The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-05-27
Ou8 FAwlly S1oay.
The Twilight Mine.

with tho country, ana, nOt many
mouths after, had good reason to be.
l,evo that | was gone up Win tne
country instead. After " wbile l DRIFT |
ed into Gold Gross camp. 1t was In |
tho dnys before Gold Cross had come |
90 the trout as u good thing, and the |
biz mills that arc now eating the sides |
out OF tho hills up there hadn't been |
Thought of. Tho boys wore running |
rockers down in tho gulch then, and
most OF them didn't make moro be-
tween meals than they could eat-and
drink-up at grub time. Ihere really
wasn't much life to the camp, and most
of the inhabitants wore tho kind OF
peoplo that try to mako you beliovo
tho Almighty has picked them out for
an especially favored brand Of martyrs.
And it was pretty quiet when Flzcn
Bill johnson came to town.
But PiZon Bill woke up the camp.
BIZ wasn't at more than ono place at
one time, but his reputation was every
wncro at once in the diggings, and II
didn't improve with age, either. Will
liam was dressed to kill. whenever
he moved you were apt to SEQ the
handle Of another weapon, that had
escaped your observation before, stick
ing out from somo new angle. His
record was worse looking than Ee was
which is saying " good deal. You
might lay his ugly looks to some dis
prnsation OF Providence that you didn't
quite SEQ the drift Of, but few people
would caro- 20 charge Il disposition llke
his 10 any thing but the Devil. Sorrow
was his shadow, and tho waillng ot
widows and the crying of orphans had
followed him out OF more than one
camp. But somehow, when he struck
Gold Gross, the general air OF condens-
ed shlftesSnrss seemed to take the
place of his usual original cussudness,
and, being above working, he just
settled down and drank between meals
and ate between drinks.
Finally, one day, he developed
enough energy to climb up Blmp,r
Hill, which is first cOus II to a prcclplce
and is on tho west sido of the gorge.
After that he made several trips up
there, generally after tho sun had
closed up his days business, and by and
by he Let il leak out that he had located
lirst-class quartz claim on ledge
whore the pitch WAS not too steep to
pile rock, ami also volunteered the
statement that the name OF HIS new
bonuuza was the Twilight, SO cnristen-
Cd brcp Isc he found IL better to work
up there after nlSltfail his cXplana.
tlun boinS that 1T was too hot to DO any
locating or anything else up there in
tue Gay timG-w which explanation was
probably us near tho truth as he usual y
got. In those days VIC mostly thought
that quartz mining was the calling OF
arch ldlois, it beng SO much easier
to run IL placer, aud SO good many OF
the boys laughed at him on tho sly
but those who bad heard Of him most,
and therefore worst, just shook their
heads and surmlsed he was up u some
thing. Not being interest,d in the
cemetery business, they didn't uy to
investigated. AS for P.zen Bill john
son, when he got his claim located to
SUIT, he just sat down and waited and
waited.
| came to Gold Gross on the hog
train, and, being discouraged with
mining that didn't pan out board bills,
took the first job that offered itsrt II,
which happened to be that of bar
kerpe" in tho Golden Oriolc ; for,
when II man is d hundred miles from
nowhere, without money and without
friends, his conscience gets sleepy
when there is IL promise Of bread and
butter in sight, unaccOmpanlcd by tho
prospect Of IL term IN jail.
The Golden OrlOle was in a niche in
the side of the gulch, where some en-
terprising idiots had washed out few
hundred tons Of dirt in hope Of finding
something rich, but had finally con
cluded that there was more money and
considerable less work in holding up
Stage coaches. Then II j.g-promotcr
from SACRAMENTO appeared on the
scene, and, Judging from tho looks Of
the thirsty Inhabitants that there were
several good openings that needed
filling built board palace on the ruins,
"hc cdlcss Of the iltd," and shortly
afterward there was revclry in car
load lots in that neigh bOrhOod. 1t
was q pretty solid castle for those days,
and huggcd up close on one end to the
side Of the gulch. An auction piano
furnished inspiration at one end OF the
big room that constituted tho inferior
OF the joint, and l. with the valuable
assistance Of the bar, furnished tho In
spiration AT the other end. There was
u window at one end OF the bar, the
sill Of which was on level with q
burro trail that tho miners had spoiled
when at the innocent work Of laying d
foundation for our house, and | used tC
retire through it 10 gaA. upon the ave
inspiring scenery outside and mediate
upon the beauties Of nature and tho
comfort OF sOlltude, whenever the
guests got to hurling solid arguments
at.ath other and commenced shoot
ing of some thing besides their mouths
1t really was 81 big institution for Gold
Cross, and the proprietor consumed
considerable time and whlskey in try
ing 10 make up HIS lnlHu "ltLI 10 cal
it, not being aclc to decide whethcr
"paiace or "puviIion was tho pro.
per handle, and eventually compro-
missing % "Gulden OriOr." There
was /, big table down the centre, which
was som, times used iOr uu exhibition
dance and som, times for laying out q
corpse, and surrounding IL were LOT
of small tables, where the boys pla cd
poker aud pedro for the drinks. The
Winning party in these gnmes was
given away by tho express agent, who
used to have standing jJkc about
twu-thirds OF the bullion output OF
Cold Gross culnlug through tho Golden
Oriole on its road to civiiization.
One day P.Znn Bill JobnsOn's wait
came to an end. Tho young fellow
that got rf the stage WAS SO awfully
green thr | couldn't help looking him
~. IL