Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

LONELY ENCAMPMENT.

79

and privations that still awaited us, a gloom imperceptibly stole over our imaginations, and hung upon our thoughts like an incubus. But sleep soon dispelled our melancholy, and wild fancy restored us to our friends.

Chapter Fourteenth.

A SEA CAPTAIN AS COOK-A HERD OF DEER-RETURN TO MORMON BAR-KEEPING HOUSE
-OUR MACHINE IN MOTION-$1,500 IN ONE HOUR-AN ELOPEMENT—WASH DAY-
SPORTING-PROSPECTING-DISCOVERY OF GOLD-EXCITEMENT-FATIGUE
HURRIED UP"-INCENTIVES TO EXERTION-CANALLING A BAR.

THE CAKES

WE rose in the morning with renewed vigor, and after breakfast, thoroughly prospecting our bar, (see Plate,) we moved on up the river. We found the passage in many places extremely difficult, obliging us to climb precipices to the height of two to three hundred feet. We examined closely, but found no place sufficiently rich to pay for working. At about 12 M. we arrived at a bar that was being worked by a company that had recently purchased it of another company for $2,500.

Their labor was attended with fair success, but they did not succeed in making wages after paying the above sum. There is a law established by custom in the mines, which allows a man a certain space, generally ten feet, extending across the river. It is by this law that companies take possession of bars, and their claim is never disputed, as it is a privilege of which all wish to avail themselves. We ascended the river still higher, but found nothing to encourage us. We deliberated some time and concluded to reascend the mountain. We returned to the encampment of the above-mentioned bar, where we found an old man, a sea captain, acting as cook. They had no tent, but slept in the open air. The cook had a large camp-kettle hanging on a tripod under a live oak-tree, cooking pork and beans, and preparing dinner for thirty men. It seemed a strange occupation for a sea captain; still, it had not yet lost its novelty, and he seemed to enjoy it much. I noticed, however, that he would frequently hitch up his pantaloons and look "aloft." After resting an hour

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

RETURN TO MORMON BAR.

81

we went to a ravine, filled our flasks with spring-water and commenced ascending the mountain. On arriving near the summit we came upon a herd of deer, and wounded one, but did not succeed in capturing it. We soon found ourselves again in view of the Snowy Mountains and resolved to encamp for the night. After partaking of a sumptuous meal, (pork and hard bread) we again reclined on the couch of nature, her sweetest incense borne by the gentle breezes to our sleeping senses. (The dust was blowing furiously.)

We took an early start on our return to Mormon Bar, and arrived in the evening much fatigued. We resolved to make an effort here at mining, and back it up with any amount of energy. We purchased a machine and made all the preliminary arrangements in the evening, preparatory to a start at an early hour. We had no tent, consequently resolved to rent a suit of apartments from Nature, and looking about we found a large rock on the brink of a precipice, one hundred feet above the river. The place was secluded and pleasant. In front of the rock, on the mountain side, was a kitchen sufficiently large for our family, including the sleeping apartment. The space was shaded by a small oak tree; and, growing against the rock, were two other trees. Behind the rock was a space about twelve feet square, well shaded and was to serve as our dressing-room. A person to jump out of the back window would land in the river.

Tracy had volunteered to act as cook, and in order to have things in harmony, I called him wife, and he was perhaps as well calculated to get along under the circumstances as any one I could have got. As to kitchen furniture, he cared more for the useful than ornamental, and was calculated to manage the domestic affairs with the strictest economy. We had a small camp-kettle, a coffee-pot, and two tin plates; I had a knife and fork and tin cup. Tracy had a pocket-knife, and a water-tight Indian basket, which served him as a coffee-cup. I slung my hammock to the trees that grew against the rock; he spread his blanket on the ground, a few feet distant, and we were keeping house.

We arose in the morning full of energy, and didn't think there were any two individuals in that "section" destined to

« ZurückWeiter »