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Volume 001-3 - May 1948 (2 pages)
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Page: of 2
turned it over with his toe. It was a nugget—a whopper. When the minister completed the prayer and opened his eyes he
saw all the mourners pacing off claims in
the graveyard. A second after his “Amen”
he called out: “Hey, boys, you must give
me a show after I finish with our brother
here.”
On an April morning in 1850, one of
the Wisconsin men that founded Rough
and Ready, was working on a new claim
when a man just in from Massachusetts,
made him a “‘sporting offer.” He would
dig the plot one day; if he got $200
worth .of gold or more he would give it
to Joe, if he got less, he would keep it.
Joe, confident the land was rich, took him
up, and even insisted on a contract. The
“Yankee” dug up $180 worth in three
hours and then quit, keeping the “dust.”
He maintained he hadn't agreed to work
a full day.
Furious, Joe arranged a meeting of
“leading citizens” and nearly all of them
were strong for running the “slicker”
out of town. But someone questioned
their right to do it, pointing out that the
man was an American citizen and hadn't
committed any crime. Then a spellbinder
proposed that they secede and establish a
nation of their own, so they could ‘run
Mr. Massachusetts out of town regardless." There wasn’t a single “no” vote.
E. F. Brundage was chosen president and
appointed a cabinet. A few minutes later
he and his Secretary of State called the
Yankee’ out of a saloon and gave him
the order: ‘On your way.”
That excitement over, the secession was
practically forgotten until the same “‘leading citizens’’ met in June to plan a celebration on July 4th. “Why celebrate the
Fourth,” asked a member of the group,
“when we're no longer part of the United
States?” President Brundage called for a
vote—and the crowd decided unanimously
to dissolve the State of Rough and Ready
and return to the Union.
The population of Rough and Ready
increased rapidly in 1850, and at the election in October there were nearly 100
votes cast. The question of a new county
was agitated, and Rough and Ready aspired to the honor of being the county
seat, giving way, however, to the claims
of Nevada City. The following organizations were formed in the fifties: The
Christian Association, Rough and Ready
Lodge, No. 52, F. & A. M., Mountain
Rose Lodge, No. 20, JOOF; Union Encampment, No. #1, IOOF, and two divisions of Sons of Temperance.
The size of claims, at first limited to
fifteen feet square, was extended to thirty
feet square, and all the long, dry season
the miners threw up heaps of dirt, awaiting the time when the rains of winter
should provide the water for washing
their treasure. They waited in vain, for
the wet season of 1850-51 was a dry one,
as it were, and consequent lack of water
led to the construction of ditches to supply
the deficiency. In November a party commenced a ditch from Squirrel Creek to
run to Rich Flat, which they completed
before the end of the year. Another party
survey¢d a line from Deer Creek but
found a party of Nevada City men bent
on the same purpose. They united and
constructed the Rough and Ready ditch,
which was completed in the fall of 1851.
The quantity thus furnished would be
about six or eight inches of miner's measure, and one tom head of water would
supply half a dozen or more companies
successively. The cost of $16 per day during the first season for the first head company, the price being graduated off to
each company succeeding, at a discount
of $2 each, until the price would come
down to $4, after which there was no
deduction. The scarcity as well as the excessive cost of water therefore caused men
to crowd as closely as their numbers and
location would allow, and most cheering
and animated sights were thus presented
on Butte Flat, Rich Flat, Squirrel Creek,
Texas Flat, Deer Creek, and other places,
where twenty and thirty companies of
men numbering from 100 to 300 persons
could be seen at one view, busily engaged
in “‘sluicing surface.” And as another and
more fatal, as well as more irremediable
result, the diggings around Rough and
Ready being so accessible and so easily
worked, were very soon worked out.
NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1-2