REMINISCENCES

BY

EMORY FISKE SKINNER

-- o0o –

1908

VESTAL PRINTING COMPANY

CHICAGO

CHAPTER VII.

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In 1858 political strife was engendered by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which led to those celebrated debates in Illinois between Lincoln and Douglas, and two years later to the candidacy of both, for the presidency of the United States. Bell and Breckenridge were also candidates. Douglas introduced a new feature into presidential contests by "stumping" the country in favor of his own election. I was a great admirer of Mr. Douglas. He sent for Henry Clay Dean to aid him by speaking through the state of Illinois in his behalf. I believe it was my efforts which persuaded him to consent. On his return from campaigning in Illinois, he reported to me that Douglas had promised him that if elected president he would appoint him (Dean) governor and appoint me United States Attorney for the territory of Utah. Douglas in this canvass spoke as far north as Fond du Lac, traveling as he went in a special train. I went to Fond du Lac to hear him speak, as I had not had that pleasure before. An immense crowd gathered to hear him. I secured a good position both for hearing and seeing. He proved a very deliberate, sententious speaker. He told how many times he had spoken that week and that day, then turning to Charles Eldredge, who at that time was a member of Congress, said : "My friend Eldridge says that I would not be able to stand this, if I did not have the Constitution of the United States."

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I had a great love for Senator Douglas, and desired to see him elected president What would have been the result to the country if he had become president can only be a matter of conjecture. At all events he proved him self to be a true and loyal patriot, until his untimely death robbed the country of his services and counsel.

A proposition to form a business partnership with a Mr. Deverill was presented to me soon after. We were to engage in buying and selling grain, flour or any other commodity in which we considered there was a profit I consented, and we conducted such a business for a year ; then upon figuring results I found that we had made a profit upon everything I had bought and a loss upon most everything he had bought.

Then came 1861 and with it the great war. When Fort Sumter was fired upon, that event caused great excitement through the entire north. The southern states had seceded and what the result would be for the country, none could foresee. The firing on Fort Sumter caused President Lincoln to call for seventy-five thousand volunteers "to put down the rebellion in the south." On receipt of this news a public meeting was held in Oshkosh, and speeches were made by representative citizens. Mr. "Gabe" Bouck, a prominent democratic lawyer and politician of Oshkosh, urged the city to send at once a company to the protection of the capital, offering his own services as leader. He asked me to enlist, promising if I would do so to make me second lieutenant of his company. Prior to this Charles W. Felker, a promising young lawyer at Omro, and I had agreed that in case of a war we would raise a company and serve in same; therefore I felt obliged to refuse Mr. Bouck's proposition.

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Early in July President Lincoln issued a call for three hundred thousand additional men. At that time there were few military men in this country who knew how to drill a company, still fewer who could drill a regiment or a brigade. In all towns of considerable size, one or more companies were being raised and offered to the adjutant general of the state ; but it was destitute of clothing and arms and could only accept companies as it could provide them with equipments.

Felker and I called a meeting to be held in one of the churches in Omro. This was well attended by the patriots of the village, and over fifty men enlisted that night. Felker was nominated captain of the company, and elected by acclamation. I was nominated as first lieutenant and was elected in the same manner, as was also Dr. Ambler for second lieutenant. After the election we formed in line and marched through the streets, cheering at the houses of the different officers, and finally retired to sleep the sleep of patriots.

After this meeting we tried to increase the number of our enlistments. I think it was about eighty men we wanted, and that we finally secured about seventy. I remember going out one day with Mr. A. B. Cady, who was our village postmaster, to see a young man by the name of Pingrey, and if possible to persuade him to enlist. Mr. Cady in a strenuous argument told him that his (Cady's) grandfather served in the war of the Revolution, that his father had served in the war of 1812, and that he himself had served in the Mexican war. Pingrey listened without enthusiasm while Cady was extolling the patriotism of his own family, and then quietly remarked that he had never known of a Pingrey being in any war, and that so far as he was concerned

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there never would be. This reply floored Cady and greatly amused me. We returned that day without any recruits.

Patiently we waited to have our company accepted. Some of our men became very impatient and often unreasonable; several members went to Ripon and enlisted in a cavalry regiment which was being raised there.

About this time was born unto us a son, and he has been our only child. The event gave my wife and my self much happiness.

When the excitement began to subside, the enthusiasm for the war began to wane. It seemed impossible for the state to equip the numerous companies that were offered, neither were they accepted in the order of their offering. Finally, one morning in September, Felker received a letter from the adjutant, saying that if he would report a full company by a date in July, which he named, he would assign us to the seventh regiment Wisconsin volunteers. Felker, not being a veteran in matters pertaining to war, showed considerable independence, and wrote the adjutant general in reply a very caustic letter, calling his attention to the fact that the date he mentioned had elapsed nearly two months; perhaps he had made a mistake in dates and meant October 1, if such were the case, although many of our men had enlisted in other companies, he would report a full company, the same subject to his orders, but that if he meant as he wrote it was an evident impossibility and that he might "go to h--l." This letter Felker wrote and signed, and asked me to sign it also, which I did; with it evaporated our expectations of military glory. We afterwards learned through Judge Wheeler,

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who was in close touch with the state authorities, that our commissions were at this time made out and all ready to be forwarded, but that the evident spirit of insubordination in our letter was more than the adjutant general could stand for, and so he let our company die a natural death rather than through military carnage. I gave up all ambitions for military glory then. The evident incompetency of the officers in command, the disheartening campaigns of the war, made the future look gloomy for the north. It became apparent to the most optimistic that the war would be bitterly contested.

In the spring of 1862 my prospects were most discouraging. The legislature refusing process of law against persons enlisted in the army made the lawyer's profession a very uncertain means for making a living. My mill was burned, shutting me off from any business in that line. My only chance for employment in a military capacity was to enlist as a private and this would yield but a pittance towards the support of a family. No opportunity for employment appeared, and I was finally persuaded to remove to Oshkosh, where I opened a law office with a Mr. Boyington, who had about the same amount of law business as I had ; which was not much. I was a democrat, and he was a republican. There was a secret political organization, which permeated the country at that time; I believe it was called the Loyal Legion. Mr. Boyington told me one day that my case had been considered by this order and that he had been authorized to say if I would join it and become a good republican, I could have any political preferment I wished, but that if I remained a democrat the organization would see that I had neither busi-

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ness nor prosperity. I was inclined to think at that time that this resolution had been formed, but I was not to be forced into any party in which I did not believe, so I returned a defiant answer.

Matters crept along; nothing was talked of but the war. I concluded that I could not succeed in Oshkosh, that I would have to go somewhere else. After a good deal of deliberation I came to the conclusion that I would go to California and enter into the practice of law in that state. It was the most promising scheme I could think of, so I prepared to go there.

That spring I joined the masonic fraternity, and became a member of Oshkosh Lodge No. 27. I was fond of masonry, and have never lost my love for it. A man who is a good mason is a good man in any walk of life which he may follow. At that time I was well posted in the work and became a master mason.

I went from Oshkosh to New York City, and from there sailed on the steamer "Ocean Queen" for Aspinwall. This steamer was built of wood and was I think heavily loaded; at any rate she had a habit of plunging her bow deeply into the sea when it was at all rough. We were eight days on this voyage. When we sailed into the tropics the weather became very warm, and so was the drinking water. The only way to get anything cool to drink was to buy lemonade, made from limes, at the bar. The food for cabin passengers was fairly palatable. On the trip I made the acquaintance of two passengers, whom I afterwards met in Nevada. One was John P. Kelley who claimed to be the nephew of the acting governor of Kentucky; the other was Frank Drake, an engineer at Mare Island Navy Yard, who was returning from a visit to relatives

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and friends in Massachusetts. I made this voyage in June, 1863.

We landed in rowboats at Aspinwall, which proved to be a low and dirty town. We came ashore in the morning and after a short delay were transported over the Panama R. R. to the city of that name, where we went aboard a steam lighter which transported us to the steamship "North America." I was fortunate in securing good accommodations. This steamer, like the "Ocean Queen" was an old wooden hull, which I was informed had been brought around the "Horn" from the Great Lakes. The whole after-part of the upper deck was hung with bunches of bananas, over which were stretched awnings to protect the fruit from the sun.

The next morning we started on our voyage to San Francisco. We had a very pleasant trip, occupying fourteen days. The sea was very smooth all the way, and we were in sight of the land most of the time. We often saw whales sporting in the distance, which excited the interest of all ; also the porpoise following the ship was a novel sight.

Upon arriving at Acapulco, Mexico, our ship entered the harbor in order to coal. This coal was carried in sacks aboard the ship on the backs of the natives. During our stay in this port, many of the passengers amused themselves by throwing coins into the water and watching the natives dive for them. The water was clear and deep, and the divers invariably got the coin. When the steamer had received the necessary quantity of coal she proceeded on her way. After reaching the latitude of Lower California we were most of the time in sight of the coast, which was of a dark brown color. This was

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caused some said, by the hue of ripened wild oats, the straw of which in drying assumed that color.

At the end of fourteen days from Panama we steamed through the Golden Gate, past Fort Alcatraz, into the Bay of San Francisco, and I had then my first view of the city of that name. I landed and went to a hotel, then proceeded to look up two acquaintances from Oshkosh, whom I knew to be living here. One had been a dry goods merchant when in Wisconsin and was a lover of fast trotters. The other gentleman had been a lawyer in Oshkosh. I found them located in what was known as Montgomery Block, an office building occupied largely by lawyers. Mr. McCracken was engaged, as far as I could judge, in getting contracts from the city for paving the streets, and Mr. Lane was practicing his profession.

I thought I would stay awhile in San Francisco, thinking that by so doing I could better choose a location in the interior in which to practice law.

I found that in the forenoon of each day a cold, raw wind prevailed in the city ; furs for the ladies and overcoats for men were comfortable, but at sunset the wind died down, and the evenings were delicious, reminding me of what I had read of oriental countries. There were many places of amusement not of a high order, but on a par with the tastes of the inhabitants. Montgomery street lay at the bottom of a hill and ran from Market Street to Telegraph Hill. A few streets were built parallel to Montgomery Street and west of it on the hill was Kearney Street, then as now it was the center of Chinatown. The business part of the city was between Montgomery Street and the Bay. The shoal water on the bay shore had been filled in with ballast brought

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by ships, and sand hauled from the hills, until quite a city had been built on made ground. I recollect one place where a ship had been stranded, and there were several streets between it and the Bay. Market Street was a bed of bottomless sand. A street railway had been built three or four miles to a place called Mission Dolores, the site of an old Spanish Church. Near this had been erected a woolen mill, where very heavy and warm blankets were woven for miners. I remember buying one for myself that weighed eleven pounds. They were about the warmest blanket I ever saw just what the average Californian and tenderfoot needed.

Near this mill was erected a rough theater, in which Billy Birch and Ben Cotton, with other cork artists, delighted large audiences every Sunday. A street railway being the means of transportation, mules were very busy on Sundays hauling passengers to and from the Mission and the city.

Most emigrants to California in those days came by the way of Panama. The overland stage route had been established, but the latter was a long and tiresome journey. "Frisco" was a mecca for miners who desired amusement and a good time.

After I had been domiciled in this city about a month, I saw an advertisement in a San Francisco paper which read as follows :

"Wanted -- A man to go to Reese River to build a saw mill, and take charge of it."

If I could secure such a position it would mean an immediate income. I told Mr. McCraken that I was inclined to answer the advertisement, and asked him if they would pay me $100 per month. He replied: "You ask $100 per month and you won't get the job. They

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will be certain that you do not understand the business." He advised me to ask not less than $300 per month. I began then to wake up a little to the opportunities of that country. I answered the advertisement, was well received and the opening appeared satisfactory. I engaged at the salary I asked: $300, having a written contract with Mr. Mathewson, who was the agent of the company. I was informed that John Parrott, banker, Frank Billings, afterwards President of the Northern Pacific Railway Co., and the agent of the company, Mr. Mathewson, who had been editor of the Alta California, published in San Francisco, also the collector of the port, were members of this company ; so I was satisfied that there was ample capital behind the project. I was authorized to order and have built in San Francisco, the machinery for a sawmill and to buy whatever was necessary for the purpose, including food for myself and men, and tools to operate the business. The company claimed to have about two thousand acres of timber land, which Mathewson assured me was covered with trees averaging two feet in diameter. It was necessary to have all the machinery built; none of it was to be found for sale in San Francisco. In order to know how much and what kind of food would be required, I obtained a list of rations furnished by the government to its soldiers, and from this I made my calculations as to the food that would be needed. I was instructed to purchase everything that would be required to operate the mill after it was built; for the cutting of logs and their hauling to the mill. It took some two months to get everything ready for our departure for Austin, Nevada, which is on the Reese River, and was our objective point. Mathewson informed me that they had

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contracted with a transportation company to deliver the machinery and supplies to whatever mill site I should select, and that they were to pay ten cents per pound freight on same. I decided to take an engineer with me, as I might not be able to find one at our destination ; so I wrote to Frank Drake at Mare Island offering him the place, which he gladly accepted.

The company procured us passage to our destination, and we embarked at San Francisco on the steamer Yosemite for Sacramento. I have a vivid memory of that trip, of our steaming across the bay, past the islands and up the river. I sat up late in the evening charmed with the moonlight, and the beautiful scenery, then went to my berth, awaking the next morning at Sacramento. That day we went by railroad to Placerville, about fifteen miles distant in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. In the early days of California mining, this place was known as "Hangtown," owing to the numerous lynchings that had occurred there. It was the terminus of the overland stage route. I remember that this place was composed of wooden buildings, scattered through a ravine or canyon. The country between Sacramento and Placerville had all been dug over in the early fifties by miners, and "rocked" in miner's cradles, and later had been rewashed by Chinamen.

Upon our arrival at this place, we were immediately transferred to stage coaches which were of the old Concord build, the body suspended on heavy, wide, leather straps, or thorough-braces. They would accommodate nine passengers inside, and two on the outside with the driver and each was hauled by six fine horses. These stage horses were usually brought from the states of

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Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. It was the custom to change the horses every ten miles.

We then began the ascent of the Sierra Nevada mountains, which we had to cross in order to reach Carson Valley. The roads up the grade were broad, smooth and sprinkled by water carts. In many places the roads were cut in solid rock, on the sides of the mountains, traversing the canyon. At the bottom flowed the American River. When we got into the coach, I took the front seat, riding backwards, as I had been told that it was the easiest. The hostlers let go the bridles of the horses and we went up the grade at a smart trot. The road had been laid out by engineers, and the grade kept as true as possible ; sharp angles were often met and had to be turned, and sometimes the road would follow an intersecting ravine, going up one side, and back on the other for perhaps half a mile or more.

At one station, where we stopped, I saw the smoke of a sawmill near by. As I had a curiosity to see the mill, and supposing that the stage was to wait for a change of horses, which would give me sufficient time, I went to it, then hurried back only to find that the coach had gone. I looked down the road and saw it in a whirl of dust, leaving me. I followed my first impulse to try and overtake it, I more than ran, I flew. I gained on it rapidly, but the driver did not stop for me. After running a quarter of a mile, some of the passengers saw me and called the driver's attention to my struggles to overtake them. The driver motioned toward the other side of the ravine, indicating that I should cross over and head off the coach. I went to the bottom, but in attempting to climb up the other side my legs would not work -- they were paralyzed. However, with the aid

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of my hands I managed to haul myself up to the road, very much exhausted and out of breath. When the stage arrived I was helped in, and a sympathizing passenger handed me a flask of whiskey with an injunction to take a deep drink ; that it would revive me. I did as directed, but the liquor caused a serious nausea ; when the result of this was over, it seemed to me that I was practically empty.

The schedule of these stages over the mountains was an average of ten miles an hour. We met and passed numerous freight wagons, many of which carried ten tons each. Behind the larger wagon would be a smaller one called a tender, which carried the food and camp outfit for the drivers and barley and hay for the mules. These wagons were usually hauled by twelve or fourteen mules, also brought from the states mentioned.

We steadily climbed the mountains, reaching a meal station where we stopped for supper, and a change of horses, then proceeded on our journey.

In coming up the American River I noticed that the road was cut in solid rock on the steep mountain side. Looking over the edge of that trail one could see the river, one thousand or more feet below, running in a torrent. If a coach should chance to tip over the edge of the cliff nothing but the tall majestic pine trees, which grew on the side of the canyon, would break its fall before it reached the river.

It was some time after midnight, about two or three o'clock, when we entered what was called Strawberry Valley ; a canyon on the western slope of the mountains, perhaps ten miles from the summit. This is one of the grandest views that I have ever seen. I should judge it to be a quarter of a mile in width where the stage

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road passed. On one side of this level valley rose granite walls said to be a thousand feet high. They appeared to be perpendicular. In this valley grew almost exclusively what are known as the sugar pine. These were from one to two hundred feet in height and from two to five feet in diameter. The moon shone very brightly as we rode through this most attractive scene.

We passed to the south side of Lake Tahoe. It lies over six thousand feet above the level of the ocean. As I recall it, the entire scene was very picturesque. This spot has since become a favorite summer resort. The lake is about twenty-two by thirteen miles in area. The water was very clear and cold. Mark Twain describes it as "A sea in the clouds, whose royal seclusion is guarded by a cordon of sentinel peaks, that lift their frosty fronts, 9000 feet above the level of the world." I have wished many times to travel over this route again, but I do not know whether there is now such a stage line through the canyon, and if there were, whether the charm would be the same.

The following morning we reached Carson City, where we took breakfast. Our ride from Lake Tahoe down the mountain was very exciting, and rapid, the horses sometimes running. Carson City at that time was the capital of the territory of Nevada. The United States government maintained an assay office there. It was a sandy valley with plenty of alkali dust, through which runs the Carson River. The town as I recollect, is situated about twelve miles from Virginia City. There I was to meet Dr. Mathewson.

This city is built on the side of Mt. Davidson, the mountain which contains the famous Comstock Lode. So far as I know it is the richest ever yet discovered in the

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world. At the time of which I am writing, this mine was at the height of its "Big Bonanza" fame, but the tide of immigration to California and the west had begun to ebb and was flowing back over the mountains towards the east. The first discoveries in the Comstock were of gold, but the deeper the vein was dug, more silver was found and less gold. The method of extracting silver from the quartz at that time was very crude, and much of the silver was lost in the process. Since then, methods have been invented which save most of it. It is estimated that up to this date, six hundred million dollars in gold had been reclaimed from the placer diggings of California. But this vast sum had been wrested from the earth by a great cost in labor. To quote the Hon. Thomas Fitch, of  Nevada : "Over fifty thousand of the brightest, bravest, most generous, energetic, and enterprising men on the earth; the knight Paladins who challenged the brute forces of Nature to combat; the soldiers who, possessed with the aura sacra fames, faced the storm and the savage, the desert, and disease, swarmed around the base of Mt. Davidson, and reached out to Aurora, to the Reese River and to the mountains of the Humboldt."

Virginia City was reputed to have a population then of twenty-five thousand, consisting mostly of men, for women and children were few. Saloons were numerous. I remember entering one of the latter, where the furnishings were stated to have cost $30,000. The buildings were principally of brick and adobe, though lumber was brought from the Sierra Nevada Mountains some twenty miles distant, and hauled to the city by ox teams and wagons. The water was very bad for drinking purposes, there being in it a large amount of mineral sub-

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stances in solution and alkali, but I think there was not much of it drank ! The speculation in mines and gambling was furious. Many of the secrets of the lode known to the miners were disclosed to the owners of the saloons, making the latter bonanza capitalists. Prospectors had searched the mountains east of Virginia City, and many mines rivaling the Comstock had been discovered.

Dr. Mathewson and I made a journey to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, to a town named Galena. We passed through a place called Steamboat Springs, named, I suppose, because of the steam issuing from the water, which resembled the exhaust from a steamboat. A story was told me, that in earlier days a party of immigrants camped for the night in this vicinity. One of the party, hearing a strange noise, went to the spring to discover the cause, then hurrying back to the camp exclaimed: "Boys, hitch up and get out of here ; we are right over hell." I did not see the springs myself, but presume that they are much like those I have seen in Yellowstone Park.

In coming back that night we took a more direct road, which led over Mt. Davidson ; a fine road, built for hauling ore to the quartz mills. Now they do this differently. The quartz is smelted in furnaces, the metal then separated, and practically all saved.

After reaching the summit of the road, it being a bright moonlight night, we came down the grade to the city at a lively trot ; we had a fine span of horses and an open buggy. It was ten o'clock when we reached our hotel.

Claims were made on the ledge in feet at that time. One man, according to mining laws, could pre-empt only two hundred feet. At the time of which I write the

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Gould and Curry mine was selling at $4,000 per foot, and if I am not mistaken, it was 1,200 feet long. The leading paper in this mining city was the Territorial Enterprise, a wide-awake daily paper. Mark Twain was city editor ; he gave evidence then of his great wit, and during those days published some things in the paper as bright as he has ever written since.

From here we took the overland stage for Austin, our destination. The outfit was about the same as that with which we had crossed the mountains. If I remember rightly, the distance was about 250 miles, and the time thirty-six to forty-eight hours. The stage road was mostly through alkali plains, the sand being very deep and heavy, and the ride tiresome and uninteresting. Austin at that time claimed a population of 5,000. Silver was discovered there in March that year. It was a motley looking town, consisting of tents and huts of adobe and stone. I think the hotel was called the International. It was a structure two stories high. The town was built in a ravine, or canyon, lying between Mt. Prometheus on the south and another mountain not so high on the north. Here I found Frank Drake, the engineer, and after getting our bearings we started out under the lead of Dr. Mathewson to see the pine land. We found it on the west side of the mountain range, about half way between Austin and Big Creek, some twelve miles distant.

The first thing was to find a location for the mill. Water being a necessity, we tramped through the sagebrush on the foot-hills for some time, but all indications showed that there was none in the vicinity. Finally, Drake told me that if I would not laugh at him that he would find water, sure. I replied that I would not even

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smile, to go ahead. So he cut a forked twig out of some brush, and held the two branches, one in each hand, the stem being upright, and he walked about where he thought there might be water. Owing, likely to some mis-step or muscular movement, the fork of the twig fell down towards the ground at a certain place. He repeated the experiment from several directions, and when he reached the same spot the twig fell each time. "Dig down here fifteen feet and you will find water," he said. I could see no reason why we were not just as likely to find water there as at any other point, so we began to dig. We made a windlass out of some of the growing timber, and after going so low that the laborer could not throw the dirt out of the top we set up a wind lass and used a rope and basket. The digging continued until I feared a cave-in, and I concluded that after all the best thing was to go to Big Creek, where we were sure of plenty of water. I became convinced we would find no water here with such appliances as we had. So we went over to Big Creek and set up our house, which was a walled tent 7x9 feet. This was to be our home until the mill should be completed and lumber sawed with which to build the real house. The first work in our enterprise was to cut logs, from which to make timber, and I climbed the mountain side, where I could inspect the trees. I was much surprised and disheartened; the largest log I could find would only make an 8x10, sixteen feet long. I reported the situation to Dr. Mathewson, and he did not seem much surprised, only saying that we must go ahead and put up the mill. We had brought no "fire" or other brick with us to set up the boiler; some stones found in the mountain were represented to be fire-proof, so I employed an ox team

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to haul some to the mill site, with which I lined the furnace under the boiler. For these teams I think I paid $15 per day. I had to pay $11 per day for masons, $5 for laborers, and eight or ten dollars per day for carpenters. We set posts in the ground upon which to fix the foundation for the mill, and I had a well-hole dug, filling it with water from the creek.

We were all without experience in hewing timber, but I took hold of the broad axe and succeeded tolerably well until one day I had the misfortune to split my big toe open; this laid me up for a short time. I set the engine up on a wooden frame, and I think that in December we sawed the first board. Then we sawed lumber for a house and built that. This piñon pine was a soft, light wood. If one took a board of it and laid it in the sun, without putting a weight on it, the board would nearly tie itself into a knot. Notwithstanding the high price of labor and of materials, I got the mill running at an expense of $2,500, not counting the engineer's wages and my salary. After getting the mill in working order I made timber by nailing boards together and with such timber put the mill under cover. At first we sold lumber for about $200 per thousand feet.

I was in the habit of going into Austin on Sundays to spend the day with Dr. Mathewson. We were coming out to the mill one Monday morning together, when he outlined a plan by which we two combining, could get hold of the mill at the expense of the company that had furnished the money with which to build it. I listened to his plan, until sure I had not mistaken his intentions, then said to him : "Doctor, these men have hired me, paid what I asked, and so far as I know have

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treated me well, and I shall be true to them as long as I am in their employ." His answer was: "I think when a man has a chance to make a lot of money, and refuses, that he is a fool." I replied : "That may be, but I will not cheat those men." He rode on in silence, but from that time I knew my man. Nothing more was said about the matter between us and I thought he had given up his scheme.

One Sunday, in Spring, a number of the men went into town, and as usual, some of us went up to the doctor's to dine with him. There I was introduced to a stranger, a Mr. Merrill, from Maine. As we were coming back from the mill one of the boys who worked for me asked if I knew why Mr. Merrill had come here. I replied that I had no idea ; then he said : "If you won't give me away, I will tell you what he is here for." I replied that I would not give him away. "Well," he said, "he has come here to take your place." I was completely taken by surprise, but had plenty of time for thought.

The next morning Mr. Merrill and the doctor rode out to the mill. I met them very cordially, showed Mr. Merrill over the plant, told him of the difficulties I had had to encounter there, the length of time occupied in building the mill and the amount of money I had expended in doing it. He appeared to be a very fair man and complimented me highly on my work. I thanked him, then said : "I understand you have come here to take my place. I will say to you that I am under written contract with the owners to take charge of this mill and run it, and that I will not permit any man to replace me until the year is up. If the company is willing to pay my salary for the year and give a

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written release from the contract, I don't care what they do with the plant ; but if any man comes here and attempts to supercede me by force well, I advise him to get his life insured before he attempts it."

Mr. Merrill and the doctor rode back to Austin and that was the last I heard of the subject.

The territorial legislature passed a law that a person could have title to any unoccupied piece of land which he would have surveyed and file map of same in the county records, I complied with the law and located three hundred acres one-half mile below the mill.

I had considerable unpleasantness with Drake, the engineer. When planning the machinery I had calculated the engine to run 150 revolutions per minute. Drake argued that such speed was too fast.

To settle the contention I had to tell him that I would assume the responsibility, and that he must run the engine at the speed I had planned or I would discharge him.

Just before my time expired Dr. Mathewson wanted me to make an offer to run the mill another year, saying that the company was going to put up a quartz mill near the sawmill, but I refused. When my time was up Dr. Mathewson gave me a draft on San Francisco for my due, some $1,200.

The locations of fissure veins were innumerable, but they were all thin in this locality. I knew of one vein that was being worked above Austin by a Dr. Goodfellow, which was only two inches thick, but the ore would assay $3,000 to the ton. I think half a dozen stamp mills were erected that summer within ten miles of Austin. So far as I know none of them ever paid any dividends to their builders.

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In the fall of 1864 I occupied a room in a livery stable in Austin with the owner. He kept saddle horses for hire, and his mow of baled hay was a favorite place for immigrants to sleep. I have seen sleeping there ex-governors from the states, ex-congressmen, senators; all coming to this new territory to grow up with it and get new political jobs. I will say in regard to the people in this section that the average of education and intelligence was higher than that of any other community I had ever known, though a mining population is not usually supposed to be highly educated. I learned while in that country to have respect for "Judge Lynch," and had my respect lessened for "Judge Law." We had several shooting scrapes in town; they occurred frequently. One thing I noticed as distinguishing the bad man of the south from the bad man of the north: the latter gave his victim a chance for his life; he would not shoot an unarmed man, but the former would get the drop on his victim and give him no chance for defense. There were plenty of bad men from both sections.

When I left Chicago to go to California I bought a Colt's revolver and strapped it to my hip; I thought this a necessary precaution, but at the time of which I write I had found it was not, and I had traded my revolver for "feet" in a mine.

The Indians east of Salt Lake were interrupting the stage line about this time and my correspondence with my wife was very much interfered with on this account. She became much worried and I also was quite anxious about it. One day when in the post office I asked the assistant postmaster if he had learned whether or not the mail had succeeded in reaching the

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east, whether the blockade had been removed. He expressed ignorance in regard to the matter, and I took occasion to say that I was worried about it, as I had been pending money in every letter to my wife. About two months afterwards this assistant postmaster was appointed comptroller of the state of Nevada. From the time I spoke to him till he received that appointment my wife never received a letter from me, but eventually all the letters written prior to that time, and all written after his appointment as stated, reached their destination. The fellow was an ex- Wells & Fargo express agent, which company carried and delivered mail over all the Pacific coast, wherever their express routes ran. Letters had to bear the United States stamp and also a Wells & Fargo stamp. The express company ran a messenger and treasure box over every route traversed by the company, and this was over the whole Pacific coast. Its service was more certain than that of the U. S. mail, and was patronized by most businessmen.

CHAPTER VIII.

LIFE IN NEVADA.

In the winter of 1864-5 General Rosecranz appeared in Austin; he was connected with some mining interest. A brother of Frank Drake had a book store and news depot which was a great resort for "the boys;" they came there to get their papers and to gossip in the evening. The General formed the habit of coming there also to chat with the others. He was a fine looking man and a good story teller; he entertained us greatly by telling anecdotes of the war, in which he had been so prominent a character. One night I said to him : "General, how about Chickamauga ?" He queried : "What about Chickamauga ?" "Well, sir," I said, "the papers out here reported that you were badly whipped there." He replied: "That was not so"; claimed that he defeated the enemy there and gained a great victory. He also claimed that the treachery of General Garfield caused his downfall. The latter was his chief of staff. Rosecranz sent him to Washington to attend to some affairs of the army that could not be well and safely transacted by letter, and claimed that Garfield, instead of representing matters as they were, misrepresented them, and came back with his (Rosecranz's) removal in his pocket. "Old Rosy" said that if he had known the facts at the time he might have ordered Garfield tried by a drum-head court martial and shot. A number of years later I remember

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reading an authorized account in the newspapers which confirmed this story as General Rosecranz had told it. That winter I had become acquainted with a Captain Johnston, an Irishman, who claimed to have been a captain in the English army. According to his own statement he was a dangerous duellist; I thought him a good deal of a braggart, but he amused me, in a measure. A Captain Kent was superintendent of the Keystone Mining Company, and had bought a mine of Captain Johnston, for which he was to pay at some future time; I think it was to be when he could report to his principals in Pennsylvania and get remittances from them. I judge finances were at a rather low ebb with Captain Johnston, any way. He made a demand on Captain Kent for his pay, and that gentleman replied that he had not yet received the money. Captain Johnston did not believe him, and one day he appealed to me to act as his second in a duel. This was new business to me, but I thought there might be some fun in it, and after some palavering, consented. I told my principal that in the first place he would have to challenge his man, which he did, while we all waited for the fun to begin. The next day, I think it was, General Rosecranz met Captain Johnston on the main street. The latter was pointed out to him, and the General immediately turned on him, with a military air that would have intimidated almost anyone, and said: "Captain Johnston, what is this you are making a d--n fool of yourself about?" The latter in a pleading manner went on to relate his supposed injuries. The General replied that he knew all about the transaction ; that his supposed enemy was acting in good faith, and that he

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would get his money in due time. Immediately the roaring lion became a lamb.

In the fall of 1864 I bought a mine from a Mr. Hunter. It was a claim named after himself and was located on the top of Mt. Prometheus, about one mile from where I lived in Austin, and was about one thousand feet higher than that point. I used to go there every day and work, sinking an incline on the vein. When I first began walking up the trail to the mine, and a pretty steep trail it was, I would need to stop every two or three hundred feet to regain my breath, but after a month or so of practice I could start from the foot of the trail and not break a good, smart walk until I arrived at the mouth of the incline. I had found a vein about twelve inches thick, which would assay $30 per ton. I believed the mine to be valuable and bought Hunter's interest in it.

I had made the acquaintance of a Dr. Gellar, whose home was in Santa Clara, Gal. He was a nice gentleman ; had been a member of the California legislature, was a practicing physician, and had been living in Austin for some time. He conceived the idea of getting the owners of mines to give him their deeds, he agreeing to pay a certain price for any mine he should sell. He wished me to give him a deed of the Hunter mine, but I did not believe that people in New York city would buy our mines; hence I refused to give him the deed, though he was confident of success. He went to 'New York, and after a few months returned, reporting that he had sold the mines, and paid the owners the amounts agreed upon. He had organized a company in New York with a capital of five million dollars, a certain portion of which was set aside for the

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building of reduction works. He had received $500,000 of the stock, which was worth, when he left New York, 60 cents on the dollar. The company wanted a competent man to manage the mines in Nevada, and Dr. Gellar wanted me to sell him the Hunter mine, for which he offered to pay my price -- $10,000 -- $1,500 cash down, with a written contract to pay the balance when he should sell it. The great success of his former trip to New York inspired me with confidence in his ability, and I sold him the mine.

It may be a matter of interest to know that California and the territories of the Pacific slope had always held to the gold standard. All debts were payable in gold in that section during the war, and U. S. legal tender notes did not circulate as money, though large amounts of the same could be purchased at a discount.

I remember buying and sending to my wife a United States compound interest note drawing 7 per cent on its $50 face value. It was lost or stolen in the mails and she never received it. This was the first and only note of the kind that I ever saw. It would be regarded as a great curiosity now.

In the spring of 1864 I sold my plat of surveyed land on Big Creek to a Mr. Johnson from Crab Orchard, Mo. He diverted water from Big Creek for irrigation and planted it with Irish potatoes. He raised about three hundred bushels per acre and sold them for 8 cents per pound. All vegetables and salt meats were imported into this country from California,

Silver ore at that time was crushed in stamp mills and the silver gathered by amalgamation. Many combinations of silver and other metals would not amalgam-

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mate, and perhaps one-half of the silver was lost in the "tailings," or refuse, by this treatment.

In the summer of 1865 the overland trip across the country by stage had become quite the fashion for people of adventurous spirit. Some notable men had made the trip and had advertised it to the public in general. Among others were Deacon Bross, of the Chicago Tribune; Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune; Prof. Silliman, of Yale College; James G. Elaine, of glorious memory, and Albert D. Richardson, the popular correspondent, who was afterwards murdered. Many of these were induced to make us short speeches. I remember Prof. Silliman, in a public talk to us ignorant miners, explained how the fissure veins were formed and how the quartz and metal penetrated them. His theory was that in some stage of its existence the earth was very damp ; it was then submitted in some manner to great heat ; this rapid drying of the earth's surface caused it to crack. Again the surface was covered with water in which were carried large quantities of quartz and minerals in solution, and this substance settling in the fissures made the veins which we were trying to dig out. As an explanation it was very lucid ; almost anybody who had not much sense could believe it. This theory gave me great respect (?) for scientific men.

Dr. Gellar wished me to go to New York and see the directors of his company and said he could procure my appointment as superintendent of the company in Nevada, which would be most gratifying to me. I wished to go home and visit my family any way. I think it was some time in October I made arrangements for the visit to New York, being furnished with letters of introduction to J. S. Christy, president of the company,

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and to several of the directors. The doctor was also to write them direct, recommending my appointment. When I was ready for the trip Mr. Johnson, whom I have mentioned before, decided to go with me.

Road agents sometimes worked the stage routes, so I put my money into San Francisco exchange, paid my fare through to that city, and saved out only coin enough to pay my incidental expenses. We intended to leave by the stage that passed through Austin on Saturday. The coach had only one or two passengers, but the agent refused to take any more; we thought this very strange, but could not help ourselves. The next day, Sunday, we left, bidding our acquaintances good-bye. The journey was without incident until we arrived within a mile of the Gould & Curry mill at Virginia City, Monday evening. There was a full moon, and it was light enough to read print. I was lying on the front seat with my head in Mr. Johnson's lap, partially asleep, when the stage suddenly stopped. I heard a sharp voice saying, "Hold your hands up or I'll shoot your head off." Two of our passengers before this had left the inside of the coach to enjoy a ride with the driver; one of them was a Mr. Batchelder, of Boston, who had been a captain in the army during the late war. He was taking this overland trip as an adventure and to see the great west. I knew the command I heard was given by a stage robber. I opened the door of the coach and stepped to the ground. A man wearing a linen coat, with a belt around his waist, a straw hat, a mask, etc., pointed a double-barreled shotgun at me and said : "Get back into the stage." I did so without delay. Then I heard some one say, "Throw out that Wells & Fargo box." The driver threw it to the ground, and it was

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carried to the rear of the coach, on the left side. It was an iron box, and a man broke it into pieces with a sledge, I watching the proceedings from where I sat in the stage. I was not much concerned. The road agents did not usually interfere with the passengers; their business was to rob the express box. The contents did not appear to satisfy them. The next call was for the passengers to get out of the stage. I knew that meant business for us. My first impulse was to hide my purse in the coach, but I recollected that passengers without money were sometimes turned around and kicked. I resolved that I would not suffer such ignominy for the small amount of cash I had with me, so I took my money, which was in a buckskin bag that also contained a silver "brick" worth $7 from the Hunter mine, a number of odd silver coins which I had bought in Austin, a $20 gold piece and fifteen silver dollars, and slipped it with the purse into the pocket of a long linen coat which I wore to protect myself from the dust. We were made to stand in a line facing the coach, a highwayman with a double-barreled shotgun being at each end of the line, one back of us and one at the horses' heads, while another robbed us. I was at the head of the line and the weight of the coin in my pocket indicated where I had hidden my valuables. The robber, without saying "by your leave," ran his hand into my pocket and seized the purse. I remarked: "That is all the money I have." He said: "Get back into the coach." I made no unnecessary delay in doing so. From my seat I saw them rob the other passengers. When they came to Mr. Batchelder and demanded his purse, he handed them $300 in gold. They asked him if he had any greenbacks. He took out a pocket-book and

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opened it ; in it lay seven one hundred dollar bills. They demanded his watch and the diamond he wore in his shirt front, and tore the latter loose. Mr. B. said it was a present from his mother, who was now dead, and that he would like to make some arrangement for its redemption. The robber had carelessly dropped the diamond in the road, but he stooped down, picked it up, handed it to Mr. Batchelder and said: "Keep it." They searched Mr. Johnson but could find nothing. I knew he had $300 in gold, paid him just before he left Austin. The robbers next ordered us back into the coach, then removed the barrier they had placed at a sharp bend in the road (it had been so placed that the driver could not see it until he was near), then ordered the driver to stand still until they gave him the signal to start, which they did when they had reached the top of the mountain.

Upon receiving the signal the driver made good speed until he reached the hotel in Virginia City. There were eight men passengers and one woman. The robbers did not disturb the latter, but asked her if any man had given her his money to keep ; she replied "No." Johnson was the only man who had sustained no loss; he had slipped his gold inside his boot-leg while the robbers were breaking into the express box. There were three or four silver "bricks" lying in the bottom of the stage, weighing about one hundred pounds and worth $1,000 each, but the road agents had learned not to want this kind of property, as its loss invariably led to their detection and capture.

I learned afterwards that three of the robbers were county commissioners of Lander County, of which Austin was the county-seat ; also that the secret of the Sat-

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urday coach refusing to take more passengers was that in the usual course of travel the stage due to arrive on Sunday had reached Austin on Saturday, twenty-four hours ahead of time, with twenty thousand dollars in gold coin which the stage company was transporting from Salt Lake City to Virginia City. There was much excitement in the latter town when we arrived and told of the robbery. We spent the night at Virginia City, but from there were to take another route to California than the one I traveled over when coming to Nevada two years before.

Messrs. Huntington & Hopkins, then large hardware dealers in Sacramento, in company with the Crockers and Leland Stanford, had built a road from this place to Dutch Flat. When Congress enacted a law for the building of an overland road the gentlemen named organized a construction company to build the western end of the road, which they called the Central Pacific ; this road was to extend east of the Sierras to meet the Union Pacific. Our coach went by the way of Truckee, where it began to ascend the mountains. That afternoon we passed Donner Lake, rendered famous as the place where the Donner party of immigrants endured the terrible sufferings which has been so graphically and pathetically depicted by Bret Harte. I remember passing the fearful chasm at Cape Horn. I am uncertain whether we went farther than Sacramento by rail ; we may have taken a steamer there for San Francisco.

When I received the draft for services from the saw mill company I sent it to Lane, of San Francisco, for collection. I wished him to remit me a certificate of deposit for the proceeds from some San Francisco bank, but I received no satisfaction. Then I wrote him some

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threatening letters about the matter. When I arrived in Frisco Mr. McCracken told me that I had not taken the right course; he suggested that I let him manage Lane, saying that he thought he could get the money. I did so, and in a short time Mr. McCracken handed the amount to me. I have always doubted whether McCracken loaned the money to Lane or paid it out of his own money in order to protect Lane's reputation. When I lived in Oshkosh Mr. O. C. McCracken was a dry goods merchant there, and he also liked a good horse. After he went to California there were rumors that he gambled. When I reached San Francisco his wife and child had arrived from Oshkosh and he was keeping house. I visited him while there, but he did not introduce me to any of the gambling fraternity. His associates appeared to be gentlemen. He was always a good friend to me and I respected him.

I waited in San Francisco till a steamer should sail for the isthmus. I took passage by the Nicaragua route, then a rival of the Vanderbilt Panama line. We landed at San Juan del Sur. As we drew near the coast at a distance of about a mile, we turned a sharp angle toward it, and our steamer passing through some woods threaded a little, narrow channel of water, into a circular lake, not twice the length of our steamer in diameter. Our vessel was of wood of good dimensions and carried six hundred passengers, all of whom were glad to land on the wharf after ten days' confinement on the steamer. We had to go from this place to Virgin Bay, twelve miles distant on Lake Nicaragua, At the landing we found several hundred burros, also a number of two and three-seated wagons and other conveyances, of which the passengers were told to take their choice.

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I had made the acquaintance of a pleasant gentleman who had lived at Los Angeles for several years. He talked Spanish fluently and was a very agreeable companion. We each selected a burro on which to ride, and followed a road leading up a stream through the woods. The natives had booths where they sold fruits, native drinks of all kinds, and food, also articles of local curiosity. I bought a walking cane of a very handsome wood that grew in that locality, and when I reached New York City I had it turned and mounted. It made a beautiful cane, and manufacturers offered me $10 for the stick.

We arrived at Virgin Bay at about 3 p. m. and found a steamer waiting to take us across the lake. There were no accommodations at this place in the way of lodgings, but the steamer did not leave until the next day, as it took all night to get the freight and baggage across from San Juan del Sur. We started across the lake in the morning ; it was a beautiful sheet of water. A few miles from the shore at Virgin Bay is an island upon which are two extinct volcanoes, beautiful mountain cones, about equal in size and height.

We arrived at Nicaragua River where it leaves the lake. Some dredging had been done here to deepen the channel. Our boat went on down the river to Castillo. We arrived there just before dark and spent the night. As no accommodations for sleeping on the boat were to be had, my friend went ashore to find lodging. He found one. Our bed was of planed boards covered with a sheet and supplied with another sheet to put over us. I was not accustomed to that kind of bed; besides a Spanish garcon talked in an adjoining room, which prevented my sleeping. In the morning we were trans-

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ferred to a smaller, lighter draft steamer, that could pass the rapids in the river, which began just below Castillo. This boat was crowded with passengers. We were served with breakfast aboard the boat, and proceeded on our way down the river. We saw many beautiful birds in the trees, of brilliant plumage and gay colors. Through the rapids the river was narrow and crooked, and our passage consequently slow.

Many of the passengers imbibed large quantities of liquor and became intoxicated. When about twelve miles from Greytown one passenger who had taken too much was leaning against a post on the lower deck. In some manner his shoulder slipped past the post and he fell over backward into the river. I watched him as he lay there on his back, on the surface of the water. The bell was rung and the steamer stopped, but before a boat could be sent to his rescue I saw him suddenly disappear beneath the water. I suppose an alligator or crocodile grabbed him and hauled him down. I was unable to learn the man's name, and I suppose this to be one of those cases where a man disappears and his friends and relatives never know what became of him. This accident sobered the passengers, who before had been hilarious with drink.

We arrived at Greytown after dark and were told that the transportation company would pay our board at the hotel. My friend had the advantage of most of the passengers, in being able to speak Spanish. He secured lodging for us in the best hotel. It was of the usual type in Mexico, as it surrounded a patio. We lodged in the hotel for a week waiting the arrival of the Atlantic steamer from New York. The weather was very fine and we had an enjoyable time. All things

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were curious and interesting to me on account of their novelty. I found some of the finest cigars that I have ever had the pleasure of smoking and brought a couple of thousand home with me. I saw some very hand some jewelry of gold and tortoise shell that was said to have been manufactured by the Mosquito Indians. The carving was delicate and artistic. I bought my wife a beautiful ring, which proved too small, and so I have it yet.

From the fact that I have been over the Isthmian routes of the proposed canal, both via Panama and Nicaragua, I have felt more than ordinary interest in the present project. I have sometimes thought that the United States government made a mistake in selecting the former route. With my imperfect knowledge of engineering I see no formidable difficulty in constructing a canal via Nicaragua.

In my boyhood days there was but one school in America, so far as I know, for educating boys to become civil engineers. What I learned of engineering I acquired from other men who had taught themselves. I judge I was possessed of natural talent for this profession, but I lacked the early education to fit me for such a position; a fact which I have always very much regretted. I did not dream at that time of the great development of our country I was to see. The business of a farmer or merchant comprised most of the prospects open to the ambitious boys of that day. What is before the lads of this day is a world of magnificent possibilities ! How I should like to know what I now know, and have the youth, physique and intellect that I had fifty years ago, with the present chances for education and

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with the possibilities in sight for the boys of this generation !

Science must enter largely into such gigantic operations as building an isthmian canal, but practical experience and "good horse sense" are of even greater importance. The digging of a canal some thirty miles long and an average depth of three hundred feet is perhaps a possibility, but not a probability, without the expenditure of an amount of money, and of life, that is appalling. It involves an amount of work that is al most incredible. But the digging of the Nicaraguan canal, though a gigantic operation, appears feasible to a person of no greater experience and observation than myself.

During our stay at Greytown most of the passengers amused themselves viewing the city and becoming familiar with the possibilities of the country. Between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean there was considerable agricultural development, also some fine coffee plantations. On the East side of Lake Nicaragua I saw but little enterprise or development, the country having the appearance of waiting for something to turn up. The city of Greytown was an exception.

One moonlit night I took a walk through the city. It consisted largely of poor shanties. I saw a few people gathered about a house and inquired what was the matter; someone who understood and could speak English replied that a couple of men were fighting. I said : "Why don't you stop them ?" He replied : "Oh, the men have got swords." The house was without lights and the women at the door were wailing. The fighters seemed astonished at my appearance and stopped. I seized one of them and swung him through the door.

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However, as I could understand none of their talk, I went back to the hotel. As I came into the light of the room I was greeted with the demand: "Where have you been?" "Why?" said I. They exclaimed: "Look at your coat." I did so; it was covered with blood. I told them of my interference in the fracas just related, and they suggested that I ought to have a guardian attend me when I went out.

One morning we saw a steamer in the offing a mile or two from shore, and were informed that it was the steamer come to carry us to New York. We were conveyed to this vessel in whale boats and other craft manned with oars. We found it to be an iron steamer, the first I had ever seen. It was a fine craft and we found good accommodations aboard; her name was "Santiago de Cuba." When the baggage and freight were on board the steamer set sail. We passed through the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, past Cape San Antonio on the west end of Cuba, through the Straits of Florida into the gulf stream, and made our way up the east coast of the United States to New York City. Nothing of importance occurred on this part of the voyage that I can recall.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXIX.

MINING ROMANCES.

There are some detached incidents which occurred during my stay in Nevada, which I wish to relate. I resided in Austin, Nevada, from September, 1863, to November, 1865, and while there I corresponded for the Milwaukee Sentinel. I was therefore wide-awake to any incident which I felt would be of interest to the readers of that paper.

I made the acquaintance of a Mr. French while here. He had been a miner during the early days of placer mining in California. He related an incident to me in which he had been a participant and which on account of its dramatic interest made a lasting impression on me. At the time I made no memorandum of the account, and though I have thought many times to put it in writing, it has waited until the present time.

Mr. French was placer mining on the Sacramento River. Each man of the camp had pre-empted a small piece of ground for mining, and the little log cabins placed on higher ground for protection against the water, usually held two occupants who cabined together and did their own cooking. They worked day times on their respective mining claims with pan and shovel. If a miner had a suitable claim he washed the gold out of the gravel with a sluice. This was constructed by making a long box from boards and nailing across the bottom of this cleats of wood, to catch and hold the gold as

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it was washed from the gravel. Sometimes quicksilver was placed behind these cleats, which would retain the fine gold lost in case of a too liberal supply of water. The miners, when too busy, would let the deposit of gold accumulate in the trough for several days until the latter needed cleaning out, as the time was lost to the working of the claim while cleaning out the sluices. Capital punishment was administered in those days to anyone who robbed the sluices. A miner’s gold savings were sacred and it was death to the thief who stole them. Judge Lynch tried the criminal and executed him on the spot wherever such a crime had been committed. One morning it was discovered in the camp where Mr. French was located, that the sluice containing the savings of two or three days had been robbed the preceding night. This announcement electrified the miners and a meeting of the inhabitants of the camp was called at once. Suspicion fell upon a miner living in that district and a committee was sent to arrest him. Judge Lynch was elected to hold court; a jury was impaneled and sworn and the trial commenced. The evidence was all circumstantial, the judge charged the jury, and the jury without leaving their seats under the oak where the trial was held, began to deliberate on their verdict. The defendant had urgently declared his innocence, but several of the jurymen announced their opinion that the defendant was guilty. When it came to Mr. French's turn to express his opinion, he declared his belief in the defendant's innocence, or, at least, that he saw no evidence to prove that the accused had committed the crime. He made a vigorous speech to support his opinion, when a bystander made an insulting re mark impugning his own honesty; to this Mr. French

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replied that he would hold him responsible when his present duties were over. This meant war to the knife and the knife to the hilt The jury finally disagreed, there being about eight for conviction and four for acquittal. The execution of the prisoner was thus prevented but a robbery had been committed and the mob demanded a victim, so it was decided that the accused should be whipped and banished from the camp. Mr. French pleaded with the crowd not to do so grievous a wrong. The prisoner defied his persecutors and threatened to hold any man responsible who applied a whip to his back, but in spite of his protests, he was tied to the oak tree and three men volunteered to apply the lash. The punishment administered was very severe, but the prisoner never uttered a groan; and later he was driven out of camp.

The excitement of the affair died away and some thing like a year expired, when one morning a man appeared at the door of Mr. French's cabin whom he recognized as the man accused of the theft. The fugitive said he was very hungry, that he had had nothing to eat for several days and was nearly famished, and asked Mr. French if he would give him something to eat, and not betray him. Mr. French expressed his sympathy for the man and his willingness to befriend him. He cooked and set before him the best breakfast that his cabin afforded. The outcast said to Mr. French that he had a wife and family living in the states, that he had the strongest love and affection for his wife, that he did not feel that he could write and tell her of the circumstances under which he was burdened, and he asked Mr. French if he was willing to write a letter to her and sign it, expressing a belief in his innocence ; he

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said that if he could get such a letter written by Mr. French, he would then feel like writing to her himself and asking her to come to California and live with him. He said that he had been quite lucky in a distant mining camp and had the prospect of making a comfortable home for her.

Mr. French wrote the letter as desired, expressing the utmost confidence in the man and his belief in his innocence as to the crime charged. He handed the man the letter; the latter expressed his heartfelt thanks for all the kindness he had received, and departed. Mr. French told him that if he ever came that way again, to come into his cabin and help himself if he were hungry and the cabin unoccupied at the time.

Some time afterwards, one of the three men who had flogged the prisoner was found dead in the woods. Six months later another of the three men was found shot to death in the same way. The third man was in terror of the fate awaiting him and fled from the country. Mr. French said that several years later he was stopping in San Francisco, when one day on the ferry boat he chanced to meet the suspected man. He appeared to be very much pleased to see his benefactor and asked him to go home with him and see his wife. Mr. French was introduced to a very charming woman and a fine family of children. The man at that time was engaged in business in San Francisco. Mr. French gave me the man's name, which I remember very distinctly. I frequently saw the name in the San Francisco papers, but whether it was the man who was the hero of this story or not I do not know. It may have been the name of one of his children, or of a member of another family. Whether

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he had taken retributive justice on his tormentors is a matter entirely of imagination.

While living in Nevada I heard many stories of the argonauts of early times. I recollect one told of a party of immigrants who were induced to take the southern trail to California, owing to the tales they had heard of the Mountain Meadow massacre, which had been the work of the "Avenging Angels" of the Mormon Church ; these tales caused them to take a more southern route to avoid a like fate. After crossing the Colorado River in South Utah they passed north of the Grand Cañon into the Territory of Nevada. They escaped the Mormons, but met an equally tragic fate in Death's Valley, where they suffered terrible hardships from heat and lack of water. All but three met death there. Often these despairing travelers would see lakes of water ahead of them, which would revive their despondent spirits until the deception of Nature was disclosed by their finding that what they had supposed to be a lake was but an alkali flat. In southern Nevada they discovered some very rich mines of gold, but they could not take advantage of such a fortune, owing to their meagre supply of food for themselves and their teams. It was necessary to move on as fast as possible in order to reach some place where they could get supplies before their food was exhausted ; then they counted on returning to the rich mines which they had discovered. The country east of California was practically unknown. The travelers pushed on until they entered Death's Valley, where there was no water and it did not rain. This valley is said to be three hundred feet below the sea level.

This immigrant train was well equipped, well manned

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and well supplied. It consisted of about twenty-five human beings when they entered the valley, but their scant supply of water was soon exhausted, their stock soon drooped and died, and their bones were left to bleach in the torrid sun. The men after a day or two began to fall in the same way ; three of the party, after enduring indescribable sufferings, finally reached an inhabited locality in California, where they told of the sufferings and tragic deaths of their companions, and of the riches they had discovered in Nevada.

Some hopeful prospectors engaged two of these men to guide them to the mines, but the latter had lost their reckoning and could find nothing which they remembered to guide them to the locality of the lost mines. Only the remnants of the outfit and the bones of the immigrants and the stock were found bleaching on the trail. It had become an incident forgotten by nearly all except the adventurous gold seeker who chanced this way. When I was in Austin the story of this immigrant party was revived ; the third survivor of the tragedy had told his tale to some hopeful prospectors and under his lead a party started for southern Nevada to rediscover the lost mines. I was invited to join this party and had some thoughts of going. By most people the mines were regarded as a myth, formed in the brains of the survivors' fevered fancies, and caused by their terrible sufferings. The mining party returned with no more success than the former attempts.

The remembrance of this story had almost passed from my mind, but after I went to Los Angeles to live I read of the discovery of gold at Bullfrog, Goldfield and other points in southern Nevada, and concluded these might have been the mines which were first found

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under such unhappy circumstances by the unfortunate immigrants.

When I went to Austin in 1863 it was stated that there were five thousand inhabitants in and about the town. The town was built in a cañon on the west side of the Toyiabe mountains. The overland stages crossed through this cañon, the course of the mountains being north and south. West of the range was a large valley covered with sage bush, which was known as Reese River Valley. Through this, about six miles from Austin flowed the river toward the north. It was an insignificant stream which disappeared after flowing some distance. About ten months of the year it did not rain in the vicinity of Austin ; in December and January we had some slight showers and occasionally some falls of "beautiful snow." The bottom of the cañon rose quite rapidly as you ascended it toward the summit, making the appearance of the habitations picturesque in the extreme.

There was not much available material in this vicinity for house building, except stones and rock and the small piñon pines which grew on the mountains and from which poles and posts could be obtained. Probably one-half the people lived in tents. Cotton cloth was the principal material used for roofing. The soil was largely adobe, from which were made sun dried bricks for the walls of the houses ; these walls were very substantial, and on them were laid poles for rafters on which was spread cotton cloth for the roof; cotton cloth was also used for ceilings. The soil packed hard made a floor about as clean as if made of wood.

I lived in a little house of this kind, perhaps 18 feet by 30 feet, for more than a year. We put up three

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bunks to accommodate the three occupants of the place, in the end of the house opposite the fireplace. These occupants were John P. Kelly, a nephew of the then governor of Kentucky, a civil engineer; John Doyle, a miner who said he was a Welshman, but whose name always struck me as being Irish, and the author of these Reminiscences. Each had his duties to perform. I believe we had but two meals a day ; I cooked the breakfast, of fried bacon, boiled potatoes and bread. Kelly washed the dishes and Jack Doyle got supper. We spent many of our evenings playing chess or reading by candlelight, as we had to rely upon tallow dips for our evening light. We three were about equally skillful in a game of chess ; of course only two could play at a time, and the third member was of necessity an onlooker of the game. Very often he could see chances of attack or defense which would escape the players, and he would sometimes make remarks which would annoy or vex one of the players, and perhaps the game would end with a little ill-feeling; this, however, soon subsided.

The chief hotel of the town was called the International ; it was a two-story building of adobe and lumber hauled by ox teams from the Sierras, 250 miles distant and costing $400 per thousand feet; it was used for joist, floors and rafters. The principal attraction of the place was called the Stone Saloon. It was a one- story building with walls of stone, dimensions about twenty-five feet wide by one hundred (or more) feet in length. The entrance was on the principal street and not far from the hotel. As one entered, upon the left was a large, gaudy bar, disbursing liquors. On the right was a cigar counter, this luxury selling fifteen cents each or two for a quarter of a dollar, and drinks were

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sold at about the same rate. Passing the bar the rest of the room was lined with tables for the playing of games of chance, and these were occupied by the players and surrounded by sight-seers. In about the center of the room (or hall) was erected a platform upon which a band of musicians generally played. About every half hour a female opera singer who had seen her best days would come out and sing a selection, during which time most of the games would be suspended. Some of the tables were presided over by comely females who acted as dealers for the bank. These attracted the average miner, for he could lose his money with a better grace to such a banker than to a man. It is wonderful the attraction that a female possessed over these miners who perhaps had not seen a woman for years. There were a great many games here for driving dull care away. This part of my life, however, is so long ago that I have forgotten most of the games, the more so, as I never gambled myself ; I might remember better had I been a player. I have never seen similar orgies since I left Austin.

On the foothills of the mountain range there grew every spring a very excellent forage plant called bunch- grass, which sustained large herds of cattle pastured in the valley ; it made good "feed" for summer and winter. It grew in the spring and dried on the bunch in summer, but retained all of its nutritive value.

The usual modes of travel were foot and horseback. Occasionally a light wagon would find its way to the town, but most journeys were made on horseback. I found here some of the easiest riding horses that I ever bestrode, and I became very fond of the saddle.

I have many times thought I would revisit the place

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and see how it looked now, but I presume that is unlikely. The class of people I met there were very intelligent; a great many of them were college bred. The young man who wished to make a fortune quickly ; the man who had lost his fortune in the East and wished to make another; the politician who had lost his hold on the public, came west to grow up with the country. I never was lonesome while I lived there, and I often resolved to bring my family here to live; but it is the lot of man to make plans for the future which are over ruled by circumstances, as they were in my case. The kind of life I led there had great attractions for me. It was a free and easy, devil-may-care sort of existence, perhaps the most natural life one can enjoy. The only thing that gave me a feeling of unrest was the absence of my wife and boy, they being still in the States.