NORCAL-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: NORTHERN Mines in 1851/52 - a parting glimpse-))
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 12:47:00 EDT

Howdy,
As a Northern Mines finale, our 49er Howard C. GARDINER writes in
1851/52:

THE OLD WHITE MARE:
"Wolves and coyotes also bounded, and frequently made night hideous with
their howlings. They assembled in packs, and seemed to make my cabin a central
point for their nocturnal serenades. I veritably believe there were at least a
hundred at times, barking and snarling in my immediate vicinity, as if they
had been called thither by a requisition for a general muster. It has since
occurred to me that my mule might have been the attraction:-)
"The grocer, located a couple of miles below me on the ravine, had an old
white mare, which grazed with her colt in a valley near his place. One night a
pack of wolves attacked the colt, and though the dam managed to beat them off,
she was terribly bitten during the struggle. The MOST remarkable thing about
the affair was the subsequent action of the mare, which went off next day and
at night returned to her range in the valley accompanied by TWO HORSES, which
afterward kept her company. As this is an ACTUAL fact, the wonder is, how the
old mare made the horses understand what she wanted:-))

COTTAGE HOME:
"...Continuing my journey(June, 1852 - between French Camp & Swett's
Bar on the Tuolumne?), I traveled slowly, and at night put up at the COTTAGE
HOME. This was decidedly the most comfortable hostelry I had seen in
California. Everything about the establishment was clean and home-like. The
table was covered with snow-white damask, the cooking excellent, and the
viands superb. Fresh yellow home-made butter, light hot biscuits, milk and
cream ad libitum, vegetables from the home garden, boiled chicken, veal
cutlets, together with cakes and cookies no end, demonstrated that there was a
woman in the house that knew how to keep a hotel. I remained over one day to
rest my animal and enjoy the good living. Everything showed care. The waiter
girls were dressed as neatly as Vassar students:-)) My sleeping apartment with
its clean white sheets and pillow slips, was neatly carpeted and furnished,
and was in fact the 'ne plus ultra' of dormitories, very attractive to me, who
had roughed it for three years[49-52] in those wild regions."(From "In Pursuit
of the Golden Dream - Reminiscences of San Francisco and the Northern and
Southern Mines, 1849 -1857, by Howard C. Gardiner.", Ed. Dale L.
Morgan,Western Hemisphere,Inc, Stoughton MA, MCMLXX).

Hope you enjoyed 'um:-),
Bob Norris in Dallas
<BNorris166aol.com>

This thread:

• NORTHERN Mines in 1851/52 - a parting glimpse-)) by <>