The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1908-10-23
RARE SIGHT in 40
WoMAN's VISIT TO CALIFORNIA
MINING CAMP.
Gold Seekers Showed Practical Appre.
citation Of the Presence Of a
Female-Made Up Large
Purse of Gold.


There were few women in the Cali
fornia mining camps III the old days,
as is proved by the following incident
from the "reminiscences of former Sen
ator William M, Stewart: Women
were so scarce in California at that
time that this was sufficient to arouse
the whole camp The boys. as we
were called, were scattered along the
Coyote diggings for a distance Of about
four miles, and when anything unusual
happened the words Oh, Joe, would
be passed along the whole line When
/ saw the feminine raiment | raised
the usual alarm, On, Joel and this
called the attention of the miners on
Buckeye hills, where / was, to the
clothesline which had attracted my
notice. They gathered around on the
hill, nearly surrounding the covered
wagon and its contents. The rush of
the boys in the immediate vicinity to
see the wonderful sight attracted
those farther away, and in less than
ten minutes 1000 or 5000 young men
were anxiously watching the wagon,
clothesline and fascinating lingerie.
In alarm the man that belonged to the
woman inside stuck his head out Of
small tent beside the wagon. ! as
sured him that no harm yas intended,
but that we were very anxious to see
the lady who was the owner of the
clothes. This aroused her curiosity
sufficiently to induce her to pull the
curtain Of the tent aside so that her
face could be discovered but not fully
seen.
II then proposed that we make
donation to the first lady that had hon
ored our camp with a visit. | took
from my camp buckskin bag, nsed
for the purpose of carrying gold, and
invited the boys to contribute. They
came forward. with great eagerness,
and poured out Of their sacks gold
dust amounting to between $4,000 and
81. 900. / then proposed to appoint
committee to wait on the lady and
present it, The motion was unani-
mously carried, and one of the gentle
men appointed on the committee sug-
gested myself as chairman. | took
the sack of gold and went within about
30 feet of the tent, and made as good
a speech as / could to induce the lady
to come out, assuring her that all the
men about her were gentlemen, that
they had seen no ladies for SO many
months and that the presence of one
reminded them of their mothers and
sweethearts at home. | told her that
the bag OF gold was hers on condition
that she would come out and claim II.
Her husband urged her to be braye-
but when she finally ventured ont
about half way, the cheers were so
vociferous that she was scared and
ran back.
she repeated this performance sew
eral times, and / kept moving slowly
back far enough to get her away from
the little tent so the boys could have
a good view of her. ! suppose half an
hour was occupied with her running
back and forth whilst the boys looked
on in admiration, when finally gave
her the bag, with all the good wishes
of the cemp She grabbed it and ran
rio tae tent Ike a rabbit. The next
morning the wagon, oxen, man and
owner Of the inspiring apparel were
gone, and we never heard Of them in
after life