Fish CuUurists^ Association. 15 



pleasant place to be in ; and the effect was not lessened by the exhilar- 

 ating reflection that every shoA^el full of sand which formed the whole 

 floor of the tent was mixed with gold dust, so that every step we took, 

 we were literally treading on golden sands. 



OUR HOUSEHOLD AND WORK. 



Our household consisted permanently of Mr. John G. Woodbury, fore- 

 man ; Mr. Mj-ron Green, head fisherman ; Mr. Oliver Anderson, man-of- 

 all-work, and myself in charge. Our fluctuating force consisted of a 

 carpenter, a cook, several fishermen and men-of- all-work, together with 

 more or less Indians, making our total number average during the fishing 

 season, when I kept on a force every night hauling the seine, about a 

 dozen or fifteen hands. 



As it ma}" perhaps seem surprising to some that we could find work for 

 so many persons, I will say that on the 18th of July not a shovel full of 

 earth had been moved, nor a stick cut on the site of our future camp, and 

 by the first of October, seventy-four daj^s after, we had erected our 

 dwelling house, hatching works, and other structures belonging to the 

 camp, we had caught and confined a thousand salmon, had taken and laid 

 down two million eggs, and already packed and shipped eastward nearly 

 a million. This we had done in a wild and almost uninhabited country, 

 where we had to rely wholly upon ourselves, and either do ourselves what 

 was to be done or leave it undone. We could not send out for a black- 

 smith or plumber or engineer when we wanted one, as if we were living 

 in a town, but had to rely on our own resources for what we wanted or 

 go without. This, of course, complicated and extended our work very 

 much. 



At all events there was something for all to do everj^ moment, and from 

 beginning to end it was as bus}' a camp as one could wish to see. There 

 was not a game of cards or chess or checkers played all the time I was 

 there, and every one seemed to realize that the business of the place was 

 work, and every one worked accordingly. 



PRESENCE OF INDIANS. 



The presence of the Indians formed a peculiar feature of our came life 

 on the McCloud. We were in an Indian country, on a river which had 

 never been opened up or inhabited by white men, and which the Indians 

 regarded as their own by rights which had descended to them undisturbed 

 through their ancestors for centuries back. Indians swarmed about our 

 camp all the time. There was hardly a moment in the day when there 

 were not more or less of them lounging on or under the piazza or about 

 the tent. 



