September 1, 1971 (12 pages)

get away to a more congenial environment, Mike was the only partner who came through it all unchanged, or if changed, certainly for the better. As his hoard grew, so his self-esteem and self-reliance increased, A rollicking, devil-may-care, poverty-stricken son of the bog and a Celtic gentleman fairly well favored by fortune, were different individuals; and there were possibilities in the latter role which appealed to this shrewd, capable fellow. To a great extent he had displaced Wakefield as chief adviser, and that without any irritating arrogance or conscious usurpation, He had already planned a campaign ahead, which he proposed to submit at the right moment, and least in his mind was any contingency that involved the abandonment of the rich claim,PART X So matters stood at the end of April. They had penetrated the mountain-side quite two hundred feet, and the channel showed no sign of giving out, Their main and lateral drifts, with what coyoting they had done in the richer spots, had yielded about twenty-two thousand dollars, besides the big nugget cached under the floor, There was a huge pile of gravel dumped in the head of the ravine, of unknown value; yet they knew the gold was sifted through it, for after a heavy rainstorm they could surface, The melting snows provided plenty of water to wash it down, so. thef set the sluice and "long Tom" and began work, It took them ten days to complete the task; it was prolonged by the continual proof in the yellow-lined bottons of the sluices of the necessity of slow and careful washing to prevent waste, Each night's cleanup resulted in a yield that nearly took their breath away, a prospect-pan brimful of coarse, rounded and polished gold from the size of mustard seed to lumps that ran into the ounces, and when it was all done and the harvest gathered, that pile of dirt, which had hardly been taken into calculation, added to their store forty-one thousand dollars, It was a more cheerful crowd that gathered around the table that May night, After all, there had been no hardships, no sickness, no accidents; a little unstringing of the nerves perhaps from the montony of the life and the loneliness of it all, but here was their reward, over twleve thousand dollars to the share, and apparently their mining ground barely opened, Even Rance brightened up and took a less gloomy view of the camp, Of course, they all had their plans, diverging views, which. while not irreconciable, needed modification to meet the general good; and as the hour grew late Mike proposed that they postpone further discussion and give the nextday to an effort to find common ground, It was a warm, balmy spring day when the partners, impatient of the confinement between the log walls, sat down under a big sugar pine not too far away from the cabin, for there their treasure lay. With the disappearance of snow the old trails were once more trod; dwellers from the camps over o Lo CS ATS NT eee SS SS ————— the ridge paying long-deferred visits to the county seat, .restless miners on the road hunting richer diggings and fresher fields, sports passing on horse and mule back, who neither toiled nor spun (except the ivory ball in the whirling roulette wheel) and yet were clothed in broadcloth (Rance viewed their apparel with envy as they passed by), and sinister looking Mecians, mustang — mounted Greasers, who were watched with cautious glances, for Joaquin Murieta’s band had been raiding, plundering, and murdering in the adjoining counties, The first question was the disposal of the gold, and it was decided that the better plan would be to sell it outright to the express and bank agency at Downieville, if satisfactory terms could be hand, or if not, to ship it by express to the U.S, Assay Office at San Francisco, where they would be assured of a fair deal. There was nearly four hundred pounds, including the nugget; but as the trail was all down hill, the six could manage between them to pack the treasure to a place of safety and without any great peril, as outside of their own little. band nobody knew the extent or value of their accumulations, This settled, there came the weightier point of future operations, and each set forth his views and intentions, Wakefield announced that he meant to pay a visit to his old home, not to stay, but his heart was yearning for a sight of the wife and baby, not realizing that the same baby was now quite a young lady, Besides,-the recent letters had warned him of his wife's failing -health — incipient consumption, a. friend wrote; a little cough as she alluded to it, — and he planning to bring them back, to a home in glorious. health-giving mountains, Rance projected a long and pleasurable visit to San Francisco, perhaps a settling down in the budding city, although he wanted to retain his interest in the property and hinted a putting a2 competent substitute into the kitchen, . » Tex had no plan, He was as well off here as elsewhere, perhaps better. There was no home for him to go back to, and no relatives or kin except a brother whom he had not seen for years and whose whereabouts. were unknown, He might take a little pasear down to the Bay just for a change, and that over, was ready to get down to work again, , The brothers from Ohio had mutually and definietely decided to go back to the Buckeye State, purchase farms, and settle into their old life, as lived: prior to their adventurous journeyto the Pacific, They were willing to dispose of their interest in the claims to their adventurous journey to the Pacific, They were willing to dispose of their interest in the claims to their partners at a reasonable price, to be agreed upon, or if not, to some outsider looking after a profitable investment, This left Mike the last to announce his intentions, which he did not seem to be in any haste to do, He had listened to his partners without any comment, and would have made none had they not insisted on knowing his plans, At last he said, "i'm not-quite ready, byes, to tell ye what's in me head, excipt it's not me prisent intintion to run away from good fortune, Ye may think ye can find another piece of ground out of which ye may take siventy thousand dollars in a winter's work, or perhaps ye have got more money than ye can spind in the rest of your natural lives; but I'm holding to ayther one of thim opinions," "Well, Mike," asked Wakefield, "what do you propose? Have you planned out the future for all of us?" "I have me own ideas, but it's a little dirly to spake of ’ thim, I’m just as tired as the rist of ye of har wurrk, and it's _a boss I wud be, and I think I see not only me own, but a chanst for us all, I'll make me proposal, It's no rush we are in, Let's dispose of our goold, take it aisy for a week, during which time I will be absint, then we'll have a grand pow-wow and make up our minds what's best for to do," Mike was obstinate and would say nothing further, "It's not prepared to spake I am until I go over to Forest City, Alleghany, and Moore's Flat. They're doing thing over there I want to know about, and whin I come back we'll go into the matter at more length," (To be continued) Se — === %

get away to a more congenial environment, Mike was the only partner who came through it all unchanged, or if changed, certainly for the better. As his hoard grew, so his self-esteem and self-reliance increased, A rollicking, devil-may-care, poverty-stricken son of the bog and a Celtic gentleman fairly well favored by fortune, were different individuals; and there were possibilities in the latter role which appealed to this shrewd, capable fellow. To a great extent he had displaced Wakefield as chief adviser, and that without any irritating arrogance or conscious usurpation, He had already planned a campaign ahead, which he proposed to submit at the right moment, and least in his mind was any contingency that involved the abandonment of the rich claim,PART X So matters stood at the end of April. They had penetrated the mountain-side quite two hundred feet, and the channel showed no sign of giving out, Their main and lateral drifts, with what coyoting they had done in the richer spots, had yielded about twenty-two thousand dollars, besides the big nugget cached under the floor, There was a huge pile of gravel dumped in the head of the ravine, of unknown value; yet they knew the gold was sifted through it, for after a heavy rainstorm they could surface, The melting snows provided plenty of water to wash it down, so. thef set the sluice and "long Tom" and began work, It took them ten days to complete the task; it was prolonged by the continual proof in the yellow-lined bottons of the sluices of the necessity of slow and careful washing to prevent waste, Each night's cleanup resulted in a yield that nearly took their breath away, a prospect-pan brimful of coarse, rounded and polished gold from the size of mustard seed to lumps that ran into the ounces, and when it was all done and the harvest gathered, that pile of dirt, which had hardly been taken into calculation, added to their store forty-one thousand dollars, It was a more cheerful crowd that gathered around the table that May night, After all, there had been no hardships, no sickness, no accidents; a little unstringing of the nerves perhaps from the montony of the life and the loneliness of it all, but here was their reward, over twleve thousand dollars to the share, and apparently their mining ground barely opened, Even Rance brightened up and took a less gloomy view of the camp, Of course, they all had their plans, diverging views, which. while not irreconciable, needed modification to meet the general good; and as the hour grew late Mike proposed that they postpone further discussion and give the nextday to an effort to find common ground, It was a warm, balmy spring day when the partners, impatient of the confinement between the log walls, sat down under a big sugar pine not too far away from the cabin, for there their treasure lay. With the disappearance of snow the old trails were once more trod; dwellers from the camps over o Lo CS ATS NT eee SS SS ————— the ridge paying long-deferred visits to the county seat, .restless miners on the road hunting richer diggings and fresher fields, sports passing on horse and mule back, who neither toiled nor spun (except the ivory ball in the whirling roulette wheel) and yet were clothed in broadcloth (Rance viewed their apparel with envy as they passed by), and sinister looking Mecians, mustang — mounted Greasers, who were watched with cautious glances, for Joaquin Murieta’s band had been raiding, plundering, and murdering in the adjoining counties, The first question was the disposal of the gold, and it was decided that the better plan would be to sell it outright to the express and bank agency at Downieville, if satisfactory terms could be hand, or if not, to ship it by express to the U.S, Assay Office at San Francisco, where they would be assured of a fair deal. There was nearly four hundred pounds,

including the nugget; but as the trail was all down hill, the six could manage between them to pack the treasure to a place of safety and without any great peril, as outside of their own little. band nobody knew the extent or value of their accumulations, This settled, there came the weightier point of future operations, and each set forth his views and intentions, Wakefield announced that he meant to pay a visit to his old home, not to stay, but his heart was yearning for a sight of the wife and baby, not realizing that the same baby was now quite a young lady, Besides,-the recent letters had warned him of his wife's failing -health — incipient consumption, a. friend wrote; a little cough as she alluded to it, — and he planning to bring them back, to a home in glorious. health-giving mountains, Rance projected a long and pleasurable visit to San Francisco, perhaps a settling down in the budding city, although he wanted to retain his interest in the property and hinted a putting a2 competent substitute into the kitchen, . » Tex had no plan, He was as well off here as elsewhere, perhaps better. There was no home for him to go back to, and no relatives or kin except a brother whom he had not seen for years and whose whereabouts. were unknown, He might take a little pasear down to the Bay just for a change, and that over, was ready to get down to work again, , The brothers from Ohio had mutually and definietely decided to go back to the Buckeye State, purchase farms, and settle into their old life, as lived: prior to their adventurous journeyto the Pacific, They were willing to dispose of their interest in the claims to their adventurous journey to the Pacific, They were willing to dispose of their interest in the claims to their partners at a reasonable price, to be agreed upon, or if not, to some outsider looking after a profitable investment, This left Mike the last to announce his intentions, which he did not seem to be in any haste to do, He had listened to his partners without any comment, and would have made none had they not insisted on knowing his plans, At last he said, "i'm not-quite ready, byes, to tell ye what's in me head, excipt it's not me prisent intintion to run away from good fortune, Ye may think ye can find another piece of ground out of which ye may take siventy thousand dollars in a winter's work, or perhaps ye have got more money than ye can spind in the rest of your natural lives; but I'm holding to ayther one of thim opinions," "Well, Mike," asked Wakefield, "what do you propose? Have you planned out the future for all of us?" "I have me own ideas, but it's a little dirly to spake of ’ thim, I’m just as tired as the rist of ye of har wurrk, and it's _a boss I wud be, and I think I see not only me own, but a chanst for us all, I'll make me proposal, It's no rush we are in, Let's dispose of our goold, take it aisy for a week, during which time I will be absint, then we'll have a grand pow-wow and make up our minds what's best for to do," Mike was obstinate and would say nothing further, "It's not prepared to spake I am until I go over to Forest City, Alleghany, and Moore's Flat. They're doing thing over there I want to know about, and whin I come back we'll go into the matter at more length," (To be continued) Se — === %