Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-08-23

N eted our horses, left our
" dishes unwashed and hur-
ried down to the diggings
just at sunup. carrying our gold pans,
or "washbowls," and our extra tools.
The bar was as yet deserted. We set
to work with q will, taking turns with
the pickax and the two shovels. !
must confess that our speed slowed
down considerably after the first Wild
burst, but we kept at It steadily. 1t
was hard work, and there is no deny
ing 1t, just the sort of plain hard work
the day laborer does when he digs
sewer trenches in the city streets, only
worse, perhaps, owing to the nature of
the soil. It had struck me since that
those few years Of hard labor in the
diggings, from '49 to '53 or "a, saw
more actual manual toll accomplished
than was ever before performed in
the same time BY the same number OF
men. The discourag cement Of those re-
turning we now understood. They had
expected to take the gold without toll
and were dismayed at the labor 1t had
required. At any rate, we thought we
were doing our share that morning,
especially after the sun came up. We
welded our implements manfplly, piled
our debris to one side and gradually
achieved q sort Of crumbling uncertain
excavation reluctant to stay emptied.
About an hour after our arrival the
other miners began to appear, smoking
their pipes. They stretched themselves
lazily, spat upon their hands and set
to. Our friend Of the day before nod
ded at us cheerfully and hoped down
into his hole.
We removed what seemed to us tons
Of rock. About noon. just as we were
thinking rather dispiritedly of knock
ing of work for lunch, which In our
early morning eagerness we had for
gotten to bring, Johnny turned up a
shovelful whose lower third consisted
Of the pulverized blush clay. We
promptly forgot both lunch and our
own WEAKNESS.
"Hey!' shouted our friend, scram-
bling from his own claim. EASY with
the rocks! What are you conducting
here, volcano" He peered down at
us. "Pay dirt, hey? Well. take 1t
easy. It won't run away"
Take it easy! AS we'll ask us to quit
entirely! We tore at the rubble, which
aggravatingly and obstinately cascad
ed down upon US from the sides. We
scraped eagerly for more Of that blue
clay. At last we had filled our three
pans with a rather mixed lot of the
dirt and raced to the river. Johnny
fell over q bowlder and scattered his
painful far and wide. His manner OF
seuttling back to the hole after more
reminded me irresistibly Of the way a
contestant in a candle race huries
back to the starting point to get his
candle relighted. f.
We panned that dirt clumsily and
hastily enough and undoubtedly lost
much valuable sand oversize, but we
ended each with a string Of color. We
crowded together, comparing our pans.
Then we went crazy. suppose we
had about quarter Of a dollars worth
Of gold between us, but that was not
the point. The long journey with all
its hardships and adventures, the toll.
the uncertainty, the hopes, the disap-
Apointments and reactions had at last
their visible tangible conclusion. The
tiny fecks of gold were a symbol. We
capped aloud, we kicked up our heels,
we shook hands, we finally Joined
hands and danced around and around.
We worked with entire absorption.
quite oblivious to all that was going
on about us. It was only by accident
that Yank looked up at last, so l do
not know how long Don Gaspar had
been there a A's.
.Will you look at that?" cried Yank.
Don Gaspar, still in his embroidered
boots, his crimson velvet brooches, his
white linen and his sombrero, but
without the blue and silver Jacket, was
busily welding pickax hundred
feet or so away. His companion, or
servant, was doing the heavier shovel
work.
"Why, oh, why" breathed Johnny at
last, do you suppose, If he must mine,
he doesn't buy himself suit Of dun
garees or q flannel shirt?"
"Tu bet it's the first hard work no