Evening star., 1895-07-27

WE VM%M OF the United states,
" Inn has the reputation of
~ M being difficult
man to interview.
Ihat Is probably due to the fact that Mr..
Morrison is at times a little crusty. If
you ask him questions about things he does
not wish to discuss, he is likely to reply
IN way that to strangers ear would
suggest biliousness and a chronic dissatis-
Iaction with the works of the Creator But
with little pleasant persistency it is not
| at all difficult to get below the surface
with Col Morrison. and when you do get
below the surface you find a conversa-
tlonal capacity which is as surprising as
IL is agreeable. That develops when you
get really acquainted with Col. Morrison,
Tor 10 stranger he has little if any glib
ness OF tongue. Some things Col Morri-
son does not talk about, even to his friends,
and one of those is the possibility Of his
re mination by the next democratic ma
f1.,. f1o,ai convention for President of the
united states. His name has been discuss
ed In connection with the nomination for
great many years by those who regard
nlm ana a. not Mr. Cleveland as the origi-
nal tariff reformer. Mr.. Morrison does not
believe that Mr.. Cleveland will be a can
o-date Tor the nomination, but he does
not say that Col. Morrison will
The Gold Fever.
i had been in the Mexican war;" he
said, when 1 asked him about his expert
ence as a '49er, land after that I was not
content to settle down to farming. When
the goid fever struck our country I was
ready to go and 1 Joined a number of
Young men from my section who were
anxious to go to California. We were like
the hundred days men in the late war
We were afraid there wouldn't be any gold
left by the time We got there. We had
started for st. Louis with OK teams; but
wren we reached the city I concluded that
the OK team would not go fast enough for
me and sold 1t and bought one-fourth
interest in mule outfit that three Louisi-
ana fellows had They seemed like wild
devils. and ! thought they'd get there
souri, to Independence-near where Kansas
CITY now is; there wasn't any Kansas City
then From Independence we started across
the plains. Indians We're pretty thick, but
We didn't see any and 1 don't know that
we were ever in danger. About twenty
eight or thirty of us started together, and
We had nine or ten wagons. All the other
peope were from Missouri. A good many
OF them are living in Missouri now, and
see them sometimes when I'm in the
west.
1T took us about a hundred days to
cross the plains. We lived on bacon and
hard tack principally, and did our own
cooking. When We started We had a little
flour and we used to mix it with the bacon
fat and little salt and fry it or bake it.
the HOur gave out after a time and
then we had to iive on hard bread. oh,
yes, did my share of the cooking and the
camp work.
We went to Sacramento first and then
struck off into the mountains l was out
nineteen OF twenty months and in all that
time never saw a woman or a child"
"Were you ever in shooting scrape?"
Order without Law.
NO." said Col. Morrison. Il have seen
there would be one or two gamblers and
they used to get into quarrels sometimes
and do some shooting. But take it alto
gether. that mining camp in California was
the most orderly community was ever in,
not excepting Washington. There was no
law there and quarrel meant the risk of
a life. People didn't get into fights unless
there was pretty good reason for it. Be
sides the men who went to California in
1873 were as rule good men. 1t took $500
or $4OO to get across the continent in those
days and there was no opportunity for
loafers to get to the diggirlgs. After a
time some lawyers got into the camp, and
then we had arbitrations sometimes. But
as rule the lawyers had very little to do
and 1t was because they had nothing else
and framed a state constitution. They had
no more right to frame constitution than
you had, but their constitution was the one |
on which the state Of California entered
the Union.
I'VE only scratched the surface in those |
days. Each of us had little rocker and |
we got gravel out Of the crevices and |
washed the gold out of it little at a time, |
ing 1t up with machinery to extract the |
gold from 1t we knew nothing about, That |
all came afterward. Still we got a good |
deal of gold together. I brought $4,000 |
back with me in two years, and that was |
a good deal of money for a farmer boy"
How much do you think you took out |
of the ground in that time-s2o,OOO or
"Oh, more than that" said Col. Morrt-
son. Our expenses were very heavy Many
and many time l have spent half an
ounce of gold dust-that was $S-for drink
IF whisky And whisky was pretty chean
n those days. There wasn't any tax on II
and l suppose it was worth twenty or
twenty-five cents at the still. But when
you paid the freight on. it overland or
around by Panama, and then brought II on
pack mules out to the mining camps. its
value increased enormously During the
winter months we were shut off from sup
plies and we had to live along toward
spring on bacon and hard bread. Whisky
md pickles and sardines were a luxury and |
he first trader who got across the noun
aims found good market. The trader
would come into camp, get some timber
md put up rough shanty. A log would
De the bar. If he was the first trader to
each the camp he could get almost any
'rice for his stuff"
His Gold Lesson.
''Why didn't you stay in the gold coun-
ry and make your fortune?' I asked.
II wanted to get back home" said Col
Morrison. II didn't go out there to stav
W went simply to get some gold. The thing
lave stayed. I came back by way of the
Panama isthmus. There were pretty slow
,oats going down the coast to Panama tnsl
bose days. When we reached Panama. We
rave a man an ounce apiece for the privi-
ege OF riding his mules across the isthmus
ie had a black man. who went with us.
The black man walked. and when we got
9 the end of the journey. he took charge
f the mules and drove them back. The
Dad we had to travel was the old Bolivar
Dad. and it was paved with uncrushed
nacadam. Some Of it in little pebbles and
ONE in powders twice as big as your
lead. There had been good deal Of rain,
nd the stones were very slippery. I rode
ny mule few miles and had number of
alls. Finally became disgusted. took the
mule to ono side of the road and tied him |
o tree. + have never seen him SINCE ]
walked as far as the Chagres river, and
uyhio |