Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1920-10-07
CALIFORNIA LETTER No. S.

= odHl IN the lOSeInile Ndlley are, 10 say
= the least, lax in looking after the inter
ests of their good Uncle and the public.
On labor day entered the corridor of
; the post office at Yosemite and having
occasion to use pen | went to the
desk. finding two empty ink wells, two
rusty pens and no blotters | remarked
TO gentleman standing near that I'm
Gle Sam must be getting poor or penur-
ious. This is no little country office;
far from it, for | would judge that
there is as much business transacted
there as in most of the cities of con-
siderable size.
f Another case in mind, and which really
I Jared my patriotic feelings, was that
OF the Tapping of poor, faded rag of
flag at the top of a tall flag pole near
some government buildings. A third
Earring of my sensbiities occurred on
discovering little old neglected wreck
or cemetery judge there was about
one acre of ground enclosed with com
mon two-board fence. 1t looked as
though the constructing of the fence
was to be the last act of respect ever
TO be paid the sleepers in that far away
lonely spot. There may have been
twenty graves that were distinguish
able. only half of them with markers to
Indicate who they were, the other half |
having only a few rough stones piled on
top. We were told they were the
graves of poor Lo, the Indian. There
were three or four monuments that |
were of great interest to us. One was
large, rough granite stone from the
near by mountain. One side was
dressed smoothly and bore the inscrip-
ton James Mason Hutchings, born
Feb TO- 1918, Died Oct. 81, 1902. Faith
er of the Yosemite, builder Of the first
roads. bridges and dwellings of the Yo-
semitic Valley. I"
BY the side Of this grave was anoth-
er, that of this pioneers daughter,
aged II. The inscription stated that
she was the first white child born in the
Yosemite Valley. On another stone
was recorded the name Of James G. |
Lamon, native of Virginia and the
pioneer settler of the Yosemite; died |
1876, aged So years. II has interested
me to learn from Mr.. j. c. James
of 40 oil La
Jimmy James, that so years ago he
sold beef and pork to these old pioneers
at their camps in the canyons leading
to the Yosemite,
We were specially interested in this
old cemetery from the fact that some
where within its confines sleeps the
grandmother of dear little motherless
boy here in MERGED whom we have
learned to love. We tried 90 locate the
grave, but that was impossible from the
fact that it had gone unmarked for l6
years and we could find no plot or rec
ord Of burials. We did find an old lady
who was the only one present at the
bedside of this lady when she passed
away. Her death seems to be shrouded |
with some unhappy mystery.
There is being erected near the Yo-
semitic Falls building that attracted
our attention and interested US when |
we learned that it was a club house and
home for all the brave forest rangers
of that district about fifteen of them.
The project was started through
gentleman making a gift of $40, 600. 1t
will cost $40 900, the government pro-
vding the balance. The building is
frame, much of it artisticialy rustic.
Every modern convenience for their
comfort, both winter and summer. is
included in it's construction These
brave young men are worthy Of every
thing that can be done for their com
fort and pleasure.
There are miles of electric light wires
strung throughout the camping grounds
that all may find their way during the
night time.
There are also miles Of water mains
providing an abundance of pure, cold
water There are public telephones
distributed conveniently through the
various camps and one may talk locally
or long distance for moderate charges