EXPENSES. 
117 
operation was very successful, and had it not been for the early 
deluge would have made fortunes for their owners. 
The result attending individual enterprise was similar to that 
of canalling, with the exception that in the former case heavy 
debts were not contracted, and the individual, if he had not a 
fortune in his pocket, felt that what he earned was his own. I 
had a good opportunity to learn the daily proceeds of each 
man’s labor, my scale being at their service and almost univer¬ 
sally used. I could name one hundred individuals, take them 
in order as they were operating along the river, and not more 
than ten of the number had, at the commencement of the rainy 
season, sufficient means to purchase provisions for the winter. 
They had labored hard; to-day, opening a lead; to-morrow, get¬ 
ting out an ounce; and the day after prospecting. They had 
been all summer just on the eve of making a rich discovery and 
a fortune, the prospect was always bright and cheering, the prize 
just, almost, within the grasp—to-morrow—never more distant 
than to-morrow. The lead is open to-day, to-morrow the 
reward, that to-morrow dawned to comparatively few. It is 
still about to dawn, and sought with the same enthusiasm. 
Could the miners have pocketed all they took from the earth, 
few, perhaps, would have had reason to complain, but the attend¬ 
ing expenses were so great that it was almost impossible to live 
and keep anything in the purse. They would eat up at night 
what they had earned during the day, consequently the proceeds 
of labor passed immediately into the hands of those in trade. 
