THE
ARGONAUTS OF CALIFORNIA.
Page 243
CHAPTER XVII.
MEETING OF THE OLD-TIMERS—THE BUCKEYE
TUNNEL—THE BEST AS IT IS—BOOZER WHO GOT SKUNKED—THE HYDRAULIC MINER—MIKE’S
EXPLANATION.
To an old-timer who is socially inclined, and I believe this is a trait of character peculiar to the most of them, there is nothing, at least of a social nature, that can be more agreeable or pleasing to him than to meet with the old-timers with whom he was acquainted, or with an old pard with whom he lived and worked nearly forty years ago.
It was upon a certain occasion, but a short time ago, when, having to pass through an old mining locality, that I met by chance at a miner’s cabin in the now dreary and almost deserted mining camp a company of ole miners, and among them found five old-timers whom I had known nearly forty years before in the mining regions, where they were engaged in mining.
For
instance, here was old Mike, a rare specimen from the “old sod,” who was one of
our company when at work at Kanaka bar upon the South fork of the
Here
was
Another one was Jeff, who was a happy-go-lucky specimen of an old-timer, who delighted to tramp around among the deep canons and high rocky cliffs for a prospect ; not, however, that he expected to derive any benefit from the rich discoveries that he might make, but, as he expressed it, it did just make him feel awful good to see his friends and relatives enjoy it.
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Here was Jim also, a character similar in many respects to Jeff, and who like the latter had washed from the soil a respectable fortune but had scattered it among his friends and relatives in the East, this manner of using it affording him the greatest enjoyment.
And last, though not least by any means, was Jersey. The latter in early mining days had been very fortunate in all his mining enterprises; had made and lost several fortunes in assisting others, and even now in his old age was confident that it was to be his good fortune to once more strike it rich in some far away and remote mining region, for to his mental vision distance seemed to lend enchantment to the view.
There were present old Pike and Boozer, who were yet in harness, tramping about among the various mountain ranges of the coast, wherever the indications were in their opinion most favorable for another raise that was to exceed all previous ones.
Here also was Julius, a venerable colored individual from Boston, an old-timer, too, and who had, like Mike, and for similar reasons, abandoned mining, and was engaged in ranching.
The day after our meeting was a rainy one, and was spent in relating our experiences for the past forty years in the various mining sections of the coast; narrating our prospecting adventures among the various mountain ranges that we had climbed over, and the deep, dark cańons through which we had tramped in hopes of once more making a raise.
It was interesting to hear each one in his turn relate how near upon certain occasions he came to striking it awfully rich, or what he might have done if so and so had not occurred, or what he didn’t do and ought to have done, while another would explain how near he came to making a big thing if he had only stuck to his claim a little longer, or had only run his tunnel in a little further.
Yet another would relate how he spent every dollar upon his claim by sticking to it a little too long, and found at last to his sorrow that it was of no value whatever.
And this led to an argument upon the question as to how long a miner ought to stick to his mine.
Many
instances were related to show how a great number missed it by abandoning a
claim too soon, before bed rock had been struck in the shaft, or gravel in the
tunnel; while other cases would be
Page 245 Illustration.
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mentioned of how miners had spent their last cent in prospecting a claim that they ought to have quit long before, as all their friends advised them to do.
But upon the whole it was the general opinion that owing to the nature of the business it was very uncertain and difficult to tell exactly when a miner should abandon his mine, for it was found that after all it was about an average, since just as many hit it by quitting a mine as others missed it by hanging on too long, and the number who hit it by sticking to it about equaled those who missed it by quitting too soon.
It was, therefore, decided that there was no rule to be governed by in arriving at a conclusion, but that a miner must use his best judgment and trust to luck.
One miner related how it was that he missed making a fortune by running his tunnel a little too “fur” to the right, and another who ran his tunnel a “leetle too fur” to the left. A third, who worked a whole year in running his tunnel into a hill where the rock was hard, and no gravel making its appearance, quit in despair, but soon after others went in to work and running the tunnel but a few feet farther struck rich gravel.
One old-timer related that in ‘53 he and five others worked about fourteen months in running a tunnel into a rich cement-capped hill, expecting when they started to strike gravel at least in six or eight months. The storekeeper in town who was furnishing them with supplies told them that he would be compelled to close down, for he had not the means to continue furnishing them. They were in a bad fix, and a portion of the company were in favor of abandoning the mine at once, but were finally persuaded to run one more week, and then if not through the bed rock to quit for good and all.
At noon upon the Saturday following they quit the mine where they had worked faithfully for more than fourteen months in the hardest kind of blue porphery, and concluded to try another hill near at hand, where the prospects seemed more favorable.
In
the afternoon five of them donned their store clothes, went into town and
reported to the storekeeper the state of affairs, but promised to go to work
immediately in the ravine and pay up their indebtedness as soon as possible.
The old miner, continuing, said that “one young chap they called Sandy didn’t
go into town with
Page 247 Illustration.
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us, but as soon as we had started for town he takes his tools and candle and goes on a prospecting expedition in the tunnel which we had abandoned forever.”
When we quit work at noon there was large block of prophery overhead which seemed to be loose, but we didn’t think it worth while to remove it.
Sandy said afterwards that while eating his dinner he was thinking all the time about that loose rock, and that we ought to have wedged it out, and that was just what he remained at home for. With the gads and sledge it soon fell from its place, and upon examination he discovered, to his astonishment, sand and gravel on its upper side. Upon holding up his candle he found that we had sure and sartin struck pay gravel. Sandy tried a pan of it and found it rich beyond all expectation.
Upon our return from town to the cabin at night we found the table all set in the very highest style of art, and bottles of champagne were included in the bill of fare. We thought Sandy had gone crazy sure in thinking perhaps of his great disappointment, but when asked for an explanation he only pointed at our gold pan which we saw in the center of the table and resting upon the bottles of champagne. Upon looking into the pan we saw several dollars’ worth of gold dust in the bottom of it, and when we asked him where it came from he pointed his finger in the direction of the tunnel, but we wouldn’t believe a word of it until we had all marched in, in single file, to the end of the tunnel and seen with our own eyes the rich gravel above.
Well, we invited in the boys around, and you bet we just made the night howl. The next day was Sunday and the folks around that camp were astonished to see the whole of the Buckeye Tunnel Company march into church dressed in their best for the first time since they had been in the country. For you see we all felt kinder inclined that way after our good fortune in striking pay gravel.
And these illustrations led to a discussion by the old miners of the uncertainty of not only the mining industry, but of human affairs in general, and old Mike remarked:
“Yis, yis, me by’s, so goes ther wuorld, for ‘tis now yez do and now yez don’t. And
again, jist as ye do ye don’t at all, at all, for
‘tis jist always afther
being a leetle too fur to the right, or a leetle too fur to ther left, de yez see, with all of us. I tell ye, by’s, this
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mining business is afther being like all other kinds of business jist; ‘tis always jist a leetle ahead of us, de yez see, and jist at that point when yez are afther expecting it ther most, and jist as yez are commencing to faigure out where yez be afther goin, and what yez be afther doin, and how yez’ll be afther spinding all your money, do yez moind, ‘tis jist at this pint, me by’s, ther bed rock kicks up and shlaps yez in ther face, and thin ther purr divil of a miner curses his luck, piles his blankets and tools upon his back and thramps around to find another rich mine that’ll sarve him ther same thrick. But ye ould miners are always jist afther foinding ther spot thet’ll stick right by yez, where yez will some day be afther makin yer pile, and ‘tis these ixpectations thet kapes yez agoin,’ thrampin around among ther hills, all over ther country, hunting for that same, but ‘tis always jist a leetle ahead of yez, jist as ‘tis in all other kinds of business in this wuorld. And, be jabers, ‘tis moity few of them who are ever afther catchin up with it at all, at all, do yez moind thin.”
“Yes Mike”, Yank remarked, “all human affairs are mighty uncertain, and few of us meet with what we expect; but then we must keep pegging away, and never say die, as long as our grub holes out.”
“Tis thrue for yez, yez must do that same an’ be jabbers thin, yez’l be afther fingin’ some toime, if yez sticks to it faithfully, that yez will be afther sthriking it rich, and with the bed rock pitchin’ jist whin yez are their laist ixpicting it at all, at all, for that’s the way it works with all of us.”
Then Jersey remarked: “Well, boys, what a heap of trouble, vexation, and disappointment would be saved in this life, if we all knew just where and when to begin; where to stop; when to turn a little to the right, or when to turn a little more to the left, or just how long to keep a goin’ either way in all of our affairs; then, when we come to get old, and to look back upon our past life, we would escape from all the vexatoin of thinking: oh, now if we had only done so and so at such a time, if we had only gone a little further to the right upon such an occasion, or a little further to the left at another time, or had only quit, or had gone on, or had gone to such a place, how much better would it have been.”
“No,
no: not at all!” interrupted Mike, “for if we was all afther
doin’ that same, we wouldn’t be contint
at all, no more than we are at present, for then ‘twould
be ther great quantity we would
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all be afther ixpictin’ ther whoile, do yez moind! jist for ther sake of batin all ther rist of ther bys do yez see, and we wud all be disappointed ther same, an now, be jabers! ‘tis ther best as it is now in me own opinion afther all. And thin agin’, me by’s, if all ther knowledge an’ experience which it takes a life-toims to learn is all afther bein’ understood in ther beginning, ther problem of life wud be solved; but, be jabers, by’s, what wud sich a life be good for at all? Fray from all vexation and trouble, indade thin we we’d live like ther baists in ther failds; satisfied and contint under any condition, an’ begorra! we wu’d soon larn to browse by ther wayside, an’ be thankful for the loikes of it.”
Just at this point another old miner, along lean specimen of antiquity from the State of Arkansas, and who had been asleep in the corner, now aroused up and remarked: “Well boys, that is a fact as Mike says, for ‘tis now you do, and then ag’in you don’t; but I never told you boys how I got skunked once out of a good claim did I? No, for I don’t like to tell it, for it has sich a smell that it makes me sick.
“But this is how I got left, by going a little too fur to the right or to the left, I never knew which.
“You see t’was down in Calevaras, along in the spring of 51. I took my gun one day, and went out a few miles among the hills on a hunt; well I come across a deep ravine that looked as though it might be tolerable rich; it never had been prospected much anyway, and I concluded to do a little panning jest for fun; there were some boys livin’ about two miles from this ravine that I knew, so I went over to their cabin, and borrowed a pick, pan and shovel, and I tell you that I struck it rich; I found the gravel about four feet deep to the bed rock, and I got as much as ten dollars to a pan. After panning out about $75, I fill up the hole again, covered it over with brush, so as to make it look jest natural like, and started home.
“When I took home ther borrowed tools, the boys wanted to know if I found anything over in that ravine where I was prospecting? I said no, nothing much; but they kinder suspicion from my looks that I had found good prospects; I hurried home, and made up my mind to git my tools, mining notice and everything ready, and start out early in the morning before daylight for the rich ravine.
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“Well I was on the way out thar about daylight the next morning, and went around another way, so them chaps that I borrowed ther tools from wouldn’t see me.
“When I had got almost to ther ravine, in crossing over a hill, I jest ran-a-toul of a big skunk right in ther trail, I tried to git around him, but he walked right up towards me, so I threw down my tools, picked up some rocks, and went for him; but, somehow or other, I couldn’t hit him, and he jest kept on drivin’ me back down ther hill, but I picked up a big club and laid him out cold, after foolin’ away more’n an hour trying to kill ther odoriferous cuss; then I took up my tools and hurried over ther hill down into my rich ravine.
“But I tell you, boys, jest as soon as I come in sight of it I was mad clean through, now you bet, for right down thar on my rich claim, and hard at work, was them chaps that I hed borrowed ther tools of; they had got ahead of me, while I was foolin’ with that skunk, and hed taken up the whole ravine.
I
tried to reason with ther fellers, told them that I hed sunk a
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hole thar the day before, and had therefore a right to it; they wanted me to jest show them where I had sunk a prospect hole, so I went to ther pile of brush, and says I ‘right thar,’ they said thet no hole had ever been dug thar at all, so I jest kicked away ther brush to show’em, and I’ll be dolgerned, if thar wasn’t a slate ledge right under it; them boys had moved that brush either to the right, or a leetle to the left, so I couldn’t tell whar ther spot was myself, and thet’s how I got skunked out of a rich claim.”
“There,” says Tennessee, “now I have found out ther reason why we never could get old Boozer to play a game of euchre with us, he was afraid of getting skunked again.”
“Well, now,” old pard, “replied Boozer, I reckon yer hev struck it right squar on ther head, don’t want any more of the animile in mine. Why, boys, I hev been studyin’ gee-ology and gee-ography for nigh forty years, jest to see if I couldn’t find some country whar they don’t raise skunks, and as soon as I can find one I’m jest a-goin’ to emigrate thar, you bet.”
Another miner now explained how it was that he and three others who owned a valuable mine up in Nevada County lost it. He explained that it was an hydraulic mine, and they had used all their means, as well as more than two years of hard work, to get started in working it, when up come the officers and forbid them running their tailings into the creek, and he continued by saying:
“This
was an infamous outrage, after having spent our money and labor, then to be
compelled to quit work just because a few little one-horse ranchers below in
the valley made a fuss because our gravel covered up their potato patches and
radish beds. Now it is plain to any reasonable, sensible man that mining being
the chief industry of the country, and the original industry, too--for ‘tis
just what brought us all here and nothing else--we have the first right to mine
or to get the gold from the hills in any manner we see fit; and these ranchers
have no right to settle upon, or to undertake to cultivate the ground in the
valley and on the flats below where our tailings will lodge. If they do, in my
opinion they should be the ones to suffer the consequences and not the miners.
Why, just see the effect of stopping all of this hydraulic mining. There is
$15,000,000 gold taken from our money circulation yearly; now how many
centuries would it take them little ranchers to raise that amount of money upon
the land that they say we have ruined
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forever? Why, they never could do it, and we have got to lose our valuable mining property jest because the judge is agin us.”
At this point Mike interrupted the hydraulic miner by asking:
“Do you understand ther raisons why ther judge was aginst ye?” He said no, he couldn’t exactly understand it, unless he owned a potato patch himself somewhere and was afraid it might git covered up.
“No,” says Mike, “that’s not ther raison at all; for don’t yez know that in a fray counthry ther loikes of this, where ther paple themselves are ther rale sovereigns, thin it is recognized be universal constint, do ye moind, that no man shall be afther following any business, do yez see, that shall in any manner be afther continually injuring or destroying ther property of anither.”
“Oh, yes,” replied the miner, “that is all right, but remember that this is mining country. We were here first and bought our mining ground from the government with the privilege of working it to the best advantage.”
“Faith,” retorted Mike, “tis thrue ainough that we miners came here first, but, me b’y, that cannot prevint others from comin’ here and engagin’ in any other koind of business they plaise. Because we miners came here first is no raison why we should control ther forest or ther mountain strames. We would have no right, because we was afther using ther wathers first to dam them up and prevint thim from running into ther valleys below. We have a right to moine, that none can deny, and in any manner we plaise, so that we aren’t afther harmin’ anybody else; but, begorra, thin, have we a right to wash all ther sile from ther hills above into ther valleys and straims below jest for ther gould that’s in thim, and prevint the paple from making an honest living upon the rich flats and bottom lands, that we wud be afther covering up with our tailings, begorra. An’ thin agin, if that same idee or priority of right was the true one, where thin, be jabers, wud yez be aftehr stopping, for wouldn’t Mr. Marshall thin who was ther first diskiverer of gould, have ther right as ther first diskiverer of bossing ther whole business, be jabers.”
“Well,” says the old miner, “you must admit that the loss to the country of fifteen millions a year is a heavy one to take from our money circulation.”
“Indade, thin, yez miners who dig
it out from ther sile, are
not afther saying much of ther
same. “Tis thrue that it is
not afther
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drawin much interest whilst lying idle there in ther hills, but, be jabers, ‘tis ther safest place to kape it thin, and yez can always find it, for there it is; but when ‘tis afther gittin into thim bank vaults in ther big city below, divil a bit are yez afther sayin’ ther color ov it agin, at all, at all. And thin, agin, me b’y, did yez ever know of a miner, or many of thim at laist, who was willin’ to pay ther rancher for ther land, fences, or for ther crops they desthroyed? And indade thin, are yez yourself willin’ to go and pay for ther damages yez wud be afther doin’, and don’t yez think that wud be right?”
“Oh, yes, in some cases, if the ranchers would be satisfied with a fair price for damages.”
“Ah, yis ! If they wud only let yez, the miners, assess ther damages thin, but, begorra, ‘twud be little ainough the wud be afther receiving, in moi opinion.”
“Well, I admit,” says the miner, “that ‘tis very unfortunate. But we are not responsible for their loss, for the ranchers should not have made their homes in such localities.”
Jersey now asked Mike if he didn’t think that dams could be constructed that would prevent the sand and gravel from doing any injury. Mike answered “that sich dams wud answer only for a toime, for owin’ to carelessness, accident or bad wuork, ther toime wud come whin ther sand and gravel in thim dams wud all raich ther lower livils be ther natural law of gravity, begorra, and for this raison, in me own opinion, it wud be a waste of toime and money to attempt it; but the only way it can be done, if at all, wud be to build brush and log dams high up among ther hills ter kape back ther big rocks and ther coarser stuff, and thin by ther mains of flumes to run ther sand and finer material out upon ther tule lands.”
An old rancher now made the remark that in early days he thought the miners, or at least a portions of them, were rather of a selfish nature, and were not disposed to pay much respect to the rights of anybody else but the miners.
“Why, in the opinion of many of them,” said he, “no man had any right to fence in or to cultivate a piece of ground.”
“A neighbor of mine in ‘53, up in Placer County, had a fine garden;
but it happened to be in the way of some miners who were at work above.
They tore down the fence and covered ther garden with
tailings, and refused to pay for any damages, maintaining that
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the country belonged exclusively to the miners, and no man had therefore any right to fence in or to use ground for any other purpose than for mining.”
Another old hydraulic miner now remarked that hydraulic mining did not cause all the injury to the lands and streams in the valleys below that it was supposed it did; for the discovery was made by a man up in the mining region, a very observing man, too, who testified upon the stand at Sacramento, during the trial between the miners and ranchers, that a portion of the injury to the farmers, as well as to the streams, was caused by the tramping of cattle among the hills in the mountain regions, an’ the heavy rains of winter washed this loose soil which their hoofs had loosened up into the valleys below, thereby causing much of the damage which has been heretofore attributed to mining. “Now,” he asked, “aint that a very ingenious, as well as a very reasonable view of the question and who can deny it?”
“Yis, indade, thin, it is a very raisonable view of ther question,” answered Mike, “which none of yez can deny at all: an’ be jabers thin, he might have included, too, that thim barnyard fowls also in scratchin’ for ther wurms to fade ther chicky-biddies, loosened up ther light sile, so yez moind, an’ tis ther jint operation ov these two moity forces, begorra, that not only kiver up an’ destroy the potato, an’ ther turnip patches of ther farmers, but ‘tis thim which fill up ther navigable straims too, an’ unless prevented in toime, will destroy thim all, an,’ bejabers, they will transform thim big bays below into shallow swarmps an’ frog ponds. An’ faith thin” continued Mike, “I’m afther thinking’ that ‘tis ther jint operation ov these same terrific fowl an’ cloven hoofed forces, from havin’ been continually in operation through long pariods of toime, do yez moind, that have scooped out thim dape cańons, an’ goughed out thim dape channels ov thim mountain straims, too, do yez see; which has been wrongfully attributed by all ov thim scientific by’s, as an effect of volcanic an’ of glacial action, begorra.”
Jim
now enquired of Mike, if the fact of their desire to work their mines was, in
his opinion, an evidence that the miners were of a
more selfish nature than any other class of men, or more inclined to encroach
upon the rights of others? “No, indade,
not at all!” Mike answered, “but ‘tis only in ther opportunity that yez have of
showing it thin, owing intoirly to ther conflict betwain ther two intherists,
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that is av ranching an’ minin,’ for human nature is after being ther same in both ov yez; an’ be jabers! if thim hydraulic miners was after changing places wid ther ranchers, do yez suppose ther latter wud be afther stopping ther minin’ business, for fear of injurin’ ther by’s below, any quicker than ther prisent miners wud do? Divil a bit wud they be afther doin’ that same, for, indade, me by’s, we are all ov us afther being built of ther same material, an’ be jabers! ‘tis our interests which determines ther view that we take ov things after all. An’ indade thin,” continued Mike “I remember a case that occurred up in ther mountains in early days, that illustrates this p’int. A miner tore down the fence, an’ run his tailin’s upon the garden ov a neighbor, ah’ to hear this miner talk ov his rights when the gardner objected to the outrage, be jabers. Yez wud jest be afther concludin’ that the great Jehovah made ther country expressly for ther miner, an’ that nobody else hed any business here at al, an’ that this stoyle ov man, ther miner, was the only one worth ther trouble av putting ther breath av life into at all! at all!
“Well now, do yez moind, it happened a few years afther that this same miner was afther tryin’ ther business of ranchin’ himself, an’ about ther same toime, too, this gardner sold out his ranch an followed ther business ov minin’ and, quare enough, he found a good prospect upon ther ranch ov ther other chap, an’ now be jabers! here was ther case jest after bein’ revarsed.
“It wud hev done yer sowl good to hear ould rancher, who was now afther bein’ a miner, jest give it to ther ould miner who was now afther ranchin’, an’ he paid him off swately in his own kine, be gorra! Well, afther quarrellin’ awhoile about ther rights of aich one, they finally was afther concludin’ that both of thim had certain rights, an’ if they were careful and aich one of thim to do ther fair thing, there wud be no trouble at all, at all, so ther miner agreed to do as little harrum as possible and fill up his diggings again.”
Jeff now inquired of Mike if he didn’t consider it a great injury to the country in general, but more especially to the working classes, shutting down the hydraulic mines, consequently taking such a large amount of money from our circulation?
“Ah,
yis,” said Mike, “Indade
thin ‘twud be a blessing to ther
workin’ men of ther country
to have that same in circulation among thim, if they
was afther handling much of the same; but,
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me b’ys, I tell yez that ther workingmen of the country have but little opportunity av aither saing or handling much av ther same at all, at all.”
“But,” queried another, “in the circulation of money each one gets his share, does he not?”
“So he ought, thin, if he was afther earning the same; but divil a bit is he afther doin’ anything ov ther koind, an’ for this raisin, me b’ys, that if that same was ther rule, why, ‘tis plain enough, do yez moind, that ther more gould there was afther bein’ scattered about among us, ther greater quantity aich one av us wud be afther gittin’ hould ov, sure. But do yez moind, thin, it don’t wurruk that way at all, at all. It is not becase thim by’s who hev scraped together ther biggest share ov money are more selfish than any the rest ov thim, devil a bit, but, b’ys, ‘tis in ther nature ov gould itself, which is afther follerin’ a law of its own, begob! an’ has a way ov scrapin’ itself in a hape into ther hands ov a few of ther b’ys, who have already more than they are afther having any use for. And ‘tis for that raison, b’ys, that in me own opinion ’tis jest as well for that gould to remain in thim hills where it belongs, and kape it out of their hands.”
“Ah, Mike, but that’s a wrong idea you’ve got about money,” remarked Jeff. “Fifteen millions a year from the money circulation means poverty to many a poor family. Why, what would your little ranch be worth, with its grape vines and its peach trees, if we should all quit mining? Ain’t it us miners who give you a market for your stuff?”
“Oh, yis, me b’y,
to some extint ’tis thrue
that we depind on you miners to buy much ov our stuf, but not entoirly, thin, begorra! Ain’t it thrue enough that as ther yaild from ther mines decreases other industries are continually improvin’ ther whoile in ther same proportion,
be jabers? Indade, thin, to
hear some of yez old miners talk, we’d be afther thinkin’ that if mining wud stop entoirely the earth itself wud stop
revolving upon its axis thin, an’, be jabers, all
human affairs, too, would jest be afther remaining
stationary. But divil a bit wud
sich a state of affairs occur at all, at all! Thim river mines and ther quartz
ledges will continue to yaild sufficient gould for ther business of ther counthry for hundreds of
years yit, without the necessity in me own opinion ov coverin’ up and destroyin’ ther property or ov fillin’ up ther
straims below.”
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“Oh, yes,” said the old hydraulic miner, “that is all very well, but what’s to become of all of us miners who are depending for our living upon the hydraulic mines, and how are we to support our families?”
“Be jabers, thin!” answered Mike, “yez can be afther doin’ what a hape ov other ould moiners have done, thin, who loike meself couldn’t make a decent living at ther business, begorra; fince in thin a paice ov the sile, an’ plant into it thim grape vines, ther fruit trees, an’ ther loikes ov thim, an’ be jabers yez’ll be afther foindin in a short toime that ‘tis ther best an’ ther aisiest way ov fightin the battle ov life; lyin’ in ambush for yer inimies among the grape vines an’ trees ov ther paich ochard, or skarmishin’ with distiny from behind a gardin fince, begorra! For do yez moind, thin, an’ ‘aint ther taties, ther cabbages, ther fruit trees an’ ther loikes of thim, afther growin’ ther whoile whin yez are slapein. Now, me b’ys, jest be afther doin’ that same and yez niver’ll be sighin’ or gravin’ for ther loss ov thim hydraulic pipes that are ther whole toime throwin’ thim grand ould hills into ther vallies below, be jabers.!
“And indade, thin, in obsarving ther immense power ov wather, the aise and ther great ripidity that yez have in washin’ away thim big hills from above, I have afther thinkin’ to meself what a fine hand ther Prophet Mahomet wud be after houldin’ if he could only descind with his followers from ther heavenly regions above, an’ strike bottom up in the Sacramento valley.
“Wudn’t ther b’ys
jest, with thim hydraulic giants, be mighty willin’ to accommodate ther auld gintlemen, whin he demanded one
of thim big hills above to jest be afther comin’ down to him thin,
an’ they wud sind it down
to him by the aisiest an’ quickest mode of
conveyance, be jabers; they wud
ship it by wather, C. O. D., comin’
on demand, do yez moind,
an’ begorra! Wudn’t ther ould gintlemen
jest be afther houldin’ a
strait flush, thin, faith an’ he wud.”
Page 259 Illustration.
Transcribed
by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Proofread by Betty Vickroy.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
BACK TO ARGONAUTS IN
CALIFORNIA PT 1