^^%^. I..3AL 11 UNITED STATES OF AMERIC i '5&<5»<3St-'^,' ^^ut in such a mountain fast-freight wagon — what is it ? The state of the mind is that of partial syncope. There is not one man in ten who has travelled that period continuously in an outer center seat in a Concord wagon, who has not had occasion to reckon his good luck in failing to tumble into the road, or sprain a hand or arm by the accident of a sudden swinging out past the perpendicular slat that partitions either side, and aggravates the situation by jiretending to afford support for the weary arm-holder. There is an unex- plained Providence in this. The condition of hermiplegy in which I found myself at three — 5 — o'clock in the morning was decidedly novel ; but as a physical sensation only, was it fuuuy. There is wnquestionably matter in this suitable for an anatomical lecture before a class of medical students, but too complicated to admit of popular illustration. Suffice it to say here, in very plain language, that all may understand : when you ride to Pioche, in the wintry season, on the outer edge of a center seat occupied by three, and shall have Surrived at about the fourth hour of the second morning watch, and the sixth or seventh hour of this section of the ride, you will be perfectly well satisfied that there are two distinct separate lobes to the brain, two lobes to the lungs, and a nerve division throughout the entire trunk structure, which is correctly defined by the interior ramifications of the vertebral periostrum. You recognize each segment of the spinal column as an independent jiersonality, or rather as a solitary stamp-block worked by its own engine, having the base of oijerations on the tip of the small, bony formation which is beneath. There is a quality of supersensitive numbness, a species of callous delicacy, and a degree of mental comprehension of your own points of contact as though they belonged to somebody else, which renders these reviving moments of travel worthy of physiological and phrenological — and perhaps of moral — investigation and study ; although the latter branch of the case may be referred more properly to the language commonly used on such occasions. But as I perceive my eflbrts to elucidate this important part of my biography on this trip are not completely grasped, except by two or three physi- cians present, I desist from further utterances on this subject, and proceed to dryer groimds of narrative and comment. It was broad daylight when I was fairly aroused from my lethargy, and discovered by in- formation and belief of fellow-passengers that we were half way from Eureka to Hamilton. The road from this point of observation was over a rolling country for a distance of six or eight miles, and then across a broad valley to the foot of a hill or mountain, on which Ham- ilton is situated. Through this valley a railroad could be run from Elko or Toano,to within some twenty or twenty-five miles of Pioche, the grading of the entire distance not costing over four hundred dollars per mile. Our way was hard, though not long ; that is, the speed was disproportionate to the char- acter of the road. That is, it would have been more agreeable to have taken more time. At ten o'clock we were at the foot of the grade, so-called. To this point it is expected that the narrow gauge railroad from Elko will ultimately be built ; the elevation being of a sufficient degree to readily communicate with the shoots of the numberless mines— that are or are to be— on the inexhaustible base-metal summits of the range west of Hamilton. But now we are at the point indicated ; and without any railroad, broad or narrow gauge, but with a dead beat of an ordinary highway, we are about to ascend to Hamilton. At this point we change from the wagon or coach to a sleigh ; and with nearly equal alternations of riding and walking the remaining distance of five or six miles is passed w-ithin two hours. Immediately below the town of Hamilton a small party was engaged in digging out six or eight feet of snow which lay packed in avalanche-ready condition, ominous to behold. It is said that at various turns in the road, where the snow at the bottom is melted from a foot to two feet and a half, slides occur, which are very entertaining to all persons who are sta- tioned above the road on the beaten sideway, or who are fortunate enough to anticipate the movement and jump from the flood. The boss of this job of snow-moving and the driver of our sleigh did not agree as to the expediency and quality of a certain piece of work which had been performed during the winter on the highway leading up into the to^\'n. And at one time there was an unpleasantness seriously threatened between these parties. But Joe Clark and Senator Wilson interfered with jocose remarks and soothing comments on the un- friendly nature of the country " any how," which made the dialogue discursive, abated the excitement, and turned away wrath. So we were enabled to enter the great White Pine Capital in peace ; which we did at the hour of twelve. And first of all, we learned that there was not a connecting stage awaiting our arrival. The line from Palisades to Hamilton is separate and distinct from the management thence to Pioche. We were notified that we would be obliged to lie over at least one day if no extra coach was ordered by the Superintendent at Pioche ; perhaps twenty-four hours beyond. We were not sorry, as you can imagine, to hear of this delay ; and we selected and made al- most instant use of our boarding and sleeping accommodations in a spirit of enthusiastic gratitude and comfort. After thawing out— for it was a snowy day, with the thermometer at thirty-six in the shade — and embracing the bounties of the Barnum Kestaurant, (there are Barniim Restaurants now in every mining town on this coast) we hygienically prefaced our sleeping hours with a glance at this famous flash mining camp. Here it is 7,5D0 feet above the level of the sea. And with all the natural recollections as to the place and its promises, aye, and its realiza- tions—thirty or forty million of dollars— we had abundant food for curiosity and suggestive if not profound contemplation. We walked up the sidewalk to Wells, Fargo k Go's front, standing at first upon the paved sidewalk before an excellently finished two-story brick build- ing nearly the size in ground-area of the express building proper at the comer of Montgom- ery and California Streets. From the middle of the street in front of this office, we looked down the main street, a distance of half a mile or more, to the terminus of the camp ; closely lined with houses, which were mostly wooden structures, nor more than one story in height^ In the center of the street there was at least six feet of snow, closely packed. Could it be possible that in this place a few years ago there were not less than 12,000 inhabitants ? Ye* such is the record. TJp this hill above me, and over the brow to Treasure City, from three to five thousand persons were in the habit of daily passing during the Spring, Summer and Autumn months of 1869. And now I look down through a vista of three hundred houses, not one in five of which is occupied ; some of them going iguominously to rack and ruin. Here I stand ten minutes by my watch, from the moment at which it occurred to me to note it for such a purpose, and see not one human being on the street or either sidewalk, out of the whole number of the population which yet remains ! I thought I had once seen the extremity of desolation, in Aurora, where the Indian squaws had undisputed possession of three-story brick houses which were fit for transplant- ing, under the fire district laws, to Kearny Street, in this city. But somehow, Hamilton, by the known multitude on Its former directory, and the special promise of prosperity in its de- velopments, surpassed all previous impressions of sudden collapse and decay. Here, on my left, stood an Episcopal Church, as large as the Seaman's Bethel in this city, with a ponderous bell not less than three or four hundred pounds in weight set upon an independent tower in front ; in which church, as I was credibly informed, there had been no service for three mouths. And passing along the street which lies to the east, and imme_ diately below Wells, Fargo & Go's Express, I am shown a Catholic chapel capable of seating two hundred persons, in which, four years ago, there were often eight masses held on Sunday mornings, and then complaint of insufficient opportunity for all and for hundreds who de- Sired to attend. Now an itinerant priest comes for single services once in six weeks, and in- tones the ceremony before a dozen adult worshipers. I do not believe there is another such Instance of marvelous upspringing and almost ut- ter decrease of population from purely civil causes on the annals of the Coast ; and certainly such a migration and wholesale instantaneous departure has not been put in the familiar his- tory of any locality in any other portion of the globe within such a space of time ; for this town sprang from a desert in less than two years to its greatest estate. It is said that fully one half the dwellings that once stood in this settlement have been taken down, and removed either to Eureka or Pioche. And now that the fire-fiend has made a sweeping visit to this deserted village, I may claim to have written of the last town appear- ance of Hamilton as it was originally constructed. A court-house, which is said to have cost over $80,000, and which is a very solid and finished edifice, sits distant from the center of business— if I may so speak— over a quarter of a mile ; back of and far up above the bustle and turmoil and shooting scrapes of Hamil- ton. The building that was formerly used as a court-house— some forty by sixty feet, two stories in height, situate in the easternmost boimdary of the camp, on the road to^'ards Wash- burn's— is windowless and doorless ; and although it is a strong, warehouse-style of building, the rain and snow have so far soaked throiigh the roof and walls that the work of demolish- ment by natural causes is close to completion. On the side of the hill northeast of the camp are elegantly constructed works for re- ducing ore. They were erected under the direction and mainly with the money of a lucky fellow from New England, whose prize in the lottery of speculation was too great for his powers of mental balance. He built this magnificent furnace, fenced it round about with stone and iron, stocked the coal yard with fuel, and retired to private life. " Jobson's Folly " would be as one to twenty compared with this unused and apparently useless monument for the spendthrift ; with this make-weight : there are not enough salvable drinkers left in the vk-iuity to warrant the conversion of this twenty-to-one structure into an inebriate asylum- Beyond, on the same side of the same hill, is the first engine-house of the Von Strhmidt Wa- ter Company ; the companion hydraulic sheds being situated on the opposite liill towards Treasure City. Here thousands of dollars were expended in carrying water, on works in- tended to be capable of supplying fifty thousand inhabitants, and mills adapted to the crush- ing of thousands of tons of ore per day. The works are here : waiting for a revival. Which reminds me — alas, for Hamilton ! — when I was there, in March [1873], every body was speaking of the revival— the " coming up," as it was termed ; siu-e to be in the month of May, at furthest. Occasionally, it is true, I thought I discerned a sinister expression in the countenance of the boaster, which could not be interpreted otherwise than as an agreement between himself and the first person offering, to sell out his establishment or homestead at the first rise of ten per cent, from existing prices. But generally, the belief in the coming-up was undoubtedly sincere ; and therefore the declaimers were proper objects and recipients of our instant sympathy. For the stranger, however unjustly, would at this season argue noth- ing else than infatuation in such expectations ; and now we have the sad tidings that in addi- tion to a failure to " come up," there has been the worst of material calamities : exterminat- ing fire. An afternoon and a long night of dreamless sleep. Koused at seven with tidings of an order from Pioche for the extra coach to start out at twelve. We grumble at the unnecessary haste in conveying the news to prospective passengers. We take a ride up toward Treas- ure City, and look on snow-capped Pogonip ; thinking from first to last, as we gaze upon that magnificent height— 12,000 feet above the level of the sea— of our ill-fated friend and brother newspaper man. Colonel Evans ; whose dispatches " from the clouds," interpreted as they were intended to be, exhibit a wit which the attempted rhyme of ridicule, though much bepraised, never possessed. All this range, from Pogonip— towering into the clouds to the north, in a gradually lessening height— from the mountain-base of this great summit, for a distance of eight miles, is filled with metal that would pay richly if a railroad was con- structed from the main artery, 120 miles distant. It has been demonstrated over and over again, and is plain to any man's comprehension who can read and ascertain facts, and cipher in the four fundamental rules of arithmetic, that a narrow-gauge railroad from Elko or Toano to Hamilton, or the valley grade north of the town, would pay for itself in freights within three years ; and yet no effort is made on the part of the great K. K. Company either directly to construct or to encourage such construction. On the contrary, sham proceedings are taken in the name and cause of a survey, so as to prevent genuine action ; and genuine lobby- ing is constantly performed at the capital of Nevada, every other winter, to secure the passage of bills giving immediately to the railroad company agreeing to construct a road from Elko to Palisade, or from Toano to Eureka and Hamilton and Pioche, bonds sufficient to pay for the entire work of grading and the iron and the rolling-stock ; without specifying as to the time within ten years when the road shall be completed ! Such bills are up before every ses- sion of the Legislature, and at the last session such bills were passed (and vetoed) . It is with the railroad as with the Western Union Telegraph monopoly— they believe that the fruits of their illegitimate action pay better than honest zeal in the development of the country. Thus millions of dollars will be given to members of legislatures, but not one rail for any outlying section without a subsidy. This is the motto which, beginning at Sacramento, does not stop short of Pioche— toward which terminal point of railroad subsidy coiTuption and expectation we arc supposed, on a rough road in a wintry season, to be traveling. We have hesitated too long by the way, and must proceed.* At twelve o'clock, with only one Clark on board, the same party that came from Eureka * Note. — In this connection a reminiscence is unavoidable : All the woes which have been and are now being visited upon thi.s people on accoiint of the " Railroad Monopoly" were prophesied and put upon the printed record, in the State of Nevada, six or seven years ago. Two successive Legislatures, by a large majority vote, adopted resolutions instructing Senators and requesting the member of Congress to pass a law granting a right of way and a land subsidy, and contingent help in bonds, to the Placcrville and Washoe Railroad Company. At the first session referred to, the Company named was ready with a backing of $3,000,000 of domestic and not less than $10,000,000 of English cap- ital, to go forward and thoroughly construct and complete a projected and actually profiled work of trans-mountain railway, in the event of Congress acceding to the most nasonable requests of the Nevada Legislature. There would never have been such a thing as a " Rail- road Monopoly " in California, or on this Coast, if the petition of the people of Nevada, in movfid out on the " extra " ambulance — a four-horse sleigh— and commenced the descent of a long hill on the southeast, which constitutes the first mile and a half of the distance. It is ten miles to the first station. A mile out we have the extreme rear view of Trcasiare City — one or two houses. We pass a burned mill, and we pass the chosen sites of several cities whose existence was once grandly exhibited in San Francisco on paper, with the lots all marked at very moderate figures, and on very easy terms : cities that were never biarned, for the only reason that they were never built. One of Col. Clarkson's cities was pointed out ; also, the mouths of three of Col. Clarkson's silver mines, at one of which he once employed 35 mules and 350 men, and extracted 3,500 tons of bullion per month, at an average of not less than S35,000 in gold and $350,000 in silver. For all of which veracious and exhilarating information we are indebted, as we pass along, to Joe Clark— old Joe Clark, of Missouri— who spoke of and pointed out Col. Clarkson's sources of fabulous wealth with a dry air and tone of implicit faith which was too exquisite to call for laughter at that altitude, and too penetrating to admit of any less profound testimonial of appreciation than tears. We wept as we slid along the way, and meditated upon what had been owned and lost in those mountains by Col. Clark - son, of San Francisco ! As none of my audience are acquainted with Col. Clarkson, and there- fore cannot understand this part of my address, I will skip the remaining portion of my written reference to this Monte Cristo of Pogonip, and push on to Pioche ; only halting now to intimate that the Mountain Maid, and the Sailor Boy's Dehght, and the Queen of the HilU, which Joe Clark visited with Col. Clarkson, in 1869, were not graspingly and niggardly ex- hausted by Col. Clarkson ; but that, within the recesses of their tunnels, shafts, and drifts, there yet remains, to the hands of whomsoever will come and dig, as great riches as were ever extracted from their argentiferous surface. As we pass along, we see also the tramway, the iron elevated ra'lroad constructed by Mr. Hallidie, of San Francisco, for the great Treasiure Hill mines, leading down to their eighty- stamp mill. This elevated railway can hardly be called a success ; though recently its angles have been diminished in severity, and its length is to be somewhat shortened by bringing the new mill nearer to the point of deliverj' from the mine ; Mahomet Mill will kneel in stature- and go to the mountain. And then it is expected that better results will come, from the chain alterations. 1866 and 18G7, concerning national gifts and loansof credit in behalf of the Placerville route Company, had been favorably answered. Why was it not favorably answered ? Notwithstanding the ready perfidy of the persons sent by Nevada to the Senate of the United States, Congress would undoubtedly have given the aid required in the premises, but for the direct, and bitter, and incessant hostility of the leading newspapers of California to the project. The very journals which to-day are most vehement, which are strongest in their terms against the " Railroad Monopoly," are the very ones which derided the prophecies and •denounced the timely and legitimate efforts of the people of Nevada, six or seven years ago. There is not a character of oppression of which the " Railroad Monopoly " has been guilty, that was not literally described in the Nevada Legislatiires of '66 and '67, and set down in Nevada newspapers and other publications during those years, as sure to follow the failure to improve the opportune moment to successfully encourage and establish adjacent competition in trans-mountain railways. The richest and most aggressively enterprising Company then operating upon this Coast, as a land force, (I mean Wells, Fargo & Co.) was " pouring nut money like water " (to use the language of Sujoerintendent Bishop) in the building of a line of railway toward the western base terminus of the Sierra Nevada route, which had already been surveyed and profiled by the ablest railroad engineer then in the State of California. Had the Placerville and Washoe Railroad been completed, a competing line would imdoubtedly have been extended from the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada to Salt Lake. All Central and Southern Nevada would have been directly and speedily " opened " to San Francisco trade, by the main trunk and its con- templated branches ; pouring enormous wealth into the lap of our merchants, and gi\'ing great prosperity to all citizens engaged in traffic. Had that road been constructed, the indus- trial population of Nevada would have been ten times as great as now ; while San Francisco would have numbered nearly a quarter of a million of people, with its active business-moving capital more than double the present record. But it was not so to lie. No ejiithet was too severe for the Sacramento Union and the San Francisco RuUHin to utter against persons in the Legislature of Nevada who, with well known and conceded sacri- fice of personal, political ambition, and in defiance of every species of threat, and in disre- gard of the strongest kind of temptations, were struggling to obtain for the Placerville and Washoe Railro:!!! Company at least a right of way and a land grant margin across the moun- tains. These papt rs not only denounced the proposition to give bonds to this competing line— speaking in avowed behalf of the Central Pacific Railroad Company— but hurrahed •when, principally through their outside influence, the mere right of way was refused by Congress. And when a small land grant was finally obtained for a portion of the advancing At the first relay vro changed to a mud-wnKon. A few miles further on in the descent into the valley -we drive up beside a sleigh, and handle our baggage once more. A mile of sliding, and we tip up and tumble over, all tossed into the snow ; but at a very moderate delivery we all rise to say it was " just as we expected." That is not precisely what we mean ; biit is hon- estly as near the truth as we are capable of approaching during several minutes of extra- ordinary self-possession. The sleigh is righted heavily in response to our joint efforts, and we start on. But while we are pretending to congratulate ourselves on the fact that no bones were broken — as if there had been any danger in that soft bed on either side without an absolute tm-ning over of the box— over she rolled again ; this time with a sharper accent, as if some one who had put Tip the original job had remarked on this occasion : " Now I mean business." Just escaped the second turn of the body of the conveyance, which would have bruised something if we had not extricated ourselves from the point where the edge pushed into the snow. From this we take a decidedly new departure. The pioneer in the rear and myself in the front of the sleigh devoted ourselves to trimming ship ; crossing from one side to the other as the grade requested us. George Hearst and Senator Wilson did the talking. It is always agreeable to hear two rich men converse about their respective biographies when they are at leisure. They love the reminiscences for themselves ; they love to fondle over their lucky plans ; they don't object to having attentive listeners. So it was a pleasant ride from the second overthrow to within six miles of the foot of the descent and the end of the gorge or valley, through which the road passes into the meadows at Washburn's. At this point, six miles from Washburn's Station, we were to have been met by the stage from the south-east, and to have exchanged passengers and luggage. Here the snow gave o\it again, and the runners could slip no further. " What shall be done ? " was the inquiry of the driver ; the most intelligent and accommodating Knight of the Whip we had vouch- safed us on the journey. He was ready to accede to any proposition agreed ujion by the majority of the party. There was a " wagon bed," so termed by courtesy, built expressly to carry rails or some less dignified burden ; and that was the only conveyance at hand. It was now six o'clock, and growing dark. Should we stop, build a fire, and wait for the wagon line on the route from Sacramento — notoriously too late to be of any avail — that ^-as sneered at, as an off'er only to be tolerated because it would not be utilized for the benefit of the grand competing project. The people of California and Nevada owe their present railroad monopoly bondage, their present lack of cheap railroad facilities— the vast difference between what is with one rail- road over the Sierra Nevadas and through Nevada amd Utah, and what would have been with a competing line via Placcrville and across central Nevada, and central and southcm Utah — to the leading journals of California ; the very papers that before all others are now lifting up their voices in holy horror and condemnation against the '■ exactions of Stanford & Co." I have some warmth, as I think of the treachery and hypocrisy of these papers ; but I am stating the coldest history. I was amused very much by a recent dispatch in the " Associated Press " of California, dated from New York ! stating that the people of Nevada were also decidedly opposed to the railroad monopoly, and instancing some action at Elko. Why, when the people of Nevada were almost unanimous in crying out for preventive relief and benefits on the railroad question — giving particulars of the thralldom that would be established otherwise — the Union and BuUelin were the stipendiaries of Stanford & Co., and ready to defame any one who vigorously foretold the reign of the railroad magnates on this coast. Have the people forgotten these things ? Of course, the people of Nevada were in a better position, geographically and otherwise, to discover in advance the conditions of the Central Pacific Railroad monopoly than the people of California. When it became manifest that in the sections where they had largest circulation the great majority was aroused to their wrongs under the MonoiJoly— then, and not till then, the Union and Bnlletin, believing that more was to be made by appearing to serve the people than by avowedly doing the bidding of Stanford & Co. — (the 'Bulletin also having a contingent in the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad swindle) — ceased to be the mouth pieces of the Railroad Company, and sent their hireling quilldrivers into their editorial minarets to call their com- munities to emanciiiation prayer ! And the people seem to have forgotten recent history. True, there are many new comers among us. But surely the people of Nevada have occasion to bear this history in mind. Nevada would have aided the Placerville and Washoe Railroad Company, under an amended constitution, or by large county grants, if the work had been commenecd and l^rosecuted to the first mountain summit. Three counties of Nevada have furnislnd the means, with the mine contributions, to build for Mr. William Sharon a railroad from Reno to Virginia City, which is said to be paying a profit of J3,000 per day— nearly two millions of dollars per annum. The railroad from Placerville over the mountains to Carson Valley — 10 — which was momentarily expected ; or should we strap the baggage ou the four-wheeled frame work that had boen left at the meeting point as a tender, and take the best chances we could in alternately riding on the ridge of trunks, satchels, bullion bars and mail sacks, and walk- ing on the sagebrush line ou either side of the track ? It seemed to be unanimous that we should move on. All hands busily at work in unbinding and reloading the freight. Thirty minutes required for this work. Wilson and Hearst walked ahead. The full moon began to make itself felt as a light unto our feet. As we mount the tip-top of the luggage and commence our journey anew to pursue, we find it is far more agreeable than we had antic- ipated. In fact, it was exceedingly pleasant at first : this moonlight drive down this beauti- ful cafion. Now for brevity's sake, take the original skeleton memoranda : Caught up with Hearst and Wilson within a mile and a half. Began to make time as the road grew better. At the three mile post the driver said he would " let 'em slide." He did " let 'em slide." Passengers had to hold on. Conversation grew les.s boisterous ; more at- tention jjaid to position. Occasional instances wherein the superstructure above the rail bottom of the wagon appeared to lift in awful unanimity, as a rock was despised but not dis- placed, and the quick obedience thereafter to the inexorable laws of gravitation resulted in a sickening sensation at the pit of the stomach. Nothing was said except by George Hearst — once. He mentioned Horace Greeley's name once. He was equally interrupted by us all ; and we all prepared to laugh at our simultaneous mesmeric consciousness of each other's ap- preciation of the reference, when again a flying earthquake occurred, and we retained our sobriety ; and some of us looked at Hearst as if we thought his mention of Horace was a little like mocking a serious matter. The driver yelled, " Slide 'em, Fanny ; slide 'em ! Hi yi ! " And they slid. As we approached Washburn's, the canon grew narrower every moment. Now it was not more than one eighth of a mile wide, at a mile distant from the station. The moon, however, came up straight in front of us, and poured her strongest beams right down upon our pathway ; the six horses— splendid animals— answered the encouragement of the driver with apparantly ever-increasing swiftness. There were no more thumping u^jheavals, but a sense of spinning along at a rate that would be dangerous in case of something break- ing or getting a little loose. We enjoyed the scenery ; we were delighted with the moon ; we admired the rushing steeds ; but we were thinking of something else most of the time during the single hour which was exhausted in our ride from the open, extemporized, unat- tended station at the foot of the descent proper, to the door of Washburn's hotel. O I how glad we were to reach the station ; to get out of the canon and the wagon. Be- cause we were cold ; because we were hungry. All except George Hearst. He was glad for more. He was fairly churned into decent candor of confession. As he stretched down he would have cost about $12,000,000. It would evidently have paid for itself in eight or ten years, at farthest, without calculating upon an extension from Carson Valley to the East. And who can estimate all the benefits? all the comparative advantages? For this consum- mation the people of Nevada intelligently insisted and labored, in public meetings and in legislative bodies ; beating up always against the influence — alas ! too potent — of the two leading journals of California. The moral is this : Our people must iinderstand that they have to rescue themselves from the hands of monopolists. Our leading journals are wholly unreliable. They are now and have been for years spoon-fed by the greatest monopoly in the country — the Western Union Telegraph — and land, and railroad, water, gas, grain, coal and oil monopolies have their in- terested support, until the rebelling will of the people begins to produce a popular and un- avoidable incredulity as to the assumed honesty. The greatest curse of California, I may say of this Coast, has been its venal leading Press. And even now, do you ever hear a ijractical, ready remedy suggested for the Kailroad Monopoly, from the quarter above named ? No. The remedy is with Congress — quick, sharp, sweeping. The House of Representatives once passed a resolution cutting down the rates of rail- road fare on the transcontinental road one half. A Pacific Coast Senator pocketed the reso- lution. That Senator returned to this Coast after this great act of outrage and perfidy, and with the hearty endorsement of the Union and Bulletin, was reelected to the seat ho then and now eminently disgraces. When this Senator was canvassing for reelection, and after his high crime against the people had been publicly exposed, he bought off a little rival [who had always, himself, closet intercourse with Stanford & Co.] with promises of Federal offices, from Minister down to tide-waiter. And now the Minister, who was appointed by this bargain, comes back from a foreign shore to play champion of the people against the Kailroad Company, in the aspi- rant-character of candidate for United States Senator. And the Union and BuUdin ai'e choice in their commendations of the little creature. This is a funny world I — 11 — declared that "this may be a good sort of thing for a mile or two, but for an all-night's bus- iness it would be monotonous." So the proi)osition to move on from the station that night, instead of laying over, didn't meet with decisive favor. As we ate much at the wholesome supper board, we talked somewhat of the folly that would have been exhibited if we had waited for the stage up yonder. A folly which became more palpable when we awoke next morning at six o'clock and ascertained that the over-due conveyance had not even then arrived. At seven o'clock, however, it made its appearance, with three passengers, including one of the proprietors of the Pioche Stage Line ; and we all breakfasted together, and exchanged items on the condition of the roads. Washburn's Station is worthy of a paragrajih of description. It is situated at the very throat of the gorge, which is at least four miles in length, and at the opposite end of a gently descending valley, which is at least six miles long. At this point the road passes south-east into a continually widening valley or "bottom" some five miles in length. If you take a maiJ (the Chronicle's map will do) you will observe that the road from Palisade to Pioche is zig-zag, determined at different ijlaces by the location of the settlements intervening, and by the nature of the country. You are going about south-east as you strike "Washburn's. You turn perhaps one or two degrees easterly when you pass his door. "Washburn's Hotel is a one-story structure, 25 or 30 feet long, by 10 wide, with a 7-foot ceiling. One-third, and the older portion of this " Station," is constructed of stone and logs and the rudest kind of mortar, in about equal proportions. Two-thirds of the building are entirely of wood, rough, a patched rather than a thatched roof, half shingled and half mud paste. In the iirst and elder portion of the building is the reception-room, with a paved floor, a wide, open fire-place, two bunks, one above another, and at this time of sojourning a Western Union Telegraph oflice. It was nine o'clock when we arrived at "Washburn's. Driver's question again : ' ' Shall we wait here for the stage, or drive on ?" Verdict of " wait " — after several ineffectual efforts to obtain through the telegraph information from Pioche as to whether the stage that was to meet us had started out at a given hour. Now here was an opportunity to have felt with emphatic interest the benefits of the telegraph in this lonely place. But the yoimg man at Pioche was unwilling to bestir himself so far as to cross the street and ascertain the news we wished ; in which unwillingness and inefficiency and plain refusal he admirably sustained the character of the great telegraph monopoly of the land. After supping, sleeping, and breakfasting, we had a space of a few moments in which to notice the Nation by daylight. For, I repeat, it is in itself a curiosity. It is biiilt back against a rocky hill-side. The gate into the corral, which closely adjoins the house, is be- tween two natural pillars of stone, seventeen to twenty feet high, separated for the passages about two and a-half feet. The "old man" "Washburn was reported to have named these pillars masonically. The " old lady" is tired of this border life and wishes to return to California. But the old men and the boys (the latter occasionally relieving the regular drivers on the stage route) love the present location and prospects. So this is likely to remain "Washburn House until the railroad is built. At eight o'clock in the morning our joiuney is resumed; passing Meadow "Valley fourteen miles easterly, then through Dry "Valley twenty-two miles southerly. Then turning up to the east direct and crossing Patterson Mountains, a distance of seventeen miles. The summit of those mountains is six hundred feet above Dry "Valley, from which we ascend in going to- wards Pioche, and four himdred feet above the "Valley road, which leads from the eastern base of the Patterson range to the mining camps at the south. "We reached Patterson's station at eleven o'clock at night ; passing on our way through deserted mining camps which at one time promised to be equal in population and business development to the camp of Pioche, or any other mineral-bearing center. Patterson's Station is situated within about a mile of the eastern foot of the mountain. "We roused the landlord, injudiciously ordered supper and ate heartily, and camped down in close quarters, heads and points, on the bar room floor, in true travelers' style. A Chinaman woke us up at five with loud stamping and shrieking announcements for breakfast. •'Here,-get up, you damn! what for hell you sleep all day for. Never get to Pioche. Breakfast get all damn cold." Here the host checked the articulating gong by the assurance that the passengers were all roused up. This Chinaman was a graduate of one of the Mission Schools of San Francisco. 12 Au(l now at seven o'clock we are on the home stretch. A descent of two or three hundred feet into the great valley which points directly into Piochc ; and by the aid of foiir prescribed relays, over a tolerably good road, at three o'clock we find ourselves taking the first sight of the mining capital of Southern Nevada. Half way up on the mountain range to which we suddenly turned from a southerly direction, our course now bearing more to the west, we discovered two or three hundred house or cabin roofs, which still retain and show the gloss of new shingling, sitting — with a single short straight street line exception — in a constantly rising inflection. Can this be Piochc? "That is Pioche, which we have travelled about 280 miles by stage to see." The driver immediately informed us that we really have in view about one-half of the town ; Meadow Valley and Cedar, two considerable streets, and a portion of Main street extending on to the Raymond and Ely works, being, as yet, hidden from sight. As we gradually approach we have more and more house roof and side brought under notice, until we turn to the south at a distance of a half or three quarters of a mile from the town, when the main street, as well as the short spur of Lacour street, is within the direct line of vision. Well, here is Pioche. A wonderful mining camp to be situated at this dis- tance from the railway. "Pioche," which strikes you at first with the conviction that it is a place which is at the end of a long and severe journey. It may strike you secondly, that it is very like every other prosperous side-mountain camp in Nevada that you have ever visited. It occurs to you thirdly, that it is incredible that there have been 7,000 inhabitants here within the past three years, to remain for one period of twelve months. You do not now realize that it contains 3,000 adult population. The driver begins to point out the locations of the different mines which are situated immediately back of the town on the sharply rising mountain sides. But you check him to inquire as to the new mill on your left, that is fully constructed but apparently unused. That is the Flowery mill, erected under the superintendence of Jake Clark. And it is supposed that Joe Clark comes to help place it upon a business footing. It has not been at work yet. And here we notice, a few rods above this mill, half a mile or more from town, two grave- yards. The driver replies to our inquiry, " That is the Odd Fellows', that the Masons' ceme- tery." And he informs us that an unfenced area is a public cemetery, in which repose the bones and ashes of 112 men, — adding with probable exaggeration : " Seven of which died a natural death." The last two men who died with their boots on were buried there the day before yesterday. And in so telling, this driver seemed also to have a pride of history in such a matter. We have touched the suburbs of Pioche, and as we slowly move up the hill on a grade increasing from ten to twenty feet, we take the driver's enumeration of the mines and listen with thoroughly absorbed interest, until we reach the edge of a crowd of not less than fifteen hundred persons, which fills Main Street from the junction of Lacour up to the Express office — a distance of about 350 feet. Pioche is situated in what might be properly termed the " bite" of four distinct hills on the mountain range. Here on the right, as you commence the ascent into the town, is a lime- stone hill. Passing around its individual base, a mile perhaps, and you come to a hill of quartzite, on which the Raymond & Ely, Hermes, Kentucky, Pioche-Phoenix, Newark, Ingo- mar, and other claims are located— the Panaca Flat claims proper. Half a mile of travel on the breast of this hill, over the most northerly portion of the course, and you come to the Meadow Valley range, which is also quartzite. This is divided from the last mentioned (Raymond & Ely) hill by a depression of something near 70 feet in the top of the hill : a road running up from the end of Main Street proper through this depression. On this hill are the various Meadow Valley mines, the works of which are in the breast of the hill—that is about half way up from the town. Above the Meadow Valley are the Huhn & Hunt, Chap- man, American Flag, and half-a-dozen other mines of less celebrity. This range runs in aa easterly and westerly direction. There is a hill or mountain spur, extending northerly from the breast of this quartzite movmtain side, on which the Meadow Valley mines are situated, of limestone formation. Suppose Telegraph Hill to represent the Raymond & Ely segment of the mountain circle, and Russian Hill, as far as Pine Street, to represent the Meadow Valley range ; and then sup- pose that from Pine Street there should extend this hill of limestone, striking out directly toward the Bay : th.it will give you some idea—and, I think, not altogether a vague one— of the ] — 13 — two promontories of wealth, with one of the limestone projections. This last-described hill runs north a quarter of amile, and is, so far as ascertained, valueless as a mineral-bearingbody . So you perceive that Pioche is almost in an amphitheatre— with uo valley, plain, or regular bowl, it is true ; with one outlook northerly, looking out into an immense valley view, the upper end of which extends beyond the vision, and in fact, as already noted, is traveled clear up to the Patterson Ascent, from which we have just arrived. Main Street runs up at a steep incline, say like Washington Street, from Montgomery to Taylor. Then it slightly deflects to the right and sinks in Panaca Flat. Out from Main Street, in an easterly direction, is Meadow Valley Street, at about the center of the most populous portion of the town. And above one hundred feet, in the same general direction from Main Street, is Cedar Street ; but it ultimately, and at a distance, I should judge, of about 400 feet, runs into and connects with Meadow Valley Street. Meadow Valley Street is dedicated to saloons and such like places of entertainment. Cedar Street, from its point of departure from Main Street, is of a respectable kind. It has a school house, two churches. Episcopal and Catholic, and three handsome residences, with a filling in of hum- ble, but decent cottages. Lacour Street branches oflf from Main Street, about half way up the town from the Hay Corrals, which latter forms, of com-se, the first definite limits of the camp. Lacour Street runs uearlv level for a distance of 800 feet. Al)out 400 feet from the corner of Main and Lacour is the Court House, a structure com- posed of stone and brick, in about equal parts, of the size of two stories of the Young Men's Christian Association building in this city. It cost the county in the neighborhood of S125,- 000 ; but the contractors who were engaged in the work were not ruined by the outlay. In this building the celebrated Raymond and Ely vs. Hermes case was tried— the largest min- ing case, the most hotly contested, and actually, by virtue of the title set up and most ably and vigorously urged on the part of the plaintiff, involving greater interests than were ever before staked in any similar encounter on this Coast. But I am admonished that the time appropriated for my use in this place, on one occa- sion, has expired. A more complete and systematic description of this most remarkable mining camp ; a narrative of the great mining trial, " all of which I saw and part of which I was ;" with personal descriptions of the judge, lawyers, witnesses and others connected there- with ; nn account of a trip to Bullionville and the Mormon town of Panaca, twelve miles distant from Pioche, and a description of the Warm Springs and the Mills in that vicinity ; the nan-ative of a somewhat lengthy and detail interview with the celebrated Mother Lee (who superintended and carried on the Indian war of 1866-7, in this neighborhood) ; and a description of Eureka, and a mining trial there ; these must all be reluctantly set aside at this time— perhaps to be submitted to you in this place on some future occasion. So with vivid personal recollections of the scene, I now plant myself squarely on Panaca Flat, and bid you Good Night. W. K. VANDERSLICE. I- THOMPSON. W. K. VANDERSLICE & CO. Manufacture and Sell all kinds of Solid Silver Ware, Wholesale and Retail, 13 fi Sutter St., Opposite Lich House. Repairing of Silver Ware promptly attended to. Plating, Eeplatiug, Gilding and Engraving done in the best manner. H. S. CROCISER c& CO. ^TATIOl^ERS, N. W. Corner of Sansome and Sacramento Streets, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Importer Carpets, Oil Cloths, Window Shades, Etc. 040 • * * » Geo. Khakk GnrLi;Y, Esq., Ed- itor of the Freemason, "'t. Louis: "I would not take sWOOO for mv Reaction \rv Lifter if I could not replace it, so l)eneficial have I found its u.sc." « * * " Deserves all the 8ttentii>n claimed for it,"— y/ie Nation. * * * "In female weaknesses, of the highest importance."— Edward Bay Alio, ;m. D. * * * " A perfect pan-athletic system of Rxercise,"—TKOf. F. O. %VELcn, Chair of Physical Culture, Yale College. * » ♦ " invaluable for persons of sedentary hab- its. "—T. W.'f'oLBURK, Esq., Secretary Meadow Valley Mining Coinnany. .San Francisco * * * " Cures Functional Diseases by causing a more complete renewal of arterial Mood in the flnesteapil- larles THAN CAN BE secured liv any other known .means."— Dr. David Wooster, of San Fran- cisco. * * * "Regular everelse on the Reactionary Lutkr renders chiM-l.irth almost painless."— 11 M. Ryland, M. D. * * * Henry Ward Brkchku conimenils it to " all per- sons whose avocations severelv tax the brain, and to all whose nervous system is run down. It gives thorough exercise with little fatigue, and with hut little loss of time." * « • Prof. J. P. BuMsrRAD, M. I) of the Collene of Physicians and Saraeons, savs: " as a means ef retaining, and In certain cases of disease, of regaining health. I reearif it of great value." * ♦ * Elder Miles Grant s.nvs: "We have visited the ' Healih Lift" rooms, at ()(i6 Montgomery street. San Francisco. Ciil.: and were delighted with the newly invented machine of Rev. Charles II. JIann, of Orange, JT. .1. It is admirably adapted for the object designed. It is cheaper, smaller, more easily adjusted, and movp effective for good than anything of the kind we have ever seen. It is a irell-settled fact that the ^ LiftiiHj Cure'' is one of the best menns of restorino and preserving health. We would recommend all to trv it who can have the opportunity. Every family should have one of these ' Reactionary Liners.' as ihev are called If their value was oiily known, many families would be willing to lav aclde their costly furniture, or appnrel. for the sake at getting the 'Reaetion.ary IJtler.' We have no Interest in speaking on this tulijcct but the welfare of our iViends. 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