28 LIFE SKETCHES OF A JAYHAWKER 



CHAPTER IV. 



My first experience in mining was at Merced River, where I paid Six- 

 teen dollars for a shovel, eight dollars for a pick, fifty dollars for a rocker, 

 four for a gold pan, and thirty-two dollars for a pair of boots. Everything 

 else was in proportion, and vegetables were out of the question, as I saw a 

 man pay a dollar and a half for a single onion. 



My success varied from day to day, for on one day I wouldn't make an 

 ounce, and on others maybe two ounces or more. The general belief was 

 that if the bars paid so well in gold the bed of the river ought to prove a 

 harvest. So we formed a company to turn the river, and about twenty of 

 us undertook the job. An Indian squaw man, Jim Savage, had told us that 

 his Indians had waded into the river when it was low and had taken out 

 an ounce to the bater, or wooden bowl. This was at the horse shoe bend 

 of the river, and after much hard work we succeeded in turning the river, 

 and where we expected to shovel gold, we found but ten or fifteen cents to 

 the pan. We found out afterwards that this man was known as the biggest 

 liar at the mines, and later, while in a quarrel with Major Harvey, he was 

 shot dead. After we found out our work was all for naught we broke camp 

 and scattered to all parts of the mines. I drifted over on the Tuolumne 

 River, to a place called Hurts Bar, and started work at a half ounce a day. 

 A company of twenty had been formed to turn the river, and one of the 

 Interested parties wished me to take his place, as he wanted to prospect. 

 After three or four weeks work I wanted to see some money, so the com- 

 pany called a miners meeting and voted me this man's share of the 

 mine. I knew this would hold good, as miners laws stood preeminent to all 

 others, but the man never came back so I was never molested. We finally 

 turned the river and work began in earnest. The strike was rich, and we 

 took out gold by the pound. 



Our largest day's work yielded twenty-four pounds avoirdupois weight; 

 In Troy weight it would have amounted to 32 pounds at that time. Hardly 

 a day passed but what we took out eight pounds, and we were much encour- 

 aged and worked hard. We kept three rockers running. The largest part 

 of the work consisted in keeping the water bailed out, and around the edge 

 of the water was a yellow streak of gold. It looked fine, and all went joy- 

 fully for about three weeks when the rains began unusually early. We had 

 no tents, nothing but brush shanties, and the rain just poured down all 

 night. We had to stand up around the fire with a blanket around us. This 

 was about the twentieth of September, and the next day about two P. M, 

 we heard a terrible roaring of water coming down the river. We hardly 

 had time to get our tools out of the claim until the water was upon us. It 

 seemed about fifteen feet high. There were three dams above us, and the 

 swelling of the waters took the first when the next gave way, and so on, 

 and by the time the water reached us It was fully fifteen feet high, and the 

 river rose in less time than it takes to write it. We had no dam, as we 

 had taken the water from the other side of the river and brought It over in 

 an aqueduct to a bar where we had a chance to extend the canal. We had 

 made the aqueduct of whip-sawed lumber and had brought it down off the 

 mountain by hand. It was about one hundred feet long, sixteen feet wide 

 and four feet deep, and this will show the amount of work we had put into 



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