Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1921-07-28
THE END OF THE TRAIL.


In my last letter conditionally prom
ised to tell you something about this
new home. which | shall designate as
THE End of the Trail | think you
will agree with re that the term is
most applicable.
The road to this most out of the way
secluded mountain fastness is reached
by winding, snake-shaped, road-sided
road from Auberry. five miles distant.
| say snake shaped, for, according to
my own personal count, there are It's
actual bends in the five miles, and
descent of over 600 feet. The whole
distance consists of crooks and turns
and ups and downs, depending on which
/ way you are travelling This brings
you to our camp only. The great pow
er house is over 300 feet almost straight
down below at the bottom of the canyon.
Our camp is situated only 1000 feet
above sea level, but hedged in on every
side by mountains covered with pine
and live oak trees and uncountable var
ieties of large and small shrubbery. and
between rocks upon rocks and heaps of
rocks.
/ There are deer. foxes, rabbits, quail.
rattle snakes, and wolves. Only this
week Mother Goldsworthy delivered the
I fatal blow that exterminated a RATHER
1 right in our doorway and within two
feet Of her face while sitting in the
shade. 1t was coiled up on small pro-
jecting stump. OF course. when | re-
fer to the incident, usually say. I'VE
killed the bar" for | struck at it, but
the old eyes are so dim missed my
aim and so had to divide the glory
This crooked road above referred to
was built by the power company for
their exclusive use and was indeed an
expensive proposition. All the vast
amount of material for the construction
and equipment of the power plant had
to be hauled over this road, besides the
lumber for the construction of the fifty
or more houses which constituted the
camp during the construction period.
The total cost, am informed, Of the
whole project was six million dollars,
and occupied over two years of time
working night and day. There were
900 men employed at one period Of the
work and these men had to be fed and
cared for by the company.
Before describing the power plant,
| must tell something Of our own ae-
commodations, conveniences, adyan-
tages and disadvantages. Our house is
one of the dozen or so remaining of the
original fifty or more. We of California
call such houses as ours shacks, but my
4 readers must not conclude that this
term denotes that the house is devoid
of comforts In the first place, it is
shaded all day long by the beautiful
live oaks. One variety is just now lad
en- with clusters of scarlet berries,
which, with the green leaves, equals
any bouquet Of flowers.
One minutes walk to a splendid bub-
ling spring from which we get our
drinking water, although the cold snow
water OF the river is piped to and
through our house, which consists OF
! three large rooms, a screened-in bee
room and a spacious porch And last
but not least, well equipped bstf
room with hot and cold water. Elec
tric lights, telephone, and say a big
! ice box that holds at least 200 pounds
, of ice, besides all the good thinge W.
, wish to keep, fresh and cold And thi
box is filled with ice every morning fre'
3 Of cost from the company's own ie,
plant right here in the camp, the SAM
' being operated for the exclusive bene
fit of the employees.
= There are about nine families her
p. besides some twenty single men. Their
. are, believe, nine ladies in the cam
n and only two young children. For th
benefit of the single men, the compan.
/. conducts a mess or eating house. en-
/. ploying two cooks and one helper. al