Show f RCOLLCTIONS0F A 4ER Stories of the Olden Golden Days Which HaveNever 1 GBOldenTD1act f i r > s Been Toldf j I I It is probable that Jan 24 will be I made a state holiday in California It j is the 50th anniversary of the discovery 9f1 gold in CalIfornIa and active work f i is being done tcTrhake i the golden jubilee jubi-lee a great success The Native Sons I association is engaged in the work of i preparation and the parade which will j t j take place inSan Francisco promises to DO a spectacle well worth witnessing This is a worthy affair and I hope It Will be all that is promised for it But I winder how many of the real old 49ers wilJ be present to witness this I 50th anniversary of what after all has been the biggest gold excitement that this country ever experienced I wonder if the people who will witness the pageant pa-geant which is to typify in its way the final triumph of the early struggles hardships and destitution which the old miners encountered in the old days willfully will-fully realize in their present prosperity what those first years meant to the gold seekers The speaker was George S Lee who in his youth toqk part in the great rush across the continent which followed fol-lowed the discovery of gold in California Cali-fornia Mr Lees adventures in search of the yellow metal were as varied and I as startling as any participated in by I any other 49er and his reminiscences I reminis-cences are well worth recording It was not all hardship to be sure says Mr Lee but there was enough of it to go round and not nearly enough of the pleasanter side of life At the same time every man who was there and is still living will on the occasion of this jubilee look back to the old days with I many a regret The scenes and characters charac-ters have never I believe been dupli cafea In any mining district in the world I have read many descriptions of life in the old camps but none of them seemed to have got deep down into the human lifeof the thing There were many facts and incidents which have never been recorded and yet they were essentially typical of the old days and stood out prominently and will be remembered by any 49er Characters met with in no other part of the world outside of mining fields congregated there broken down and dissipated preachers gamblers horse thieves lawyers doctors clerks men of every nationality and of good I and bad repute But so strictly were the p ics of meum and teum enforced In impartial trials by miners jury that I cabins ad camps were left without lock bolt or bar often wtih great value in gold dust or other property left therein but few instapces of theft occurred I oc-curred murder being far more frequent thart robbery Saloon rows were of daily or weekly occurrence and there were always one or more victims to be planted with their boots on Gambling was carried on openly at all times more especially from Saturday night to Monday Mon-day morning and the weekly earnings of the miners generally were in the pockets of the gambler on the latter day Every mining camp boasted of its typical bad manor men and at slight provocation th revolver made itself heard and another victim was credited to the already large score of the desperado des-perado One of the typical characters whom I recall was a man named Bronson a good looking well meaning fellow without education but Vith intense desire de-sire not to let the lack of it appear Whenever he heard a word not in common com-mon use he treasured Jt up and whenever when-ever opportunity to use it presented itself it-self he was sure to bring it into the conversation Thus he heard the word quondam Seated one flay on a saloon porch when a woman went by he was asked who she was and made answer Why that is Mrs Smith quondam Miss Jones As a special and greatly desired favor he was invited to one of the infrequent vedding that took place in the section The bride a girl of 14 had attended school inSan Francisco for several month and being also the daughter of the stage driver a high functionary in those days it was esteemed es-teemed a mark of great favor to receive re-ceive an invitation her wedding After Af-ter the ceremony Bronson was seen in conversation with the rde and the following conversation between them r Was overheard Was you right glad to get hitched up Miss Nellie Well no but dad sort of reckoned it was about time seem as I had fin isiieu my euucuuun > Gpin to hang out in the old dig inst Sort o think I will Bills got right smart show to pan out well in the Lottie his mining claim Still Miss Nellie it sorter beats me after swingin round with them hightoned gallutes in Frisco how you can content yourself in these nefarious hills absentary from all female sociability socia-bility Bronson was exceedingly desirous of marrying and the population having been increased by one or more of the gentler sex he immediately endeavored to secure the affections of a girl named Lizzie His attentions were not rel ished and Lizzie said one day to a I friend If he comes my way much more I will scald him Vith dish water wa-ter This was imparted to Bronson Previously he had consulted a friend as to the proper way of making his desires known to Lizzie The friend advised him to dress himself in his best clothes call upon her and when she opened the door to him as presumably pre-sumably she would say Good evening even-ing Mr Bronson walk in and take a seatto act promptly on the invitation invita-tion and if possible get a seat beside Lizzie on the Sofa where his own good judgment and sense would tell him what to do next I Some days after this lesson Bronson I was discovered In a retired place in I what seemed to be the act of rehearsing J hlsprospective part First he knocked at an imaginary door then removed his hat from his head made a low bow and speaking slowly and distinctly said Good evening Miss Lizzie Then followed a short pause when presumably Miss Lizzie said Good evenjng Mr Bronson wont you walk In and take a seat1 Finally with the utmost disdain and scorn upon his face and with the profanity usual in such cases Bronson turned upon his heel saying Not much only tell me when youre going to scald your hogs One can realize how great was the excitement occasioned by the advent of I Women of any character into a camp of that description A peculiar Incident in the early history of the mining sections sec-tions was the hiring of girls In Germany Ger-many for the edification of the miners I Contracts were made with them in the old country by which payment of their passage to California was secured with provisions for sufficient remuneration II while in pursuit of their calling These giljls were characterized as hurdy gurdys There were always four in a band with an old woman as duenna I and a young boy who playedupon an accordion Their Doming was heralded for months previous Immediately upon arrival of the troupe the billiard table was removed from one of the saloon floors the girls were seated on a rough bench or stood in a row by the wall thC accordion struck up a set for quadrille was formed or a waltz played the miners leading out the girls without the formality of an introduction introduc-tion After theTWhlrl they were paid outright 25 or 50 ents sometimes more drinks were ordered at the bar to recompense the saloon keeper for the loss of billiard table profits and night after night the scene was reenacted re-enacted until the funds of the camp were at as low an ebb as in the ordinary ordi-nary small town after the departure 9f a circus Tet toitim credit 3f the girls be It said they were not pnly temperate drinking nothing but soda water or sarsaparJUa but free from other vices and afterward married weir and becamevalued < m rimpeithd J 4 0 l4t members of a not too exclusive society I Naturally in a community where women wom-en were scarce they received the adulation adu-lation of the entire male population i and offers of marriage were showered 1 f upon them by the miners to whom a smile from a woman meant happiness beyond comprehension They were followed fol-lowed from town to town by > enamored I youths valuable presents being given them in order to gain the least expression expres-sion of their good will or fancy Some of the pages in the history oC I the time were highly dramatic others exceedingly pcthetic they were all Interesting I In-teresting During this period the valley of Sacramento was one vast mesa raeching from the coast range of the f I t Pacific ocean on the east to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the west and 1 from the headwaters of the Sacramento on the north to the bay of San Pueblo on the south No enclosure or fence restricted or bounded any special domain do-main and transportation across the plain was generally accomplished in the old time prairie schooner Several of these outfits traveled in company so as to aid each other in case of accident ac-cident j I Once during the hottest month of the year I remember seeing what to me I was one of the strangest sights I had ever encountered Behind one of the prairie schooners was a man trudging along in the dust of the rear or trail wagon Noosed about his neck was a rope the other end of which was fast to the rear end of the wagon When a halt was made to feed the animals either at noon or when camped for the night instead of joining the travelers assembled around their campfires this erratic individual held aloof stretching stretch-ing himself on the heated barren ground to sleep partaking of food only when it was thrOwn to him by one or another of the campers In every respect it was his endeavor to follow out and imitate the actions of a dog and to be tr 8 ted as such Day after day this strange procedure was persistenly followed to the end of along a-long and weary journey when with gruff thanks to the travelers who would have befriended him and shared with him all the comforts of the camp he disappeared The causes impelling this singular personage to adopt such humiliating hu-miliating selfsacrifices were not known for years but afterwards I had the good luck to come across him in a mining min-ing camp and we became partners The story gleaned from him was as follows Before coming to California he lived I on the shores of Cayuga lake New I York with his wife and frir children I His life as a farmer had oeen happy enough until some unfortnnatp npcu latlon swept away all of his property California presented a view of golden promise so bidding adieu to home wife ani children and securing the cheapest transportation around Cape Horn he reached the mining regions For a year or more he was unsuccessful unsuccess-ful but at length his luck turned By working long hours and hoarding every dollar earned he finally secured a sum that would not only release all obligations obliga-tions on the old farm but leave a comfortable com-fortable surplus which in those times would fairly entitle him to be estimated as a rich man among his fellowfarm ers With visions of home and longing to arrive there as quickly as possible he went by stage to Sacramento then by boat to San Francisco and engaged passage on the first outgoing steamer But as fate willed it several days elapsed before the sailing of the I steamer This necessitated an unforeseen unfore-seen and unwelcome wait in a strange city With nothing to occupy his time and in truth being what is known at the present time as a comeon or hayseed he not only accepted invitations invita-tions to drink promiscuously but made the acquaintance disreputable characters char-acters tinhorn gamblers and short card men The lamb fell into the hands of the shearer and soon partedwith its golden fleece Then followed the season sea-son of reproach Crazed by the effects of drink and remorse but One Df two courses was left to be followed death I or a retrieval of his fortune With a roll of blankets on his back rand r-and a few meager belongings he worked I his way on a river packet to Sacramento Sacra-mento Landing at Sacramento penniless pen-niless and friendlesshe secured free sleeping quarters at one of the numerous numer-ous corrals of the city where freighters j I to the interior kept their stock and stored their wagons Then he drove a I bargain with a driver of a team hereby I here-by he was to accompany this slow moving outfit on foot This accounted I for his strange appearance with a rope around his neck Morbid half crazed I repentant anguished in mind aged in body with the visions of disappointed I disappoint-ed loved ones waiting for his previously previous-ly heralded return ever before him with no plausible excuse to render with nothing upon which to build a future ashamed to return to places where he I was knownafter days of slow journeying jour-neying and selfabasement the hills of I the Sierras were reached Rejecting associates as-sociates and living poorer than the meanest cur he again began prospecting prospect-ing Friendless moody and holding aloof from every one he was at dawn always to be seen with pan pick and shovel on his shoulders trudging over j I the country sinking prospect holes and generally the shadow of night overtook him returning to his camp with unre I warded hopes So passed the days weeks and months in fact almost a year One I evening while out later than usual and desiring to light his pipe he jumped into in-to a shallow prospect hole to shield the match from the wind In lighting it he glanced I around In that short moment some peculiar feature of the exposed gravel attracted his attention and he decided to return to the spot the next I morning The next day and the next found him persistently at work in the I same spot One less likely to yield gold could not have been found In the estimation esti-mation of experienced miners Soon the tunnel or drift he was driving into the mountain became an object of curiosity cu-riosity Neighboring miners often went to the scene of his labors but learned nothing from the solitary recluse Curiosity Cu-riosity was followed by astonishment that no bed or mother rock was encountered en-countered and that all the material excavated was evidently goldbearing gravel a pile of which was accumulated accumulat-ed at the entrance to the drift No efforts ef-forts were being made by the owner as far as could be seen to extract whatever what-ever gold contents the pay dirt might contain One day the community was electrIfied electri-fied by the delivery at the claim of a large lot of sluice lumber nails etc Chinamen were set at work digging the ditch from the water companys main Ijne and preparations were being made on a large scale to wash the dump Soon the big pile of pay dirt and sand disappeared under the systematic method of washing while rumors floated float-ed around the camp of the fabulous returns re-turns Then It became known that the claim could be purchased and the hitherto hith-erto sealed and secret gates of the hermit her-mit miner were thrown open to the Curious cu-rious and of course envious miners It then became known that the owner had each day piled up in the drift all the choice goldbearing rock gravel to be manipulated in the night with pan and rocker All of the water used by him he personally carried in from a convenient conve-nient spring By this primitive and slow process he had successfully mined a large amount of golc using the least moiety of his accumulations for necessities neces-sities not even trusting himself as guardianof his own money every dollar dol-lar of which had been expressed to New York for depositby what method it was neyer known for the supply stores never receivedany dust tom him unless un-less It was in payment for purchases made madThe The sale of the plaim was in time effected and the property proved r q mnnprative for years His find was in a t I a former prehistoric course of the J American river On reaching San Francisco he secured a steerage passage pas-sage for New York but I have never j heard of him since that time From a few words dropped in conversation I learned that in dollars and cents his last pile just equalled the recklessly distributed and squandered stake lost In San Francisco four years previously previous-ly that the time of his departure from that city to the Atlantic coast exactly corresponded with the date day and steamer of his first disastrous trial it evidently being his paramount Idea to blot out to never consider or allow that there had been any interruption inter-ruption to his original plan or that any I time had elapsed between the one event f and the other that his first experience I I in San Francisco had been merely a r dream and no Interference had been I met with in his original plan I I Another remarkable and widely i known character in the old days was Old Kigger King Not a mining camp I in three counties but knew and welcomed wel-comed him on his bimonthly trips He was a fullblooded negro weighing 250 pounds He was as broad as he was high and had a fat kindly face and a wide mouth which was always on the grin His approach to a camp was heralded by a yell which could be heard fully a mile Mount on a mule and leading another equipped with a packsaddle I pack-saddle and expansive canvas paniers he sold papers through the mountain sections His arrival with those conj I taming home news from the Atlantic t > states was eagerly and anxiously looked for by all classes He vended his wares at the uniform price of twoj bits 25 qents that beingthe smallest coin in use A drink the most trivial service or cheapest thing was purchased pur-chased for twobits Mormon island on the American river was for a mining camp a very superior town and King was reputed to own the greaterpart of the camp to have invested there the then very large sum of 100000 After his sales were made and quiet pre vailed he would declaim to his crowd of listeners Here I is here I is Old Nigger King King yes King once King of the Can nibal islands he had been a seaman I am the most noted man in California kase why no other man has like me been feasted and wined by all the na tions of the earth I have supped with the Hottentots eaten blubber with the Icelanders poi with the Sandwich is landers been coddled by Englands queen petted by the royalty of France and the nations of Europe break fasted in America dined in Africa and supped with the Japanese The Inimitable way in which King spoke his facial gestures and invar iable good humor secured notonly cus tom but privileges of which none could deprive him But after all like many another Argonaut he died poor |