The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1908-11-06
RARE SIGHT IN '49
WoMAN's VISIT TO CALIFORNIA
MINING CAMP.
Gold Seekers Showed Practical Appre-
eiation Of the Presence of
Female-Made Up Large
Purse Of Gold.

There We're few women in the Call.
fornia mining camps In the old days.
as is proved by the following incident
from the "reminiscences of former Sen.
ator William NJ 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 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. oh, Joe!' and this
called the attention OF the miners on
Buckeye hills, where / was, to the
clotheeline which had attracted my
notice. They gathered around on the
hill, nearly surrounding the covered
wagon and it's 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 a /
small tent beside the wagon I as
sured him that no harm vas intended. |
bur 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.
Il then proposed that we make a
donation to the first lady that had hon.
ored our camp with a visit. took
from my camp a buckskin bag, used
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 g. 900 and
$4,000 | then proposed to appoint a
committee to wait on the lady and
present II. 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 aud made as good
a speech as | could to induce the lady
to cemt out. assuring her that all the
men aNout her were gentlemen, that
they had seen no ladies for so many
months and that the presence of one
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 It.
Her husband urged her to be brave
but when she finally yentured out
about half way. the cheers we're so
yoclferous that she was scared and
ran back
She repeated this performance sev.
eral times. and l 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
n the camp. She grabbed It and ran
nto the tent like a rabbit The next
the wagon. oxen. man and
,wner Of the inspiring apparel were
gone, and we never heard Of them in
lfter life