawkins Bar.
What glorious old times they were!
What independence! What freedom
from the trammels and conventionali-
ties of fashion! Who cared or com
mented if we did turn up the bottoms of
our pantaloons, or wear, for GOODNESS
sake. our flannel shirts outside the trou-
sers? Who then was so much better
than anybody else, when any man might
strike it rich tomorrow? Who would
beg for work or truckle, and fawn and
curry favor of an employer for the mere
sake of retaining a situation and help
that same man to make money, when he
could shoulder pick, shovel and rocker,
go down to the rivers edge and make
his So or So per day? Though even at