Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities

by George Payson

There was a peculiar charm about those evening parties that is often wanting in more elegant assemblies. The scene thus presented would have made a fine subject for Hogarth. The flickering light of the fire burning in the huge chimney shone on a group of men with coarse woollen shirts and unshorn faces, leaning on their elbows round the rude table, and fixing their eyes with eager interest on the paunchy bags that lay before the Captain, and the gold which he was nicely adjusting in the scales by means of his forefinger and thumb, as if it had been so much genuine Irish Blackguard. A crowd of spectators stand looking on, either men hired by the company, or miners in the red bank. Hairy rheumatic Bill, the Captain's cook, with ladle in hand, alternates from the table to the fire, divided between a fierce avaricious love of his half share and a more tender solicitude for the soup simmering in the corner. "Well, Capting, how much has us got to-night?" says Jimmy, and "How much to a sheer?" cries a Missourian sitting on the lower end of the long table, and craning his neck and goggling his eyes after a most alarming fashion. Our three shares, as being the largest undivided portion, were first weighed out, and received in a wide-mouthed vial. Then the Captain, with peculiar satisfaction, set aside a double portion for himself—then as much more for Jimmy. The half shares, of which at one time there were six, came last. All that was scattered on the table was magnanimously left for old Bill. The same jokes were repeated regularly every evening, and never failed of a favourable reception. "Well, Mr. Raven, your bottle isn't full yet," says Jimmy, with a chuckle. The Captain laments the necessity of taking care of so much of the plaguey stuff; when instantly half a dozen disinterested individuals offer to relieve him of the trouble, to which his only reply is an abstracted laugh. The largest sum divided on these occasions was fourteen hundred dollars, or one hundred and forty to a share, which in those days was considered very tolerable mining.

Nor was the labour itself entirely devoid of excitement. Whenever a remarkably rich spot was discovered, or there was an unusual "show" in any of the rockers, nothing would do but all must come and see it. "Well, boys! I say, just look a here;" and presently half a score of eager heads are thrust together over the cradle, or down into some crevice among the rocks lighted up with a right fairy splendour with spangles of pure gold. When all other epithets have been exhausted, some one exclaims, "Well! that's real lousy! that is!" a most felicitous comparison, at least to the ears of a Californian.

But in the mean time trouble was brewing in a direction where none of us looked for it. Ours was the first of a long series of claims extending in unbroken succession some distance below Mormon Island. A gap had remained in this chain for several weeks, the second company below us not having finished their flume so soon as the others, and in the mean time a second dam had been erected by the South Fork company still farther down the river. But when the company first mentioned had completed their preparations, they insisted upon the removal of this dam, as it backed the water into their claim; and threatened, if their request were not complied with, to tear it down with their own hands. The South Fork finally yielded the point, and now our dam answered for a dozen companies, covering an extent of nearly two miles. The river ran for this distance sometimes in wooden flumes, and sometimes, as with us, in canals; and as considerable water escaped from these artificial channels, and as there were, besides, hollows of different dimensions requiring to be drained in every claim, it was necessary for the success of the whole that this water should all be pumped back into the flumes and not suffered to flow into those below. There were several reasons why we should not be required to enter into this arrangement. In the first place, our company being older than those next below, we had the undisputed right, according to the universal law of the mines, to work in the way most suited to our convenience. Furthermore, as only one of the other companies had built a dam, and that was a very slight affair, while we had laboured for weeks for the common advantage, we thought they could not reasonably object to so slight a leakage, especially as, if they had built one, they would still have had at least an equal quantity of water to contend with. But it is in vain to expect reason from envy and disappointed avarice. One day about the middle of August, Captain Sampson having been down to the village, returned in great excitement with the information that a large party of miners, consisting of members of the lower companies, were already on their march to destroy our engine. We heard no more of it, however, at that time, and members of the companies with whom we were acquainted assuring us that they had no such design, we hoped the storm had blown over. But less than a week after, a large party came upon us while we were at work in the river, "to make us," as they said, "take care of our leak water." Not one of them seemed to know exactly what he had to complain of—they had not yet succeeded according to their expectations, and in some way we were to blame. They evidently had an idea that a vast body of water was sent down upon them from our claim, either made by the engine or from some other mysterious source; but more than all, though we did not learn this till afterwards, they hated Captain Sampson and those Ravens, they were so stuck up. Still we had no fears they would proceed to actual violence, since one of our company could, by toppling a few stones into our race, raise the river sufficiently to flow over the top of our dam, when it would have been instantly washed away, and the whole accumulated flood precipitated bodily upon all below, involving them in one common destruction. After a long farrago of words, which it would be in vain to dignify by the name of argument, they proposed building a dam at the foot of our claim to catch the water then flowing from our engine. To this we made no objection, as our upper hollow would be exhausted in a few days, and we had already agreed with the company immediately below to pump the water from the lower one into their flume on condition of their providing a trough long enough for the purpose. Though this difficulty was thus disposed of, yet the impression it produced was so deep and lasting, and the idea of continuing in such a state of warfare was so repugnant to our feelings that we determined to hasten our departure as much as possible.

To avoid the troublesome task of moving the engine we drained the second hole, which was quite small, by means of an immense wooden pump requiring three men to work it. They were relieved every half hour by a second set, and thus the work went on day and night, till the water was low enough to admit of a thorough exploration, and we found there was hardly gold enough to pay us for the expense of pumping.

The lowest, and by far the largest, hollow still remained, and to this we now directed all our energies. As there was no place on the bank sufficiently level to set up our engine, and as we had already experienced the inconvenience of a stationary support, we determined to build a flatboat large enough to contain the engine, pump, and all its appendages. The boat was christened by Capt. Sampson the Hoosier or Who za? and was, I believe, the first steamboat ever built on the American River, if not in California. It answered the purpose admirably, falling with the water and thus keeping the pump always level with the surface. We had need of every advantage, for besides the great extent of the hole, we were obliged, in order to comply with our agreement, to raise the water some fifteen feet above its average level; and it was nearly a week before we were able to resume our mining operations. The untiring engine was kept at work day and night; but as our engineer, though a very clever fellow, was not made of the same material, it was necessary to provide him with an assistant.

I occupied this responsible situation for a few hours, and must confess I felt no slight degree of elation at my preferment. I always had an infinite respect for one of your mammoth steam-engines, which seem to me to furnish the best instance of magnanimity that can anywhere be found; and our little spitfire, though it could claim no such distinction, yet attracted me by its patient indefatigable industry and honesty of purpose, so that I fairly loved it as if a man's heart were beating under its closely-buttoned iron jacket.

It is the fashion to talk of the present century as in the highest degree unromantic and prosaic; yet there is more real romance and poetry in the engines of the Baltic than in all the barbaric pomp of the middle ages. While I was not occupied in attending to the simple wants of my humble work-fellow, I amused myself with watching the dragon-flies riding tandem over the water, or balancing with wonderful rigidity on the little twigs that rose above the surface. In the evening the funnel sent forth a swarm of ephemera that returned no more to the parent hive, but went dancing away over the black water till they disappeared beneath it. They seemed like a wedding troop of fairies in torchlight procession, escorting one of their number to espouse a spirit of the wave. As they approached the water, a second troop appeared coming to meet then; and each in turn, some with a sudden plunge, others with a coquettish, sidling motion, rushed into the arms of their partners, blowing out their torches at the moment of their embrace to hide their burning blushes.

While I indulged in these idle fancies, the homely little engine by my side still worked on, though wondering perhaps at my long silence; twelve o'clock soon came, and with it the one who was to relieve me. I picked my way darkling across the rocky channel—ran rapidly up the river, and in a few minutes was fast asleep.

Wednesday, Sept. 3. Our claim being by this time nearly worked out, St. John sold his share for a few hundred dollars, and the next day I disposed of mine for the same price. Soon after we struck a rich streak, and I was extremely vexed at having sold. The purchaser, on learning that the company was in debt to a trifling amount, felt equally indisposed to the bargain, and the share returned into my possession.

Two o'clock, p. m. St. John sorry he sold—evening cloudy, night, a slight shower—Friday morning, more rain—very dismal—sorry I did not sell. The man who bought St. John's share comes to our tent in positive agony, and offers fifty dollars to be released from his bargain. Eleven a. m. brighter—ten p. m. water low—shares high—rich dirt—offered the same for my share as yesterday—refused.