The Washington herald., 1907-12-29

When we were tumbled out of the train
in the middle Of the night at Sacramento.
and playfully informed we had missed
connection" and our engaged Goldfeld
"sleepers'' had moved on" a sense of
despair smote our souls. Goldfield, Did
II really exist, or was IL merely the mi
rage of lifes elusive haIlucination? To
find no apartments at any OF the hotels
and finally take refuge in vague rooms
pilOted by a gallant travelling gentle
man." was accepted as one of those
nercles of travel for which one prays.
Perhaps these rooms were, after all, bet
ter than the leftover ones the inns might
have provided.
After a nondescript meal at a strange
cafe the next morning we FASTENED. an
hour too early. TO pick UP the Southern
Pacific. It's tricks were becoming well
known to our weary spirits. And here.
before l enter the deserts. may l not
cxpress my amusement once more at the
discrepancies between dream and reality.
The Southern Pacifcl What have We
not heard and read of it in fiamboyant
advertisement and frenzied puff. What
have we not been told of the genius of
its inventors. promoters. managers. and
that II the presidents Of these enterprises
commit errors they should be pardoned
on the ground of their magnitude. As
a member of the grateful public" I
sadly smile Never since earliest child
hood-and 1 have Travelled much-have
imagined a more one-horse affair than
A.
men who run it to stop safely at home
with their wives and children, and not
risk their bones or their nerves 10 its
cruel deceptioss. Conductors, porters.
brakemen. all remain blandly ignorant
Of where one is to stop when one is 10
arrive. if one is to be fed or not. and
what hours.
The dining car. so widely advertised,
is a thing of chance. 1t swings at ones
back for a day, then is ruthlessly cut
of. and one is left in hungry anguish
staring blankly at the landscape, glad to
gnaw a vagrant orange or dusty bis
cult The trains stop at every tree and
shack, for apparently no useful reason.
If one feebly demonstrates, one is told:
Wen get there when we do; thirty-one
hours late last week. One Is often-if
not destroyed ones self-held up hours
in the wake of cataclysm. The wreck
ing train" is one of the agitations Of
sOmbre Sierra and desolate gorge. For
" engines smashed in nineteen days"
said a fellow sufferer to me, and though
I knew he meant nineteen in forty, 1
felt even this number inadequate 10 fill
ones demand for adventure
/ had been greatly shocked at the care
less mismanagement Of the Canadian Pa
cifc. The Southern Pacific IS far worse.
Added 10 its irregularities of speed, its
accommodations and appointments are
very inferior.
1t was soon after leaving Reno We
at last slipped into the wilderness
Clasped in a wide basin of hills it lies
melancholy stretch of yellow sand
tufted with sagebrush grasses. lonely.
bare, beautiful, Here and there the flora
is remarkable. Now and then this
parched and arid soil blossoms into unex-
pected lovely growths, glorious in their
hues Of saffron, purple, and dus1y rose.
Walker Lake. smooth. blue. and de-
serted. a few gulls swooplng and scream
ing low to its tides. the huddled tents OF
some forgotten prospector. tired burros
bearing their draft of precious water
across the treeless land, alone mark the
uneventful hours. The sunsets are superb.
radiant with atmospheric impressions of
drab and green and gray and gold. A
soft light seems 10 linger across the
heavens until dawn.
We alighted TO dawdle a moment at
Tonopah. then on 10 our mecca-Gold-
field at last And here 1 will say di-
rectly how entirely false many of the
tales I had heard of this towns wretched
conditions are. Given robust health.
pluck-one might add strong eyes and
throat-and some money. GOldfield is 4
possible residence. To speak Of eyes and
throat. the wind and dust-bad enough
on the plains-is still more trying in the
unpaved streets. where they are charged.
no doubt. with unhealthy microbes Cog
gles and thick wells are imperative to
comfort. at least on the windy days and
always in the motors These speed num-
5erless hither and thither. carrying their
freight Of busy men and pleasure-seek-
ing women TO and from distant mines and
camps. 1 said some money. The term
necessities is comparative. No doubt one
could live reasonably al Goldfeld. One
can eat bacon and pie, sleep, put away in
ones blanket, on some shelf. or hidden
in a leaky, self-built cabin. The gently
bred. 10 whom such things are unknown
and for whom they are unwise find Gold
field an expensive place.
We can get all comforts here" said a
successful financier-I knew him by the
hang Of his shoulders-at my table one
day at the Palm Grill-Goldhelds Sher-
rvs.
could not resist leaning forward and
replying, You are right. 1 have Just
paid so cents for quart of milk-it was
very fair He seemed much amused, and
said: Madam. you have been robbed. -
l viii here add in justice to Goldfield' s
cOmmissariat. that I finally unearthed a
milkman who served us for % cents a
quart.
The successful men of GoldfeId are
marked. They can be recognized by a
certain stealthy quiet. The really sue
cessful never brag, talk little, if at all,
Of their triumphs. It is the small fry
that strut and crow and slay you with
their egOtsm. 1t is ungratified vanity
that is noisy.
There are fifteen thousand souls in
Goldfield to-day. Many have made
money. Only thirty have touched fortune.
A small single room is, II decent, 50 a
day. No hotels give meals. Foraging is
one of the principal anxieties. One sees
flying figures laden with provisions has
tening to their lairs to cook. on the oil
stove. their quickly collected repast. The