Some one asked Syd how he got out. He said that at times he was at the top, and sometimes they were five or six deep and he was at the bottom of the pile, but he managed, by rolling, tumbling and crawling occasionally, with a hop, skip and a jump, to get outside before the stove blew up, and acknowledged that Anderson had got even.
Soon after the hanging of Irish Dick in the fall of ’50, the question of hanging a culprit in that promiscuous manner was objected to by many, and Syd opposed it strongly upon the grounds that, as a general rule, the hardest characters in the camp would be the first to pull on the rope and cry “Hang him!” as was the case when Dick was hung, the majority of those who were the most eager to hang him being men of the lowest class.
Syd claimed that if a man were to run through the town, followed by others who cried “Hang him! Hang him!” this crowd of ignorant barroom loafers would join in the chase and hang the man, if they caught him, without asking any question, and simply upon general principles and from the excitement of the occasion. To prove this it was agreed that a young man present should run down the street, a few others should follow in his wake and cry “Hang him!” The young man started as agreed upon, and before he reached the corner of Coloma street a dozen barroom loafers had caught him, and with a rope around his neck were using him in a very rough manner. No doubt they would have injured him severely, even if they had not hung him, but for the interference of Syd and others, who explained the joke as well as the object in playing it.
CHAPTER XIII.
Emigration of ’51—Churches Erected—Mines Deserted—The Chinese Miners—Hill, River and Quartz Mining—Nature Frowns—The Course of Events Change—Fruit Raising—Prospecting—On the Home Stretch.
IN the fall of ’51 there was a very heavy emigration across the plains, from the Western States principally, which I heard estimated at 25,000, but whether it was as much as this I cannot say. Great numbers, also, who had traveled by water during the fall and winter of ’51, came up into the mining regions, and the estimate was made that in Eldorado County alone there were in the spring of ’52 fully 30,000 persons, while in the mining regions there were nearly 100,000. Of this number only a small proportion engaged in the business of mining, the great majority consisting of business men including saloon-keepers, idlers, loafers, and a large number of sporting men. From observation, I should judge that less than one-tenth of those who came into the mining regions up to this time engaged in the business of mining.
It was during the spring of this year that the first newspaper, called the Eldorado News, was started in the mining regions by Harmon & Springer. It changed hands in ’52, I think, its name being altered to that of The Mountain Democrat, under the management of Gilwicks & Phillips.
It was the intention of many up to this time (about ’52 and ’53) to return home after a few years; but now the time had arrived when orchards were blooming upon the hillsides, and the grapevines could be seen bending under their luscious burdens, the prevalent question appearing to be, Why not stay and make our homes here? The society in the mining regions, as was doubtless the case in the towns and cities, was somewhat mixed, and at first social conditions were rather strained, owing, of course, to the difference in the manners and customs of the natives of the different States and countries from which they had emigrated. This state of affairs did not last long, however, and society soon adapted itself to such changed conditions, and continued upon a more favorable basis. Churches were erected in all the chief mining towns by the various denominations; school districts were formed at an earlier day, and school-houses were erected throughout the mining counties, not only in the chief towns, but also in all of the various mining camps that contained children enough to start one.
In the dry seasons of ’50-’53, when water was scarce in the placer mining districts, large numbers proceeded to prospect the beds of other rivers, both north and south, finding that almost every stream, from the Klamath, Trinity and Scott rivers of the North, to the Stanislaus and other rivers of the South, contained gold in paying quantities. Dams, ditches, tail races, wing dams and flumes were built at the most available points in the various rivers, and immense fortunes were realized by a few persons. River mining partakes of the same nature and character as other mining, and although the exact location was known in the river where the rich deposits were to be found, yet the trouble and expense, as well as the uncertainty and risk in getting it, offset to a great extent the value of the amount acquired; for, in some cases, miners were compelled to dam and flue three and even four years in succession before being able to get to work among the pay gravel in the river bed.
Frequent losses were entailed in consequence of the breaking away of dams, caused by rains in the mountains above coming upon them unexpectedly and carrying away flumes, tools, etc., just as everything was about ready for commencing the work of washing the pay dirt.