Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1893-04-14
HOW WE STRUCK 1T.

nv ~ VIZ VI OA -
"If 1 had only come here away back
in the early ffties!' sighed a dreamy
man to mo as we waited for the train at
Fruitvale last week. And another man
Clipped in and sighed also as he said,
Flush times then, you bet, and big
strikes; but I only got here in the even
ties-got here without a cent and have
held my own right alongl'
First let me once for all disabuso the
popular mind about the flush times and
big strikes of the early fifties. Yes,
there were big strikes, but they were,
like the big generals of our great war,
not the rule. You hear Of the big strikes
and You hear of the big generals. Tho
thousands and hundreds Of thousands
that persisted in the ranks you never
hear about.
For tho benefit Of tho dreamy man
who sits waiting and lamenting, let mo
say that the openings and opportunities
are better today than they were in the
seventies, and they were better in tho
seventies than they were in che ffties.
Tho wear and tear Of life was so terri
BILE then too. Every dollar cost about
two dollars and q half to get in those
days.
It has been estimated, and l think
about correctly, that if each miner had
received twenty-five cents a day and
board for his labor-and such laborl
eixteen hours a day generally-wo
would have had more golddust than we
got in those famous "early ffties."
So cease this d~eploring that you camo
so late to California, my dreamful
friend. OF course we would all like TO
live over the impetuous old days again;
but ] doubt if you who don't get on to-
day would have got on then. Better,
far better for you, for all, to settle
down content by some sweet village in
this fair land, where you can have clean
clothes, good food, books, papers, tho
presence of women and all the healthful
refinements that attend her. than sit
signing for tho days of old. You can az
least get your board and twenty-five
cents a day, and that, be assured, is
more than we got on an average to the
man, Notwithstanding all our priva-
lions.
An old forty-niner from New Bed
ford, Mass, Mr.. Haskins, who has writ.
ten a very readable book about his fell
low argonauts-and a very important
book it is, as it contains tho names of
more than 81, 900 of them-told me that
of the 5000 who came from his town.
first and last, it was hard to find more
than a very few who were much ahead
in the world. He told me that ON re-
turning home after forty years he and
his old friends took 300 Of their select
young men who came and compared
their fortunes with 900 similar young
men who remained at home, and they
found that the proportion of those who
had prospered at home was as ten to
four against those who had come in
forty-nine. On the other hand, they
found that notwithstanding the peril.
and h%ardships the proportion of argo
nauts still living was ten to three against
those who remained in New Bedford.
Some day, my dreamful friends. whC
lament your late coming and are con
tinually taking the free local trains Of
Oakland in order TO fly from toll as from
contagion, l will sit down and tell yot
how to make fortunes right here by tn,
Bay Of San Francisco far easier thar
they were made in the "early fifties.
But for the present the contract is to tel
you how we struck it in the middle forl
Of Humbug creek.
had a "paTdner" for about a week
winter Of 1855. He was not yet twenty
small for his age, and | was not We.
thirteen. "a fool for luck, - and so Pa.
Flanagan, the banker at Coos Bay
staked him-so he said-and Franz
Campbell, of the Howlin' Wilderness
saloon, started me. Neither Of us, le.
it be frankly told, had enough practica
sense to comein when it rained. Surely
we would strike it, if there was a bit o
truth in the old adage.
His name was Hi Williams Miller, s,
he said, and he claimed TO be kin O
mine, but / afterward learned that hi
name was Miller Williams. He was
fearful liar, and had about as much con
science as q rubber band.
Boots and pick and pan and shovel
bacon, -four, frying pan, beans ani
blankets, and go, half hidden under on
huge loads, we crept out Of camp a
midnight mp the narrow trail Of tbs
middle fork between high walls of snow
For he had a pointer" he lisped, from
old Alva Boles, killed two years later il
the Pitt river massacre.
How in the world Hi Miller William
managed TO keep all this name / don
see. Names were rare Injuries in thos
days, especially long ones ike this, an'
many a good old man may be found il
those mountains to this day with nam
and date and nationality al worn ava.
and gone as from an old quarter. Bu
the true silver, trust God, is still there.
Three miles up the creek, a milo aboy
She very last cabin; the last mile or twI