The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1897-08-26
POET OF THE SIERRAS
he is After The Golden Nuggets First
and Literary Material Second.
KENTUCKTS HOLY TERROR" 4 WOMAN
Tn Natural Coi0rs
drought 10 Perfecsien-some OF
she New and Attractive lnven.
sions-Osher BITS of News.

Chicago Tribune: That Joaquin Mil.
Ter, the poet, should go to Alaska with q
party OF gold hunters, and his own state.
ment that his chief reason for going is to
dig gold and incidentally to gather ma.
terials for new literary lsbors, is not sur.
prising to those acquainted with the in.
cidents of his varied career. Surely no
poet ever had a more varied career. For,
contrary to the generally accepted opin.
ion that all poets have an instructive
scorn for earthly gold. the "poet OF the
Sierras" has always had the gold fever.
and every discovery from the days Of '49
to the present Klondyke excitement has
found him quickly on the scene. In '4s
glimpse Of him as a boy in the pioneer
Oregon home shows him fretting and
chatting under its hardships and priva.
tons, not selfshly, but longing for a
wider sphere and an opportunity to gain
wealth that he might lift the burden OF
toll from his father and mother and pro-
cure for himself the ease and luxuries of
life. Two years later found him in Cal
ifornia mining camp experiencing the
disappointments that must come to the
dreamy, speculative youth who Stunned
the slow process OF digging and toiling,
and spent his time devising the most
visionary schemes to get more quickly
the gold ne longed for. Up on the noun.
tain went this boy Of thirteen, ragged.
barefooted, hungry and penniless, and
asked of the cliffs and boulders q solu-
ton Of the problem.
He did not find the gold, but his hope
sustained him through all the dark days
OF disappointment. He did the general
work Of the camp, and when he was not
cooking pork and beans or washing
dishes, occupied his time by scribbling
down in rude verse the thoughts aud fan.
cies that came into his mind. A man 10
the camp undertook one day to correct
the rythm of some Of his verse, but Mil.
Ter impatiently snatched the paper from
his hand, saying: Hang your rythm
| tell you l have ideas, and know what
poetic license means.''
The rowing, wandering life which Mil.
Ter followed for the next five yeats is in
teresting only from the incident which
gave to him the name OF "Josquin." At
that time the Americans in California
did not look upon the Mexicans az agree.
able neighbors, and lost no opportunity
Of showing their i'll will by acts which
led the Mexicans to retaliate in kind, and
often in deeds of outlawry and violence
Their most notorious leader was the out
law Joaquin Murietta, who inspired the
Americans with such terror and dread
that even after bis death the more super
stitious among them believed him to be
still alive among the mountains OF North
ern California. Miller sympathized with
the Mexicans, and wrote and published q
letter defending Murietts and condemn
ing the attitude of the Americans toward
the Mexicans.
When in 1861 the excitement OF the
gold discoveries in Idaho territory was
highest, Miller, who had been reading
law at his fathers home in Oregon,
threw down his books and FASTENED to
the scene with the same intense ambi-
ton to get gold, and his newspaper cor
respondence on his present expedition
shows that he may again be 81 pected to
adopt as practical a course to get 1t a. be
did then-and the practical may some
times be expected even of poet, and q
poet like joaquin Miller. Made wiser,
possibly, by bis earlier failures, he made
no attempt at digging or specializing, but
had himself made manager OF an ex-
press for carrying the mail, provisions
and supplies from camp to camp, and at
the end of year was able to return to
his home in Oregon with a large cum oil
money. Then he began the literary ca
reer that has brought him recognition on
two continents.
The beauty of The Heights" the
Oakland home which Joaquin Miller has
left for the hardships Of winter 10
Alaska, has been often described; but il
may not be 80 generally known that high
up on the mountain side there are three
heaps Of stone, and beside each heap q
pile Of wood. When questioned about
them one day, Joaquin Miller replied:
when am dead my body will be
placed there and burned. In the smoke
my soul will ascend to heaven"
One heap has already been used. The
other is for a Partisan woman whose
body, when she 10 dead, will be brought
there and burned.