The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-11-29

Smith college, on her way to Califor.
mia. So you see there was four of us
Just enough to play bridge-so we
played all the way out / can only
stop a moment on the many places OF
interest through which we passed. The
Royal Gorge is grand, but Pixies Peak
somewhat Disappointing; the Garden of
the Gods cracked even my elastic i'm
agination. Colorado Springs and Man
iton are evrything that is claimed for
them. However, we enjoyed the seem
cry of Utah, much more than that of
Colorado. / was SO taken with it and
with Salt Lake City, that had some
old Brigham Young offered me his
hand and heart, Goldfeld would never
have seen me.
Smallpox Scare on Pullman.
After leaving Ogden, where we were
delayed twelve hours, all went well
until we arrived in a small town in
eastern Nevada. 1t was whispered that
we were delayed because one of the
porters on one of the PulImans had
the smallpox, and that his car was to
be switched off. The whole train was
in an uproar, lest we should all be
quarantined; but they switched the
poor 'nigger" off by himself, and we
sped on. We played bridge whist hard
through eastern Nevada, to keep from
looking out of the window, for sage
brush and sand was all we could see.
We arrived at Hazen about five in the
afternoon and had to change cars for
Goldfeld. At the hotel we were told
that we could go no further on ac-
count of strike on the Golield and
Tonopah railroad, but we were not
alone in misery as there were about
twenty-five people bound for the same
destination. However, we got as far
as Nina, about l20 miles from Gold
field, and there we had to stay. But,
oh! my! what il hot stuffy ride this
was, but we lived through it. When
we reached Nina the railroad company
took us to the best hotel, paying all
our expenses, where we stayed three
days. And such crowd we found
here; people had been piling up every
day since the strike was. We wired
the school board that we were as far
as we could get, and asked what we
should do, and received a reply to the
effect: "Come on, the walking is good"
Later in the evening we received an
other wire saying that they would
send an auto for us that night. They
did, and we started on our ride of 100
miles over the desert, Monday morn
ing. l need not tell you the rate at
which we Travelled, and that we only
touched the high spots, when I tell
you that we left Nina at $50 a. m.
and arrived at Goldfield at l2:l5 p. m.
the same day. Think of that for speed,
jumping off a springboard is tame com
pared to it. 1t cost the school board
$50 passenger, and as there were
seven of us, it totalled $2lO But,
what do they care for expenses in
Goldfield?
Expected to See a Camp.
My greatest surprise and disappoint-
ment, however, was the first sight of
Goldfield. 1 had anticipated seeing a
real mining camp for the first time
in my life, and what was my sur
prise, when, instead of a camp, we
entered great city, away out here on
the desert. The place has buildings
which would put the city of Mime
apolis to shame. I have not the time
to describe them all, but will tell you
of the one in which 1 am most inter
ested-the new high school. The
building cost 100000 and is built of
brick and Nevada stone, and has all
the modern improvements. The new
water main, just completed, brings to
the city each day, over 100000 gal
Ions of the finest water anyone could
wish for. You can have all the wa
ter you want-provided you have the
price. The water is brought to the
city from distance of over thirty
four miles, My people here have their
own wells, which produce very good
water, though somewhat soft. The
streets are the worst | ever saw or
heard of. After a rain, which they
have here occasionally in the fall, the
only way to get along is to put on
boots and wade. Rubbers are of no
use The mud is knee deep and about
as thick as 'hasty pudding" We have
had three such wades since we struck
the camp. The reason for this is the
city has no drainage. As the rain falls
it mixes with the dust, which is an
other charming feature of this place.
But, consider, the place is only three
years old
The city is situated in a small val
ley surrounded on three sides by low
mountains, which produce the gold. l
have seen some very fine specimens of
ore, one of which is kept in the court
house. We were told that it was
taken from one of the miners who was
high grading it. | don't suppose this
term is familiar to you, but in your
country it means "swiping." This spec
linen was about the size of slab of
bacon. We were told it was taken
from the 'Iittle Florence" mine, and
was valued at $1,000. All stories about
being able to kick the gold out of the