OCR Text |
Show It Jj. THE AMUSEMENT CE.NTER OF GOLDFIELD H :.; IN THE BOOM DAYS. 1 1 ' In the bcom days of Goldfleld- It icarcaly J: seems a year ago since they were at their height ! 1 A the camp at night was probably the most wildly jfi I exciting place in the west. Certainly, it was tln j J ! ' livliest of modern mining camps if the word of i I those who had seen the others was worth believ-, believ-, For not one, but many, who had seen Deadly!, Dead-ly!, wood, who knew the Coeur d'Alones, who had H . ' rushed to Alaska, and been among the iirst at j I Cripple declared that "Goldfleld," as they feeling-; feeling-; j ly expressed it, "skinned them all." j ! Of course there was a great stock boom and ' nearly everyone was making easy money, but the J f ', real cause of the rush and roar that never stopped iif ; for twenty-four hours a day was the "hlgh-grad-( i'j , Ing," for when men could come down town after ; t, a shift that had netted them from Ave to six' dol-''Wj' dol-''Wj' lars for eight hours' work, and emptying their ' H j ' pockets or their dinner pails at any of the littlt , it assay offices over near tho mines, could realize ft from ten to two hundred dollars for the high grade . jp , ore they had appropriated during tho day, It stood , i to reason that the money would go as it came, the 1 1 saloons, the gambling tables and the dance halls a i ft! reaping the benefit. If- . But there were men with big money there be-! be-! ; sides the high graders, and after the grind of the A1 day, nearly all of them sought some amusement 'J ; in one form or another, and as there were no the-atres, the-atres, playhouses coming later in the spring, the I jj dance halls were crowded nightly with every class . j$. of humanity, and to the unsophisticated and even l:U to men who were not tenderfeet, the sights in ' 1 these distinctively western palaces of amusement : 1 were kaleidescopic in the novelty of their ever j jlj changing scenes. v j The picture below shows only part of the in- J terior of the most famous of these dance halls "Jake's." It is the enly picture ever taken of the, place and this is the first time it has ever been published. Another such a picture could not be taken, for thljigs have greatly changed in a short twelve months, and there is but a straggling remainder re-mainder to remind one of the other days. At the extreme back of this hall is a little platform plat-form for the orchestra, along the sides are private boxes for the gentlemen who would rather sfp the bubbles than join in the waltz, and in front of the dancing floor there is a substantial railing to hold back the scores who are there to look on and in particularly hilarious moments to holler to their heart's content. Back of them are tho gambling tables, faro, roulette and the big tub where the dealer drones "they're coming out, beys, everybody every-body down and that's a six and now the eight and that's seven and that's the devil, and they're coming com-ing out, boys." On another side of the room is the long bar, and that's the busiest place in the hall. For when a dance is announced (and the dances are remarkably remark-ably short) you take a "lady" and dance your young life away for about four minutes. Then you take your "ladv" to the bar. But she doesn't drink. If you want a drink, it costs you fifty cents, and if you don't it costs the same. That is you part with fifty cents every time you dance the bar gets two bits, the lady gets a check for two bits, and you get a drink if you want it , At the end of the evening when daylight comes, the "ladies" line up at the bar and exchange theii checks for money, piling tho different colored tickets tick-ets In different stacks, for in case a fellow has ordered or-dered wine or any other expensive libation, the lady benefits accordingly, in the final count. With the passing of "Jake's," when it comes, one of the most picturesque dance halls in the ter-psichorean ter-psichorean history of the border life of the west will be gone, and It Is doubtful if such another will ever be seen in any land. AMELIA BINGHAM, The clever actress who will be seen here early in the year. One New York raper says that Harlem is full of fleas, and another that Wall Street teems with sharks. When Harlemites are bitten, a bump lb left, but when a stranger falls victim to the sharks there's not even a lump left. Louisville Courier-Journal. Homont palace of a year ago |