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Collection: Books and Periodicals
Three Years in California by John D. Borthwick (1857)(LoC) (423 pages)
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Page: of 423
BUYING A CLAIM. ats)
pledged each other in cocktails as fast as the storekeeper could mix them. While the legislature was
in session, however, everything was conducted with
the utmost formality, for Americans of all classes
are particularly aw fart at the ordinary routine of
public meetings.
After working our claim for a few weeks, my
partner left me to go to another part of the mines,
and I joined two Americans in buying a claim five
or six miles up the creek. It was supposed to
be very rich, and we had to pay a long price for it
accordingly, although the men who had taken it up,
and from whom we bought it, had not yet even prospected the ground. But the adjoining claims were
being worked, and yielding largely, and from the
position of ours, it was looked on as an equally good
one.
There was a great deal to be done, before it could
be worked, in the way of removing rocks and turning
the water; and as three of us were not sufficient to
work the place properly, we hired four men to assist
us, at the usual wages of five dollars a-day. It took
about a fortnight to get the claim into order before
we could begin washing, but we then found that our
labour had not been expended in vain, for it paid
uncommonly well.
When I bought this Claim, I had to give up
my cabin, as the distance was so great, and I
now camped with my partners close to our claim,
where we had erected a brush-house. This is a very