The Gold Rush
The gold rush to California was no new thing when Jack and his friends
crossed the craggy heights of Nevada, and reached the green valleys to
the west. Indeed it was already some years since the first of that long
stream of eager individuals had pushed across the plains with the object
of discovering gold. Some had made huge fortunes, many had made simply a
living, while not a few had failed miserably.
"And a tidy sight of the poor things has left their bones out on them
plains," said Tom, when discussing the matter. "I mind the time when
America went mad about this here gold rush. Everyone was fer throwin' up
a good and steady job, and ample wages, ter get over to Californy and
try his luck. And in the minin' camps yer could meet the hard-working
navvy, the store clerk, the doctor, the lawyer, and a host of others.
There war men who had lost their all way back east, and fer whom the
finding of gold meant everything. Mostly they was disappointed, 'cos
gold diggin' aer a gamble, and gamblin' aer a game that ain't never safe
ter play unless yer kin afford ter lose. Even then it ain't good. A man
was meant ter take up a settled job, and put his back into it. Gamblers
hope ter make a pile and live easy on it fer a time without troublin' to
work. Wall, that ain't right. Men like that ain't much good ter their
country."
"Hear, hear!" called out Steve.
"Yer see," went on Tom, "me and Steve was hunters first, and huntin'
ain't a steady job, as it war. It includes makin' money as best we
could, and it so happened that him and me was Californy way at the very
right moment. We struck up pals, and went into partnership, and thar yer
are. Wall, as I was sayin', yer could meet most any sort of man at the
diggin's. The cut-throat and robber, as wasn't much good ter no one. The
foreigner, the English gentleman, sailors and soldiers. Some came across
the plains. A tidy few crossed Panama, and took ship ter 'Frisco. And
thar they war, diggin' fer their lives, lookin' cross-eyed at their
neighbours, lest they should strike a pile fust. This here Californy's
chock-full of minin' camps that's been abandoned and worked out. All
them diggers settled on the easiest and most likely spots, and yer may
take it that they've cleared the gold most everywhar whar it war easy
ter get at. It ain't no longer any use comin' along and stakin' claims
and workin' 'em. Ye've got ter prospect a heap, and then set up a plant
bigger than any of them first diggers had."
"And ye've got ter settle down ter hard work," burst in Jacob.
"Ye have that," agreed Tom. "What do yer boys thar think of doin'? Me
and Steve and Jack thar aer partners, as yer all know. We've lumped in a
goodish sight of money, and we've got sufficient plant ter tackle any
job. But we shall be wantin' labour."
"And six men ain't too many," said Steve quickly, lookin' across at
Jacob.
Tom and Steve and Jack had talked the matter over on the previous day,
and it had been agreed amongst them that they should invite the six
scouts who had accompanied them across the plains to become their
partners.
"Yer see," said Steve, when broaching the matter to Tom and our hero,
"tain't like takin' on men as we don't know. Jacob and the other boys
has proved themselves real pals, and we kin trust 'em. It would pay us
all ter go on as we aer."
"Look here, boys," cried Tom, facing the six men, "me and my mates has
been having a jaw, and we decided we'd get to and ax yer ter come in
along with us. We want help, willing help, and guess yer want work.
Wall, now, there's seventeen Indian hosses, and away here in Californy
horse flesh is mighty scarce jest now, and hard ter get. Ef we sold 'em
we should make a fine lot of dollars, 'specially ef we didn't do a deal
in too great a hurry. I mean, we could sell one here, another thar, and
so on, gettin' good prices all the time. Then, once we've located a spot
as seems likely, we kin get to and sell some of the team. Our saddle
hosses kin pull the cart later on, if it aer needed ter get moved. Yer
share of them seventeen hosses would give yer a little bit to put into
the partnership. We'd pay yer so much wages ef yer didn't like that
arrangement. But seems to me yer could each buy an interest. Then we all
work fer the common good. Ef it pans out rich, we share according to the
interest each man has. Ef we strike a bad egg, wall----"
"Yer try and try agin," laughed Jacob. "Now, look ye here, Tom, and you,
Steve, and that 'ere Carrots. We've took to yer proper. There ain't been
a sore word among us these past months. Wall, nat'ral like, we've been
wonderin' what we'd do once we struck Californy. We aer here fer
diggin', and sence ye're the same, why, we kinder estimated as ye'd be
axin' us this question. We aer ready ter come in on these terms, and we
think the offer handsome. Rightly, sence this here outfit aer yourn,
them hosses we took from the Injuns aer yourn also. But sence you'll
divide square, why, that aer a good sign that we'll get on friendly in
this new venture. Me and my mates'll stand in ter win or lose. Seems ter
me, seein' as we have some dollars ter work on, and needn't therefore
rush at the job, as we stand an uncommon good chance."
It took but a little time to complete the arrangements, and accordingly
the little party halted outside the first town they came to, where a
lawyer drew up the proper agreements. Meanwhile a purchaser had been
found for the Indian horses, which fetched a good price, and the share
that Jacob and his five friends obtained allowed of their buying quite a
respectable interest in the firm, though they would not, of course, have
such a large interest as was held by Tom and Steve and Jack. A couple of
days later they shook the dust of the town from their feet, and, with
their cart replenished with sugar, flour, and other simple necessaries,
took to the road again.
"There aer a gulch as me and Tom spotted last time we was over here,"
said Steve that evening. "We allowed as we'd make fer it when we came
here agin, fer it promises somethin'. It aer been clean worked out in
the flats by diggers."
"But that don't say as there ain't gold left," added Tom. "You, mates,
haven't no experience of diggin', it seems, and so I'll tell yer a bit
about it. Reckon gold aer been washin' outer the rocks of the mountains
hereabouts fer centuries. It has got floated along in the streams, and
where they run swift it hasn't settled. But as soon as ever it has
reached a spot where the ground is flat, them 'ere specks of gold has
come down to the bottom. In course of ages, what with dirt and gravel
and sichlike, the bed of the river aer got filled bung up, and the water
aer made a different course. Diggers has staked claims whar thar's been
some old river bed, and have dug the gold from the gravel. They've took
pretty well every ounce by now from sich sort of places; but they ain't
by a long chalk got all the dust thar is in this country. Steve and me
struck a gulch that seemed likely, and we're goin' thar to prospect."
It took the party another three weeks to find and reach the gulch of
which Steve had spoken, and, once arrived, they set about prospecting in
earnest for gold.
"Yer can see whar the old diggers came and dug their claims," explained
Steve to Jack. "Everywhar down in the flats thar's holes and heaps of
dirt. But none of them seed what Tom and me did. This gulch is narrow
and flat; the sides come in suddenly, and rise to somewheres about four
hundred feet. And up thar there's a big kind of tableland that runs back
fer miles. Wall, now, the stream that come into the gulch back in them
early times aer moved, else the miners wouldn't have been able ter stake
their claims. Yer can't see it now, but ef yer ride ten miles up the
gulch ye'll find it pouring over a cliff and crashin' down ter the
bottom. Do yer see what I'm drivin' at?"
Jack thought he did. "I suppose your idea is to find the old stream, or
the place where it once entered the gulch. I should say that if the land
up there is flat, and the river shifted years and years ago to some
other place, it must be because the bed up there got filled with gravel
and stuff, and so deflected the course of the water."
"Right! That aer the thing that happened, I guess. Wall, now, we've got
ter find the spot whar that 'ere stream tumbled over the cliff, and ter
do that we don't need ter ride clear up the gulch and search all along.
Them old miners are done that. Their diggin's don't go more than three
miles up from here, and, as ye've seen fer yerself, there ain't any down
lower. So I reckon that stream came over the cliff somewhars along these
three miles. It may have been down here, or mebbe it war up thar. Thar
ain't no sayin', and it ain't of no use ter go by the fall of the land.
Thar's been earthquakes and queer ructions here in past days, and the
land aer altered."
It took a week's patient and careful scrutiny of the gulch to discover
the point where the stream must have flowed into the gulch in past ages,
and when the place was found, to the amazement of all it was almost
precisely where they had made their temporary camp.
"Which aer a good omen," observed Jacob.
"Thet water must have been comin' over fer a sight of years," said Tom,
as he clambered with Jack up the steep face of the cliff. "A chap might
hunt and hunt, and never have no notion that it war here it come over.
But a spade helps a deal in these matters, and here we have a solid
stretch of gravel, sixty yards across, roughly, wedged in between a
couple of rocky walls. Do yer foller what happened?"
"I think I see clearly," said Jack. "There must have been a deep slit in
the rocks years ago, and the water flowed along it and emptied into this
gulch. I suppose the water drained from mountains right over there?"
"That aer so," agreed Tom. "Thar's a big watershed back away at the top
of the cliff, and thar must have been a flood coming along this
channel."
"Slowly, I think," said Jack, "else the channel would have been
continually washed clean. But it has filled and filled, till, in the
course of ages, the whole thing has become blocked and the water has
found a new channel for itself."
"And aer left us here a pile of gravel, which may or may not hold gold.
Reckon, seein' that thim diggin's down thar is extensive and deep dug,
that the miners in this camp made something of it. So thar's every
chance that gold did come down. Ef it did, thar's a sight of it in this
gravel. Not here, perhaps, for the stream would quicken a bit, just whar
it was goin' ter fall; but a few yards back. Anyway, we'll set to and
test it."
That afternoon picks and spades were hard at work on the wedge of gravel
between its rocky walls. A cradle made of sheet iron was filled and
taken down to the stream which passed the camp down below, and water
was allowed to flow into it while Steve and Tom rocked it. Thar were
anxious faces peering into the depths of the cradle, when at length the
contents had been sufficiently washed. The water was allowed to drain
away, big pieces of rock and stone were carefully removed, and finally a
layer of sand was come upon. It glistened in the sun.
"Hooroo!" shouted Tom. "That aer gold. Not a heap of it, but gold; and
tidy rich, I should say, seein' it comes from the face of the gravel.
Now we'll take another sample."
They worked till night fell, and again on the following day. Choosing
the very centre of the wedge of gravel, they burrowed some three yards
into it, testing samples from time to time, and finding a richer deposit
of gold dust in the cradle the deeper they went. Then, with a shout of
satisfaction, Jacob unearthed a nugget the size of a bean.
"There ain't no need ter go farther," said Tom, when the night had
fallen, and they were seated round the camp fire. "Thar aer work here
fer the crowd of us ter take us a hull year. Now we has to engineer the
business properly, fer it stands ter reason nine men, nor ninety, can't
dig all that stuff away. It would take years. We have ter make some
other sorter arrangement, and fer that we've the apparatus in the cart.
What we'll do is this. We'll tap the river 'way up thar. Me and Steve
measured it up yesterday: it aer jest twenty-eight yards from the edge,
and out of line of the old stream. Perhaps it was formed only lately;
but it carries heaps of water and will give us all we want. We'll lead
it down through a wooden sluice, take the water ter an iron nozzle, and
wash the dirt out into a wooden trough below. Now, mates, we want wood
first of all, and some of us'll have ter get off ter the nearest sawmill
ter buy and fetch it. T'others can fix the camp while they're gone, and
get ter work diggin' the new channel up thar."
The whole plan of operations was quickly agreed upon, and promptly, on
the following morning, Jacob and three of his mates unloaded the wagon,
and went off with a full team to the sawmill, some twenty miles away.
The others clambered to the top of the cliff, and for three days
laboured at digging a trench three feet wide and as many deep. They
brought it from the bank of the stream mentioned by Tom which ran across
the height above within reach of the edge, to the point where one of the
rocky walls that had once enclosed the stream cropped into the open.
Then they searched for a bed of clay, and finding some, puddled it with
water till it was thin enough for their purpose, when they smeared it
over the sides and bottom of the channel they had dug.
"It'll dry hard by to-morrow," said Tom; "then we'll give it another
coat. It'll keep the water from washin' stones down into the nozzle and
blockin' it. Jack, reckon the time's come fer yer anvil."
For the week following Jack found his hands filled. Up at cockcrow in
the morning, he donned his leathern apron, and set his fire going. Then
his hammer fell and clinked musically as he forged stout iron bands,
which were to support the wooden framing his friends were constructing.
It cost a great deal of hard labour to bring all their arrangements to a
satisfactory completion; but when the task was finished they had a
channel completed above, with a sluice by means of which they could
allow water to enter at will. Another blocked the stream which they were
tapping, just below their channel, thus giving them an ample head of
water. The other end of the channel, where it ended at the edge of the
cliff, was completely boxed in with boards, held together with heavy
forgings, and from this point the water poured down a long, square
wooden pipe, strengthened in the same manner. At the very end the stream
was led into a huge iron pipe, which got smaller and smaller, till it
eventually presented a six-inch orifice, while the last six feet were
capable of some amount of movement, whereby the course of the jet could
be deflected.
"A man couldn't stand before it," said Tom, surveying the jet when all
was ready. "The force of water'll be sich that ef we was ter close the
jet it'd bust the wooden pipe above. As it is, thar'll be a stream
comin' from that 'ere nozzle that'll eat into the gravel quicker than
the hull lot of us, and it'll wash piles of dirt down into the catches
we have made. Ter-morrer we start in right away at the real business."
It had been no easy matter to arrange their catches below the point
where the water was to play upon the cliff and gravel. But Steve was a
knowing fellow, and had insisted that the jet should be brought as low
as possible.
"So as ter undermine the rest of the stuff," he explained. "Then it'll
fall in easy."
A wooden channel was erected below the spot where the jet was to play,
the width of which, great at first narrowed steadily, while the channel
itself descended at a sharp angle. Every ten feet along it bulkheads
were erected across, in wedge-shape pattern, the apex of the wedge being
presented upward. Finally the channel ended in a basin, with an overflow
to take the water off.
"It's down below we shall get the dust," said Tom, surveying the whole
plant with no little pride. "Them iron washing troughs will soon collect
it for us, and with much less diggin' than we should ha' had to do. Up
here, whar the channel's steeper, and nearer the jet, we aer likely ter
get nuggets. Reckon it'll pay us ter go steady. We'll play the jet first
thing in the morning, till the channel and the partitions in it aer
pretty full. Then we'll shut off the water, and get to at washing.
There's a trough fer each of us, and one man can do a heap, considerin'
the arrangements we have made."
The whole plant was, in fact, splendidly engineered. In order to save
labour, they had not only pressed the water from the stream above into
their service, with the idea of making it dig by its force, and bring
the gravel away from between its rocky walls; but they had so contrived
matters that they could open a sluice at the bottom of the huge wooden
pipe which fed the water to the jet, and could pass the contents down a
narrow channel, running beside the one constructed, to catch the dirt.
Suspended in this, one opposite each bulkhead, was a long wooden trough,
either end faced with a plate of iron, in which Jack had bored numerous
holes, small at the bottom, and getting bigger towards the top.
"They're jest like the washing troughs used by diggers," explained Tom,
"and me and Steve's rocked 'em day in and day out. Yer see, the stuff
one shovels into them gets broken up by the rocking, while the water
carries the grit away. One pitches the big stuff out with one's hands,
while the sand and the gold settles. Gee, ef after all this here
preparation, we don't make a pile, why, bust me, I'll take ter scoutin'
agin!"
Let the reader imagine the excitement amongst this little party on the
following morning. Tom lit his pipe to show his coolness and his utter
disregard of results, and clambered to the top of the cliff. But it was
not the same cool Tom who had commanded the movements of the band when
attacked by Indians. His hand was trembling as he manoeuvred the
sluice gate above, while his anxiety to see the water shoot from the jet
was that of a little boy.
"Gee-whiz! Did you ever!" he exclaimed as the water spurted from the
jet, and, hitting the face of the gravel, began to dig a path into it.
"Ef that ain't better than diggin'! Though it has cost a sight of labour
ter get it all ready. Look how the dirt comes down. Reckon it won't be
long afore we have ter pipe farther along, so as ter follow the grit."
That afternoon, when the bulkheads and the channel in which they were
placed were crammed with fallen gravel, the sluice at the bottom of the
wooden pipe was opened, and the spurt of water from the jet ceased. Then
the various individuals of the party set to work with their shovels,
and, each selecting one of the troughs, threw the stuff which had been
washed down into it, and rocked vigorously, while the stream played
through the holes at the head of the trough, washed the dirt, and
trickled out at the farther end. The most exciting time of all had
arrived. Each one of the party wondered if, when he had laboured for a
while, and had at length cleared away the débris, he would find the
bottom of his trough filled with common sand, or whether amidst the
yellow particles there would be others, gleaming bright in the sunshine,
the gold for which he laboured and on which he had set his heart.