ELDORADO 131 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE MINKS— PANDEMONIUM. 



After my first unsuccessful venture at mining I re- 

 turned to Johnson's ranch and completed my unfin- 

 ished journey to Hangtovvn. This place was so named 

 from its having been the scene of a triple hanging in 

 '49 of three desperados who had exhausted the patience 

 of the better class by their many crimes. 



Until the summer of 1850 this was one of the rich- 

 est placer mines in the state. The town consisted main- 

 ly of one narrow street, following a zigzag course 

 along the gulch. The buildings were of cheap material 

 and of rude structure, many of them merely miners' 

 cabins of cotton cloth or shakes split from pine blocks. 

 Piles of dirt and tailings from the abandoned claims 

 filled much of the space btween the hills, forming the 

 narrow gulch. A few Americans were at work with 

 pick, pan and rocker besides quite a number of China- 

 men. The town contained about one thousand inhabi- 

 tants. The population, like all mining towns at that 

 time, was of a mixed class, good, bad and indifferent, 

 representing nearly every nationality on the globe and 

 some of the worst elem.ents of them all. Every species 

 of gambling was in full blast, from faro and three-card 

 monte down the list to the thimble and strap game. 



