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diff --git a/4636.txt b/4636.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df452b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/4636.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2521 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tramp Through the Bret Harte Country, by +Thomas Dykes Beasley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Tramp Through the Bret Harte Country + +Author: Thomas Dykes Beasley + +Commentator: Charles A. Murdock + +Release Date: November, 2003 [EBook #4636] +Last Updated: August 9, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRET HARTE COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by David A. Schwan + + + + + + + +A TRAMP THROUGH THE BRET HARTE COUNTRY + +By Thomas Dykes Beasley + + + +Author of "The Coming of Portola" + + +With A Foreword by Charles A. Murdock + + + + Above the pines the moon was slowly drifting, + The river sang below; + The dim Sierras, far beyond, uplifting + Their minarets of snow. + --Dickens in Camp. + + + The Chapters + + Foreword + + Preface + + Reminiscences of Bret Harte. "Plain Language From Truthful + James." The Glamour of the Old Mining Towns + + Inception of the Tramp. Stockton to Angel's Camp. Tuttletown + and the "Sage of Jackass Hill" + + Tuolumne to Placerville. Charm of Sonora and Fascination of + San Andreas and Mokelumne Hill + + J. H. Bradley and the Cary House. Ruins of Coloma. James W. + Marshall and His Pathetic End + + Auburn to Nevada City Via Colfax and Grass Valley. Ben + Taylor and His Home + + E. W. Maslin and His Recollections of Pioneer Days in Grass + Valley. Origin of Our Mining Laws + + Grass Valley to Smartsville. Sucker Flat and Its Personal + Appeal + + Smartsville to Marysville. Some Reflections on Automobiles + and "Hoboes" + + Bayard Taylor and the California of Forty-nine. Bret Harte + and His Literary Pioneer Contemporaries + + + + The Illustrations + + Ruins of Coloma, a Name "Forever Associated With the Wildest + Scramble for Gold the World Has Ever Been" + + Map of the "Bret Harte Country," Showing the Route Taken by + the Writer, With the Towns, Important Rivers, and County + Boundaries of the Country Traversed + + The Tuttletown Hotel, Tuttletown; a Wooden Building Erected + in the Early Fifties + + Mokelumne River; "Whatever the Meaning of the Indian Name, + One May Rest Assured It Stands for Some Form of Beauty" + + "A Mining Convention at Placerville" + + South Fork of the American River, Coloma. The Bend in the + River Is the Precise Spot Where Gold Was First Discovered in + California + + Ben Taylor and His Home, Grass Valley, Showing the Spruce He + Planted Nearly Half a Century Ago + + E. W. Maslin in the Garden of His Alameda Home + + Angel's Hotel, Angel's Camp, Erected in 1852, as was the + Wells Fargo Building Which Faces it Across the Street + + Main Hoist of the Utica Mine, Angel's Camp, Situated on the + Summit of a Hill Overlooking the Town + + The Stanislaus River, Near Tuttletown, "Running in a Deep + and Splendid Canon" + + Jackass Hill, Tuttletown. The Road to the Left Leads to the + Former Home of "Jim" Gillis + + Home of Mrs. Swerer, Tuttletown. The Hotel and This Dwelling + Comprise All That Is Habitable of the Tuttletown of Bret + Harte + + Main Street, Sonora, "So Shaded by Trees That Buildings Are + Half-hidden" + + Sonora, Looking Southeast. "No Matter From What Direction + You Approach It, Sonora Seems to Lie Basking in the Sun" + + Main Street, San Andreas, "During the Mid-day Heat, Almost + Deserted" + + Metropolitan Hotel, San Andreas; in the Bar-room of Which + Occurred the "Jumping Frog" Incident + + Mokelumne Hotel, on the Summit of Mokelumne Hill, and at the + Head of the Famous Chili Gulch + + Placerville, the County Seat of El Dorado County, From the + Road to Diamond Springs + + The Cary House, Placerville. "It Was Here That Horace + Greeley Terminated His Celebrated Stage Ride With Hank Monk" + + Middle Fork of the American River, Near Auburn, and Half a + Mile Above Its Junction With the North Fork + + An Apple Orchard, Grass Valley, "The Trees Growing in the + Grass, as in England and the Atlantic States" + + The Western Hotel, Grass Valley. "The Well and Pump Add a + Quaint and Characteristic Touch" + + A Bit of Picturesque Nevada City, Embracing the Homes of Its + Leading Citizens + + + + +Foreword + + +In California's imaginary Hall of Fame, Bret Harte must be accorded +a prominent, if not first place. His short stories and dialect poems +published fifty years ago made California well known the world over +and gave it a romantic interest conceded no other community. He saw the +picturesque and he made the world see it. His power is unaccountable if +we deny him genius. He was essentially an artist. His imagination gave +him vision, a new life in beautiful setting supplied colors and rare +literary skill painted the picture. + +His capacity for absorption was marvelous. At the age of about twenty he +spent less than a year in the foot-hills of the Sierras, among pioneer +miners, and forty-five years of literary output did not exhaust his +impressions. He somewhere refers to an "eager absorption of the strange +life around me, and a photographic sensitiveness, to certain scenes +and incidents." "Eager absorption," "photographic sensitiveness," a +rich imagination and a fine literary style, largely due to his mother, +enabled him to win at his death this acknowledgment from the "London +Spectator:" "No writer of the present day has struck so powerful and +original a note as he has sounded." + +Francis Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, August 25, 1836. +His father was a teacher and translator; his mother a woman of high +character and cultivated tastes. His father having died, he, when nine, +became an office boy and later a clerk. In 1854 he came to California to +join his mother who had married again, arriving in Oakland in March of +that year. His employment for two years was desultory. He worked in a +drug store and also wrote for Eastern magazines. Then he went to Alamo +in the San Ramon Valley as tutor--a valued experience. Later in 1856 he +went to Tuolumne County where, among other things, he taught school, and +may have been an express messenger. At any rate, he stored his memory +with material that ten years later made him and the whole region famous. + +In 1857 he went to Humboldt County where his sister was living. He was +an interesting figure, gentlemanly, fastidious, reserved, sensitive, +with a good fund of humor, a pleasant voice and a modest manner. He +seemed poorly fitted for anything that needed doing. He was willing, for +I saw him digging post holes and building a fence with results somewhat +unsatisfactory. He was more successful as tutor for two of my boy +friends. He finally became printers' devil in the office of the +"Northern Californian," where he learned the case, and incidentally +contributed graceful verse and clever prose. + +He returned to San Francisco early in 1860 and found work on the "Golden +Era," at first as compositor and soon as writer. In May, 1864, he left +the "Golden Era" and joined others in starting "The Californian." Two +months later he was made editor of the new "Overland Monthly." The +second number contained "The Luck of Roaring Camp." It attracted wide +attention as a new note. Other stories and poems of merit followed. +Harte's growing reputation burst in full bloom when in 1870 he filled a +blank space in the "Overland" make-up with "The Heathen Chinee." It +was quoted on the floor of the Senate and gained world-wide fame. He +received flattering offers and felt constrained to accept the best. In +February, 1871, he left California. A Boston publisher had offered +him $10,000 for whatever he might write in the following year. Harte +accepted, but the output was small. + +For seven years he wrote spasmodically, eking out his income by +lecturing and newspaper work. Life was hard. In 1878 he sailed for +Europe, having been appointed consular agent at Crefeld, Prussia, about +forty miles north of Cologne. In 1880 he was made Consul at Glasgow, +where he remained five years. His home thereafter was London, where he +continued his literary work until his death in March, 1902. + +His complete works comprise nineteen volumes. His patriotic verse is +fervid, his idyls are graceful and his humorous verse delightful. The +short story he made anew. + +Harte's instincts and habits were good. He had the artistic temperament +and some of its incidental weaknesses. He acknowledged himself +"constitutionally improvident," and a debt-burdened life is not easy. +His later years were pathetic. Those who knew and appreciated him +remember him fondly. California failing to know him, wrongs herself. + +Charles A. Murdock. + + + + +Preface + + +A desire to obtain, at first hand, any possible information in regard to +reminiscences of Bret Harte, Mark Twain and others of the little +coterie of writers, who in the early fifties visited the mining camps +of California and through stories that have become classics, played +a prominent part in making "California" a synonym for romance, led to +undertaking the tramp of which this brief narrative is a record. The +writer met with unexpected success, having the good fortune to meet men, +all over eighty years of age, who had known--in some cases intimately +Bret Harte, Mark Twain, "Dan de Quille," Prentice Mulford, Bayard Taylor +and Horace Greeley. + +It seems imperative that a relation of individual experiences--however +devoid of stirring incident and adventure--should be written in the +first person. At the same time, the writer of this unpretentious story +of a summer's tramp cannot but feel that he owes his readers--should he +have any an apology for any avoidable egotism. His excuse is that, no +twit notwithstanding ding the glamour attaching to the old mining towns, +it is almost incredible how little is known of them by the average +Californian; for the Eastern tourist there is more excuse, since the +foot-hills of the Sierras lie outside the beaten tracks of travel. +He has, therefore, assumed that "a plain unvarnished tale" of actual +experiences might not be without interest to the casual reader; and +possibly might incite in him a desire to see for himself a country +not only possessed of rare beauty, but absolutely unique in its +associations. + +But the point to be emphasized is that the glamour is not a thing of the +past: it is there now. Nay, to a person possessed of any imagination, +the ruins--say, of Coloma--appeal in all probability far stronger than +would the actual town itself in the days when it seethed with bustle and +excitement. Not to have visited the old mining towns is not to have +seen the "heart" of California, or felt its pulsations. It is not to +understand why the very name "California" still stirs the blood and +excites the imagination throughout the civilized world. + +If this brief narrative should induce anyone to "gird up his loins," +shoulder his pack and essay a similar pilgrimage, the author will feel +that he has not been unrewarded. And if a man over threescore years of +age can tramp through seven counties and return, in spite of intense +heat, feeling better and stronger than when he started, a young fellow +in the hey-day of life and sound of wind and limb surely ought not to be +discouraged. + +Thomas Dykes Beasley. + + + + +A Tramp Through the Bret Harte Country + + + +Chapter I + + + +Reminiscences of Bret Harte. "Plain Language From Truthfulful James." +The Glamour of the Old Mining Towns + + + +It is forty-four years since the writer met the author of "The Luck +of Roaring Camp"--that wonderful blending within the limits of a short +story of humor, pathos and tragedy--which, incredible as it may seem, +met with but a cold reception from the local press, and was even branded +as "indecent" and "immodest!" + +On the occasion referred to, I was strolling on Rincon Hill--at that +time the fashionable residence quarter of San Francisco--in company with +Mr. J. H. Wildes, whose cousin, the late Admiral Frank Wildes, achieved +fame in the battle of Manila Bay. Mr. Wildes called my attention to an +approaching figure and said: "Here comes Bret Harte, a man of unusual +literary ability. He is having a hard struggle now, but only needs the +opportunity, to make a name for himself." + +That opportunity arrived almost immediately. In the September number of +the Overland Monthly, 1870, of which magazine Mr. Harte was then editor, +appeared "Plain Language from Truthful James," or "The Heathen Chinee," +as the poem was afterwards called. A few weeks later, to my amazement, +while turning the pages of Punch in the Mercantile Library, I came +across "The Heathen Chinee;" an unique compliment so far as my +recollection of Punch serves. To this generous and instantaneous +recognition of genius may be attributed in no small measure the rapid +distinction won by Bret Harte in the world of letters. + +Mr. Harte read his "Heathen Chinee" to Mrs. Wildes, some time before it +was published. This lady, a woman of brilliant attainments and one who +had a host of friends in old San Francisco, possessed the keenest sense +of humor. Mr. Harte greatly valued her critical judgment. He was in +the habit of reading his stories and poems to her for her opinion +and decision, before publication, and it may well be that her hearty +laughter and warm approval helped to strengthen his wavering opinion of +the lines which convulsed Anglo-Saxondom; for no one was more surprised +than he at the sensation they created. He had even offered the poem for +publication to Mr. Ambrose Bierce, then editing the San Francisco News +Letter; but Mr. Bierce, recognizing its merit, returned it to Mr. Harte +and prevailed upon him to publish it in his own magazine. + +Had one at that time encountered Mr. Harte in Piccadilly or Fifth +Avenue, he would simply have been aware of a man dressed in perfect +taste, but in the height of the prevailing fashion. On the streets of +San Francisco, however, Bret Harte was always a notable figure, from the +fact that the average man wore "slops," devoid alike of style or cut, +and usually of shiny broadcloth. Broad-brimmed black felt hats were the +customary headgear, completing a most funereal costume. + +Mr. Harte impressed me as being singularly modest and utterly devoid +of any form of affectation. To be well dressed in a period when little +attention was paid clothes by the San Franciscan, might, it is true, in +some men have suggested assumption of an air of superiority; but with +Mr. Harte, to dress well was simply a natural instinct. His long, +drooping moustache and the side-whiskers of the time--incongruous as +the comparison may seem--called to mind the elder Sothern as "Lord +Dundreary." His natural expression was pensive, even sad. When one +considers that pathos and tragedy, perhaps even more than humor, pervade +his stories, that was not surprising. + +I had but recently arrived from England--a mere lad. California was +still the land of gold and romance; the glamour with which Bret Harte +surrounded both, that bids fair to be immortal, held me enthralled. +Angel's, Rough and Ready, Sandy Bar, Poker Flat, Placerville, Tuolumne +and old Sonora represented to me enchanted ground. Fate and life's +vicissitudes prevented, except in imagination, a knowledge of the Sierra +foot-hill counties; but in the back of my head all these years had +persisted a determination to, at some time, visit a region close to the +heart of every old Californian, and what better way than on foot? + +In spite of Pullman cars and automobiles--or, rather, perhaps on account +of them--the only way to see a country, to get into touch with Nature +and meet the inhabitants on the dead level of equality and human +sympathy, is to use Nature's method of locomotion. Equipped with a stout +stick--with a view to dogs--a folding kodak camera, and your "goods +and chattels" slung in a haversack across your shoulders, you feel +independent of timecards and "routes;" and sally forth into the world +with the philosophical determination to take things as they come; keyed +to a pleasurable pitch of excitement by the knowledge that "Adventure" +walks with you hand-in-hand, and that the "humors of the road" are yours +for the seeing and understanding. + + + +Chapter II + +Inception of the Tramp. Stockton to Angel's Camp. Tuttletown and the +"Sage of Jackass Hill" + + + +Following as near as might be the route of the old Argonauts, I avoided +trains, and on a warm summer night boarded the Stockton boat. In the +early morning you are aware of slowly rounding the curves of the San +Joaquin River. Careful steering was most essential, as owing to the dry +season the river was unusually low. The vivid greens afforded by the +tules and willows that fringe the river banks, and the occasional +homestead surrounded by trees, with its little landing on the edge of +the levee, should delight the eye of the artist. + +I lost no time in Stockton and headed for Milton in the foot-hills, +just across the western boundary of Calaveras County. The distance +was variously estimated by the natives at from twenty to forty +miles--Californians are careless about distances, as in other matters. +Subsequently I entered it in my note book as a long twenty-eight. +Eighteen miles out from Stockton, at a place called Peters, which is +little more than a railway junction, you leave the cultivated land +and enter practically a desert country, destitute of water, trees, +undergrowth and with but a scanty growth of grass. I ate my lunch at the +little store and noted with apprehension that the thermometer registered +104 degrees in the shaded porch. I am not likely to forget that pull of +ten miles and inwardly confessed to a regret that I had not taken the +train to Milton. Accustomed on "hikes" to a thirst not surpassed by +anything "east of Suez," I never before appreciated the significance of +the word "parched"--the "tongue cleaving to the roof of the mouth." + +At Milton one enters the land of romance. What was even more appreciable +at the time, it marks the limit of the inhospitable country I had +traversed. Mr. Robert Donner, the proprietor of the Milton Hotel, told +me he once had "Black Bart" as his guest for over a week, being unaware +at the time of his identity. This famous bandit in the early eighties +"held up" the Yosemite stage time and again. In fact, he terrorized the +whole Sierra country from Redding to Sacramento. He was finally captured +in San Francisco through a clew obtained from a laundry mark on a pair +of white cuffs. For years, Mr. Donner cherished a boot left by the +highwayman in the hurry of departure, which, much to his annoyance, was +finally abstracted by some person unknown. To dispose of Black Bart; +he served his term and was never seen again in the Sierras. There is a +rumor that Wells Fargo & Company, the chief sufferers by his activities, +made it worth his while to behave himself in the future. + +The following day I reached Copperopolis. This place very justly has the +reputation of being one of the hottest spots in the foot-hills. Owing to +resumed operations on a large scale, of the Calaveras Copper Company, +I found the little settlement crowded to its fullest capacity, and was +perforce compelled to resort to genuine "hobo" methods--in short, I +spent the night under the lee of a haystack. My original intention had +been to walk thence to Sonora, twenty-four miles; but finding the road +would take me again into the valley, I decided to make for Angel's Camp, +only thirteen miles away. + +It is uphill nearly all the way from Copperopolis to Angel's Camp, but +mostly you are in the pine woods. My spirits rose with the altitude +and delight at the magnificent view when I at last reached the summit. +Toiling up the grade in the dust, I met a good old-fashioned four-horse +Concord stage, which from all appearances might have been in action ever +since the days of Bret Harte. At last I felt I was in touch with the +Sierras. The driver even honored my bow with an abrupt "Howdy!" which +from such a magnate, I took to be a good omen. + +[Illustration: Utica Mine. Plate09] + +In common with all the old mining towns--though I was unaware of it at +the time--Angel's, as it is usually called, is situated in the ravine +where gold was first discovered. It straggles down the gulch for a mile +and a half. There are a number of pretty cottages clinging to the steep +hillsides, surrounded with flowers and trees, the whole effect being +extremely pleasing. I registered at the Angel's Hotel, built in 1852. +Across the street is the Wells Fargo building, erected about the same +time and of solid stone, as is the hotel. Nothing on this trip surprised +me more than the solidity of the hotels and stores built in the early +fifties. Instead of the flimsy wooden structures I had imagined, I +found, for the most part, thick stone walls. It was evident the Pioneers +believed in the permanence of the gold deposits in the Mother Lode. +Possibly they were right; Angel's is anything but a dead town to-day. +The Utica, Angel's and Lightner mines give employment to hundreds of +men. + +In the afternoon I visited the Bret Harte Girls' High School. It is +a very simple frame building, on the summit of a hill overlooking the +town. The man who directed me how to find it, I discovered had not the +remotest idea who Bret Harte might be; "John Brown" would have answered +the purpose equally as well. In fact, all through the seven counties I +traversed--Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada and +Yuba--I found Bret Harte had left but a hazy and nebulous impression. +Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, Horace Greeley, Bayard Taylor, even "Dan +de Quille," seemed better known. + +[Illustration: Stanislaus River. Plate10] + +The next morning I started for Sonora. In seven miles I came to the +Stanislaus River, running in a deep and splendid canon. The river here +is spanned by a fine concrete bridge, built jointly by Tuolumne and +Calaveras Counties, between which the river forms the dividing line. In +the bottom of the canon is the Melones mine, with a mill operating one +hundred stamps. The main tunnel is a mile and a half in length; the +longest mining tunnel in the State, I was told. + +A steep pull of two miles out of the canon brought me to Tuttletown. +Here I stayed several hours, for the interest of the whole trip, so far +as Bret Harte was concerned, centered around this once celebrated camp, +and Jackass Hill, on which, at one time, lived James W. Gillis, the +supposed prototype of "Truthful James." He died a few years ago, but +his brother, Stephen R. Gillis, is living there to-day, and after some +little difficulty I succeeded in finding his house. + +[Illustration: Jackass Hill. Plate11] + +Mr. Gillis scouts the idea that his brother "Jim" was the "Truthful +James" of Bret Harte. He said that in reality it was J. W. E. +Townsend, known in old times as "Alphabetical Townsend," also by the +uncomplimentary appellation of "Lying Jim." According to Mr. Gillis, +Bret Harte made but one visit to Tuttletown. He arrived there one +evening "dead broke" and James put him up for the night and lent him +money to help him on his way. Personally, Mr. Gillis never met Bret +Harte but he had seen Mark Twain on a number of Occasions. I got the +distinct impression that Stephen Gillis disliked the notoriety +his brother had gained, through the fact that his name had become +indissolubly linked with the "Truthful James" of Bret Harte's verses. +Be that as it may, I later on met several men who had known "Jim" Gillis +intimately and they all agreed that he possessed a keen sense of humor +and had at command a practically inexhaustible stock of stories, upon +which he drew at will. Whether Bret Harte derived any inspiration from +"Jim" Gillis may perhaps always remain in doubt; but that Mark Twain +did, there cannot, I think, be any question. + +In a recent life of Bret Harte, by Henry Childs Merwin, it is stated +(page 21) that in 1858 Bret Harte acted as tutor in a private family at +Alamo, in the San Ramon valley, which lies at the foot of Mount Diablo. +On, page 50, however, we read: "In 1858 or thereabouts, Bret Harte was +teaching school at Tuttletown, a few miles north of Sonora." It would +seem that this statement is erroneous, apart from the fact that it +conflicts with the prior date in reference to Alamo. + +[Illustration: Tuttletown. Plate12] + +Mrs. Swerer, who has lived continuously at Tuttletown since 1850, coming +there at the age of ten, told me she received her education at the +Tuttletown public school, as did her children and her children's +children--she is now a great-grandmother! She said most positively that +she never saw Bret Harte in her life, but had frequently seen "Dan de +Quille" and Mark Twain. The latter, she said, made periodic visits to +Tuttletown, and always stayed with "Jim" Gillis--called by Twain, the +"Sage of Jackass Hill." + +Mrs. Gross, who keeps the Tuttletown Hotel and whose husband owned +a store across the way, built of stone but now in ruins, was born +in Tuttletown. She asserted she never heard of Bret Harte being in +Tuttletown and feels it to be impossible he ever taught school there. +At this ancient hostelry, built of wood and dating back to the early +fifties, I dined in company with an old miner, who told me he came +across "Jim" Gillis in Alaska. He said: "Gillis was a great josher. For +the life of me, I could never tell from his stories whether he had been +to the Klondike or not." + +[Illustration: Tuttletown Hotel. Plate02] + + + +Chapter III + +Tuolumne to Placerville. Charm of Sonora and Fascination of San Andreas +and Mokelumne Hill. + +[Illustration: Sonora Plate13] + +Sonora is nine miles distant from Tuttletown, and I reached it in the +early afternoon. Perhaps of all the old mining towns, Sonora is the +most fascinating, on account of the exceeding beauty of the surrounding +country. No matter from what direction you approach it, Sonora seems to +lie basking in the sun, buried in a wealth of greenery, through which +gleam white walls and roofs of houses. Even its winding streets are so +shaded by graceful old trees that buildings are half hidden. The +bustle and excitement of the mining days are passed forever, in all +probability, for old Sonora; but in their place have come the peace +and quiet that accompany the tillage of the soil; for Sonora is now the +center of a prosperous agricultural district and the town maintains a +steady and continuous growth. + +[Illustration: Sonora Plate14] + +Here I had the pleasure of an interview with Mr. John Neal, a +prominent and respected citizen of Tuolumne County, who as Commissioner +represented his county at the San Francisco Midwinter Fair. Mr. Neal is +over eighty, but still hale and hearty. He was the first person I had +thus far encountered who had known Bret Harte in the flesh. He had +also known and frequently met Mark Twain, "Dan de Quille" and Prentice +Mulford. Of the four, it was evident that Mulford had left by far the +most lasting as well as favorable impression on his mind. Of him he +spoke in terms of real affection. "Prentice Mulford," he said, "was a +brilliant, very handsome and most lovable young man." I asked him how +these young men were regarded by the miners. He said: "In all the camps +they were held to be in a class by themselves, on account of their +education and literary ability. Although they wore the rough costume of +the miners, it was realized that none of them took mining seriously +or made any pretense of real work with pick and shovel." Mr. Neal knew +James Gillis intimately and admitted he was a great story-teller. In +fact, at the bare mention of his name he broke into a hearty laugh. "Oh, +Jim Gillis, he was a great fellow!" he exclaimed. He said unquestionably +Mark Twain got a good deal of material from him, and feels certain that +Bret Harte must have met him at least on several occasions. Mr. Neal +stated that up to the time of the Midwinter Fair, the output of gold +from Tuolumne county reached the astonishing figures of $250,000,000! +What it has amounted to since that time, I had no means of ascertaining. + +It is only twelve miles from Sonora to Tuolumne. From the top of the +divide which separates the valleys there is a beautiful view of the +surrounding country, the dim blue peaks of the Sierra Nevada forming the +eastern sky-line. One of the chief charms of an excursion through +these foothill counties is the certainty that directly you reach any +considerable elevation there will be revealed a magnificent panorama, +bounded only by the limit of vision, range after range of mountains +running up in varying shades of blue and purple, to the far distant +summits that indicate the backbone of California. + +Tuolumne is situated in a circular basin rather than in a valley, and +thus being protected from the wind, in hot weather the heat is intense. +If there are any mining operations in the immediate vicinity, they +are not in evidence to the casual observer. It is, however, one of the +biggest timber camps in the State. In the yards of the West Side Lumber +Company, covering several hundred acres, are stacked something like +30,000,000 feet of sugar pine. The logs are brought from the mountains +twenty to twenty-five miles by rail, and sawn into lumber at Tuolumne. +I was told that the bulk of the lumber manufactured here was shipped +abroad, a great deal going to Australia. + +Tuolumne, in Bret Harte's time, was called Summersville. It was +destroyed by fire about fourteen years ago, but the new town has already +so assimilated itself to the atmosphere of its surroundings, that its +comparative youth might easily escape detection. Altogether, I was +disappointed with Tuolumne, having expected to find a second Angel's, +owing to its prominence in Bret Harte's stories. A lumber camp, while +an excellent thing in its way, is neither picturesque nor inspiring. +I spent the night at the "Turnback Inn," a large frame building, +handsomely finished interiorly and built since the fire. It is, I +believe, quite a summer resort, as Tuolumne is the terminus of the +Sierra Railway, and one can go by way of Stockton direct to Oakland and +San Francisco. + +Returning to Angel's the next day, I lingered again at Tuttletown. There +is a strange attraction about the place--it would hold you apart from +its associations, The old hotel, fast going to decay, surrounded by +splendid trees whose shade is so dense as to be impenetrable to the +noon-day sun, is a study for an artist. And as I gazed in a sort of +day-dream at the ruins of what once was one of the liveliest camps in +the Sierras--with four faro tables running day and night--the pines +seemed to whisper a sigh of regret over its departed glories. Jackass +Hill is fairly honeycombed with prospect holes, shafts and tunnels. I +was surprised to see that even now there is a certain amount of prospect +work going forward, for I noticed several shafts with windlasses to +which ropes were attached; and, in fact, was told that the old camp +showed signs of a new lease of life. + +Musing on Tuttletown and its environment later on got me into serious +difficulty. Having crossed the Stanislaus River and cleared the canon, +I abandoned the main road for an alleged "cut-off." This I was following +with the utmost confidence, when, to my surprise, it came to an abrupt +end at the foot of a steep hill. In the ravine below was a house, and +there fortunately I found a man of whom I inquired if I was in "Carson +Flat." "Carson Flat? Well, I should say not! You're 'way off!" "How +much?" I asked feebly. "Oh, several miles." This in a tone that implied +that though I was in a bad fix, it might possibly be worse. However, +with the invariable kindness of these people, he put me on a trail +which, winding up to the summit of a ridge, struck down into Carson +Flat and joined the main road. And there I registered a vow: "The +hard highway for me!" As a consequence of this deviation, I materially +lengthened the distance to Angel's. It is thirty miles from Tuolumne by +the road, to which, by taking the "cut-off," I probably added another +three! + +It is surprising how these towns grow upon one. Already the Angel's +Hotel seemed like home to me and after an excellent dinner, I joined +the loungers on the side-walk and became one of a row, seated on chairs +tilted at various angles against the wall of the hotel. And there I +dozed, watching the passing show between dreams; for in the evening when +the electric lights are on, there is a sort of parade of the youth and +beauty of the town, up and down the winding street. + +On account of the great heat that even the dry purity of the Sierra +atmosphere could not altogether mitigate, I decided the next day to be +content with reaching San Andreas, the county seat of Calaveras County, +fifteen miles north of Angel's. + +Apart from its name, there is something about San Andreas that suggests +Mexico, or one's idea of pastoral California in the early days of the +American occupation. The streets are narrow and unpaved and during the +midday heat are almost deserted. Business of some sort there must be, +for the little town, though somnolent, is evidently holding its own; +but there seems to be infinite time in which to accomplish whatever the +necessities of life demand. And I may state here parenthetically, that +perhaps the most impressive feature of all the old California mining +towns is their suggestion of calm repose. Each little community seems +sufficient unto itself and entirely satisfied with things as they are. +Not even in the Old World will you find places where the current of life +more placidly flows. + +[Illustration: San Andreas. Plate 15] + +On the main street--and the principal street of all these towns is "Main +Street"--I had the good fortune to be introduced to Judge Ira H. Reed, +who came to Calaveras County in 1854, and has lived there ever since. He +told me that Judge Gottschalk, who died a few years ago at an advanced +age, was authority for the statement that Mark Twain got his "Jumping +Frog" story from the then proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel, San +Andreas, who asserted that the incident actually occurred in his +bar-room. Twain, it is true, places the scene in a bar-room at Angel's, +but that is doubtless the author's license. Bret Harte calls Tuttletown, +"Tuttleville," and there never was a "Wingdam" stage. + +[Illustration: Hotel of the "Jumping Frog". Plate16] + +That evening as I lay awake in my bedroom at the Metropolitan Hotel, +wondering by what person of note it had been occupied in the "good old +days," my attention was attracted to the musical tinkle of a cow-bell. +Looking out of the window, I beheld the strange spectacle of a cow +walking sedately down the middle of the street. No one was driving her, +no one paid her any attention beyond a casual glance, as she passed. The +cow, in fact, had simply come home, after a day in the open country; and +it became plain to me that this was a nightly occurrence and therefore +caused no comment. Unmolested, she passed the hotel and on down the +street to the foot of the hill, where she evidently spent the night; for +the tinkle of the bell became permanent and blended with and became a +part of the subtle, mysterious sounds that constitute Nature's sleeping +breath. + +This little incident in the county seat of Calaveras County impressed +me as an epitome of the changes wrought by time, since the days when +in song and story Bret Harte made the name "Calaveras" a synonym for +romance wherever the English language is spoken. + +From San Andreas my objective point was Placerville, distant about +forty-five miles. The heat still being excessive, I made the town by +easy stages, arriving at noon on the third day. Mokelumne Hill, ten +miles beyond San Andreas, also lends its name to the little town which +clusters around its apex and is at the head of Chili Gulch, a once +famous bonanza for the placer miners. For miles the road winds up the +gulch, which is almost devoid of timber, amid piled-up rocks and debris, +bleached and blistered by the sun's fierce rays; the gulch itself being +literally stripped to "bedrock." I had already witnessed many evidences +of man's eager pursuit of the precious metal, but nothing that so +conveyed the idea of the feverish, persistent energy with which those +adventurers in the new El Dorado had struggled day and night with +Nature's obstacles, spurred on by the auri sacra fames. + +A little incident served to relieve the monotony of the climb up Chili +Gulch. A miner, who might have sat for a study of "Tennessee's Partner," +came down the hillside with a pan of "dirt," which he carefully washed +in a muddy pool in the bed of the gulch. He showed me the result, a few +"colors" and sulphurets. He said it would "go about five dollars to the +ton," and seemed well satisfied with the result. I shall always hold him +in grateful memory, for he took me to an old tunnel, and disappearing +for a few moments, returned with a large dipper of ice-cold water. Not +the Children of Israel, when Aaron smote the rock in the desert and +produced a living stream, could have lapped that water with keener +enjoyment. + +[Illustration: Mekolumne Hotel. Plate17] + +The terrific heat in Chili Gulch made the shade from the trees which +surround Mekolumne Hotel doubly grateful. Mokelumne Hill is, in fact, +a mountain, and commands a view of rare beauty. At its base winds the +wooded canon of the Mokelumne River, on the farther side of which rises +the Jackson Butte, an isolated peak with an elevation of over three +thousand feet, while in the background loom the omnipresent peaks of the +far Sierra. + +[Illustration: Mokelumne River. Plate03] + +The Mokelumne Hotel is regarded as modern, dating back merely to 1868, +at which time the original building was destroyed by fire. The present +structure of solid blocks of stone, should resist the elements for +centuries to come. I was surprised at the excellent accommodations +of this hotel. In what seemed such an out-of-the-way and inaccessible +locality, I was served with one of the best meals on the whole journey, +including claret with crushed ice in a champagne glass! What that +meant to a tramp who had struggled for miles through quartz rock and +impalpable dust, up a heavy grade, without shade and the thermometer +well past the hundred mark, only a tramp can appreciate. I fell in love +with Mokelumne Hill and, after due consultation of my map, resolved +to pass the night in this picturesque and delightful spot. I was also +influenced by its associations, as it figures prominently in Bret +Harte's stories. + +Of the four famous rivers--the Stanislaus, Mokelumne, American and +Cosumnes--which I crossed on this trip, the Mokelumne appealed to me the +most. Whatever the meaning of the Indian name, one may rest assured +it stands for some form of beauty. Jackson, the county seat of Amador +County, is but six miles from Mokelumne Hill and a town of considerable +importance, being the terminus of a branch line of the Southern Pacific +Railway. It is situated in an open country where the hills are at some +distance, and presents a certain up-to-date appearance. About a mile +from Jackson the Kennedy mine, running a hundred stamps, is one of the +greatest gold producers in the State. + +Sutter Creek, erroneously supposed by many to be the spot where gold +was first discovered in California, four miles north of Jackson, is +picturesque and rendered attractive by reason of the vivid green of the +lawns surrounding the little cottages on its outskirts. This town, too, +has a flourishing look, accounted for by the operation of the South +Eureka and Central Eureka mines. A gentleman whom I met on the street +imparted this information, and asked me if I remembered Mark Twain's +definition of a gold mine. I had to confess I did not. "Well," said he, +"Mark Twain defined a gold mine as 'a hole in the ground at one end, +and a d--d fool at the other!'" The appreciative twinkle in his eye +suggested the possibility that this definition met with his approval. + +Amador, two miles beyond Sutter Creek, did not appeal to me. +"Stagnation" would probably come nearer than any other term to conveying +to the mind of a person unfamiliar with Amador its present condition. +One becomes acutely sensitive to the "atmosphere" of these places, after +a few days upon the road, for each has a distinctive individuality in +spite of the fact that it was mid-day in midsummer, gloom seemed to +pervade the streets and to be characteristic of its inhabitants. With +the exception of an attempt to get into telephonic communication with a +friend at Placerville, I lost not a moment in the town. + +On reaching Drytown, three miles north of Amador, I noted the +thermometer stood at 110 degrees in the shade on the watered porch of +the hotel, and deciding there was a certain risk attendant on walking +in such heat, determined to make the best of what was anything but +a pleasant situation, and go no farther. Drytown, in the modern +application of the first syllable, is a misnomer, the "town" consisting +chiefly of the hotel with accompanying bar, and a saloon across the way! + +Drytown was in existence as early as 1849, and was visited in October of +that year by Bayard Taylor. He says: "I found a population of from two +to three hundred, established for the winter. The village was laid out +with some regularity and had taverns, stores, butchers' shops and +monte tables." One cannot but smile at the idea of "monte tables" in +connection with the Drytown of to-day; pitiful as is the reflection that +men had braved the hardships of the desert and toiled to the waist in +water for gold, only to throw it recklessly in the laps of professional +gamblers. + +The Exchange Hotel, a wooden building dating back to 1858, stands on the +site of the original hotel, built in 1851 and burned in 1857. Upon the +front porch is a well furnishing cold, pure water. I found this to be +the most acceptable feature of several of the old hostelries. The well +and the swinging sign over the entrance suggested the wayside inn of +rural England; more especially as the surrounding country carries out +the idea, being gently undulating and well timbered. + +The following evening I put up at Nashville, on the North Fork of the +Cosumnes River and well over the borders of El Dorado county, passing +Plymouth en route. Plymouth, on the map, appeared to be a place of some +importance, but a closer inspection proved that--in spite of its breezy +name--it would take the spirits of a Mark Tapley to withstand its +discouraging surroundings. Plymouth is "living in hopes," an English +syndicate having an option on certain mining properties in the vicinity; +but Nashville is frankly "out of business." + +At Nashville, in fact, I had some difficulty in securing "bed and +lodging." There appeared to be only three families in this once +flourishing camp. Strange as it may seem, money appears to be no object +to people in these sequestered places. You have "to make good," and in +this instance it required not a little tact and diplomacy. + +I arrived at Placerville the following day. Due to taking a road not +shown on my map, I went several miles astray and for some few hours was +immersed in wild, chaparral-covered mountains, with evidences on all +hands of deserted mines; finally crossing a divide at an elevation of +two thousand feet and descending into the valley where slumbers +the little town of El Dorado, formerly bearing the less attractive +designation "Mud Springs." This title, though lacking in euphony, was +more in keeping with actual conditions, since the valley is noted for +its springs, and Diamond Springs, a mile or two north, is quite a summer +resort. Nor is there any indication of the precious metal anywhere in +the immediate vicinity. + +[Illustration: Placerville. Plate18] + +In Placerville--known as "Hangtown" in the Bret Harte days--I registered +at the Cary House, which once had the honor of entertaining no less a +personage than Horace Greeley. It was here he terminated his celebrated +stage ride with Hank Monk. I found that my friend Harold Edward Smith +had gone to Coloma, eight miles on the road to Auburn, and had left a +note saying he would wait for me there the following morning. + +[Illustration: Cary House. Plate19] + + + +Chapter IV + +J. H. Bradley and the Cary House. Ruins of Coloma. James W. Marshall and +His Pathetic End. + + +More than any other town, Placerville gave a suggestion of the olden +times. "John Oakhurst" and "Jack Hamlin" would still be in their +element, as witness the following scene: + +In the card room back of the bar, in a certain hotel, a "little game" +was in progress. A big, blond giant, with curly hair and clean-cut +features--indeed he could have posed as a model for Praxiteles--arose +nonchalantly from the table as I entered, and swept the stakes into a +capacious pocket. An angry murmur of disapproval came from the sitters, +and one man muttered something about "quitting the game a winner." With +a hand on each hip, the giant swept the disgruntled upturned faces with +a comprehensive glance, and drawled: "I'll admit there's something wrong +in mine, gentlemen, or I wouldn't be here, see?" He waited a moment and +amid silence passed slowly through the barroom to the sidewalk, seated +himself, stretched his long legs and placidly gazed across the street. + +In the morning I had a long talk with Mr. J. H. Bradley, perhaps the +best known man in El Dorado County. Though in his eighty-fourth year, +his keen brown eyes still retain the fire and light of youth. The +vitality of these old pioneers is something marvelous. Mr. Bradley was +born in Kentucky, but, as a boy, moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he +played marbles with Mark Twain, or Clemens, as he prefers to call him. +In '49, he came across the plains to California. He was on the most +friendly terms with Twain and said he assisted him to learn piloting on +the Mississippi; and when Twain came to California, helped him to get +a position as compositor with U. E. Hicks, who founded the Sacramento +Union. He also knew Horace Greeley intimately, and has a portfolio +that once was his property. Five years after Greeley's arrival in +Placerville, which was in 1859, Mr. Bradley married Caroline Hicks, who +with Phoebe and Rose Carey had acted as secretary to Mr. Greeley. +Mr. Bradley takes no stock in the "keep your seat, Horace!" story. He +considers it a fabrication. In his opinion, the romancers--Bret Harte, +Mark Twain, et al.--have done California more harm than good. He also +has a thinly disguised contempt for "newspaper fellows and magazine +writers." Nor does he believe in the "Mother Lode"--that is, in its +continuity--in spite of the geologists. He prefers to speak of the +"mineral zone." In fine, Mr. Bradley is a man of definite and pronounced +opinions on any subject you may broach. For that reason, his views, +whether you agree with them or not, are always of interest. + +Hanging in the office of the Cary House is a clever cartoon, by +William Cooper, of Portland, Oregon, entitled "A mining convention in +Placerville;" in which Mr. Bradley is depicted in earnest conversation +with a second Mr. Bradley, a third and evidently remonstrant Mr. Bradley +intervening, while a fourth and fifth Mr. Bradley, decidedly bored, are +hurriedly departing. + +[Illustration: A Mining Convention. Plate04] + +Indeed, one glance at Mr. Bradley is enough to convince you that he is +a man of unusual force of character. No one introduced me to him. I +was merely informed at the Cary House that he was the person to whom +I should apply for information concerning the old times. I accordingly +started out to look for him and had not proceeded fifty yards when +a man, approaching at a distance, arrested my attention. As he drew +nearer, I felt positive there could be only one such personage in +Placerville, and when he was opposite me, I stopped and said, "How are +you, Mr. Bradley?" "That's my name, sir; what do you want?" he replied. + +They take life easily in the old mining towns. No wonder the spectacle +of a man with a pack on his back caused comment, in that heat, tramping +two or three hundred miles for pleasure! Beyond the trivial necessities +that bare existence makes imperative, I was not conscious of seeing +anyone do anything on the whole trip. Old miners not unnaturally took me +for a prospector, and I think I never quite succeeded in convincing them +to the contrary. + +In Placerville as in Angel's Camp, the evening promenade seems the most +important event of the day. Young men and maidens pass and repass in an +apparently endless chain. The same faces recur so frequently that one +begins to take an interest in the little comedy and speculate on the +rival attractions of blonde and brunette, and wonder which of the young +bloods is the local Beau Brummel. The audience--so to speak--sit on, +chairs backed against the walls of the hotels and stores, while many +prefer the street itself, and with feet on curb or other coign of +vantage, tilt their chairs at most alarming angles. A sort of animated +lovers' lane is thus formed, through which the promenaders have to +run the gauntlet, and are subjected to a certain amount of criticism. +Everyone knows everyone. Good natured badinage plays like wild-fire, +up and down and across the street. Later on, the tinkle of mandolin and +guitar is heard far into the night watches. + +[Illustration: Angel's Hotel. Plate09] + +Having determined to reach Auburn--thirty miles away--the next day, I +made an early start. Coloma lies at the bottom of the great canon of the +South Fork of the American River. Hastening down the grade, in a bend of +the road I almost ran into my friend. It seemed a strange meeting this, +in the heart of the old mining country, and I think we both gave a +perceptible start. + +[Illustration: American River. Plate05] + +[Illustration: American River. Plate20] + +It was at Coloma that gold was first discovered in California, by James +W. Marshall, January 19, 1848. My companion had been so fortunate on the +previous day as to meet Mr. W. H. Hooper, who arrived in Coloma +August 8, 1850, and who has lived there practically ever since. Though +eighty-three, he is still strong and vigorous. From him my friend +elicited some very interesting information in regard to Marshall +especially, the substance of which I append from his notes. Mr. +Hooper had known Marshall for many years, and his reminiscences of the +discoverer have a touch of pathos bordering on the tragic. + +[Illustration: Ruins of Coloma Plate01] + +Marshall, a trapper by trade and frontiersman by inclination, +accompanied General Sutter to California, assisted in the building +of Sutter Fort and, on account of his mechanical ability, was sent to +Coloma to superintend the erection of a sawmill. It was in the mill-race +that he picked up the nugget which made the name "California" the magnet +for the world's adventurers. Unaware of the nature of his "find," he +took it to Sacramento, where it was declared to be gold. He was implored +by General Sutter to keep the mill operatives in ignorance of his +discovery, for fear they should desert their work. But how could such a +secret be kept, especially by a man of generous and impulsive instincts? +At any rate the news leaked out and the stampede followed. + +From Mr. Hooper's account, Marshall was a very human character. Late in +life the state legislature granted him a pension of two hundred dollars +per month. This sum being far in excess of his actual needs, it followed +as a matter of course that his cronies assisted him in disposing of it. +In fact, "Marshall's pension day" became a local attraction, and the +Coloma saloon--still in existence--the rendezvous. These reunions +were varied by glorious excursions to Sacramento, his friends in the +legislature imploring him to keep away. After two years the pension was +cut down to one hundred dollars per mouth and finally was discontinued +in toto--a shabby and most undignified procedure. Opposite the saloon, +at some little distance, is a conical hill. For many years Marshall, +seated on the steps of the porch, had gazed dreamily at its summit. +Shortly before his death, addressing a remnant of the "old guard," he +exclaimed: "Boys, when I go, I want you to plant me on the top of that +hill." And "planted" he was, with a ten-thousand-dollar monument on top +of him! + +The poor old fellow died in poverty at Kelsey, near Coloma, August 10, +1885, at the age of seventy-five. It is a sad reflection that a tithe of +the money spent on the monument would have comforted him in his latter +days; for the blow to his pride by the withdrawal of his pension, still +more than the actual lack of funds, hastened the end. + +Mr. Hooper intimated that the population of Coloma diminished +perceptibly after the termination of Marshall's pension. To common with +the majority of the old miners, he saved nothing and never profited +to any extent by the discovery that will keep his memory alive for +centuries to come. + +Coloma in its palmy days had a population variously estimated at from +five to ten thousand souls, with the usual accompaniment of saloons, +dance halls and faro banks. There was a vigorous expulsion of gamblers +in the early fifties and an incident occurred which quite possibly +supplied the inspiration for Bret Harte's "Outcasts of Poker Flat." A +notorious gambler and desperado, and his accomplice, demurred. Whereupon +the irate miners placed them on a burro, and with vigorous threats +punctuated by a salvo of revolver shots fired over their heads, drove +them out of camp. They disappeared over the hill upon which the monument +now stands, and were seen no more. + +Coloma suffered severely from fires. Little of the old town remains but +ruins of stone walls, and here and there an isolated wooden building. +The ruins, however, are not only exceedingly picturesque, being half +buried in foliage of beautiful trees, but hold the imagination with +a grip that is indescribable. I could willingly have tarried here for +days. + +But while old Coloma is dead, there is a new Coloma that furnishes +an extraordinary contrast. It is a sweet and peaceful little hamlet, +situated on the lower benches of the canon, well up out of the river +bottom, and is entirely devoted to horticulture. One has read of birds +building their nests in the muzzles of old and disused cannon; even +that does not suggest a more anomalous association of ideas than the +spectacle of a vine-clad cottage shaded by fig trees, basking peacefully +in the sun, so close to what was at one time a veritable maelstrom +of human passions. So far as the new Coloma is concerned, Marshall's +discovery might never have been made. Nowhere else will you find a spot +where gold and what it stands for would seem to mean so little, Coloma! +It is passing strange that a name so sweet and restful should forever be +linked with the wildest scramble for gold the world has ever seen! + + + +Chapter V + +Auburn to Nevada City Via Colfax and Grass Valley. Ben Taylor and His +Home + + +After surmounting the canon of the South Fork of the American River, +you gradually enter a open country, the outskirts of the great deciduous +fruit belt in Placer County, which supplies New York and Chicago with +choice plums, peaches and pears. About three miles from Auburn, the road +plunges into one of the deepest canons of the Sierras, at the bottom of +which the Middle and North Forks of the American River unite. Just below +the junction, the river is spanned by a long suspension bridge. Auburn +is remarkably situated in that one sees nothing of it until the rim of +the canon is reached, at least a thousand feet above the river. Thus +there are no outskirts and you plunge at once into the business streets, +passing the station of the Central Pacific Railway, which line skirts +the edge of the canon on a heavy grade. + +I had accomplished a good thirty miles but that did not prevent me from +accompanying my friend on a long and protracted hunt for comfortable +quarters in which to eat and spend the night. There was quite an +attractive hotel near the railroad, but actuated by a desire to see +something of the town, which we found to be more than usually drawn out, +we passed it with lingering regret. Whether by chance or instinct, we +drifted to the ruins of the old hotel, now in process of reconstruction, +and were comfortably housed in a wooden annex. + +Auburn marks the western verge of the mineral zone, but in the fifties +there were, rich placer diggings in the immediate vicinity. There are +some remarkably solid buildings of that period, in the old portion of +the town, which, as customary, is situated in the bottom of the winding +valley or ravine. Practically a new town, called "East Auburn," has been +started on higher ground, and a fight is on to move the post office; but +the people in the hollow having the voting strength, hang on to it like +grim death. Along the edge of the American River canon and commanding a +magnificent view, are the homes of the local aristocracy. In christening +Auburn, it is scarcely credible that the pioneers had in mind +Goldsmith's "loveliest village of the Plain;" nor, keeping the old town +in view, is the title remarkably applicable today. + +Our next objective point being Colfax, distant in a north-easterly +direction only fifteen miles, we made a leisurely inspection of the town +and vicinity in the morning. The old town proved of absorbing interest +to my friend, and we became separated while he was hunting up subjects +for the camera. Having a free and easy working scheme in such matters, +after a few minutes' search, I gave up the quest and started alone on +the road to Colfax. + +A few miles out, I met a man with a rifle on his shoulder, leading a +burro bearing a pack-saddle laden in the most scientific manner with +probably all his worldly possessions, the pick and shovel plainly +denoting a prospector. A water bucket on one side of the animal was so +adjusted that the bottom was uppermost; on the top of the bucket sat a +little fox-terrier, his eyes fixed steadfastly on his master. I paused +a moment, possessed with a strong desire to take a snap shot of this +remarkable equipment, but the man with the gun gave me a glance that +settled the matter. His was not a bad face--far from it--but the +features were stern and set, the cheeks furrowed with deep lines +that bespoke hardship and fatigue in the struggle with Nature and the +elements. That glance out of the tail of his eye meant: "Let me alone +and I will let you alone, but let me alone!" + +Taciturnity becomes habitual to men accustomed to vast solitudes. Even +on such a tramp as I had undertaken, in which I frequently walked for +miles without sight or sound of a human being, I began to realize how +banal and aimless is conventional conversation. Under such conditions +you feel yourself in sympathy with the man who says nothing unless he +has something to say, and who, in turn, expects the same restriction of +speech from you. + +I was seated on the porch of the store at Applegate, disposing of a +frugal lunch consisting of raisins and crackers, when my friend hove in +sight. After a private inspection of the store's possibilities, with a +little smile, the meaning of which I well understood from many similar +experiences, he sat down beside me and without a word tackled the +somewhat uninviting repast, to which with a wave of the hand I invited +him. I may say here that Mr. Smith is a veteran and inveterate "hiker." +I doubt very much whether any man in California has seen as much of this +magnificent State as he, certainly not on foot; as a consequence he is +accustomed to a ready acceptance of things as they are. Applegate, about +midway between Auburn and Colfax, is an alleged "summer resort." It did +not appeal to us as especially attractive, the view, at any rate from +the road, being extremely limited and lacking any distinctive features. +Without unnecessary delay, therefore, we resumed the march. + +It is practically up-hill--"on the collar"--all the way to Colfax, as is +plainly evidenced by the heavy railroad grade. About a mile short of the +town, we made a digression to an Italian vineyard of note. There, at a +long table under a vine-covered trellis that connected the stone cellar +with the dwelling-house, we were served with wine by a young woman +having the true Madonna features of Sunny Italy, her mother, a comely +matron, in the meantime preparing the evening meal, while on the hard +ground encumbered with no superfluous clothing, disported the younger +members of the family. And as I sat and smoked the pipe of peace, I +reflected upon how much better they do these things in Italy--for to all +intents and Purposes, I was in Italy. + +Colfax--before the advent of the C. P. R. R. called "Illinois Town"--is +an odd blending of past and present; the solid structures of the mining +days contrasting strangely with the flimsy wooden buildings that seem +to mark a railroad town. We were amazed at the amount of traffic that +occurs in the night. Three big overland trains passed through in either +direction, the interim being filled in with the switching of cars, +accompanied apparently with a most unnecessary ringing of bells and +piercing shrieks from whistles. Since our hotel was not more than a +hundred and fifty feet from the main line, with no intervening +buildings to temper the noises, sleep of any consequence was an utter +impossibility. + +Few Californians are aware, probably, that a considerable amount of +tobacco is raised in the foothills of the Sierras. At Colfax, I smoked +a very fair cigar made from tobacco grown in the vicinity, and +manufactured in the town. + +I think we were both glad to leave Colfax. Apart from a nerve-racking +night, the mere proximity of the railroad with its accompanying +associations served constantly to bring to mind all that I had fled to +the mountains to escape. Yet I cannot bring myself to agree with those +who profess to brand a railroad "a blot on the landscape." The enormous +engines which pull the overland trains up the heavy grades of the Sierra +Nevada impress one by their size, strength and suggestion of reserve +power, as not being out of harmony with the forces of Nature they are +constructed to contend with and overcome. + +This thought occurred to us as we watched a passenger train slowly +winding its way around the famous Cape Horn, some four miles from +Colfax. Although several miles in an air line intervened, one seemed +to feel the vibrations in the air caused by the panting monster, while +great jets of steam shot up above the pine trees. I confess to a sense +of elation at the spectacle. Nature in some of her moods seems so +malignant, that I felt proud of this magnificent exhibition of man's +victory over the obstacles she so well knows how to interpose. + +The road between Colfax and Grass Valley--the next stopping place on our +itinerary--lay through so lovely a country that we passed through it as +in a dream. Descending into the valley we were joined by several +small boys, attracted, I suppose, by our--to them--unusual costume and +equipment, who plied us with questions. They asked if "we carried a +message for the mayor," and were visibly disappointed when we regretted +we had overlooked that formality. For several minutes they kept us busy +trying to give truthful answers to most unexpected questions. They had +never heard of Tuolumne and wanted to know if it was in California. +Their world, in fact, was bounded by Colfax on the south and Nevada City +on the north. + +[Illustration: Western Hotel, Grass Valley. Plate22] + +Grass Valley received its name from the meadow in which the town, for +the most part, is situated. The ground is so moist that, notwithstanding +the heat, the grass was a vivid green. Apple trees growing in the grass, +as in the orchards of England and in the Atlantic States, and perfectly +healthy, conveyed that suggestion of the Old World which lends a +peculiar charm to these towns. And Grass Valley really is a town, having +seven thousand inhabitants; and is, withal, clean, picturesque and +altogether delightful. One understood why "Tuolumne" sounded meaningless +to those small boys. Thus early in life they were under influences +which will probably keep them in after years--as they kept their +fathers--permanent citizens of the town of Grass Valley. + +[Illustration: Grass Valley. Plate21] + +Grass Valley was one of the richest of the old mining camps. There was +literally gold everywhere, even in the very roots of the grass. The +mining is now all underground and drifts from the North Star and Ophir +mines underlie a part of the town. + +After a methodical search, we discovered an excellent restaurant and +made a note of it as a recurrent possibility. A judicious choice of a +suitable place in which to eat and eke, to pass the night, is to the +tramp a matter of vital interest. Robert Louis Stevenson, in those +entertaining narratives "An Inland Voyage" and "Travels with a Donkey," +lays heartfelt stress on these particulars; when things were not to his +liking, roundly denouncing them, but if agreeably surprised, lifting up +his voice in song and praise. + +Though tempted to pass the night in Grass Valley, impelled by curiosity, +we pushed on four miles farther, to Nevada City. It is useless to +attempt to convey in words the fascination of Nevada City. My friend, +who is familiar with the country, said it reminded him of Italy. Houses +rise one above the other on the hillside; while down below, the winding +streets with their quaint old-time stores and balconied windows, are +equally attractive. The horrors of the previous night at Colfax made the +quiet peacefulness of Nevada City the more refreshing. At the National +Hotel I enjoyed the soundest sleep since leaving home. + +[Illustration: Nevada City. Plate23] + +In the morning there was a delicious breeze from the mountains, which +rendered strolling about the town a pleasure. According to custom, we +went our several ways, each drawn by what appealed to him the most at +the moment. When ready to depart, finding no trace of my companion at +the hotel, I left word that I had returned to Grass Valley; where an +hour or two later, he rejoined me. + +More fortunate than I, my friend by chance encountered Mr. Morrison M. +Green, on the street in front of his home upon the hill which looks down +upon the town. This gentleman, who is in his eighty-third year, related +an almost incredible incident in connection with the fire in 1857, which +wiped out the town, with the exception of one house. Three prominent +citizens who chanced to have met in a saloon when the fire broke out, +having the utmost confidence in the safety of a certain building, +on account of its massive walls and iron door, made a vow to lock +themselves in it, and actually did so. They might perhaps have withstood +the ordeal, had not the roof been broken in by the fall of the walls of +the adjoining building. The iron door having been warped with the heat, +it was impossible to open it; when last seen, they were standing with +their arms around one another in the center of the store. + +At Grass Valley, my friend--greatly to my regret and I think also to +his own--received word which rendered his return to San Francisco +imperative. After a farewell dinner at the restaurant before mentioned, +I accompanied him to the railway station, and in the words of Christian +in "The Pilgrim's Progress," "I saw him no more in my dream." I confess +to a feeling of depression after his departure, for however enjoyable +the experiences of the road, they are rendered doubly so by the +sympathetic companionship of a man endowed not only with a keen sense of +humor but also with an unusual perception of human nature. + +After registering at the Holbrooke--a substantial survival of the old +times--I called by appointment on Mr. Ben Taylor, a much respected +citizen of Grass Valley and probably the oldest inhabitant of Nevada +County, having reached the patriarchal age of eighty-six. + +Mr. Taylor has a charming home with extensive grounds overlooking the +town and surrounding country. In his garden is a spruce he planted +himself forty-five years ago, and apple trees of the same age. The +spruce now has the appearance of a forest tree and shades the whole +front of the house. His present home was built in 1864 and from +all appearances should last the century out. He said the lumber was +carefully selected, the boards being heavier than usual, and all +the important timbers, instead of being nailed, were morticed and +dove-tailed. This thoroughness of workmanship accounts for the excellent +condition of the wooden buildings in these towns, many of which were +constructed over fifty years ago. + +[Illustration: Ben Taylor. Plate06] + +Mr. Taylor came to Grass Valley September 22, 1849, and has lived there +almost continuously ever since. He crossed the plains one of twenty-five +men, the last of his companions dying in 1905. The little band suffered +many hardships, having to be constantly on watch for Indians, though +he said they were more fearful of the Mormons. They came over the old +emigrant trail across the Sierra Nevada. When they reached Grass Valley, +their Captain, a man named Broughton, exclaimed: "Boys! here's the gold; +this is good enough for us!" And there they stayed, the twenty-five of +them! + +Mr. Taylor had frequently met Mark Twain, but never to his knowledge, +Bret Harte. In common with other men who had known the Great American +Humorist, Mr. Taylor smiled at the bare mention of his name. Twain's +breezy, hail-fellow-well-met manner, combined with his dry humor, +insured him a welcome at all the camps; he was a man who would "pass +the time of day" and take a friendly drink with any man upon the road. +Twain, he told me, and a man with whom he was traveling on one occasion, +lost their mules. They tracked them to a creek and concluding the mules +had crossed it, Twain said to his companion: "What's the use of both of +us getting wet? I'll carry you!" The other complying, Twain reached in +safety the deepest part of the creek and, purposely or not, dropped him. +A man, to play such pranks as this, must be sure of his standing in a +primitive community. + +Mr. Taylor is known to everyone in Nevada County as "Ben." His genial +manner and kindly nature are apparent at a glance. But while Ben Taylor +was on friendly terms with Mark Twain, he was never so intimate with +him as with Bayard Taylor, whom, it seems, he much resembled. This +accidental likeness, combined with the similarity of names, caused many +more or less amusing but embarrassing complications, since they +were frequently taken for each other and received each other's +correspondence. + +I asked Ben Taylor--he rightly dislikes "Mister," perhaps the ugliest +and most inappropriate word in the English language--if the shootings +and hangings which figure so prominently in the stories of the romancers +were not exaggerations. He said he certainly was of that opinion. I +said: "As a matter of fact, did you ever see a man either shot or hung +for a crime?" "I never did," he replied with emphasis. "But I once +came across the bodies of several men who had been strung up for +horse-stealing; that, however, was not in Grass Valley." + +Ben Taylor was present when Lola Montez horsewhipped Henry Shibley, +editor of the Grass Valley National, for what she considered derogatory +reflections on herself, published in his paper. It can readily be +understood that Grass Valley was at that time a place of importance, +when Lola Montez considered it worth while to stay there several years +and sing and dance for the miners. + +In parting, Ben Taylor told me pathetically that his wife had died a +few years before and he had never recovered from the blow; "I am merely +marking time until the end comes," he added. Since his married daughter +and family live with him, he is assured in his latter days of loving +care and attention. + + + +Chapter VI + +E. W. Maslin and His Recollections of Pioneer Days In Grass Valley. +Origin of Our Mining Laws + + + +To Mr. E. W. Maslin, of Alameda, of whom Ben Taylor said: "He is like a +brother to me," I am indebted for information of much interest, bearing +on the olden days and Grass Valley in particular. Mr. Maslin came around +the "Horn" to California, in the ship Herman, on May 7, 1853. He arrived +in Grass Valley and went to work as a miner the following morning. He +now holds, and has for years, the responsible position in the United +States Custom House, San Francisco, of Deputy Naval Officer of the Port. +The clearing papers of every vessel that leaves San Francisco bear his +signature. Although in his eightieth year, his memory is as clear and +his sense of humor as vivid as when, a youth of nineteen, he left for +good, Maryland, his native state. Few men in the San Francisco bay +region are more widely known than he. His ready wit, cheery laugh and +fund of information--for he is extremely well-read--always insure for +him an attentive and appreciative audience. + +Speaking of Ben Taylor, he told me a characteristic incident, which +being also typical of the men of '49, I give, with his consent, as +related. When the White Pine excitement in 1869 started a rush of +prospectors to Nevada, Mr. Maslin caught the fever with the rest. In +common with all who dug for gold, he had his ups and downs, the fat +years and the lean ones; at the time, his fortunes being at a lew ebb, +he joined the stampede. Several years previous to his departure, +without informing his wife, he had borrowed of Ben Taylor, three hundred +dollars, secured by mortgage on his house in Grass Valley. At White Pine +he met with considerable success, and in a short time sent his wife five +hundred dollars, telling her for the first time of the mortgage on their +home and requesting her to go to Ben Taylor at once and pay him in full. +It so happened that Taylor had called on Mrs. Maslin for news of her +husband, as she was reading this letter. She immediately tendered him +the check with the request that he would inform her to what the interest +amounted. "Why, Molly," said Ben Taylor, "you surely ought to know me +well enough to know I would never take any interest on that money!" When +it is remembered that the legal rate of interest at that time was ten +per cent, and that double that amount was not infrequently paid--Mr. +Maslin, in fact, expecting to pay Taylor something like five hundred +dollars--the attitude of the latter will be the better appreciated. + +This seems a fitting place to pay a humble personal tribute of respect +to the memory of the men of "the fall of '49 and the spring of '50." Not +since the Crusades, when the best blood of Europe was spilt in defense +of the Holy Sepulchre, has the world seen a finer body of men than the +Argonauts of California. True, the quest of the "Golden Fleece" was the +prime motive, but sheer love of adventure for adventure's sake played a +most important part. Later on, the turbulent element arrived. It was due +to the rectitude, inherent sense of justice and courage of the pioneers +that they were held in check and, by force of arms when necessary, made +to understand the white man's code of honor. + +So much in song and story has been said of the scramble for gold in the +early days after the discovery, and so little attention given to +the artistic and aesthetic sense of the pioneers, that the general +impression made by the famous old mining towns of California, when seen +for the first time, may be worth recording. In the massive stone hotels +and stores of that period, as well as in the careful construction +of dwelling houses, they exhibited a true perception of "the eternal +fitness of things." The buildings of the fifties, in their extreme +simplicity, are far more imposing than the nondescript, pretentious +structures of today, and will, beyond doubt, in usefulness outlast them. + +As a result of ignoring the checker-board plan, and permitting the +streets to follow the natural contour of the hills and ravines, these +mountain towns seem to have become blended and to be in harmony with +the wonderful setting Nature has provided. All buildings, residential or +otherwise, are protected from the summer heat by umbrageous trees. +Lawns of richest green delight the eye, and vines and flowers surround +cottages perched on steep hillsides, or half-hidden in deep ravines. +The first glimpse from a distant eminence of any of the old mining towns +conveys the suggestion of peaceful homes buried in greenery, basking +contentedly in the brilliant sunshine, surrounded by the whispering +pines, with the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada for a background. + +You also receive the impression of cleanliness. If there were any old +cans, scraps of paper and miscellaneous rubbish lying about in any town +through which I passed, I did not notice them. One is struck, too, by +the absence of the "vacant lot"--that unsightly blot of such frequent +occurrence in all towns in the process of building, especially when +forced by "booms" beyond their normal growth. Fortunately the very word +"boom," in its significance as applied to inflated real estate values, +has no meaning in these towns, with the result that they are compact. +One may search in vain for the "house to let" sign. When no more houses +were needed, no more houses were built. This compactness of form, +cleanliness, and the elimination to a great extent of the rectangular +block, contribute in no small measure to that indefinable suggestion +of the Old World--a charm that haunts the memory and finally becomes +permanent acquisition. + +However clever the stories of the romancers--of whom Bret Harte +preeminently stands first--after all, their characters were +intrinsically but creatures of the imagination; the pioneers were the +real thing! Yet such is the nature of this topsy-turvy world, the copies +will remain, whilst the originals will fade away and be forgotten! +The writer will always hold it a privilege that he had the pleasure of +meeting in the flesh a remnant of the men who laid the foundation of +the institutions by means of which this great Commonwealth has grown +and prospered; big, broad-minded, strong men who, whatever their +failings--for they were very human--were generous to a fault, ever ready +to listen to the cry of distress or help a fallen brother to his feet, +scornful of pettiness, ignorant of snobbery, fair and square in their +dealings with their fellows. Alas, that it should have come to "Hail and +Farewell" to such a type of manhood! + +At my request, Mr. Maslin, at one time a practicing attorney, dictated +the following succinct account of the origin of the mining laws of +California. The discovery at Gold Hill, now within the corporate limits +of Grass Valley, of a gold-bearing quartz ledge, subsequently the +property of Englishmen who formed an organization known as "The Gold +Hill Quartz Mining Company," led to the founding of the mining laws of +California. On December 30, 1850, the miners passed regulations which +had with them the force of laws, defining the location and ownership of +mines. It was provided that claims should be forty feet by thirty feet; +a recorder was to be elected by the miners and all difficulties arising +out of trespass on claims were to be tried before the recorder and two +miners, an appeal to be taken to the justice of the peace. + +When quartz lodes began to be discovered and worked, it was found that +the location of claims by square feet did not protect the miner or +afford sufficient territory upon which to expend his labor. Accordingly +a miners' meeting was held in Nevada City on December 20, 1852, and a +body of laws prescribed, governing all quartz mines within the county of +Nevada. The following were the salient features: "Each proprietor of a +quartz claim shall be entitled to one hundred feet on a quartz ledge or +vein; the discoverer shall be allowed one hundred feet additional. Each +claim shall include all the dips, angles, and variations of the same." +The remaining articles related to the working, holding and recording +of claims. This law was incorporated in the raining legislation of the +State of Nevada and has formed the basis of the mining laws of each +territory of the United States. Thus we have a proof not only of +the intelligence of the early miner, but also of his capacity for +self-government. It must be remembered that the miners came from all +over the United States, but principally from the West and the South. +Probably none had seen a quartz ledge before coming to California, yet +the necessity for extending a claim as far as the ledge dipped was +soon perceived, as also the taking into consideration a change in the +direction or course of the lode. Commenting on these laws and the causes +leading to their adoption, Mr. Muslin became emphatic. He said: + +"No body of rough, uncouth, pistolled ruffians, such as Bret Harte +depicts the miners, would have formed such a group of benevolent, +far-reaching and comprehensive laws. The early miner represented the +best type of American character. He was brave, undeterred by obstacles, +enduring with patient fortitude the perils and privations of the +long journey of half a year by land, or a tempestuous voyage by sea; +undaunted alike by the terrors of Cape Horn or the insidious diseases of +the Isthmus of Panama. He met the, to him, hitherto unknown problem of +the extraction of gold and solved it with the wisdom and vigor which +distinguish the American. Observe that the provision against throwing +dirt on another man's claim anticipated by many years the famous +hydraulic decision of Judge Sawyer. It is another way of stating the +maxim of law and equity: 'so use your own property, as not to injure +that of another.'" + +Mr. Maslin agrees with Ben Taylor that the hangings and shootings of the +period following the discovery of gold have been grossly exaggerated. +On this point he said: "I will venture to assert that in certain of +the Mississippi Valley States, in their early settlement, more men were +killed in one year than in ten of the early mining years in California." +Of lynching, he said: "There were few lynchings in California, and +those mostly in the southern tier of counties, of persons convicted of +cattle-stealing." In connection with lynching he related a serio-comic +incident that occurred in Grass Valley in the early days. + +Several fires had taken place in the town and the inhabitants were in +consequence much excited. A watchman on his rounds espied a light in a +vacant log cabin, and entering, caught a man in the act of striking +a match. He arrested him and the populace were for taking summary +vengeance. A man known as "Blue Coat Osborne" cried out, "Let's hang +him! Nevada City once hanged a man and Grass Valley never did!" This was +an effective appeal, for the rivalry that has lasted ever since already +existed. Fortunately, wiser counsels prevailed; the man was subsequently +tried and acquitted, it appearing that he was a traveling prospector +who had merely entered the cabin in order to light his pipe! In this +connection, I may state that Mr. Maslin confirmed the story of the three +friends in Nevada City, who attempted to withstand "the ordeal by fire." + +Mr. Maslin is justly jealous for the reputation of the Argonauts. +Perhaps Bret Harte's miner, with his ready pistol, was as far from the +mark as Rudyard Kipling's picture of Tommy Atkins as "an absentminded +beggar"--an imputation the real "Tommy" hotly resented. At the same +time, such stories as "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "Tennessee's +Partner," not to quote others, prove Bret Harte conceded to the +miner, courage, patience, gentleness, generosity and steadfastness in +friendship. If Bret Harte really "hurt" California, it was because, +leaving the State for good in February, 1871, he carried with him the +atmosphere of the early mining days and never got out of it. He never +realized the transition from mining to agriculture and horticulture, as +the leading industries of the State. Thus his later stories which +dealt with California, written long after the subsidence of the mining +excitement, continued to convey to the Eastern or English reader an +impression of the Californian as a bearded individual, his trousers +tucked into long boots and the same old "red shirt" with the sleeves +rolled back to the shoulders! As lately--comparatively speaking--as the +Chicago Columbian Exposition, a lady told me she met at the Fair a woman +who said she wanted to visit California, and asked if it would be safe +to do so "on account of the Indians!" While Indians do not appear in +Bret Harte's pages, it is a safe conjecture that, through association +of ideas, this lady conjured up a vague vision of a "prairie schooner" +crossing the plains, harassed by the Indian of the colored prints! + +The following picture of the trying of a civil suit under difficulties, +though in all probability causing little comment at the time, would +undoubtedly do so at the present day, were the conditions possible. In +1853 Mr. Maslin owned, with his brother, a one-fifth interest in ten +gravel claims at Pike Flat near Grass Valley. On the ground of alleged +imperfection of location of a portion of these claims, they were +"jumped," and litigation followed. + +The case was called before "Si" Brown, a justice of the peace, at Rough +and Ready, in a building (of which I obtained a photograph) used as a +hotel and for other purposes. In the long room, now occupied as a store, +Judge Brown held his court. On the right was a door leading to the bar. +Extending the whole length of the room were four faro tables. At the +rear the judge, jury, attorneys and the principals in the lawsuit made +the best of the accommodations. + +After stating the case, Judge Brown thus addressed the gamblers at the +faro tables: "Boys, the court is now opened, call your games low!" In +accordance with this request, though still audible, came in a monotonous +undertone, the faro, dealers' oft-repeated call: "Gents, make your +game--make your game!" The bets were put down and the cards called, in +the same subdued voice. At intervals, an attorney on one side or the +other would arise and say: "I move you, your Honor, that the court do +now take a recess of ten minutes." The court: "The motion is sustained; +but go softly, gentlemen, go softly!" It is probably needless to add +that judge, jury, principals, attorneys and witnesses filed out of the +door leading to the right; returning in ten minutes to resume the trial +to the not altogether inappropriate accompaniment from the faro dealers, +"Make your game, gents, make your game!" + +The spirit of rivalry between Grass Valley and Nevada City has been +accentuated, of late, by the efforts of the former town to secure the +honor of being the county seat, on the claim that it possesses nearly +double the population of Nevada City. Politics serve to intensify the +feeling; Grass Valley, which contains many people of Southern birth, +being largely Democratic in its affiliations, whilst Nevada City is as +strongly, and, one may add, as conservatively, Republican. + +Possibly the oldest building in Grass Valley is the Western Hotel. It is +so hidden in the surrounding trees that it was with difficulty I took +a photograph in which any portion of the hotel itself appeared. In the +garden stands a splendid English walnut over forty years old; and on +the porch, the well and pump to which I have before alluded as a +distinguishing feature of the old-time hostelry, add a quaint and +characteristic touch. + +Grass Valley and Nevada City are nearly three thousand feet above sea +level. The air, in consequence, is light and pure and the heat seldom +excessive. It would be difficult, the world over, to find a more +agreeable or salubrious climate. + +It was with genuine regret that I left Grass Valley the following +morning; not even Sonora possessed for me a stronger attraction. As I +paused on the summit of the hill, for a farewell view of the town, I +mentally resolved--the Fates permitting--I would pay another and more +protracted visit to this land of enchantment. + + + +Chapter VII + +Grass Valley to Smartsville. Sucker Flat and its Personal Appeal. + + + +I was heading due west for Smartsville, just across the line in Yuba +County. In four miles, I came to Rough and Ready, once a famous camp. +Save for the inevitable hotel, now used in part as a store, there was +nothing to suggest the cause of its pristine glory or the origin of its +emphatic designation; today it is simply a picturesque, rural hamlet. In +Penn Valley, a mile or two farther on, I passed a smashed and abandoned +automobile, the second wreck I had encountered. I thanked my star I +traveled afoot; heavy going, it is true, in places, but safe and sure. + +Notwithstanding the ubiquity of the autocar, it is still a fact that +between the man in the car and the man on foot is set an impassable +gulf. You are walking through a mountainous country, where every bend +of the road reveals some new charm; absorbed in silent enjoyment of +the scene, you have forgotten the very existence of the machine, when a +raucous "honk" jolts you out of your daydream and causes you to jump for +your life. In a swirl of dust the monster engulfs you, leaving you +the dust and the stench of gasoline as souvenirs, but followed by your +anathemas! This doubtless is where the man in the car thinks he has +scored. Perhaps he has. When the dust on the road has settled and you +have rubbed it out of your eyes, once more you forget his existence. + +But the very speed with which he travels is the reason why the man in +the car misses nearly all the charm of the country through which he is +passing. On this tramp I took forty-odd photographs, all more or less +of historical interest. Riding in an automobile, many of the subjects I +would not have noticed or, if I had, I would not have been able to bring +my camera into play. On several occasions I retraced my steps a good +quarter of a mile, feeling I had lost a landscape, or street scene I +might never again have the opportunity to behold. + +What is of far greater consequence, the man on the road comes into +touch not only with Nature, but the Children of Nature! In these days, +automobiles are as thick as summer flies; you cannot escape them even in +the Sierra foot-hills. No attention is paid them by the country people, +unless they are in trouble or have caused trouble, which is mostly the +case. But the man who "hikes" for pleasure is a source of perennial +interest not unmixed with admiration, especially when walking with the +thermometer indicating three figures in the shade. To him the small boy +opens his heart; the "hobo" passes the time of day with a merry jest +thrown in; the good housewife brings a glass of cold water or milk, +adding womanlike, a little motherly advice; the passing teamster, or +even stage-driver--that autocrat of the "ribbons"--shouts a cheery "How +many miles today, Captain?" or, "Where did you start from this morning, +Colonel?"--these titles perhaps due to the battered old coat of khaki. + +All the humors of the road are yours. In fact, you yourself contribute +to them, by your unexpected appearance on the scene and the novelty of +your "make-up," if I may be pardoned the expression. At the hotel bar, +you drink a glass of beer with the local celebrity and thus come into +immediate touch with, the oldest inhabitant. After dinner, seated on a +bench on the sidewalk, you smoke a pipe and discuss the affairs of +the nation or of the town--usually the latter--with the man who in the +morning offered to give you a lift and never will understand why +you declined. Invariably you receive courteous replies and in kindly +interest are met more than half way. + +The early romances, the prototypes of the modern novel, from "Don +Quixote" to "Tom Jones" and "Joseph Andrews," were little more +than narratives of adventures on the road. "Joseph Andrews" in +particular--perhaps Fielding's masterpiece--is simply the story of a +journey from London to a place in the country some hundred and fifty +miles distant. In these books all the adventures are associated with +inns and the various characters, thrown together by chance, there +assembled. Dickens unquestionably derived inspiration from Smollett and +Fielding; nor is there any doubt but that Harte made a close study of +Dickens. + +From which preamble we come to the statement; if you would study human +nature on the road, you must simply go where men congregate and exchange +ideas. The plots of nearly all Bret Harte's mining stories are thus +closely associated with the bar-rooms and taverns of the mining towns +of his day. What would remain of any of Phillpott's charming stories +of rural England, if you eliminated the bar-room of the village inn? In +hospitality and generous living, the inns of the mining towns still keep +up the old traditions. The card room and bar-room are places where men +meet; to altogether avoid them from any pharisaical assumption of moral +superiority is to lose the chance of coming in contact with the leading +citizen, philanthropist, or eccentric character. + +In the old romances it must be admitted there is much brawling and heavy +drinking, as well as unseemliness of conduct. Yet in spite of the fact +that hotel bars and saloons abound in all the old mining towns, the +writer throughout his travels and notwithstanding the intense heat, not +only saw no person under the influence of liquor, but also never heard +a voice raised in angry dispute. Moderation, decency and a kindly +consideration for the rights of others seem habitual with these people. + +It is fifteen miles from Grass Valley to Smartsville, and I arrived at +the Smartsville Hotel in time for the midday meal. Smartsville has +"seen better days," but still maintains a cheerful outlook on life. The +population has dwindled from several thousand to about three hundred. It +is, however, the central point for quite an extensive agricultural and +pastoral country surrounding it. + +The swinging sign over the hotel bears the legend, "Smartsville Hotel, +John Peardon, Propr." The present proprietor is named "Peardon," but +everyone addressed him as "Jim." Having established a friendly footing, +I said: "Mr. Peardon, I notice the sign over the door reads John +Peardon. How is it that they all call you 'Jim?'" "Oh," he replied, +"John Peardon was my father, I was born in this hotel;"--another of +the numerous instances that came under my observation of the way these +people "stay where they are put." + +John Peardon was an Englishman. The British Isles furnished a very +considerable percentage of the pioneers, the evidences whereof remain +unto this day. The swinging signs over the hotels for one; another, the +prevalence in all the mining towns of Bass's pale ale. You will find it +in the most unpretentious hotels and restaurants. An Englishman expects +his ale or beer, as a matter of course, whether at the Equator or at +the Arctic Circle. When I first arrived in California in 1868, I drifted +down into the then sheep and cattle country in the lower end of Monterey +County. An English family living on an isolated ranch sent home for a +girl who had worked for them in the old country. Upon her arrival, the +first question she asked was: "How far is it to the church?" The second: +"Where can I get my beer?" When informed there was no church within +a hundred miles and that it was at least fifteen miles to the nearest +saloon, the poor woman felt that she was indeed all abroad! Bereft, at +one blow of the Established Church and English Ale, the solid ground +seemed to have given way from under her feet. For her, these two +particulars comprised the whole of the British Constitution. + +Smartsville possessed a sentimental interest for me, for the reason +that in the sixties my father mined and taught a private school in an +adjoining camp bearing the derogatory appellation "Sucker Flat." What +mischance prompted this title will never now be known. In my father's +time, it contained a population of nearly a thousand persons; and +judging from the manner in which the gulch and the contiguous flat have +been torn, scarred, burrowed into and tunneled under, if gold there was, +most strenuous efforts had been made to bring it to light. + +I asked if there was anyone in Smartsville who would be likely to +remember my father, and was referred by Mr. Peardon to "Bob" Beatty, +who, he said, had, lived in Smartsville all his life and knew everybody. +As Mr. Beatty was within a stone's throw, at the Excelsior Store, I had +no difficulty in finding him. Introducing myself, I asked Mr. Beatty if +he remembered my father. "To be sure I do," he exclaimed, "I went to his +school, and," laughing heartily, "well I remember a licking he gave me!" +He said that among the boys who attended that school, several in after +years, as men, had become prominent in the history of the State. + +Mr. Beatty--now a pleasant, genial gentleman of fifty-two--very kindly +walked with me to the brow of the hill commanding a view of Sucker Flat, +and pointed out the exact spot where the school had stood, for not a +stick or a stone remains to mark the locus of the town--it is simply a +name upon the map. + +I mention this incident as being another proof of the extraordinary hold +the Sierra foot-hill country has upon the people who were born there, as +well as upon those who have drifted there by force of circumstances. It +is forty-six or forty-seven years since my father conducted that +school, yet I felt so sure from previous experiences there would be in +Smartsville someone who remembered him, that I determined to include it +in my itinerary. + + + +Chapter VIII + +Smartsville to Marysville. Some Reflections on Automobiles and "Hoboes" + + + +Early the next morning I started for Marysville, the last leg in my +journey, and a long twenty miles distant. I had been dreading the +pull through the Sacramento Valley, having a lively recollection of my +experience in the San Joaquin, on leaving Stockton. The day was sultry, +making the heat still more oppressive. After leaving the foot-hills for +good, I walked ten miles before reaching a tree, or anything that cast a +shadow, if you except the telephone poles. For the first time I realized +there was danger in walking in such heat, and even contemplated the +shade of the telephone poles as a possibility! Fortunately a light +breeze sprang up--the fag end of the trade wind--and, though hot, it +served to dispel that stagnation of the atmosphere which in sultry +weather is so trying to the nervous system. Marysville is nearly +one hundred miles due north of Stockton--of course, much farther by +rail--and the same arid, treeless, inhospitable belt of country between +the cultivated area and the foot-hills apparently extends the whole +distance. It is a country to avoid. + +About two miles short of Marysville, while enjoying the shade cast +by the trees that border the levee of the Feather River, which skirts +Marysville to the south, a man in an auto stopped and very kindly +offered to give me a lift. I thanked him politely but declined. He +seemed amazed. "Why don't you ride when you can?" he asked. "Because I +prefer to walk," I answered. This fairly staggered him. The idea of +a man preferring to walk, and in such heat, was probably a novel +experience, and served to deprive him of further speech. He simply sat +and stared and I had passed him some twenty yards before he started his +machine. + +A sturdy tramp walking in the middle of the road, who had witnessed the +scene, shouted as he passed: "Why didn't yer ride wid de guy?" I replied +as before, "Because I prefer to walk;" adding for his benefit, "I've +no use for autos." Whereupon he threw back his head and burst into peal +after peal of such hearty laughter that, from pure contagion, I perforce +joined in the chorus. In the days of Fielding and Sam Johnson, this +fellow would have been dubbed "a lusty vagabond;" in the slangy parlance +of today, he was a "husky hobo," equipped as such, even to the tin can +of the comic journals. To him, the humor of a brother tramp refusing a +ride--in an autocar, at that--appealed with irresistible force. + +To walk in the middle of the road is characteristic of the genuine +tramp. There must be some occult reason for this peculiarity, since in a +general way, it is far easier going on the margin. Perhaps it is because +he commands a better view of either side, with a regard to the possible +onslaught of dogs. There is something about a man with a pack on his +back that infuriates the average dog, as I have on several occasions +found to my annoyance. Robert Louis Stevenson, in his whimsical and +altogether delightful "Travels with a Donkey," thus vents his opinion +anent the dog question: + +"I was much disturbed by the barking of a dog, an animal that I fear +more than any wolf. A dog is vastly braver and is, besides, supported +by a sense of duty. If you kill a wolf you meet with encouragement and +praise, but if you kill a dog, the sacred rights of property and the +domestic affections come clamoring around you for redress. At the end of +a fagging day, the sharp, cruel note of a dog's bark is in itself a keen +annoyance; and to a tramp like myself, he represents the sedentary and +respectable world in its most hostile form. There is something of the +clergyman or the lawyer about this engaging animal; and if he were not +amenable to stones, the boldest man would shrink from traveling a-foot. +I respect dogs much in the domestic circle; but on the highway or +sleeping afield, I both detest and fear them." + +I confess to a feeling of sympathy with the men we so indiscriminately +brand with the contemptuous epithet, "hobo." In the first place, the +road itself, with its accompanying humors and adventures, forms a mutual +and efficacious bond. How little we know of the "Knights of the Road," +or the compelling circumstances that turned them adrift upon the world! +"All sorts and conditions of men" are represented, from the college +professor to the ex-pugilist. I have "hit the ties" in company with +a so-called "hobo" who quoted Milton and Shakespeare by the yard, +interspersed with exclamations appreciative of his enjoyment of the +country through which we were passing. And once when on a tramp along +the coast from San Francisco to Monterey, I fell in at Point San Pedro +with a professional, who bitterly regretted the coming of the Ocean +Shore Railway, then in process of construction. "For years," said he, "I +have been in the habit of making this trip at regular intervals, on my +way south. I had the road to myself and thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful +beauty of the scene; but now this railroad has come with its mushroom +towns, and all the charm has gone. Never again for me! This is my last +trip!" + +I have not the slightest doubt that sheer love of the road--and only a +tramp knows what those words mean--is the controlling influence which +keeps fifty per cent of the fraternity its willing slaves. What was +Senhouse--that most fascinating of Maurice Hewlett's creations--but a +tramp? A gentleman tramp, if you please, but still a tramp. What is +the reason that Senhouse appeals so strongly to the imagination? Simply +because he loved Nature. And in this matter-of-fact period when poetry +is dead and even a by-word, the man who loves Nature, if not a poet, at +least has poetry in his soul. In a decadent age symbolized by the tango +and the problem play, it is at least an encouraging sign for the future +that such a character as Senhouse came to the jaded reader of the erotic +fiction of the day, as a whiff of sea breeze on a parched plain, and was +hailed with corresponding delight. + +Of course there are "hoboes" and "hoboes," as in any other profession, +but so far as my experience goes, the "hobo" is an idealist. Of the many +reasons he has taken to the road, not the least is the freedom from the +shackles of convention and the "Gradgrind" methods of an utilitarian and +materialistic age. Nor is he a pessimist. Whatever his trouble, the road +has eased him of his burden and made him a philosopher. + +Thoreau, writing in the middle of the last century, deplores the fact +that in his day, as now, but few of his countrymen took any pleasure +in walking, and that very rarely one encountered a person with any real +appreciation of the beauty of Nature, which if he could but see it, lay +at his very door. Speaking for himself and companion in his rambles, +he says: "We have felt that we almost alone hereabouts (Concord, +Massachusetts) practiced this noble art; though, to tell the truth, at +least if their own assertions are to be received, most of my townsmen +would fain walk sometimes, as I do, but they cannot. No wealth can buy +the requisite leisure, freedom and independence which are the capital in +this profession. It comes only by the grace of God. It requires a direct +dispensation from Heaven to become a Walker. Ambulator nascitur non fit. +Some of my townsmen, it is true, can remember and have described to me, +walks which they took ten years ago, in which they were so blessed as to +lose themselves for half an hour in the woods." + +Who is there who walks habitually, who does not know the man who tells +you of the walks he "used to take?" You have known him, say a dozen +years. During all that time, to your knowledge, his walks have +practically been limited by the distance to his office and back from the +ferry boat. When you urge him for perhaps the twentieth time, to essay +a tramp with you, he will say he would like to very much, but +unfortunately so-and-so renders it impossible. And then looking you in +the eye, he will tell you how much he enjoyed tramps he took, of twenty +or thirty miles--but that was before you knew him! As if a Walker with +a big "W," as Thoreau writes the word, would remain satisfied with the +memory of walks of twenty years ago! + +I had heard of the "Marysville Buttes," as one has heard of Madagascar, +but their actual appearance on the landscape came as the greatest +surprise of the trip. As I first caught sight of them when within a +few miles of Marysville, they gave me a distinct thrill. I could hardly +believe my eyes and thought of mirages; for those pointed, isolated +peaks rise precipitously from the floor of the Sacramento valley; in +fact, their bases are only a mile or two from the river. They have every +indication, even to the unscientific eye, of having been upheaved by +volcanic action. Perhaps that accounts for the uncanny impression they +impart. + +A walk of twenty-one or two miles without food, in any kind of +weather, is apt to produce an aching void. My first efforts on reaching +Marysville were therefore directed to finding the sort of place where I +could eat in comfort. The emphasis which Robert Louis Stevenson employs +when upon this most important quest would be amusing were it not also +a vital problem in your own case. There is nothing humorous per se in +hunger or thirst; at any rate, not until both are appeased. With the +black coffee and cigar, you can tip your chair at a comfortable angle +against the wall, and watching the delicate wreaths of smoke in their +spiral upward course, previous to final disintegration, smile at the +persistent energy with which an hour ago you systematically worked the +town from end to end, anxiously peering in the windows of uninviting +restaurants until you finally found that little "hole in the wall" for +which you were looking, with the bottle of Tipo Chianti, the succulent +chops and the big red tomatoes, in the window. It is always to be found +if you have the necessary perseverance. The genial Italian proprietor, +with the innate politeness of his countrymen, will not bore you with +questions as to where you have come from, whither you are going, or +what you are walking for, anyway, etc., etc. He accepts you just as you +are--haversack, camera, big stick and all, hanging them without comment +on the hook behind your head; while you simply tell him you want a good +dinner, the best he can give you, but to include the chops, tomatoes and +Tipo Chianti. With a smile and that artistic flip of the napkin under +his arm, which only he can achieve, he sets about giving his orders. +Later on, after a hot bath, a shave and the luxury of a clean shirt, +feeling at peace with the world and refreshed in body and soul, you set +out to examine the town in comfort and at your leisure. + +In the mining days, Marysville ranked next to San Francisco, Sacramento +and possibly Stockton, not only in interest but in actual volume of +business transacted. It was the natural outlet for all the foot-hill +country tributary to Grass Valley, Nevada City, and Smartsville. There +the miners outfitted and there, when they had "made their pile," +they began the process--subsequently completed in Sacramento and San +Francisco--of reducing it to a negligible quantity. That, of course, is +merely a reminiscence, but as the center of one of the most prosperous +grain and fruit-raising sections of the Sacramento Valley, Marysville is +still a place of considerable importance. The old town is very much in +evidence; so much so that, in spite of the numerous modern buildings, +the general effect produced is of age, as age is understood in +California. I doubt if San Francisco before the fire, or Sacramento +today, could show as many substantial, solid buildings dating back to +the fifties. + + + +Chapter IX + +Bayard Taylor and the California of Forty-Nine. Bret Harte and His +Literary Pioneer Contemporaries. + + + +And here in old Marysville, the county seat of Yuba County and situated +on its extreme western boundary, I ended my tramp, having covered a +distance of approximately two hundred and fifty miles, exclusive of +retracements. The ideal time to visit the Sierra foot-hills would be +in the late Spring or early Autumn. I was compelled to grasp the +opportunity when it offered or forego the pleasure altogether. Nor is it +necessary, of course, to walk; the roads, whilst generally speaking +not classed as good going for automobiles, are at least passable. I was +surprised at the number of high grade machines in evidence, in all the +towns of importance mentioned in this narrative. There remains also the +alternative of a good saddle horse, or, better still, a light wagon with +camping outfit, thus rendering hotels unnecessary, the elimination of +which would probably pay the hire of horse and wagon. + +Half a century is a long period. You could probably count on the fingers +of one hand persons now living in the Sierra foot-hills who have any +recollection of ever having seen Bret Harte. It must also be +remembered that in the fifties his reputation as an author had not been +established. Of all that group of brilliant young men who visited the +mines in early days, which included for a brief space "Orpheus C. Kerr" +and "Artemus Ward," I can well imagine that Bret Harte attracted the +least attention. It is extremely doubtful to my mind if he ever had +much actual experience of the mining camps. To a man of his vivid +imagination, a mere suggestion afforded a plot for a story; even the +Laird's Toreadors, it will be recalled, were commercially successful +when purely imaginary; he only failed when he subsequently studied the +real thing in Spain. + +Bret Harte was a man who in a primitive community might well escape +notice. In appearance, manner and training, he was the exact antithesis +of Mark Twain. He was a student before he was a writer and possessed the +student's shy reserve. I can well imagine him, a slight boyish figure, +flitting from camp to camp, wrapped in his own thoughts, keeping his own +counsel. Yet he alone of that little band, unless you except Mark Twain, +possessed the divine spark we call "genius." Centuries after the names +of all the rest are buried in oblivion, Bret Harte's stories of the +Argonauts in the mining towns of California will remain the classics +they have already become. + +Yet as before stated, when once I got fairly started on the road, the +pioneers themselves and their worthy descendants absorbed my interest +and assumed the center of the stage to the exclusion, for the time +being, of the romancers; who, after all, each in his own fashion, +depicted only what most appealed to him in the characters of these same +men and their contemporaries. Bayard Taylor in his interesting work "El +Dorado," the first edition of which appeared in 1850, thus states his +opinion of the men of '49: + +"Abundance of gold does not always beget, as moralists tell us, a +grasping and avaricious spirit. The principles of hospitality were as +faithfully observed in the rude tents of the diggers, as they could be +by the thrifty farmers of the North and West. The cosmopolitan cast of +character in California, resulting in the commingling of so many races, +and the primitive mode of life, gave a character of good-fellowship to +all its members; and in no part of the world have I ever seen help +more freely given to the needy, or more ready co-operation in any human +proposition. Personally, I can safely say that I never met with such +unvarying kindness from comparative strangers." + +That last sentence also spelt the literal truth in my experience. Even +the dogs were kindly disposed and though I carried, a "big stick," +except by way of companionship and as an aid in climbing, I might +safely have left it at home. And while at times I walked through a wild, +mountainous and almost deserted country, the idea of possible danger +never occurred to me. When finally one encountered a human being, he +invariably proved a courteous, obliging and companionable personage to +meet. + +Bayard Taylor attended in September and the beginning of October, 1849, +the convention at Monterey, which gave to California its first, and in +the opinion of many, its best constitution. He closes his review of the +proceedings with these forceful and prophetic words: + +"Thus we have another splendid example of the ease and security with +which people can be educated to govern themselves. From that chaos +whence under, a despotism like the Austrian, would spring the most +frightful excesses of anarchy and crime, a population of freemen +peacefully and quietly develops the highest form of civil order--the +broadest extent of liberty and security. Governments, bad and corrupt +as many of them are, and imperfect as they all must necessarily be, +nevertheless at times exhibit scenes of true moral sublimity. What I +have today witnessed has so, impressed me; and were I a believer in +omens, I would augur from the tranquil beauty of the evening--from the +clear sky and the lovely sunset hues on the waters of the bay--more +than all, from the joyous expression of every face I see, a glorious and +prosperous career for the State of California." + +Southern California, by which is understood all of the State south of +the Tehachapi Mountains, was mostly settled by and is still to a great +extent the objective point of people from the East and Middle West. Most +of them came in search of health and brought a competency sufficient for +their needs. When President Wilson, then Governor of New Jersey, visited +California in 1911, he came over the southern route to Los Angeles. +Addressing a Pasadena audience he said: "I am much disappointed when I +see you. I expected to find a highly individualized people, characters +developed by struggle and mutual effort; but I find you the same people +we have at home," and more, to the same effect. Subsequently, Governor +Wilson delivered an address at the Greek Theater, Berkeley, before +the students of the University of California. At its close, Mr. Maslin +mounted the stage, a copy of the paper containing the account of the +Pasadena speech in his hands, and asked the Governor if he was correctly +reported; to which he replied in the affirmative. "Governor," said Mr. +Maslin, "you came into the State at the wrong gate!" "Gate? gate?--what +gate?" inquired the Governor. "You should have come through Emigrant +Gap, through which most of the emigrants from '49 and on entered the +State. Now, Governor, the people you saw at Pasadena never suffered the +trials of a pioneer's life, they are not knit together by the memory of +mutual struggles and privations. When you come to the State again, come +through Emigrant Gap. Let me know when you come, and I will introduce +you to a breed of men the world has never excelled." With the smile with +which millions have since become familiar, Governor Wilson grasped +the hand of the pioneer and said: "When I come again, as I feel sure I +shall, I shall let you know." + +[Illustration: Mr. Maslin. Plate07] + +The following morning I took the train for my home in Alameda. As I sat +and meditated on the scenes I had witnessed and the character of the +people I had met, it was borne in upon me that this had been the most +interesting as well as enjoyable experience of my life. Already the +temporary discomforts produced by heat and soiled garments had faded +into insignificance, and assumed a most trivial aspect when I reviewed +the journey as a whole. They were part of the game. To again quote +"Trilby," tramping "is not all beer and skittles." Your true tramp +learns to take things as he finds them and never to expect or ask or +the impossible. He will drink the wine of the country, even when sour, +without a grimace; pass without grumbling a sleepless night; plod +through dust ankle deep, without a murmur; there is but one vulnerable +feature in his armor, and with Achilles, it is his heel! And it is +literally the heel that, is the sensitive spot. I will venture the +assertion that the long-distance tramper--not even excepting Brother +Weston--who has not at some time or another suffered from sore heels, +does not exist. The tramp's feet are his means of locomotion; on their +condition he bestows an anxiety and care which far surpass that of the +man in the automobile, with all his complicated machinery to inspect. + +Remains then, the memory of the delicious, faint, cool, morning +breeze, gently stirring the pine needles; the aromatic odor of forest +undergrowth; the murmur of the stream hurrying down the mountain gorge +to mingle its pure waters with those of the muddy Sacramento, far +away in the great valley below; the deep awe-inspiring canons of the +American, Stanislaus and Mokelumne Rivers; and back of all, the azure +summits of the Sierra Nevada. + +Remains also, the memory of the kindly-disposed, courteous and +open-hearted inhabitants of the old mining towns. But more forcibly than +all else combined--for it seems to epitomize the whole--the glamour of +the towns themselves appeals with an irresistible fascination, that no +poor words of mine can adequately express. + + + +Appendix + + + +Views of the Bret Harte Country + + + +Here ends A Tramp Through the Bret Harte Country by Thomas Dykes +Beasley. Published by Paul Elder and Company and printed for them at +their Tomoye Press in the city of San Francisco, under the direction of +John Swart, in the year Nineteen Hundred and Fourteen + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tramp Through the Bret Harte Country, by +Thomas Dykes Beasley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRET HARTE COUNTRY *** + +***** This file should be named 4636.txt or 4636.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/3/4636/ + +Produced by David A. 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