CHAPTER LXVIII.

SOME INTERESTING CREATURES.

THERE are in operation, in all, in the vicinity of the Comstock, mills, the aggregate of whose stamps is over one thousand.

The Consolidated Virginia Company give employment to the following mills: Consolidated mill, sixty stamps and crushing capacity of 230 tons per day; Sacramento mill, 50 tons; Mariposa, 12 stamps, 40 tons; Hoosier State, 18 stamps, 50 tons; Devil's Gate, 10 stamps, 35 tons; Kelsey, 15 stamps, 45 tons; Bacon, 20 stamps, 50 tons; Occidental, 20 stamps, 50 tons; total, 195 stamps, 600 tons per day. The pay-roll of the men employed in these mills amounts to $35,000 per month.

At Silver City, about five miles below Virginia City, on Gold Cañon, are a considerable number of fine mills (some of those mentioned above among the number) in all of which steam is the motive power. A branch of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad runs to Silver City and supplies these mills with ore, wood, and all other articles required. Near the town are several mines the Silver Hill, Dayton, Kossuth, Daney, and Buckeye on which are in operation first-class hoisting-works, and the southern continuation of the Comstock is supposed to pass through the ground on which the village stands. It is already a lively camp, boasts a tri-weekly newspaper --  the Lyon County Times -- and should the hopes of the mining-companies now at work in that vicinity be realized, will soon be one of the leading mining-towns of the State.

On the Carson River are a large number of first-class

509

510 CARSON CITY.

reduction-works that are driven by water-power. The Eureka mill, of the Union Mill and Mining Company, of which company Mr. Sharon is a principal stockholder, is one of the finest mills on the river. It contains sixty stamps (the same number as the Consolidated Virginia mill) and is provided with a proportionate amount of amalgamating-machinery. It is run on ore from the Belcher mine. It is connected with the Virginia and Truckee Railroad by a tramway over two miles in length. The Brunswick mill, also on the river, contains fifty-six stamps and works Crown Point ore. The Merrimac, Santiago, Morgan, and Mexican mills are all on the Carson River and receive their supplies of ore over the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Some of these mills are very picturesquely situated, being surrounded by high, rocky hills and having near them, on the bars of the river, handsome groves of willow and cottonwood trees.

Carson City contains no mills, but the interests of her business men are identified with those of the mining towns above. The town, which contains about 8,000 inhabitants, is situated in Eagle Valley, at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and contains many fine buildings, both public and private. Carson City is the capital of the State. The capitol building and the United States' Mint are imposing structures, built of a handsome grey sandstone obtained at the State Prison quarry, about one mile east of the town. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad Company have large machine-shops and other large and substantial buildings at Carson.

At Carson trees are grown, and about the town are to be seen some very handsome private grounds. The plaza surrounding the State House, some ten acres in extent, is inclosed by a handsome wrought-iron fence, the successful bidder for the construction of which was an enterprising New England schoolmarm.

Although Carson is an oasis where something in the shape of verdure refreshes the eye, yet to the eastward, northward, and in all directions but westward where the Sierras rise all the landscape is made up of brown and sterile hills and mountains capped with piles of grey granite. These hills are

LIZARDS AND SCORPIONS. 511

not only barren and dreary in aspect, but are, in fact, as desolate as they appear. In travelling among the rocky hills and desert valleys there is apparent an absence of animal life that causes one to feel very lonely. Out in the great wilds all is silence. Not the note of a bird is heard not a bird is seen. Although the wind may be blowing a gale, nothing is stirred by it, for there is nothing to stir. It seems strange to feel the force of the wind, yet hear no sound from it nor see anything moved by it. In these wild regions we find basking upon the rocks or gambolling over the barren ground great numbers of lizards. They are seen in great variety, and some of them are very handsome, being striped in red, yellow, black, white, brown, and many other colors. Some kinds are over a foot in length. All are very active, and it is a difficult matter to catch them. Some of the larger kinds have long and sharp teeth and know how to use them. I have never heard of anyone being bitten by one of them, but the Mexicans say that the bite of one variety, which has a black ring round its neck, is fatal.

On one occasion I assisted a gentlemen in catching a dozen or more of all kinds, the object being to preserve them in alcohol. They were placed in a sack as caught. On getting home with them, after carrying them about two miles, it was found that they had torn each other to ribbons.

A curious little reptile is found everywhere throughout the country, which is called a horned toad. It grows to be four or five inches in length and looks like a cross between a lizard and a terrapin. What are called its horns are nothing more than several diamond-shaped scales that grow on its head, and which it has the power to erect or depress. It is of a buff color, sprinkled with spots of dull red. Like the chameleon, it appears to live on air. Specimens have been kept for months in glass jars and have never been seen to eat, though flies and other insects in abundance were furnished them. Persons in Nevada sometimes send these pets to friends in the Atlantic States through the mails. They generally go through all right. Scorpions abound among the loose rock on the sides of the hills. They have a sting in the end of the tail with which they are very handy. Their sting is very

512 A PLEASING INSECT.

painful, but not fatal. The antidote is ammonia, taken internally, and rubbed upon the wound. These unpleasant creatures are from three to five inches in length, and present much the appearance of a shrimp or a craw-fish. When the prospector is camped in the hills the scorpion is fond of crawling down his neck as he lies sleeping on the ground. When objection is made to this familiarity the scorpion uses his sting.

A few centipedes are found in the country, but they are not very large or venomous, and are not much boasted of. In the spring of 1875, a lady residing in Silver City awoke one night to find something crawling about in her bed, and getting a light discovered it to be a centipede about eight inches in length. She was stung in two or three places by the insect, but eventually recovered. In countries further south the centipede is more dreaded than the rattlesnake.

Tarantulas are abundant in Nevada, but persons are seldom bitten by them. They are sometimes so large that they stand three inches high when walking, and their legs and bodies covered with hair as long as that of a mouse. Their fangs are about the length of those of a rattlesnake, and the little, round mouth from which they project is blood-red. When the end of an iron ramrod is presented to them their fangs may be heard to grate upon it. They make a nest in the ground about four inches in diameter, which is lined by a fabric, spun by the creature itself, which is as fine and glossy as white satin. A lid, made of small bits of rock and soil glued together, covers the entrance to the nest. The under side of the lid is also lined with the satin-like substance, and is hung on a hinge of the same. Although the tarantula travels slowly, yet when it has reached its nest it darts within it and closes the lid so quickly that the eye can hardly follow its motions. When the lid of the nest has been closed it is a difficult matter to distinguish it, as its upper side presents precisely the same appearance as the pebbles and earth surrounding it. Once it is within its nest the tarantula is able to hold the lid down and to resist any small force used for the purpose of raising it. When the lid is raised the creature shrinks back in its nest and there sits with its malignant little eyes shining like two beads of jet.

A WICKED WAY OF LAYING EGGS. 513

By using great care the nest of the tarantula may be extracted from the ground, when it is found to be a ball about four inches in diameter composed of agglutinated pebbles, bits of clay, and other components of the soil in which it is built. In this shape they are sometimes placed in cabinets with the tarantula imprisoned within, a thread being tied over the lid of the nest. A tarantula, however, is not a very desirable pet. The tarantula has an enemy in a large wasp, of which he stands in mortal fear. When the tarantula goes out for a quiet stroll this wasp frequently finds him, and if he is more than a few feet away from his nest he never reaches it.

As vultures appear to drop out of the sky when an animal has fallen dead in the desert, so this wasp, the deadly enemy of the tarantula, comes upon the scene. Straight as an arrow from the bow, and as swift as light, he comes from the upper air and pierces the tarantula through the body/ The tarantula turns upon his back and in mortal terror claws the air, but the wasp has disappeared can nowhere be seen. After watching for a time, with his legs in the air, the tarantula gets upon his feet and travels at his best pace for his nest. Almost instantly there is a whiz, and the wasp has given him another thrust perhaps two stabs, as he is quick as lightning.

Although I have called the enemy of the tarantula a wasp, it is not a wasp, though looking much like one. The lance which it thrusts into the tarantula is not a sting, but an ovapositor, and at each stab an egg is deposited in the body of the tarantula.  All this appears to be well understood by the tarantula himself and from the time the first egg has been planted in his back he seems to feel that his days are numbered ; as the egg will soon hatch a grub a worm that will devour his vitals. At each encounter the tarantula throws himself upon his back and tries to fend off or to grasp his antagonist with his claws, but the wasp patiently waits somewhere high in the air, till he gets upon his feet, then darts down and pierces him with his lance. The tarantula soon grows weak, and then the wasp thrusts into his body half a dozen eggs at each visit. Soon the tarantula is unable to move and after a few stabs is quite dead. The wasp then digs a hole in the ground two or three inches in depth, crams the

514 ANOTHER AGREEABLE INSECT.

dead tarantula down to the bottom of it, and then closes it up. When the eggs of the wasp hatch, the young grubs find their food at hand in the body of the dead tarantula.

Another agreeable insect found in the hills of Nevada is an ant that is armed with a sting. It is black in color, and has a few scattering orange-colored hairs on its back. It is seldom seen, and appears to lead even a more solitary and secluded life than does the tarantula.

JOHN MACKEY. [click on image to enlarge].

CHAPTER LXIX.

MILLIONAIRE PROPRIETORS.

A CHAPTER giving a few words in regard to persons prominently connected with the big bonanza and the Comstock lode may be of interest to some readers. I cannot undertake to give more than the outlines in each instance. The biography of almost any man who has been ten years on the Pacific Coast would make a larg volume, were all of his experiences written up

John Mackey Esq. the millionaire miner of the " big bonanza," was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, and served his time as a ship-carpenter. He came to California soon after the discovery of gold, and mined at and near Downieville, Sierra county, for many years. In the placer-mines he had his "ups and downs " the same as other miners, and often did a vast amount of hard work for a small amount of gold. Mr. Mackey came to the silver-mines of Washoe in the early days, and for a time after his arrival worked for wages at the Mexican and other mines swinging a pick and shovel as an ordinary miner. It was not long, however, before he began tc get ahead financially, and, it is said, made his first " raise " in the Kentuck mine, Gold Hill. He finally obtained a large interest in the Hale & Norcross mine, Virginia City. Here he took Mr. Fair in as a partner and the two men secured control of the mine, rescinded an assessment that had been levied, and began paying dividends. The Hale & Norcross being " in bonanza," the partners soon had money with which to secure other mines. Finally, in company with Messrs Flood & O'Brien, of San Francisco, they purchased the Consolidated Virginia ground, getting it for about

517

518 MR. JOHN MACKEY.

$80,000, and eventually acquired a controlling interest in the California mine.

Although Mr. Mackey is now worth fifty or sixty million dollars, yet, like Mr. Fair, he spends much of his time, when at Virginia City, in the lower levels. Almost every morning at six o'clock he descends into one or another of his mines, and often remains underground for several hours, passing through all the levels where work is being done, when there is anything that requires his attention. In passing through a level he sees all that is going on at a glance. Mr. Mackey is one of the most modest and unassuming of men, yet he is a shrewd observer of character, and of all that is going on in the world about him. Generally he has but little to say, but that little is to the point goes directly to the bull's-eye. He is not often misunderstood. He most thoroughly understands mining in all its branches, as there is nothing required to be done in a mine that he has not done with his own hands. No man is more ready to adopt improvements than Mr. Mackey. He is ever ready to spend money for labor-saving machinery. Those of his men who imagine they have discovered a new plan of doing any kind of work whereby a saving in time or muscle can be effected, always find an attentive listener in Mr. Mackey, and all the encouragement they require. He frequently stimulates their inventive faculties by telling them of certain things for which he desires some new mode of working to be thought out, or some new machine to be constructed.

Although one of the most kind-hearted and generous of men -- as the hundreds he has befriended can testify --I may here state, for the benefit of a certain class of persons, that he pays no attention to the bushels of silly begging-letters which he receives from all parts of the United States and even from the remotest corners of Europe all are tumbled into his waste- basket.

Notwithstanding that Mr. Fair is the superintendent of the mine owned by the firm, Mr. Mackey also does duty as superintendent, and the pair generally hold a grand council on all matters of moment. When this council is in session in the private office at the works, the miners in passing back and forth hold up their fingers to one another as a sign that no noise is to

HON. WILLIAM SHARON. [click on image to enlarge].

THE HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 521

be made that will interfere with the deliberations that are in progress near at hand. No man in Nevada more thoroughly understands the Comstock lode than Mr. Mackey. He has made it his study for years. No change of rock can occur but that he knows what it portends. He appears to know almost every clay-seam, and streak of quartz, and porphyry that runs through the vein. By looking at a sample of ore he can tell the amount of silver it contains almost as well as if he had seen it assayed. He is particularly at home in the northern part of the Comstock, where he has had most acquaintance with the mines, and may be said to have that part of the lode by heart. As regards mining knowledge, Mr. Mackey is the " boss " of the big bonanza.

The Hon. William Sharon, who for many years figured so prominently in the mining and milling interests of the Comstock lode as to earn for himself the title of the "King of the Comstock," was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1821. His family were Quakers and his ancestors were among those who settled at Philadelphia with William Penn. When a boy of seventeen Mr. Sharon thought that the life of a boatman would suit him. He purchased an interest in a flatboat, and started down the Ohio River, bound for New Orleans, but " landed his boat " when he reached Louisville. At this point the boat struck a rock in crossing the falls, and was left a total wreck. Mr. Sharon then returned to his native town disgusted with a " seafaring " life, and went to college a few years, then studied law and practiced for a time in St. Louis, Missouri.

Giving up the practice of law on account of bad health, he figured as a merchant, at Carrollton, Illinois, until the discovery of gold in California. He was among those who crossed the Plains in 1849, and in August of that year reached Sacramento, where he purchased a stock of goods and opened a store. The floods of the winter of 1849-50 swept his stock into the Pacific Ocean, leaving him about as he was left when he struck the falls at Louisville, on the Ohio River.

After his store had been carried away by the flood he went down to San Francisco and opened a real-estate office. He continued in this business until 1864, and had accumulated a fortune of $150,000, when he began speculating in mining-stock. In this he again struck the Louisville Falls and again " landed

522 HOW HIS FORTUNE WAS MADE.

his boat," a total wreck. Being once more foot-loose and ready for anything that might offer in the way of business, he was sent over the Sierras to Virginia City, Nevada, by the Bank of California to look after certain of the affairs of that institution which required attention. After reaching Virginia City he soon arranged all the affairs of the Bank of California, and while looking about and probing into matters in so doing, was shrewd enough to see that he had at last reached the place where all the money on the Pacific Coast was coming from. He at once urged upon the officers of the Bank of California the necessity of opening a branch at Virginia City, which was done and Mr. Sharon was placed at the head of the new institution, with un- limited powers. He remained in Virginia City a number of years as the head of the branch bank in that place, and finally resigned in order to look after affairs of his own, leaving in his place an excellent and capable man in the person of Mr. A. J. Ralston.

Mr. Sharon is the father of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, undoubtedly the crookedest railroad in the world, and a wonderful road in many other respects. In building this road Mr. Sharon secured a subsidy of $500,000 from the people of Washoe in aid of the project, constructed as much of the road as the sum would build, then mortgaged the whole road for the amount of money required for its completion. In this way he built the road without putting his hand into his own pocket for a cent, and he still owns half the road worth $2,500,000 and bringing him in as Mr. Adolph Sutro says, $12,000 per day. On this trip he got his boat over the falls in good shape. The road, however, has been of great benefit to the country, and Mr. Sharon was a good man for the country while he was at the head of the Virginia branch of the Bank of California, as he had the nerve to advance money for the development of mines and the building of mills at the time when no outside banking-house would have ventured a cent. He saw that, though some of the mining companies were in " borrasca " there was every likelihood of their being in " bonanza " soon again, provided they were furnished with a sum sufficient to make proper explorations.

Mr. Sharon is the principal owner of the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, the largest and most costly hotel in the world, and

JAMES G. FAIR.

(Supt. California and Consolidated Virginia Mines.) [click on image to enlarge].

MR. JAMES G. FAIR. 525

of a vast deal of other property in the city named, and in various places in California and Nevada. In all he is probably worth seventy or eighty million dollars. In 1874, he was elected United States' Senator from Nevada, for six years, to take the place of Mr. Stewart. Mr. Sharon has a very clear head, a thorough understanding of financial questions, is a shrewd business man, and a man of large capabilities in all the walks of life.

James G. Fair Esq., one of the principal owners and the superintendent of the Consolidated Virginia and California mines, was born in the north of Ireland. He came to the United States in his youth and settled in Illinois. Upon the discovery of gold in California he determined to try his "luck" as a miner. He left Illinois, in 1849, and reached California, in August, 1850, when he went to Long's Bar, Feather River, called by the Mexicans el Rio de los Plumas -- the river of feathers.

On Feather River, Mr. Fair learned the art of mining for gold in the bars and river channels, among boulders so large that to look at them made one sick at heart. In 1860 he gave up mining for gold, and made his way across the Sierras to Virginia City, where he has ever since made his home, and where he has constantly been engaged in mining and other enterprises. In 1867 he became the partner of John Mackey in the Hale & Norcross mine, when both he and Mr. Mackey made a " snug bit " of money.

Since becoming partners, Messrs Mackey & Fair, and their associates, Messrs Flood & O'Brien, of San Francisco, who are interested with them in many speculations, have acquired controlling interests in the Gould & Curry, Best & Belcher, Consolidated Virginia, California, Utah, and Occidental mines; also, of the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water-Works, of a large number of quartz-mills, of the Pacific Wood, Lumber, & Fluming Company, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and are concerned in various enterprises in California. Messrs Mackey & Fair also have mines in Idaho, Montana, and Utah have even reached down into Georgia and taken hold of some of the gold-mines in that region, sending old and reliable Comstock mining superintendents to examine and test the mines. They have probably also viewed the New Hampshire silver-mines through their

526 MR. SAMUEL T. CURTIS.

agents, and weighed and estimated Silver Isle, Lake Superior.

At the time of the Arizona diamond excitement, and swindle, Mr. Fair had a man there and all over the ground as soon as the first whisper in regard to the finding of precious stones in that region had gone abroad. While nobody in Virginia City knew that he was taking the slightest interest in the diamond excitement, or that he had even heard of it, Mr. Fair had " prospected " the whole thing and found out all about it. Still he said nothing, and probably not five men on the Comstock range to- day know that Mr. Fair was close upon the heels of the men who put up the great Arizona diamond swindle and prospected their " salted " ground about as soon as the " salt " was sown. He now has in his house at Virginia City a whole drawerful of stones of all kinds that were brought to him by the agent he sent down into the diamond-fields.

Mr. Fair is a man who never talks when he is acting, and no one knows exactly what " Uncle Jimmy," as the " boys " call him, is up to. You see the hole by which he goes into the ground, but when once he is down out of sight you never know in what direction he is drifting. Mr. Fair is worth thirty or forty million dollars, yet he spends as much time in miners' garb, down in the seething lower levels, and "poking about " in all manner of old abandoned drifts, and tunnels, as though he were working for four dollars per day, and had a very hard and exacting "boss." He is a shrewd and enterprising business man, and thoroughly understands mines and mining. In his mills he is as much at home as in the mines, and perfectly understands the reduction of silver ores, and all the operations connected therewith. He is quite unassuming, and always has a cheerful word for the " boys " of the lower levels when passing through his mines. Like Mr. Mackey he is ever ready to give all kinds of machinery a trial and to adopt it if it is found useful.

Captain Samuel T. Curtis, superintendent of the Ophir mine, is a miner of great experience both in the silver-mines of Nevada and the gold-mines of California. He was born in the south of Ireland, but came to the United States when quite young, settling in Western Virginia, where he lived many years. From Virginia he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he resided until the discovery of gold in California.

CAPTAIN SAMUEL CURTIS.

(Supt. Ophir Mine.) [click on image to enlarge].

THE HON. J. P. JONES. 529

In common with thousands of others of an adventurous dis- position, he caught the gold-fever, and in April 1849 started across the Plains. After many hardships and adventures of all kinds, he landed at Lassen's Ranche, in the northern part of California, in November of the year named. His party started across the Plains with saw-mills, and an immense train of wagons loaded with all manner of machinery and stores, but abandoned everything, and were glad to reach California alive. Mr. Curtis at once made his way to Feather River, where he mined until 1858 when he went to Nevada county and engaged in mining in that place. In 1859 he was elected to the California Legislature, and when he went to Sacramento to take his seat was the first time that he had been out of the mountains for ten years he had seen no towns larger than the mining camps of the Sierras.

At the time of the Indian trouble in Washoe, in 1860, Mr. Curtis raised a company of volunteers in Sacramento, and, as captain of the company so raised, brought over the Sierra Nevada Mountains a timely supply of arms and ammunition. Being obliged to provision his company for some time after arriving in Nevada, the part he took in the " war " cost him over $3000. It was no better as a speculation than bringing saw-mills across the Plains. During his residence in Washoe, Captain Curtis has had the superintendence, of the St. Louis, Empire Mill Mining Company, Union Consolidated, Sierra Nevada, Mexican, Savage and several other mines, and now is in charge of the Ophir. As a mining superintendent he has always been very fortunate, and, from his many years of experience in various mines along the Comstock, he knows almost every foot of the vein. He has given much attention to the stratification of the vein, and to the crystallization and other characteristics of the rocks found within its walls. So fortunate has he been in hitting upon bonanzas that when he has taken charge of a mine the men say : " If there is anything in the claim the Captain will find it ! " When in charge of a mine he is indefatigable. He is about as much underground, and about as much at home there as upon the surface.

The Hon. J. P. Jones, United States Senator from Nevada, is a man who had much mining experience in California,

530 A BIG BUSINESS.

previous to his crossing the Sierras and taking up his residence on the Comstock lode. He has long had control of the Crown Point mine, at Gold Hill, and from its several bonanzas has extracted many millions of dollars. He thoroughly understands the business of silver-mining and is an excellent judge of the ores of the Comstock. He is not only well acquainted with that portion of the great lode which passes through Gold Hill, but also with the mines on all parts of the vein, He owns a controlling interest in the Savage mine, in Virginia City, and still retains the Crown Point mine which is yielding as largely as ever, though the ore extracted is less rich than that which was being extracted some years since.

The mills of the Nevada Mill Company, nine in number, and containing 222 stamps, are owned by Mr. Jones and Hon. Wm. Sharon, and are capable of crushing 650 tons of ore per day. The Rhode Island mill, 24 stamps, belongs to the Crown Point Company. Besides his many interests along the Comstock range, Mr. Jones has a large number of mines and much mining property at Panamint, has town-sites down on the coast of California, and is engaged in enterprises of various kinds in all parts of the Union. " No pent-up Utica contracts his powers," he has a genius for mining and for surface business of all kinds, and when he rises in his place in the United States Senate can make a good talk is about as much at home as though among the men on the lower levels of one of his mines, giving directions for the opening of a new stope. Mr. Jones counts his dollars by millions. It is said that he has about five times as many millions as he has fingers and toes.

HON. J. P. JONES. [click on image to enlarge]

CHAPTER LXX.

FUN AND FROLIC.

AS it may be of interest to persons who have never been in the mining-regions of the Pacific Coast, I shall give an account of a prospecting trip which I took in Washoe, in 1860, just after the Indian troubles. Although no grand discovery was made, a sketch of the trip will serve to show the manner in which such expeditions were at one time conducted.

I was at that time camped at Silver City. One day a miner came to my cabin in a great state of excitement and said he had just learned that some men had struck placer-diggings of extraordinary richness on El Dorado cañon, a large cañon to the southward of the Carson River. He said: "They are getting gold as large as peas, and are making from $10 to $20 per man with rockers." A dozen or more in the camp were let into the secret, and we soon had several mules packed with " grub " flour, beans, bacon, tea, and sugar and were ready for a start. We wished to reach the new gold-region in time to get good claims and in advance of the rush of prospectors that was likely to occur as soon as news of the new strike should leak out. Not a soul in the camp knew where we were going, and as we marched down Gold Cañon, the miners pushed aside the blankets which were hung up as doors to

their cabins and gazed in wonder upon our caravan. Each countenance said more plainly than words could have expressed it : " A big strike has been made somewhere. Those fellows know where it is and are going to it. I must find out about it and be off after them ! " With a great clatter of pots,

533

534 A SECRET EXPEDITION.

kettles, gold-pans, and frying-pans, our mules trotted into Chinatown (now Dayton). In this camp our "grand entry" created something of a sensation, and curiosity was seen in every face. Even the unimpressible Chinamen gazed upon us in almond-eyed astonishment. We were nearly all on foot and carried picks and shovels upon our shoulders, and long knives and six-shooters slung to our belts.

All who saw us were dying to ask us what was up; but, evidently feeling that it was a secret expedition, no man ventured to question us. Already we were rich, in imagination, and all felt as jolly as so many millionaires setting off on a pleasure excursion. Indeed, miners generally make these trips a sort of pleasure excursion and give about as much time to deviltry, and to curiously wandering about and view- ing the wonders of the wilds, as they do to the real business of the journey.

Passing through Chinatown, we were soon at the Carson River, where we found trouble that we had not thought of. The river was high and swift; nearly all of our party were on foot; the mules were heavily packed, and there was but one horse without a load. This horse, however, was a large and powerful animal. Tom Lovel, his owner, finally rode across the stream and found that the water just reached to the horse's back. The pack-mules were driven across the stream after Tom by means of clubs and stones thrown after them. All got safely over but one puny and unlucky beast that was carried down the stream. The little rascal never attempted to swim until he had been swept some distance down the river, when he turned his head against the current and paddled away like a good fellow, for about ten minutes, without gaining or losing an inch, then with a mournful, despairing groan he gave up and floated ashore on the same side from which he started. Tom then came back on his horse, and throwing a lasso about the neck of the dripping little beast, towed him to the other shore, despite his meanings, and sundry other expostulatory demonstrations. Next we foot- men were, one at a time, mounted behind Tom and borne across the stream, all but myself landing in shape. I was the last to cross, and, on mounting the opposite shore, Tom,

BITTEN BY A SNAKE. 535

having overmuch confidence in the strength and activity of his horse, insisted upon trying to ascend a perpendicular bank. The consequence was that we both slid back upon the horse's rump, causing his hind feet to sink into the mud until he assumed a perpendicular position.

The next thing I saw was that horse's head coming straight into my face. There was then a dull splash and a surging sound, and I was at the bottom of the Carson River, with Tom and horse a-top of me. I did some lively work for a time, and finally came to the surface with my mouth full of black mud. Tom got out in some way before I came to the surface. While I was pouring the water out of my boots, wringing out my shirt, and firing off and reloading my revolver, the majority of our party moved on, Tom allowing a friend to ride his horse. Only Tom, myself, and a Missourian known as " Pike " (the man who found the " stuff compasses are made of") remained behind ; and when we finally started the others were nearly a mile away. We had not travelled half a mile before we came to a bayou or slough, half as large as the river itself and of which it was a sort of a cut-off. Here we halted. The " boys " had gone on with the animals, and, seeing that there was no other way and being about as wet as water could make me I plunged in and waded across, the water coming almost to my armpits. Tom hesitated and hallooed to try to make those in advance come back with his horse, but they were beyond hearing. Finally he offered Pike half a dollar to carry him across the slough on his back, which offer Pike gladly accepted. When Tom mounted Pike's back he settled him down in the mud nearly to his knees, and when he got out into the stream, Pike floundered about alarmingly.

Tom drew up his legs and wrapped them about Pike's hips, hugging to him as closely as a young Indian.

All on a sudden Pike began to shout: "Snake! snake! For God's sake, Tom, get off my back, a snake is biting me all to pieces ! "

" What in thunder do you mean ? " cried Tom. " Don't you try foolin' with me about a snake ! "

" Snake ! snake ! " cried Pike, striving to run, but Tom

536 ALL A MISTAKE.

clung to him like the Old Man of the Sea, thinking that he was putting up a job to throw him into the water.

" Stop your foolin' or I'll hit you !" said Tom.

But Pike still plunged furiously, and then began calling upon Tom to put down his legs. " Put down your legs, confound you ! Don't you see that you are killing me -- that you are cutting me all to pieces with -- " But Pike was not allowed to finish the sentence, as Tom, who was by this time blind with rage, drew back his fist as well as he was able and struck Pike in the mouth.

The unexpected blow caused Pike to throw his head back so far that both went over backwards and disappeared under the water. They came up about four feet apart, and as soon as Tom got his hair out of his eyes he made for Pike. The latter was on his guard and stepped aside, at the same time grasping Tom and giving him such a plunge as must have sent him to the depth of a foot into the mud at the bottom of the stream. Pike then broke for the shore with such furious strides as to nearly lift the waters from their bed. By the time Tom had reached shore Pike was at a safe distance, yet when Tom began snapping his revolver at him he danced about at a lively rate.

" Hold on ! hold on ! "' cried Pike, " stay where you are ! Don't shoot till I tell you about it! Blast it, don't you know that down in the water thar you was jist cuttin' me all to pieces with them infernal spurs of yours ! "

Tom glanced down at his heels and saw it all. There were his huge Spanish spurs, sharp as needles, and there he had been digging into poor Pike's flesh while riding him through the water, causing him to think he was being bitten on all sides by water-snakes.

" Haw ! haw ! " laughed Tom. " Why Pike, you fool, why didn't you tell me that I was hurtin' you with my spurs ? "

" I didn't know what it was myself, at fust ; then when I did find out you wouldn't give me time to say it."

After these explanations Tom and Pike shook hands and called it even. Peace being restored, we set forward along the trail on which our companions had preceded us, but did not overtake them until we had reached the mouth of El

CAMPING OUT. 537

Dorado Cañon, the gulch on which we expected to find the diggings. Up this cañon we travelled a considerable distance, when we found our friends had halted for dinner. Most of the way we had found the cañon but a few rods in width and walled in by almost perpendicular piles of granite and slate, but where our party had halted there was a beautiful little valley, several springs, and two or three small groves of willows and cottonwoods.

It does not take long for a party of prospectors to prepare a meal. The mules are first unpacked and turned out to graze; wood is then collected and a fire built, and by the time this is blazing several cooks are getting ready for business. Self-rising flour is placed in the same pans that are used in prospecting for gold ; water is then added, and the whole is then stirred up with a spoon until of the proper consistency for pancakes. Soon two or three men, each with a frying-pan, are at work baking slapjacks, while as many more are frying the savory bacon ; tea is being made in a coffee-pot, and soon all is ready. Each man then hunts up his tin plate, puts a handful of earth upon it and scours away all traces of the last meal, when he is ready for his allowance of bacon and slapjacks. Tin cups are used for the tea. These meals in the wilds of the mountains are eaten with a relish by the hardy prospector. There are generally a few raw onions to go with the bacon, and when a camp is made at night beans are cooked.

Of nights, too, when there is more time for cooking than during the noon halt, bread is baked. In making bread the miner mixes it in his prospecting-pan, as for slapjacks, and when it has been properly kneaded, takes it between his huge paws, and hammers it out in the shape of a large flat cake. This cake he places in his frying-pan and then stands it in front of his fire to" bake, turning it over when one side is done.

Sometimes a regular loaf is made. When a loaf is decided upon, a large hole is dug in the ground, and a fire made in it. By the time the fire has burnt down and there is nothing left but a bed of coals, the loaf is manufactured. The coals are raked out of the pit, and the loaf is placed in a gold-pan and set in its bottom. Another gold-pan is turned over that

538 MANUFACTURE OF SLAPJACKS.

containing the loaf, when the whole is covered with live coals, hot ashes and earth. In this way is made a loaf that is as sweet as any that ever came out of the oven of the baker. Beans after they have been boiled until soft are often baked in the same way, the camp-kettle containing them being buried in a pit in which a fire has been made.

In making slapjacks a miner considers himself a green- horn if he is not able to turn them without doing it with a knife, after the fashion of a woman. He shuffles the cake about in the pan till it is loosened, then deftly tosses it into

THE SLAPJACK FEAT. [click on image to enlarge].

the air, catching it, batter side down, as it descends. This way of turning slapjacks is a trick, however, that some men find it impossible to learn. I once had a partner whose one dream of life it was to be able to turn a slapjack in this way. If he could but flip a flapjack into the air and catch it all right, he thought he would be perfectly happy, whether the diggings paid or not. One day, while in the cabin cooking slapjacks, he announced that he would turn one in the air or die. He was a man who weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds and had somehow got it into his head that in order to successfully perform the feat a great outlay of strength was required.

IT NEVER CAME DOWN. 539

Taking hold of the handle of the frying-pan with both hands and getting out into the middle of the floor, where he could have plenty of room, he hustled the cake about in the pan until he found it was loose on all sides. He then squatted nearly to the floor, and, giving a mighty heave, sent the pancake flying upward. This done, he stood, frying-pan in hand, waiting for the cake to come down, in order that he might catch it. But that pancake never came down, it struck batter side against the ceiling, and there it stuck as fast as the wafer on a love-letter.

I have heard of men who were able to throw a slap-jack up through the chimney, then run outside of the house and catch it before it struck the ground, but I have never had the good fortune to see the feat performed.  

CHAPTER LXXI.

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF PROSPECTING.

IN the place where we had encamped for dinner there was on one side of the ravine, and at the height of about fifty feet above its bed, a long bench of rocks on which were piled, tier upon tier, rocks that bore a striking resemblance to sacks of grain. Always having the "evil one " in their winds when not in the wilderness, the boys called this place the " Devil's Levee." Another place, on the opposite side of the cañon, where a dozen or more huge, egg-shaped boulders, set on end, stood nodding this way and that, they christened the " Granite Polka.

Continuing our journey up the cañon, we presently arrived at the place where the miners were at work who were reported to be making from $10 to $20 per day. They seemed much surprised to see our party and told us that they were making nothing. None of us believed this, and, without waiting to unpack their animals, two or three of our men rushed off up the ravine to secure claims. I asked to see the kind of gold they were getting, and was shown a pan in which were five or six specks about one fourth as large as the head of a pin. The man who had told me in Silver City, about the big strike, and who had induced me to join the expedition, said the men were fooling us ; he was sure they had rich diggings. Taking the pan, this man got down into the hole that had been dug by the miners, and got a panful of the best-looking gravel he could find. Winking for me to follow, he started down the stream to a small pool. When we were out. of hearing he said he thought the men were trying to " play us." " They don't want it known that there is anything here," said he, " until their friends are all

540

OFF FOR THE LAND OF GOLD. 541

on hand to gobble up the ground. You can bet high that I'll get a good prospect out of this pan of dirt. It looks like the right stuff."

Meanwhile he was washing it down, stopping once in a while as he neared the bottom to flit the water over it in the expectation of seeing a " chispa " or a " nugget." The less sand there was in the pan the longer grew his face. At last all was panned out, even to the last grain of "black sand," and nought remained but the few little specks of gold (" colors ") originally in the pan.

" Skunked, by the holy spoons," cried he. I then washed out the pan and filled it with earth out of a crevice the best I could find panned it down, and had three small colors.

We then went back to the camp of the miners who had dug the prospect-hole and asked how the story got started that they had found gold of the size of peas and were making from $10 to $20 per day. They knew nothing about it, but one of them finally recollected that when he went to Silver City for a rocker he had said to some one that from the number and shape of the " colors " they were finding on the surface he did not doubt they would find them as big as peas when they reached the bed-rock. Some one then remarked ' If you do you'll be able to make from $10 to $20 per day,' from this grew the story of the rich strike in El Dorado Cañon. We all felt rather " cheap " when we heard this explanation, the perfect truthfulness of which we could not doubt. I have known many grand mining excitements that had even less foundation. Even this little " sport " did not end with our visit to the cañon.

After we had been at home a week, and when we supposed it was well understood that the diggings were too poor to pay, parties were still rushing thither. Presently the story crossed the Sierras, and the California papers said that, "in the El Dorado cañon diggings, Nevada, miners are making from $20 to $40 per day with rockers; and the gold is of fine quality, being worth $17 per ounce." Though our ardor was a good deal cooled by what we had learned in regard to the diggings, we were not altogether discouraged. The boys got their picks, pans and shovels, and dividing into small parties, struck out in various directions, up and down the cañon, and among the small ravines putting in from the hills ; agreeing that wherever

542 SOMETHING IN HIS BOOT.

the best prospects were found, claims should be staked out for all. At night all hands returned, and nothing had been found that would pay a few small colors was all that could be found, and they could be obtained almost everywhere. It was some- thing like the present Black Hills mines. Lighting our camp- fire we baked our slap-jacks, fried our bacon, and made a glorious meal, after which pipes were lighted, and many stories told of the good old days of " 49," when the pockets of every honest miner overflowed with gold. When each man had spun his yarn it was time to think of sleep, and every man rolled himself in his blankets and stretched himself in the best and softest spot he could find, looking up at the stars in the ceiling of his bedroom until he fell asleep. At daylight we were astir, Pike was among the first up. Tom did not " unroll " till breakfast was almost ready. He then crawled out and proceeded to pull on his boots, taking a seat on a pack-saddle.

About this time I observed that Pike was closely watching Tom's movements. Tom had got one boot on and his toes started in the other, when he stopped and yawned lazily. Rousing himself, he then drew his boot on with a "chuck." His foot had hardly struck bottom before he gave a yell and turned deadly pale. Grasping his foot he tried to pull his boot off, but lost balance and rolled to the ground.

" Pull off my boot, quick, somebody ! There is a scorpion in it ! " cried Tom.

Pike managed to be the first to reach Tom, and catching him by the ankle began tugging desperately, dragging Tom here and there, with nothing but the top of his head touching the ground.

"Your foot is swelled, Tom, and this boot can't be got off! “ said Pike.

"Yes, it can," cried Tom. " Pull, confound you, pull! He is stingin' me all the time. Pull, Pike confound you, pull ! He's stingin' me to death ! "

Pike gave several desperate plunges, lifting Tom clear of the ground each time ; then stopped.

"I tell yer, Tom," said he, " it ain't no use ; it'll never come off, your foot is swelled so bad."

" Cut it off then ! " roared Tom, " cut it off, I can't die this way!"

AFRAID OF TOM. 543

Pike drew his bowie-knife and had ripped the leg of Tom's boot half way down when, thinking the joke had been carried far enough -- for I was satisfied Pike had been playing a trick of some kind --  I pushed Pike aside, and pulled the boot off at once. When the boot was off, behold ! sticking to the bottom of Tom's stocking, a small prickly pear. '

On seeing the prickly pear, where there should have been a scorpion, all hands laughed, and all were pretty well satisfied that the trick was Pike's, as a good deal of sport had been made of him in regard to his having been snake-bitten. To the surprise of all Tom neither raved nor swore said not a word, in fact but set quietly to work at extracting the spines which had penetrated his foot in fifty places. He then examined his boot, which was cut down almost to the heel, drew it on and took his seat in silence at the camp breakfast. This conduct on Tom's part gave Pike great uneasiness, as all could see. At last he said :

"Who in thunder do you suppose put that air cussed par in your boot, Tom ? "

" I suppose you know as much about it as anyone here," said Tom.

" Me ! good Lord I don't purtend to know. I can't account for it nohow, without one of them mountain rats might of done it."

" Yes," said Tom, dryly, " mountain rats are mighty fond of runnin' about with prickly pears in their mouths, so we'll say no more about it."

Pike felt very uneasy about the matter. He didn't like the way Tom was acting. After breakfast, when we were alone, he asked me if I didn't think Tom would watch his opportunity and shoot him. When all had breakfasted it was concluded to scout out and prospect at a greater distance from camp than we had yet done. While some of us prospected the ravines others were to take the animals and go out into the hills to look for quartz ledges. Pike wished to go with the quartz-hunters, but had no animal to ride. To the surprise of all, and almost to the terror of Pike, Tom offered him his horse. Pike stammered his acceptance and turned away, looking very quiet. In passing off it fell out that Tom and myself were to prospect certain

544 TOM’S INTENTIONS.

ravines. We dug a number of holes down to the bed-rock and washed and washed out many pans of earth, but a few small colors was all the gold we could find.

During the day Tom said :

" Do you know that was a villainous trick that Pike played me? To pretend, too, that he couldn't get my boot off, when all the time he had hold about my ankle. Then to go and cut my boot! "

"But you told him to do that."

"Yes, I know I did, for between you and me, I was awful scared. I thought I was gone in sure. I'd have bet my life on there being a scorpion in my boot."

" Do you know that Pike thinks you intend to kill him ? " said I.

" No. Is he such a fool as that ? "

" You know men are killed in this country for more trifling things."

" I don't want to kill any man, but I do want to play even on Pike. It was mean on him to put that thing into my boot after we had shook hands down at the river."

After a time Tom said : " Pike is a great coward and I'll watch my chance and scare the life out of him before this trip is over."

" So be it," said I.

As we could find no gold we turned our attention to prospecting for the beauties of nature. In one place, standing high and dry at some distance from the cañon, we found a very handsome natural bridge or arch. It was about eighty feet high, with a span or opening thirty feet in width by fifty feet in height, and beautifully set off with turrets and spires which rose from the top of the arch. Near this natural arch we found a cave, but it proved to be of no great depth. From the remains of fires in it, it appeared to have been used by the Indians as a place of shelter.

After wandering about in the hills for some hours we started for camp, and as we neared it saw a great bustle there among the men. They had brought in all of the animals and were busily engaged in packing up. As soon as they saw us approaching they called to us to make haste. Pike came running towards

PIKE OUTWITTED. 545

us, and laying his hand alongside of his mouth, sang out in a hoarse whisper : " Injuns ! "

" Injuns ? " said we.

" Yes," said Pike, " Injuns ! Hills full of 'em ! Hurry up, we're goin' to light out o' here ! "

The long and short of the story was that Pike and his partner had crossed the mountain into what was called Sullivan district, when they found all the miners packing up and leaving for Carson City, on account of Indians having been seen watching them from the rocks. One of our boys who was lying in the shade of a bushy cedar, with his boots off, cooling his feet, had also seen Indians and had rushed into camp. His story was that, as he was lying under the tree, eleven Indians, all in war-paint, and each armed with a minié musket and revolver, passed along a trail about five rods away. They were in single file and were going eastward at a dog-trot. Thus were the Indians running one way and the whites another the opposite direction. On reaching camp we tried to prevent this stampede, telling the men that the Indians seen were merely a scouting party, and were probably then many miles away in the direction of Pyramid Lake, but several said they would bet any money that the redskins were even then watching us from the tops of some of the surrounding rocky hills. They could see rocks on the hills that looked like the heads of Indians, and by watching these some said they could see them move.

The miners whom we found on the cañon had pulled up stakes and left on the first alarm. After much talk, a majority of our party declared in favor of remaining on the cañon another day, but the minority owned the mules, and swore they were going to leave at once. They said they did not imagine the Indians would attack us, but they were tired of prospecting and were going down to Carson River to fish. Pike was very anxious to try his luck at fishing, and was ready to start at once for Chinatown to buy hooks and lines, if anyone would furnish him a horse.

After much talk, Tom came to me, and said : " Let us go down the cañon a few miles with these fellows, and then make them camp, where we can have a night-attack by the Indians, and scare Pike out of his wits." This was agreed to, and off we

546 LEFT BEHIND.

all started. About sundown we reached an open, grassy spot calling a halt proposed to camp there. The minority would not hear of such a thing. Pike was the most determined of any, and was bound to go to the river. The joke of the night-attack had been whispered among our men, and they determined to keep Pike with us. One of them took him aside and told him that we had reason to believe that the Indians were lower down the cañon; that, in fact, they were lying in wait for us in the rocky hills about its mouth, and that all who went down that night would be killed.

" Good Lord ! " cried Pike, " you don't say so. Well, if that's the case I'll be dogoned if you ketch me goin' down thataway ! " But Pike presently had a doubt about this plan. Said he : " If we stop here won't the cussed Injuns get tired of waitin' and come up here after us ? "

"Well," said our man, "but you see we'll let these fellows go that want to go so bad, and when the Injuns git them they'll think they've got us all and so will be satisfied. However, it is almost too bad to let them go down there and be killed. I guess I'll go and tell them where the Injuns are."

" No, no ! " cried Pike, " what are you about. If you tell them and stop them from goin' down, thar won't be no place safe ! Don't talk so loud or they may take the hint and not go."

" Come, Pike," called the fellows who were so anxious to go fishing, " if you intend to go with us, hurry up, or we'll leave you ! "

" Leave me and be dogoned to you ! " cried Pike. " I've got a pistol now (a lie) and I'm goin' to stay here and have some fun a fightin' Injuns 'fore mornin'. Go along with you. I'm all right now ! "

Pike's friend were evidently amazed at this sudden exhibition of courage on his part. They whispered together for a time ; then one of them said : " Gentlemen you may think that you are exhibiting bravery ; but, gentlemen, it is not bravery, it is madness." This earnest speech was greeted with a laugh from our side of the house, and the " fishermen " turned the mules into the trail and were soon out of sight.

CHAPTER LXXII.

THE COMICAL STORY OF PIKE.

AS SOON as we were left to ourselves we built a roaring fire, in spite of all Pike's remonstrances. "It's jist as good a thing as the Injuns want” said he. " It's jist showin' 'em whar we are. We'll all lose our skelps afore mornin'."

When we began to think of supper, we found that we had played a little joke on ourselves, in our hurry to get the other fellows away in order to make sure of Pike. We had nothing in the shape of provision except a few pounds of rice, which happened to be on Tom's horse. We put some of this into a gold-pan and boiled it, but it was rather poor eating without either butter or salt. As we were sitting about the pan scooping up this rice with knives and wooden paddles, Pike said : " I allers knowed I didn't like rice as well as I thought I did, and now I'm sure of it." But we had plenty of tobacco and what we lacked in "grub" we made up in smoke. As soon as it grew dark Pike became very restless.

" What was that ? " he would say. " Did you hear the rocks rattle upon the hillside ? " and he would peer out into the darkness.

Tom now began to sing as loud as he could roar :

" My name it is Joe Bowers, I've got a brother Ike,

I come from old Missouri, yes, all the way from Pike."

" Stop singin' so loud, Tom," cried Pike in alarm. " Don't ! "

But Tom roared the louder :

" I'll tell you why I left thar, and how I came to roam,

And leave my poor old mammy, so far away from home."

547

548 TOM SINGS.

" Tom ! Tom ! Good Lord don't ! " begged Pike.

" I used to love a gal thar, they called her Sally Black,

I axed her for to marry me, she said it was a whack,

But says she to me : ‘ Joe Bowers, before we hitch for life, 

You'd orter have a little home, to keep your little wife.' "

" If you've got a little home, Tom," said Pike, " I wish to God you was now in it ! "

" Says I, ' my dearest Sally, Oh ! Sally for your sake,

I'll go to Californy, and try to raise a stake."

"That thar's a fool song," said Pike, "and nobody but a fool would sing it! "

" But one day I got a letter, from my dear brother Ike,

“ It came from old Missouri, sent all the way from Pike."

"Whar I wish to the Lord I was now!" groaned Pike.

" It brought the goldarndedst news that ever you did hear,

“ My heart is almost bustin', so pray excuse this tear,

“ It said my Sal was fickle, that her love for me had fled,

“ That she'd married with a butcher, whose har was orful red."

"Thar'll be butchers here 'fore long," groaned Pike.

" It told me more than that, Oh ! it's enough to make one swear !

“It said Sally had a baby, and the baby had red hair."

"Now, cuss yer pictur ! " said Pike, "yer done, air yer? I'll bet thar'll be red har enough here before mornin’. Your singin' has played thunder with us, sure as thar's wool on a nigger, but you'll not have a bit on the -- "

" Top of his head, where the wool had orter be," roared Tom.

Pike was now at his wits' end, and went off a rod or two from the fire and sat down by a dark clump of bushes, sullen and thoroughly disgusted. Tom called out to him : " Say, Pike, are you loadin' that revolver o' your'n ? " but Pike had the sulks and would not condescend to answer. It was soon time to " turn in " for the night, and each man took his blankets and sought the smoothest place to be found. Pike and one of our party known as " Hank," spread their blankets together at some distance from the fire, which was now quite low, while the rest of us found places for our beds among some willows.

Pike lay awake a long time listening for Indians, and would rise to his knees at the slightest sound, pulling the blankets

THE STORY OF PIKE AND TOM. [click on image to enlarge].

THE JOKE SUCCESSFUL. 551

off Hank, who was trying to make him lie still, so that he could get to sleep. There was a high hill on the east side of the cañon, covered on the side next to us with shelly slate rock, and whenever a fox, coyote, or even a rat ran over this it caused a great clatter, the scales of slate ringing like pieces of pottery. This was a place fruitful of alarms and caused Pike to be upon his knees about every five minutes, but about midnight he could keep his eyes open no longer. Hank made the signal agreed upon, by holding up his hat, when two of the boys crept cautiously out of the camp with six-shooters in their hands. By following up a little ravine they were able to gain the summit of the slaty hill without making the slightest noise, as there was no loose rock except on the slope. Presently they started down the slope through the loose rock, leaping and making as much noise as though old Winnemucca and half the Piute tribe were coming down the mountain. At the same time they began yelling and firing their revolvers. At the first racket made on the hill Pike was on his feet and came running toward us, who were returning the fire of the supposed Indians, and yelling as we fired, making altogether enough noise for half a dozen small battles. When Pike reached us two or three of our men fell, crying out that they were killed, and at the same time Hank fell and caught him about the legs, crying: " I'm wounded. Carry me off and hide me in the bushes ! "

"Let go of me, Hank, there's five hundred of 'em comin' ! "

" I'll never let go of you," said Hank. " Carry me off! " Pike then lifted Hank who was groaning at a terrible rate, and carrying him about two rods, pitched him, neck and heels, into a clump of thorny bushes. This done, Pike rushed down the cañon at the speed of an antelope. Tom rolled on the ground and laughed until he almost smothered himself.

"I'm even with Pike on the prickly-pear business! " cried he, as soon as he was able to speak, " he shall never hear the last of this Injun fight ! " For my part, now that the fun was all over, I began to feel quite miserable over the whole affair. I feared that in his great fright Pike might dash his brains out against a tree or break his neck among the rocks. I firmly resolved never to take part in another affair of the

552  PIKE VANISHES.

kind, calling to mind several sham fights and other deviltry in California that had been attended by fatal results to the victims.

In the morning we were ready for a start at sunrise. The first thing I saw was Pike's hat, lying near the place where he had spread his blankets the night before. The sight gave me quite a shock, as it seemed to be the hat of a dead man. I soon found that the others were beginning to feel much as I did about the matter, for, as Pike's blankets were being rolled up to be packed on Tom's horse, one of the boys said : " I hope nothing has happened to Pike." Another said : " O, he's all right ! " but at the same time it was easy to see that the speaker feared that he was not "all right."

As we passed down the cañon, I could not help thinking that we should presently find Pike lying wounded or already dead in some rocky pit or pile of boulders near the trail, and most of our party looked quite solemn. The man who carried Pike's hat looked as though he were in a funeral procession, carrying a portion of the corpse. At length we were through the cañon, and having reached the level plain without finding Pike's remains, we all felt quite jolly again and immediately set to work and planned another surprise for him, when we should find him. Instead of fording the river, as we had done in going out, we went some two miles further down and crossed at a ferry. We inquired of the colored man in charge if anyone had crossed during the night. He assured us that no one had crossed, as he found the boat tied up on the west bank, as he had left it the evening before.

We now knew that Pike must have crossed at the ford and again began to feel uneasy, fearing that reaching the river in a state of exhaustion, he had plunged in and had been swept under by the current. One of two things was certain : he was either safe across, or was drowned, as the Mississippi itself would not have stayed his flight. On turning into the main street of Chinatown we came suddenly upon a group of men with minie muskets in their hands and in their midst stood Pike, with a handkerchief tied about his head. He had a musket in his hand and was the centre of attraction. We could see that he was telling those about him of the

A PRETTY BIG STORY. 553

dreadful affair of the previous night. All those surrounding him were listening so intently that we approached without being observed. Pike was just saying : " Yes; Hank may be alive. I carried him about two miles on my back, with the red cusses yellin' at my heels, then laid him down and kivered him up with brush. But all the rest" Here Pike turned and saw our party. His jaw dropped, and his eyes almost started from their sockets.

" Well, what of the rest ? " said one of his auditors.

"Why, my God! they are all here!" said Pike. "There they all stand ! "

The crowd now turned to us, and began to ask : " Who was killed ? " " Were there many Indians ? " and many other like questions. Not a word of this, however, could we be made to understand. We had seen no Indians; we had never dreamed of any danger from Indians. The whole crowd at once turned to Pike for an explanation. Some of the men hinted that unless he gave a pretty satisfactory explanation of his strange stories he would get into trouble. Pike was thunderstruck and gazed at us with a look of utter helplessness. At last he stammered: "Tom, wasn't you killed? "

" If I was killed I wouldn't be here, would I? "

" I thought I saw you fall," and Pike's face wore the most, puzzled look imaginable. His fingers sought the yellowish tuft of hair on his chin and gazing at one and another of us he sighed: " I don't understand it all."

" We none of us understand it," said one of the crowd, sneeringly.

" All here all here ! " said Pike, his countenance wearing the look of an insane person.

"Pike," said I, "you must have dreamt all this about Indians."

Pike's face brightened for a moment, but soon resumed its old look of despair. " No, no," said he, " no dream. I saw them all killed."

" But, Pike, look at us ; we are all here all alive and well ! "

Pike looked vacantly about him at the boys, and said: “ Yes, I know, but I don't understand it at all."

"Well," said I, "all there is about it is that you were

554 DOUBTFUL DREAMS.

dreaming and suddenly rose up shouting 'Injuns! Injuns! ' and before we could stop you, you ran away down the cañon."

" Yes," said Pike, " it must have been a dream. You are all here it must have been a dream. But it don't seem that way at all."

"Don't seem what way? "

"Why, the way you tell it."

" Well, how does it seem. Let us hear you tell it. Let us have your dream."

" Give us the dream ! " Let's have yer dream ! " cried the crowd.

" Well, you see I was a layin' thar in my blankets But I'll be dogoned ef I believe I did dream it ! " cried Pike. " I can almost hear the guns crack now! "

"Of course you dreamt it. Ain't we all here? "

"Yes; I know. But how did I act what did I do?"

" Why, I've just told you all you did. You know that after you went to bed you was bouncing up on your knees every five minutes, and at last you bounced up and took to your heels."

"Yes; I know I was a little oneasy like. I kept a-hearin' somethin' rattle up on that hill, so I kinder kept on my guard like."

" Well, let us have the dream," all again cried.

" Well," began Pike, " at first I was a-dreamin' along kinder nice and easy like, when all at once I heard the rocks clatter I mean I thonght I heard 'em clatter. Then bang, bang! pop, pop! went the guns, and O! sich yells sich yells! I thought my hair riz straight on end, and I seed more'n five hundred Injuns, all a-hoppin' down the hill like turkeys. All this time 1 thought that you fellers was a blazin' away at about two hundred of 'em that was all round you, and about five hundred on the hill. Then I thought I grabbed up a pick and went right inter the thick of the cusses and fit and fit till I'd wore out the pick, and then fit a long time with the handle. By this time I thought you fellers was all killed and I thought I'd git up and dust. But jist then I thought that Hank got holt round my legs and said he was wounded, and wouldn't let go of me 'thout I'd carry him off. I thought I

SELF-DECEIVED. 555

tuck him on my back and carried him 'bout four miles, and hid him in some brush. Then I thought I run on and waded across the river "

"No, no! you didn't dream that! You did actually wade across the river."

" Well, then what part of it did I dream ? Can anybody tell me that?" and poor Pike looked more puzzled than ever.

" You must have waded the river, you know, or you would not be here."

"Well, yes; I s'pose I did, but that don't seem a bit plainer,,

nor hardly half as plain as the shootin' and yellin' part - -That was the dogonest plainest dream I ever did hev ! "

"Yet, as we are all here, alive and well ; it must have been a dream? "

" Oh, yes, it was a dream, sartain and sure, but what gits me was its bein' so astonishin' plain jist the same as bein* wide awake ! "

Pike continued to tell his dream for some years, constantly adding new matter, till at last it was a wonderful yarn. He enlarged greatly on the part he took in the fight, and after wearing out the pick on the skulls of the Indians, wound up by thrustirfg the handle down the throat of a brave, as his last act before beating a retreat. Tom more than once told him the truth about the whole affair, bringing in half a dozen of the "boys" to corroborate what he said, but not a word of it would Pike believe.

" Do you think," he would say, " that I was fool enough to believe that sich things actually happened? No, it was all a dream from fust to last, and the biggest and plainest dream I ever had ! "

The account I have given of our prospecting trip is a fair sample of all such expeditions though this trip " panned out" rather more than the usual amount of deviltry. Parties of men frequently travel two or three hundred miles to prospect a certain region, and when they reach it, merely scratch about on the surface for a day or two and if nothing is then found they curse the place and strike out for some other section, when the same surface scratching is repeated. With prospectors the "big thing "is always just ahead, never in

556 OUR JOURNEY’S END.

the place where they are. Of course good miners are frequently found, but in nine cases out of ten a prospecting trip results about as did the little scout given above.

When we were prospecting there were things worth looking after, but we did not pay any attention to them. We saw in the cañon abundant indications of coal, but we were looking for gold alone. The coal, the croppings of which we saw, is now being extracted by a company and their mine is one of great value. Near where we camped while prospecting in the cañon now stand the steam-hoisting works of the coal company. It may look as though we did very little work for a prospecting party, but I have known a party of men to travel three hundred miles without having washed a pan of dirt; half the time they did not even dismount from their horses when looking at mining ground. Large parties do less work than small ones, as they can never agree in regard to where they are to set in or what is to be done.' If one or two men wish to stop and prospect, the others are pretty sure to say : " Confound the place ! there is nothing there. I know by the looks of the ground that it is of no account," and so the whole party moves on, and a good place in which to set to work is never found.

A majority of those who go on prospecting expeditions do not want to find a place where there is going to be much hard work to be done. They prefer rambling through the country and viewing new and curious sights to sinking shafts and running tunnels. If they can't find gold or silver in rock that shows itself on the surface, they continue to travel. The novelty of delving in the earth for the precious metals has long since passed away in the case of the old miner or prospector. New-comers known as " pilgrims " or " greenhorns " are much more likely to do real work when on a prospecting trip than any of the old miners. In the case of the pilgrim there is a fascination in the bare fact that he is digging for silver or gold which drives him on and lends strength to his muscle.

THE GREAT FIRE.

[OCTOBER, 1875.]

MANY large fires have at various times swept through Virginia City, but the greatest and most destructive that ever occurred in the town was that of October 26, 1875. At 6 o'clock on the morning of that day a fire started in a little wooden lodging-house on A street, in the western part of the town, which in a few hours destroyed all the buildings standing on an area of ground half a mile square, in the heart of the city. Most of the public buildings and the hoisting-works, and many other buildings of the bonanza mines, were burned. In all, property to the value of over $10,000,000 was swept away. About two thousand buildings were reduced to ruins, and hun- dreds of persons left homeless and destitute.

The fire started at an hour when few persons were abroad. Only the butchers, bakers, marketmen, and other early risers were astir. The " owls " of the city, birds of prey that haunt the place all night, had disappeared with the grey of dawn and were in their first deep sleep ; the time was an hour too early for the change of shifts in the mines, therefore at no other time, day or night, could the streets have been found more completely deserted.

When the first fire-bells rang few persons heeded, even though they heard them. Soon, however, the mournful and long-drawn wail of one steam-whistle after another, in quick succession, was heard to join in sounding the alarm till the fierce clangor of the bells was almost drowned. The bells, loudly as they rang, only said : " There is a fire," but in the fierce, wild shriek of the whistles there was that which thrilled all, and which said as

557

558 THE GREAT FIRE.

though with a human voice: "There is a fire -- and a great and most dangerous one ! " In the sounding of the whistles it was to be noted that there was no hesitation or timidity anywhere shown ; each engineer pulled open the valve of his whistle to its full extent, at the first grasp of his hand.

The fire started in the midst of scores of wooden buildings, and seemed to dart above all the surrounding roofs at the first bound. In addition to their being constructed of wood, nearly the whole of the buildings in the neighborhood were lined with cotton cloth, on which was pasted paper, as on a plastered wall. The partitions dividing the room, and the ceilings of all the rooms, were also constructed of muslin and wall-paper. Hardly a drop of rain had fallen during the preceding summer months, and the whole town was as inflammable as scorched flax.

Almost instantly the column of fire that was at first seen to arise began to assume the form of a pyramid. The base of this pyramid rapidly extended into the sides- of houses in all directions the glass falling in showers from the windows to give ingress to the flames and structure after structure burst out in sheets of fire more rapidly than could be counted or noted down. Shouts of men and women rang through the halls of all the large hotels and lodging-houses in the neighborhood, and loud rappings, to arouse the sleepers, were heard at the doors of rooms. Nearer the scene of the fire, persons of all ages, both sexes, and every condition were fleeing for their lives in all stages of dress and all manner of undress. Many of those nearest the building in which the fire broke out had only time to leap from their beds and rush into the streets, as their houses were wrapped in fire before they were aware of their danger.

At the time the fire burst forth a fierce gale was blowing from the west. This carried great sheets of wall-paper, blazing shingles, and a great shower of fiery missiles of all kinds high into the air and far to the eastward, kindling fresh fires in advance of the main roaring mass of flame. The main body of the fire streamed before the gale as fierce as the flame from a blow-pipe. It stopped for nothing. It was seen resting against the side of a stone or brick building for a minute, then black smoke began to roll up through the roof, and a moment after the smoke became flame -- flame that joined the main stream and darted on and through all that stood in its way.

THE GREAT FIRE. 559

Many of the buildings destroyed were such as had always been thought fire-proof; but they fell before the fire as quickly as though they had been the commonest of wooden structures. There was apparently much fire in the midst of the streets as within the buildings; indeed the whole air seemed on fire. Water thrown into the midst of the flames produced no effect unless, as many thought, it added to their fury and fierceness. Although the firemen we're at work with both hand-engines and steamers, while yet but few buildings were involved, the water they threw upon the burning buildings might as well have been as much oil, for any effect it had in checking the flames. The firemen were driven back from every point where they at- tempted to make a stand, and it soon became evident that no efforts of theirs could check the progress of the fire. It was such a fire as that which swept Chicago and Boston a fire as fierce and uncontrollable as though belched up from the bottomless pits of the lower regions.

When it was seen that the fire was wholly beyond control, that it must take its own course and burn its way out through the city, the wildest confusion ensued. It was as when a beaten army begins its retreat. All took what they could conveniently carry in their hands, those things they most prized, and fell back out of the track of the fire. Men, women, and children thus leaving their homes, and house after house being thus deserted, a great human wave was pushed back on all sides toward the suburbs of the city. Hundreds moved their goods again and again, each time losing something, until at last they found themselves driven far up on the open face of the mountain, empty- handed, panting for breath, and parched with thirst. While the whole face of the mountain seemed a sea of fire, with great billows tossing to and fro, the sounds that reached the ear were as fearful as the scene spread before the eye. From the armories of the various military companies, from the gunsmith shops and from many of the variety-stores, there came a constant roar of exploding cartridges, guns, pistols, fire-crackers, bombs, rockets, and all manner of fireworks, sounding like the steady discharge of small arms in a great battle. Amid and above all this din were heard the frequent and startling discharges of giant-powder, gunpowder, and Hercules powder, as building after building was blown up in various parts of the town.

560 THE GREAT FIRE

As the fire began to approach the great mining-works these heavy reports became more frequent and terrific. The miners carried into buildings, not a few cartridges only of the powerful explosives they were using, but whole boxes of them, and when there were fired they seemed to shake Mount Davidson from base to peak. By the blowing up of buildings, and by almost superhuman exertions at carrying water and wetting the roofs and sides of houses, the progress of the fire was stayed at a few important points, and a great amount of valuable property saved that would otherwise have been destroyed ; yet, in the main, the flames held their course through the heart of the town.

Thus in a few short hours was swept away the best part of what at dawn had been a fair city a city filled with elegant and comfortable homes, handsome and costly public buildings, large stores, packed with all manner of valuable goods, and mills and mining-works -- the most complete of the kind in the whole world. All these were licked from the face of the mountain, and but a wilderness of toppling walls and smoking ruins showed where they had been.

This great fire was started in a low lodging-house kept by a woman known as " Crazy Kate " Kate Shea by the breaking of a coal-oil lamp in a drunken row, as is asserted by those who occupied the adjoining houses.

In its march to the eastward down the slope of the mountain, the Court-house was the first large public building that was destroyed ; the building and rooms of the Washoe Club, filled with elegant furniture and costly paintings, was the next to fall. Devouring at a gulp a score of smaller buildings, the International Hotel, the principal hotel of the city and a huge brick structure, filled with stores, saloons, and other places of business on its first floors, was soon reached by the flames and became a volcano of fire. About the same time, further to the southward, the Bank of California, the Enterprise (newspaper) building, and many large brick and stone structures, from three to five stories in height, were vomiting fire from every window and door from roof to basement. Soon Pipers Opera House, a huge frame building, like some great fire-ship was spreading terror through the neighborhood ; while to the right the southward the Methodist, Catholic, and Episcopal Churches were towering

THE GREAT FIRE. 561

pillars of fire, with seas of fire below and about them. To the left and northward the freight and passenger depots of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Company, with many smaller buildings, were pouring great streams of fire to the eastward into the hoisting-works of the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company which in turn, with over a million feet of lumber, sent a broad river of flame into and over the big mill of the company a mill the most costly and complete then in operation in any part of the world. Not only this mill, but also the California stamp mill, near at hand, was here swept away. The buildings of the new " C and C " (California and Consolidated Virginia) shaft were saved through the most strenuous exertions of many miners, and after blowing up many houses.

To the northward at this time, the City Hall and scores of large and costly private residences were wallowing in a lake of flames, which lake overflowing on the east, inundated the several buildings constituting the works of the Ophir Mining Company, sweeping them from the face of the earth. Building after building was hurled hundreds of feet into the air to prevent the fire reaching these works, but nothing stayed its advance. Shattered buildings seemed to burst into flames in mid-air and their wrecks served but as trains laid to lead the fire more surely to the doomed works.

At times great whirlwinds came down the side of the mountain and waltzed about in the midst of the burning buildings, carrying spiral columns of flame and fiery missiles thousands of feet into the air. The tops of some of these pillars of fire were seen by persons fifteen or twenty miles away. An Indian who was on the opposite side of Mount Davidson, and on the west side of Washoe Valley, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, fifteen miles distant, observed one of these whirlwinds of fire, which he said " looked like an augur," and started for the city to see what had befallen it. Jonah-like he wanted to see whatever trouble there might be in store for the place. He

reached the top of Mount Davidson in time to see the churches all aflame. A grand view of the burning town he must have had from the top of the mountain !

At first, while but a few houses were on fire, there was heard some wailing among the half-dressed women and children, but

562 THE GREAT FIRE.

as block after block became involved, the ruin being wrought was on a scale so grand that the excitement and terror of the scene forbade all thought of anything so small that tears could prove a solace for its loss.

When all was over, the people for a time seemed stupified, or rather drunk, with the excitement of the day, and it was almost night before many of them remembered that they were without homes. All the houses left standing were soon filled; many young men, who could do so, went by rail to neighboring towns, while, for one or two nights, persons camped out on the sides of the hills the school-houses and other public buildings remaining being filled to overflowing. The next morning after the fire, relief came pouring in from all quarters, for over two thousand buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of people were left homeless and destitute. Carson City sent two or three car-loads of provisions-, ready cooked, early the next morning after the fire, to supply the immediate wants of the sufferers, and San Francisco and other towns and cities of California, at once telegraphed money and started clothing, blankets, bedding, and provisions over the Sierras, by express. A Relief Committee was organized in the city, and similar committees in San Francisco and other towns and cities of the Pacific Coast, and soon all the sufferers were made as comfortable as shelter, food, and clothing could make them. All the towns of Nevada and California contributed as generously as though their own people had been in distress, and San Francisco was untiring in her efforts for the relief of the sufferers as though the people of Virginia were her own sons and daughters. But two persons are known to have perished in the flames, though there were scores of narrow escapes. After the fire two or three men were killed by falling walls.

The insurance on the property amounted to $2,500,000, and this, with what many had left in money, stocks, and other kinds of property, joined with stout hearts and unlimited faith in the inexhaustible wealth of the mines, gave all courage to set to work at re-establishing themselves.

To rebuild the town was the one thought of all. The next morning after the fire the work of cooling down and clearing away the ruins of buildings was in progress in hundreds of places; lumber was coming in by rail and was being hauled up

THE GREAT FIRE. 563

on the still smoking ground. From that time forward the work went on almost day and night, and in all kinds of weather. A week after the fire a tornado blew down and demolished a great number of the newly erected and partially completed wooden buildings, but the moment the storm ceased the wrecks were cleared away and building was again resumed. The mining companies whose works were destroyed showed undaunted spirit and indomitable energy. The Consolidated Virginia Mining Company's hoisting-works and mill, and the California Mining Company's stamp mill, were a loss of over a million dollars at one fell swoop.

The Consolidated Virginia hoisting work's assay-office, 1,250,000 feet of lumber and timbers, 800 cords of wood and the stock of mining supplies on hand was a loss of $800,000.

The loss by the burning of the Consolidated Virginia mill was $431,000; battery mill of the California Company, $80,000; hoisting-works and building of the Ophir Company $150,000; a total loss to the bonanza mines of $1,461,000. Large as were the losses of the several mining companies they had hundreds of men at work the day after the fire at clearing away the still burning ruins preparatory to immediate rebuilding. There was not a moment's hesitation.

In November the Consolidated Virginia Company declared their usual dividend (No. 19), of $10 per share on their capital stock, aggregating $1,080,000 ; and again in December a dividend (No. 20), amounting to the same great sum was declared. Thus did this Croesus of mining companies pay out to stockholders the princely sum of $2,160,000 during the time they were engaged in the costly business of rebuilding their works and filling them with expensive machinery. That they could do this must seem incredible to persons unacquainted with the almost inexhaustible deposits of rich ore in the bonanza mines.

The withholding of one of these dividends would have furnished more than enough money to have rebuilt both hoisting- works and mill, but having millions in sight in the lower levels of the mine which could be rapidly taken out when once the works were again running, the company gave the stockholders their regular dividends, just as though nothing had happened. The California Company had both their stamp-mill and their

564 THE GREAT FIRE.

pan-mill almost completed and in a short time, but for the fire, would have been extracting ore. Their pan-mill (an improvement on the big mill of the Consolidated Virginia Company), one of the finest in existence, was saved, being nearly half a mile to the eastward of the mine and the scene of the fire. The shafts of the Ophir and Consolidated Virginia mines were blocked up and filled in with earth about their mouths when it was seen that the buildings covering them were doomed to destruction, yet the fire worked its way some distance down the latter and was with difficulty extinguished. Had the fire reached the immense masses of timbers in the underground works it would perhaps have gone through the whole of the mines on the northern part of the Comstock range, when the loss would have been many times greater than that of all that was destroyed on the surface, counting in all that was swept away in the town as well as on and about the mines.

In San Francisco the wildest excitement prevailed on California Street and, indeed, in all parts of the city as soon as it become generally known that a great fire was raging in Virginia City, and that the mining-works were in danger. Those who first received news of the fire did not make it public, but began selling their stocks on the street. Ophir, which closed at $52.75 on Monday evening, October 25, was offered, Tuesday morning, October 26, at $50, and considerable amounts of the stock were sold at this figure. As the news spread all stocks fell, and before the panic ended Ophir sold as low as $36 per share, but before night rallied to $41. Thousands upon thousands of shares of stocks were sold on California Street (the grand rallying place for dealers in stocks) before the Stock-Boards opened, the street being a surging mass of pale-faced and excited humanity. In the San Francisco Board, when the calling of the list of stocks began the place instantly became a perfect bedlam.

In the evening, when the full extent of the damage done by the fire had reached San Francisco, the people became quiet and began to gain courage. They reasoned that although the surface-works of the leading companies had been destroyed the mines were still there and as rich as the day before the fire ; that the resumption of the extraction of ore was only a matter of time and all would be going on as usual in from forty to sixty

THE GREAT FIRE. 565

days. Finally all retired for the night, greatly reassured, and the terrible panic was over. The people of San Francisco were correct in their estimate of the energy of the men who were at the head of the affairs of the mining companies Col. James G. Fair and John Mackey, of the Consolidated Virginia and California, and Capt. S. T. Curtis, of the Ophir. In less than thirty days new buildings stood in the place of those that had been burned, both at the Consolidated Virginia and Ophir mines ; and on Thanksgiving Day, just thirty days after the fire, the hoisting engine of the latter was started up amid the rejoicings of some hundreds of persons who had collected at the works, and (merely to be able to say that it was done) a few car-loads of ore were hoisted from the 1,300 foot level, though the business of regularly hoisting ore was not resumed until after the starting of the large pump and the proper draining of the mine, some time afterwards.

Before the expiration of the sixty days allowed (by close calculators at the time of the fire) for the rebuilding of the Consolidated Virginia hoisting-works, they were not only put up in better style in all respects than before the fire, but they were again taking out ore at the rate of over $1,500,000 per month. The Ophir Company were also soon after hoisting ore as before the fire, and ere long the work of extracting the vast stores of immensely rich ore (hitherto untouched) standing in great squares in the mine of the California Company was begun, giving full employment to the splendid mill of that company and, with the yield from the Consolidated Virginia, adding $3,000,000 per month to the hard-money wealth of the world.

In order to guard against a recurrence of such a calamity as that described in this chapter, the people of Virginia City at once set about the construction of a series of large reservoirs upon the side of the mountain above their town which, with a proper system of mains and hydrants, should afford them better protection against fire than they had ever before enjoyed. In sixty days after the fire the principal streets running through the burnt districts were again lined with business houses, the majority of which were of a better class than those destroyed, and dwellings once more covered what a few weeks before a good deal resembled the bottomless pit. The gap left in the

566 THE GREAT FIRE.

city by the fire was again filled, and was not readily distinguished by strangers, except by its striking resemblance to a new patch placed on a pair of old pantaloons.

But for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad all this work could not have been done in a year. Indeed it would have taken the whole winter, with all the teams that could be pressed into the service, to have hauled from the mills in the mountains sufficient lumber to rebuild the mining-works alone. Nearly all of those whose homes were destroyed would have been obliged to seek shelter in California, and it would have been a difficult matter to bring in enough provisions and other supplies to comfortably keep such as remained in those parts of the city left intact.

The Railroad Company not only poured into the city an unbroken stream of lumber, timbers, and supplies of all kinds for the use of the mining companies and citizens, but at the the same time did a vast amount of work for themselves. Their depot buildings, trestle-work, bridges, switches, the timbers of a tunnel, track, and, in short, all of their improvements in the city were destroyed. All these were replaced and at the same time all the other work done. Trains ran day and night as many as forty-five trains passing over this road some days and thus was the great work of rebuilding so speedily accomplished that a new town seemed to spring up out of the ground.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

MEXICAN MINING TERMS.

Abonar -- To pay a debt by instalments.

Acetones -- Shares in a mine.

Ademada -- Timbered.

Agua -- Water.

Ahogar -- To gouge out a mine by working narrow and only in rich places.

Aire -- Air.

Azogue -- Quicksilver.

Barranca -- A precipice.

Barrena -- A drill.

Barretero -- A miner.

Bartolina -- A chamber cut out in a mine in which to keep tools and stores.

Batea -- A wooden bowl used in washing auriferous earth.

Bonanza -- A large and rich body of ore -- prosperity.

Borrasca -- Barren rock -- bad luck – adversity.

Buena saca -- Doing well.

Cabreste -- A hair rope -- a line.

Calabrote -- A large rope.

Canada -- A deep ravine, gulch.

Cascajo -- Gravel.

Cavasal -- A cross-piece timber.

Cavassos -- Borings -- drillings.

Cavatto -- A "horse" -- a block of barren rock in the midst of a body of ore.

Charqueo interior -- To lead water to a drain.

Chorrerra -- A cave -- the caving in of a mine.

Cinta -- A streak of ore.

Contra Mina -- An underground connection.

Contro-pozo -- An " upraise " to meet a winze.

Cuarzo -- Quartz.

De Cielo -- The roof working over- head.

De Pied or a Pique -- Beneath the floor sinking, or working down.

Destajo -- A contract.

Derotada -- Gutted, spoiled and abandoned.

Dispacho or Dispensa -- An ore-house.

Echardero -- A platform for weighing, sorting, or packing ore on. A Patio of a mine.

El Abajo -- The foot wall.

El Alto -- hanging wall.

El Cordon -- A ridge or spur of a mountain.

El Creston -- A crest or outcropping.

El Crucero -- A cross-cut.

El Fronton -- An ore breast.

El Manto (mantada) -- A flat deposit.

El Patio -- The level space at the mouth of a mine or tunnel.

El Rumbo -- The course.

El Socabon -- An adit.

El Tajo abierto -- An open cut.

El Tiro general -- The main shaft.

En Frutos -- In ore.

En Borra (Emborrescade, Borrasca) -- Not in pay ore -- " petered out " -- applied to the barrenness of veins, not to dead work, as a tunnel run to reach a vein.

Escabar -- To strip a claim on the surface merely,

567

568 APPENDIX.

Fueros -- Special privileges.

Fundido -- Filled with water.

Granito -- Granite.

Guardas de Labor -- Roof and walls of a mine in general.

Hilos -- Threads of ore.

Hundido -- A settling or sinking.

Las Sierras -- Mountains or mountain ranges.

La Guia -- A guide, or the float rock.

La Recuesta -- The dip.

Las Medias -- The boundary lines of a claim as marked by Las Escatas, stakes, or Estacada, staked off.

Las Guardas Rayas -- Monuments of wood or stone.

La Demasia or Hueco -- The unclaimed ground between two claims.

La Bocca-vieja -- The mouth -- the old mouth.

La Obra -- The tunnel -- the work.

La Lumbrera -- The air shaft.

Las cañones -- The drifts.

La Cata -- A small pit -- a " coyote hole."

La Tabla -- A stope.

La Patia -- narrow footpath in a mine.

Las Respaldas -- The walls of a mine.

Los Caminos -- The travelled roads in a mine of any kind.

Los Planes -- The deepest workings or bottom of a mine.

Los Pilares -- The pillars of a mine place of timbers to " dispilar" a mine is to dig down the pillars.

Las Desagües -- The drains of a mine.

Las Escateras -- The notched stepping poles or ladders in a mine.

La Tronada -- The rocks thrown down by a blast.

Los Llavis -- Beams, timbers.

Latones -- Small poles

La Quebrada -- A ravine.

Maderas -- All kinds of wood used in a mine for any purpose.

Mecati -- A small line.

Minero -- A miner.

Nivel -- level.

Obra muerta -- Dead work.

Orcones -- Forked poles.

Oro -- Gold.

Oro en polvo -- Gold dust.

Oro en pasta, bruto or virgen -- Gold bullion.

Presa -- A dam.

Pileta -- A sump or tank,

Paradera -- Sluice-gates.

Pico -- A pick.

Pala -- A shovel.

Polvora -- Powder.

Plata -- Silver.

Plata virgen or bruto -- A rude mass of silver native silver.

Pizarra -- Slate rock.

Puertas -- When a vein pinches -- " cap rock."

Pied direcho -- A stud.

Pedregal -- a stony place

Roca -- A rock

Risco -- A steep rock.

Reata -- A rope for tying mules or horses.

Suffocante -- Hot, bad air.

Terrero -- A pile of waste rock.

Un Mineral -- A mining district.

Una Veta -- A lode or ledge a true fissure vein.

Una Veta tapada -- A " blind " ledge or lode a lode that is covered with soil.

Una Vena -- A vein a narrow seam or streak.

APPENDIX. 569

Una Pertinenda -- A claim on a lode. (By the Mexican mining law it is 200 Varas ie Medin 200 yards running measure. A vara is 33 inches.)

Un Pozo -- A shaft, pit, or winze.

Un Labor -- Any part of a mine from which ore is being extracted,

Un Claro -- Any worked out portion of a mine,

Un Tapextle -- A landing or platform in a shaft a gallery.

Un Quarion -- A slip or " fault " which cuts off the ore.

Un Clavo -- A chimney of ore.

Un Amparo -- A permit from the Government to quit work on a mine for any time beyond the customary four months in each year.

Un Ojo -- A "pocket."

Una Bonanza -- A big rich strike.

Una Caida -- A fall -- a slide.

Un Barreno -- A drill-hole.

Un Cohele -- A blast.

Un Tequio -- A task each cleaner's pile of ore.

Una Adema -- A set of timbers.

Un Malacate -- A horse whim.

Una Manesuela, Argano, Hicho bueno -- A windlass

Una Soga -- A native rope.

Un Negocio -- An enterprise, transaction, or business.

Veta Cata -- A new vein.

Vapor -- Foul air.

Ventilation -- Ventilation.

Ventilar -- To Ventilate.

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