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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1884)
THE WEST SHORE. 357 ;cept Green Mountain, that reared its Luge head and Jckly wooded aides high above his follow peaks. ""I At last we turned our wearied eyes to the west, and oked down over rough mountains, along precipitous iclivities and over vastt stretches of dead, blackened and arrod forests. Mountains and forests vanished, and fore us we saw a white, cloud-like embankment, through lich the sun had just sunk to rest Long wo looked in 8 sombre twilight at this misty, shadowy Bubstanco, we were gazing on the far-off waves of the mighty cifio. From the wrapt contemplation of these objects of niration we turned td the vulgar consideration of our re sharpened appetites. The lalxr of overcoming the g ascent, and the stroll about the summit, had added eon edge to the hunger of every mombor of the party. Bty preparations for camping for the night and for 1 evening meal commenced. A little depression, sov 1 yards in extent, near a grove of mountain maple, )re we could be sheltered from the night wind, was ctod as a camping spot. Dry branches wore collected soon a cheerful fire was blazing. Supper was hastily )ared and as quickly eaten. Our jadod horses were ered amidst a profusion of rich grass and luxuriant uitnin herbage, and left to browse at will during the it Blankets were unrolled and spread at convenient rvals alxmt the camp fire, for the air had grown chilly damp, and a heavy mountain dew was descending. aiue o'clock we "turnod in." Twenty minuteB later vere locked in the soft, but strong, embraco of slum- being thoroughly wearied with the labors and ex nent of the eventful day. leanwhile the glorious harvest moon-now at her had risen from behind the Cascades and was sailing loly through the cloudless heavens. Her silvery ince flooded hill, valley and mountains, and lont to HleeDinir-landscape a weird, shadowy nsisict No ds disturbed the unruffled silonce of our lonely utain bivouac, save the gentle summer breeze t li lit ed through the foliage of the grove, and shook the from grass and leaf, the occasional chirp of noctur isects, the croak of the tree frog, the shrill notes of irtlod night bird sounding from amidst the leafy is of the woods, the dismal hoot as the Mopinf owl dirth lo Hi moon oom plain. ie fierce scream of a cougar far down the mountain xrniiwr up from the deep recesses of the forest t davbreak our camp was Bstir. Before the sun had sd his familiar face over the distant crest of the ules we had prepared ami dispatched breakfast By l o'clock the jmrty wbs in the saddles ami dewrond the rugged declivity of the mountain homeward I J. M. IJALTIMOUE. J iwing cabbages pull them up. Save tho stalkf ami em in a treucli, with roots deep and the stalks close In the spring they will throw out sprouts, i r. urnishing an early supply of greeus, TT i I of BURIED TREASURE OP THE MINES. a "nrrp of darp grU2u.liiu L LI... old pioomr the Pacifio Coast to know that, however low tho quotations on honesty may be at the present time, there was once a golden age when that quality ruled high in the market All men were considered as honest, and were so treated. Men who refrained from cheating when an opportunity occurred were not, as now, considered phenomenally stupid. They wero not lonesome, as the old miner in Marysville recently thought a youth must bo who handed back to Wells, Fargo & Co.' agent C0 paid to him by mistake in cashing a draft There was plenty of good company for such oplo then. Thoso were tho palmy days of '4'J and T0. The pioneer miners, tho genuino Argonauts, wero not thieves and blacklegs, but honest self-reliant and onthusiaHtio uold hunters. They came to make their fortunes in the mines in a legitimate way. Especially may this Imi said of those who actually went into the mines, for tho few land pirates who came with them remained chiefly in Han Francisco, Stockton, Sacramento and Marysville, tho four groat supply centers, whero their opHrtunities for plun der wore greater. Every Forty-niner remembers well tho almost crimi nal carelessness with which gold dust was treated; how it was left standing around his cabin in an old oyster can or canvas bag, tho cabin remaining untenanted for half a day at a time, with tho door unsecured, or even ajar, as a standing invitation to every one to walk in and make himself comfortable. It was left witli tho proprie tor of tho hotel, as those shaky ami canvas hoiiho of entertainment were courteously called, or deposited with tho merchant doing business in a similar structure, no receipt being taken for it and no estimato of its value made. It was then carelessly placed under the counter or on a shelf, the prey of any one who might feel dis xwcd to steal; but uolstdy preyed. Wild and rocklc as many of these men wero, they wore not thieves; they might gamble, drink and even fight with each other, but they abhorred a thief. If one, with an illy developed bump of respect for the prottorty of others, should suc cumb to the constant temptations and rob a partner or plunder an unguarded cabin, his punishment was swift and sure. Such instances were rare, indeed, during the first two years of the mines; but after that there was a sudden ami radical change. A swarm of gamblers, blacklegs, thieves, human vampires and exiles from jus. lice, following in tho wake of tho genuino Argonauts, swarmed into tho mines, and the result was a moral chaos, Not that all of the second iiixUllinent of pioneers was of that class; far from it; but that the prosirtioii was so mach greater as to produce the effect dcscrilstd. Then it was that vigilance committees were formal; that lynch law became a terrible engine of retribution; that thw "miners' meetings," which had Is-en iiwtitiitml for the purpose of disjointing justice iu cases of disputed claims ami nil other complieatioiis requiring arbitration, became tribunal of a sterner and morn tragio character. Their judgment were prompt and the execution of thil v