The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-07-16
INTERVIEW WITH JOAQUIN
MILLER

S8+ MlAlLEn
A paper read by Mrs. Turner at a
meeting Of the Woman's Club of
Meadows, Idaho, on March 18th.
Joaquin Miller, the Poet of the
Sierras
In the year 1851, q farmer from
the banks Of the Wabash District In
Indiana, moved to the wilder regions
OF Oregon. In his family was rude,
untaught boy ten or twelve years Of
age, bearing the unusual name Of Gin
cinnatus Heine Miller. This boy work
ed with his Father on the farm until
he was about is years OF age, when
he abandoned the family log cabin
In the Willamette Valley OF Oregon to
try his fortune as gold miner. "A
more daring attempt we seldom II
ever see undertaken BY fifteen year
old youth. II was during the most
desperate period Of western history,
just after the report Of the discovery
OF gold had caused the greatest rush
to the Pacific Slope. A miscellaneous
and turbulent population swarmed
over the country armed to the
teeth prospecting upon streams and
mountains. The lawless, reckless life
Of these gold hunters, millionaires to-
day and beggars tomorrow deeming
1t "a virtue rather than crime to have
taken a life In brawl-was at once
novel, picturesque and dramatic, Such
conditions furnish great possibilities
for the poet and novelist. 1t was an
era as replete with really thrilling ex-
element as that furnished by the his
tory and mythology of ancient Greece
to the earlier Greek poets.
1t was into this whirlpool that the
young, untaught but observant and
daring farmer lad threw himself, and
when Its whirl was not giddy and fast
enough for him, or palled upon his
more exacting taste for exciting and
daring adventure, he left 1t after a
few months and sought deeper and
more desperate wilds. With Walker,
he became filibuster and went into
Nicaragua. He became in turn an
astrologer and Spanish Vaquero, and
Joining the wild Indians, was made a
Sachem.
For five years he followed these
adventurous wanderings. Then as
suddenly as he had entered the life,
he deserted it and in 1860, the prodi-
gal returned to his fathers cabin in
Oregon. In his, right arm he carried
bullet; In his right thigh another,
and on many parts of his body were
the scars left by Indian arrows. Short
~ after returning home he began the
study Of law, and was admitted to
the bar within few months In Lane
County, Oregon, but the gold fever
or spirit of adventure took possession
of him again, and In 1851 we find
him in the gold mines of Idaho. But
the yellow metal did not come into
his ''pan" sufficiently fast and he gave
1t up to become an express messenger
in the mining district. A few months
later he was back in Oregon, where
he started a Democratic newspaper at
Yaquin city, which he ran long
enough to get acquainted with poet
ical contributor, Miss Minnie Myrtle,
whom he married in 1862--in his
usual short order way of doing things,
after an acquaintance of three days.
Where Joaquin Miller--for he was
now called Joaquin after Spanish |
brigand whom he had Acknowledged |
his education Is mystery, but |
through years Of wandering, even in
boyLood, he was rhymester. and his
verses now began to come fast in
the columns of his paper.
In 1852 after his marriage he re-
sumed the practice of law and in
1866, at the age Of 25 was elected
Judge OF Grant county. This posi-
tion he held for four years, during
which time he wrote much poetry.
One day, with his usual "suddenness'
he bandoned his wife and his country
and sailed for London to secure pub
Usher AT first he was unsuccessful,
and had to print small volume pri-
vately. This introduced him to the
of English writer's, and his
Songs of the Sierras' was issued in
1871. These verses were faulty in
style and called forth strong criticism,
but the tales they told were glowing
and passionate, and the wild, and adj
venturous life they described was a
new revelation in the world of song
and verify, whatever the austere crit
ic said, the common people heard
him gladly" and his success became
/.