The Portland daily press., 1893-09-20

through the war Then he came out to
Colorado and later to California, where
he was doing nicely. 1t was "a years,
since l had last seen him.
"No | call those two experiences
stranger than any felton," said the
Senator, as he concluded his narrative.
"Did you suffer many hardships at
sea?" asked.
"Oh, | saw some pretty rough weather
and did some pretty hard work. But
/ was rather fortunate. l was never in
q shipwreck, and / always had plenty to
eat, such as it was. My last voyage was
around the Horn to San Francisco.
There I left the ship and went into the
mines.n
aDrawu by the gold excitement?"
"No. I had no idea of becoming rich.
Ny highest ambition at that time was
to get together enough money to buy a
schooner SO that | could cruise among
the islands on my own account. 1
worked my way up the river to Sacra-
mento. Then / walked with my blankets
on my back 100 miles to the mining
ing I did not understand it. | was a
sailor, not a miner. No, l never made
a cent in mining"
Not even CRU bstaking' some miner?"
"No. I have done that often enough,
but never made anything by it. Min
ing has a great fascination for me,
though
"When gave up mining drove mule
team. had never seen a mule before
except on the levees at New Orleans. |
drove this team for six months and then
I took the place of porter in a store.
got $50 a month, and ont of that saved
$50. 1 did my own cooking and made
my own clothing" -
aid you ever make anything in little
speculations?"
His One Speculation.
II never r;sked penny in speculation
in my life with one exception. | never
bet on cards or any form of gambling.
| have been in places where faro and
roulette were running and money was
stacked high, but have never risked
anything; The one, speculation ala on that hat
$500 that owned.
"A man named Cole owned ferry,
with which he was making a great deal
of money, A sand bar formed across
the river and the ferry had to stop run
ming | wanted very much to own that
ferry, for | was sure that could make
a great deal of money with it. | went to
Cole and said to him: 'Doc'-everybod
or Major or General Doc, what will
you sell me the ferry for?' Well,
Geor g. he said, I will sell it to you for
81, O00-a thousand cash and the balance
in sixty days at 5 cents per month. Money
was worth as much as that in that coun-
try then. Now the problem with me was
to raise that 81, 900. | WAS driving gro
Gerry wagon then, and | went among my
customers and persuaded them to let me
have the money. As soon as | had made
the first payment on the ferry l set to
work to build a Golfer dam. My sailoring
had taught me good deal about reefing
ropes and all that, and in q few days
had the dam built and had turned the
current of the river. The current washed
away the sand bar and | started the
ferry. ! was making $40 Il day immedi-
ately. In a day or two man came to
me and asked what price wanted for the
ferry. | told him So, 900 How long
will you give .me to think it over?' he
said.
Until tomorrow morning, | answered.
/ had no idea that he would buy it. But
the next morning he came back and paid
me So, 600 cash. So l made 81 900 on the
transaction. 1t was the first thousand
dollars l ever owned and it looked bigger
to me than any sum of money has before
or since.