The morning call., 1893-05-21

Fiddletown. 1t was jolly little mining
camp of a score or two of log-cabins IN the
autumn of 1850. It had its beginning as
distinct locality during the summer OF
that year, when two small parties of
miners, one from Placeryile and the other
from Drytown,- located on and near the
site of Fiddetown. and began TO prospect
that part of what may de considered the
north FORK of Dry Greek. The hills are
gentle and the fats and bars are broad for
two or three miles above and below fld-
dletown, and to-day green fields and vine
yards dot the slopes, and the soand OF
long-tom and rocker, which alone dis
turbed the silence OF forty years ago, is
drowned in the voices of ether indus
tries.
a small stream of water coursed through
the channel of the creek, but as the beds
of the neighboring gulches were dry the
earth and gravel were removed from them
TO the bedrock and piled in long hlllocks
along their margins in readiness Tor the
rocker when the rains OF winter came.
This was the occupation of the most of the
miners who located in Flddletown during
the summer and autumn of 1850. They
worked just enough IN the creek or
wherever else they could find wafer and
profitable ground to pay their living eX-
penses, and devoted the remainder of
their time to what they called Throwing
up dirt" in the dry gulches. from which
they hoped TO reap a rapid and bountltnl
harvest with the coming rains; but the
winter of 1S50-51 was exceptionally dry; the
customary rainfall was late and slight all
over the State, and the gravel piles from
which so much had been expected were in
many instances lett by their disgusted
owners to be washed by others.
Among the first four to locate in Fiddle
town was a MiSsourian who played the
violin. His name has escaped me, but
shall never forget his fiddle. 1t was about
the size and shape of raisin-box, and
great variety of music could be Scraped
out of it. There was little Tesem blance
between it and Stradlvarius either ii
tone or outward appearance. but what it
lacked in sweetness was more than COM
pensated for in those boisterous days by the
robust volume of its voice, and the owner
claimed that he could coax out OF it four
teen different Kinds of music. The instru-
ment was his own handiwork and had
accompanied him across the plains and in
his wanderings among the gold fields. Al
though he could not play the Carnival of
Venice" on single string he was equal 10
the celebrated second part of he Ar
j
airs of the West. and was always ready to
give his companions a taste of his quality.
1t was a humble instrument that he
played, but OF consequence enough, withal,
to give TO Slocums Diggings the permanent
name of Flddlet0wn.
Fiddletown grew apace, and at the close
of 1851 was a settlement II some import
ance. 1t had hotel, two or three stores,
as many drinking places, blacksmith
shop and a bakery. The fiddler and his
fiddle of the year before had disappeared,
but the little town was not entirely desti-
tute Of music. One of the salOon-keepers
played the violin and the blacksmith man
aged the vents of f1lte pretty skllfully
with his grimy fingers. Besides aborigi-
nal women of the Digger tribe, who fire.
quented the place in quest of food and
caSt-Off clothing, the female. population
consisted solely OF the coarse, middie-aged
vile of the hOtel-keeper and an old
negress in the kitchen of the establish
ment, who had been a slave OF the pro-
prietOr in Missouri and considered herself
Still in bondage.
One afternoon in the early part of Oc:0-
Der the miners in aud around Fidd,etowD
were suddenly aroused to a condition of
excitement quite as intense as that ocra-
stoned by the fatal shooting of two men in
front of the hotel a month or so before
But ii differed in character from that of
any event that had theretOfora agitated the
neghbOrhoOd. Instead of klndling Il look
Of fierceness in the general eye, it seemed
to soften the expression of every sunburnt
face. and men leaned upon their shoVels
and gathered in little groups all along the
creek TO gaze at a woman who was enter
ing the village on horseback, accompanied
by a man on foot who was clad in the garb
of a miner. The woman was assisted to
dismount in front of the hotel, and III shak-
ing the dust from her riding kirt and CIV
ing touch or two to her hat and hair,
stood there long enough to enable any one
near her o observe that she was neither
old nor ill-looking. Size was of medium
height, plump ana blue-eyed, with light
brown hair and pretty hands and feet. Her
age was %, perhaps 80, but her figure was
girlish and her face bright as the clond ess
afternoon on which she first met The al
dent gaze of her bearded Fiddletow ad-
mirers.