Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-08-11
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THREE
so - ~
WOMEN WERE SCARCE.
"A Feminine Face caused q Furore In
CALIFORNIA; EARLY Days.

& california's Early Days.
There were few women In the Calf
fornia mining camps In the old days.
and the advent Of an emigrant wagon
with woman in it caused a furore.
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. joel would
be passed along the whole line. When
saw the feminine raiment 4 raised
the usual alarm, oh. joel and this
called the attention Of the miners on
Buckeye hills. where / was to- the
elothesline 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 min
utes two or three thousand 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 rs
gured him that no harm was intended.
but that we were very anxious 10 see
the lady who was the owner OF the
clothes. This aroused her curiosity
sufficiently ito induce her to pull the
curtain of the tent aside SO that her
face could,, be discovered. but not fully
seen,
81 then proposed that we make a do
nation to the first lady that had hon
ored our camp with a visit. II took
from my camp a buekskin bag. used
for thei purpose of carrying gold.f and
invited s.the boys to contribute. They
came forward with great eagernass
and poured out Of their sacks gold
dust amounting to between $1,000 and
5000. l then proposed to appoint q
committee to wait on the lady and
| present it. The motion was unant-
mously carried, and one of the gentle
men appointed on the committee sug-
gested mysehsass chairman. I took the
sack Of gold and went within about
thirty feet .sof the tent and made as
good, 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. I told hel
that the bag of gold was hers on con
dition that she would come out and
claim it, Her husband urged her to
be brave, but when she finally ven
tured out about halfway the cheers
were SO Sociferous that she was scared
and ran back. 1s' -',- -. s4@:t
."She repeated this performance sev
eral times, and kept moving slowly
back far enough. to get her away from
the little tent SO the boys could hay.
good view Of her. ! suppose, half al
hour was occupied with her running
back and forth while the boys looked
on in admiration, when / finally CAV
her the bag, with all the good wishe
Of the camp. She grabbed 1t and raj
into the tent like a rabbit. The mex
morning the wagon, oxen, man an,
owner lof the inspiring apparel wer
gone, and we never heard Of them Il
after life =, =>..-.a ..1.st, 81.