Chapter 6
chapter six of east by west by henry w lucy this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by ruth golding chapter six a mining camp in the rocky mountains considering its great height being three thousand feet above the alpine snow-line leadville has a wonderful climate in the first week in october it was quite hot in the sun though occasionally in passing corners one was reminded that there are snowdrifts on the encircling belt of hills in summer it is sometimes even sultry though the nights are always cool the town though it looks dingy and worn out is not more than five years old it is partly built on california gulch a famous mining camp of twenty years ago in eighteen fifty nine california gulch was first prospected and one year the yield of gold was over six hundred thousand pounds sterling but it gradually fell away till in eighteen sixty six the diggings did not pay the cost of working and were abandoned it was pretty bleak in california gulch in winter time and the gold diggers finding at hand a thick consistent kind of mud used to cork their cabins with it
after the gold diggers had gone a pair of sharp eyes looking upon this mud recognised it as carbonate worth eighty pounds a ton the tide of miners which had ebbed with the failure of the gold set in again with a great rush when this fresh find was made the discovery of silver was followed by the certain prospect of rich yields of lead the miners in their spare time decided to found a town a meeting was called at which twenty men put in an appearance and out of their number they selected a mayor a lawyer who happened to be around was named recorder and leadville was formally added to the list of cities within the united states to day the city has a population varying from eighteen thousand to twenty two thousand more in winter and fewer in summer when the miners go forth to prospect in addition to mayor and recorder there is now a city council three daily papers which give surprisingly little for twopence-halfpenny three banks two theatres seven schools and as far as i was able to observe one church
in respect of this last institution i was left very much to personal observation some of the citizens from whom i made inquiry doubted the existence of a church others guessed there was one round about the schools are amongst the handsomest and most substantial buildings in the place they are all free though leadville has not yet reached the length of compulsory attendance leadville is in no sense a picturesque city though its situation is unique embowered as it is amid the loftiest heights of the rocky mountains being so near the mountains have little of grandeur the rockies want distance to make them beautiful seen near at hand they are bare brown rocks seared and fissured with a few stunted fir-trees growing here and there in sheltered places just now the summits are sprinkled with snow and close at hand are hills whose tops are covered with perpetual snow but nowhere in the rocky mountains is there visible the deep white snow that may be seen in switzerland at altitudes two or three thousand feet less
leadville has that striking feature of untidiness common to most american towns some not having the excuse of recent birth the streets are never swept nor the sidewalks cleaned whilst the main thoroughfares are only a trifle better than the streets of chicago outside of harrison avenue the houses are mostly wood some the true log house they stand apart like toy houses it is marvellous how some of the giants who work in the mines and lounge about the streets can insert themselves being once in it would appear an easy matter to thrust their feet through the flooring get a good grip of the back kitchen door and the front parlour fireplace and walk off with the structure as samson carried off the gates of gaza one of the houses twelve feet long by ten square had pasted over the front door a placard which obscured a fifth of the surface announcing that it was a private boarding-house the daily habit of working in confined spaces in the mine would probably enable a couple of men to adapt themselves to the conveniences of the establishment but it would be hard work
on the bleak hillside leading up to chrysolite mine several of these wooden boxes are scattered about among the burned stumps of trees and the debris of preserved meat cans it is not an easy matter to see the mines there is a good deal of jealousy and suspicion abroad and as there are varying reports of the prosperity of mines it is deemed advisable to keep strangers out lest peradventure a spy might be entertained unawares a private introduction secured for us a hearty welcome at the chrysolite mine and the fullest opportunity of inspecting it but a silver mine does not lend itself to usages of description it is chiefly dark and frequently wet the roadways are narrow and heavily timbered with the object of supporting the roof descending by the cage in pitch darkness we are on reaching the bottom presented with a candle each wherewith to explore the recesses of the mine but the darkness is so thick that a candle or even five candles are of little account in picking your way along an alley where there is sometimes a plank to walk on and sometimes a stream of water to wade through
the roadways through this mine form an aggregate of seven or eight miles in length there is no trolley as in english coal mines but the men know short cuts which lead them to their work without undue loss of time holding the candles against the rock the metal can be seen to sparkle but where the miners have dug out the ore and it is being conveyed in carts to the smelters it is difficult to believe that the yellow or brown earth contains silver or lead the men work singly or in couples grubbing away at the dark hard walls by the light of a single candle the carpenters tread closely on the heels of the miners shoring up the openings as fast as they are made chambers out of which ore has been dug rise up one over the other in some places reaching eight stories each is shored up by stout pillars roughly sawn from trees sometimes the supports break asunder like a match with the weight of the superincumbent rock when new ones are promptly inserted and catastrophe averted
this is only in cases where the mine is being worked in an abandoned mine when the supports give way the mine falls in close by the chrysolite an old working has thus tumbled in just under the road along which waggons travel from the chrysolite mine to the smelting works the road is now closed and a wooden cross warns chance passers-by of danger the miners are take them altogether the finest men i ever saw six feet is a fair average of height and some run to six feet four inches they are good-looking to boot many of them handsome to look at them one would suppose that mining was the healthiest occupation open to man they have a frank bearing and manner of speech that astonishes the stranger every one is called by his christian name not excepting the members of the firm good morning ned said our guide to one of the miners morning frank responded the miner looking up for a moment to greet his employer and then going on with his work
there was nothing rude or even brusque in this it simply meant that in a mining camp one man is as good as another as long as he is able to put in a good day's work it is the merest accident that makes one man employer and another a wage-taker if ned had been around before frank he would probably have bought up the lease of the chrysolite and the position of the two men would have been reversed as it is they live together in perfect friendliness taking a shot at one another upon provocation it is true but in the meanwhile working in hearty good-fellowship there are times when the leadville miner is not seen to such advantage as when he stands pick or drill in hand putting all his soul into the effort to dig out ore leadville has a continental reputation for being a wicked place and it is understood that the orgies of the miner are too awful to be contemplated i had the opportunity of going to see the miner at his worst and found it run largely to dulness the first place visited is known as the carbonate beer hall this is in staid street admitted to be the bad street of leadville
it turns out of harrison avenue the bond street pall mall and regent street of the city on entering the beer hall the visitor is faced by a placard entreating him to patronise the bar an admission fee of one shilling to the body of the hall and two shillings to the boxes is nominally fixed but not strictly enforced it is from the profits on the sale of liquor that the establishment is maintained and when it is mentioned that a bottle of beer is charged at the rate of four and twopence and a thimbleful of bad whisky a shilling it will be understood that this source of revenue does not fail inside were gathered about forty men taking their pleasure with infinite sadness one or two had abandoned the struggle against the weariness of it and laying their heads on the table soundly slept the hall was furnished with beer-stained tables and dirty chairs a gallery ran round the upper part empty save so far as the soles of a pair of boots seen over the front of one of the boxes indicated the presence of a gentleman
on the stage were two men in tights forlornly dancing to funereal music provided by an orchestra consisting of a violin and a piano when the dance had dropped to a conclusion the dancers ducked their heads and retired immediately coming forward again bowing as if they had been recalled by an enthusiastic audience and recommencing in obedience to an imaginary encore as a matter of fact there had not been a sound or gesture of applause the profound sorrow that brooded over the audience was too heavy to be thus uplifted the only busy people in the place were the wife of the pianist who sat by him industriously sewing and the women who sold drink these latter are called beer-juggers and fill a large place in the evening life of the miner they work on commission receiving fivepence for every jug of beer sold at a dollar they have tickets which the bartender punches upon each transaction and at the close of the evening a cash settlement is made
it is obviously to their interest to make the miners drink and to that end they indulge in blandishments which relieve by a single touch of vice the level dulness of the night's entertainment one of the beer-juggers taking note of the pair of soles displayed from the box went upstairs and confirmed the suspicion that there was more in them than met the eye by rousing up a gigantesque miner and inducing him to purchase a bottle of beer the zoo a somewhat similar establishment of higher pretensions placards its portico with the injunction for wine women and fun walks straight ahead admission here is two shillings and is more strictly enforced perceiving opportunities for business a beer jugger showed us into a private box we ordered a bottle of beer which she brought with three glasses and uninvited poured a glass out for herself and drank it whilst lamenting the slackness of the times
one substantial reason why the fun here and elsewhere so grievously flagged was that pay-day was approaching the miners are paid only once a month and at this epoch a dollar for a bottle of beer though served with a leer from a repulsive creature in woman's dress was a little dear at the end of a month a miner finds himself in possession of from twenty-five to thirty pounds and as a corollary has what he calls a blow-out these are the halcyon days of the beer-jugger there are not infrequent occasions when a miner is cleared out in a single night and starts on the morning after pay-day with only a single dollar out of the hundred he had earned the performance at the zoo was varied there was a domestic drama in which a nigger servant and a baby played the principal rles then appeared a nigger who danced and sang and who till a rollicking irishman with a shillelagh followed seemed the most soul depressing creature that ever strutted the stage the boxes at the zoo were fairly filled a moiety of the occupants being harlots painted noisy and in all ways loveless
these women have their claim upon the consideration of the citizens since they contribute largely to the relief of the rates they are required to pay a pound a month for their license and for the ingathering of this revenue there is a municipally appointed collector should the five dollars in any case be lacking the corporation suddenly and sternly awake to the sin of the thing and the woman is cast into prison if the five dollars be forthcoming all is well it should be said that the corporation of leadville are as inflexible with wrongdoers within their own ranks as with those outside a short time ago an alderman having a difference of opinion with a local editor settled the controversy by knocking him down and kicking him the corporation taking note of this irregularity have forbidden the aldermen to take part in their proceedings for one calendar month over the stage-box at the zoo is printed an injunction to step in and see pap wyman on your way home we did so and found pap beaming over much business he is one of the oldest residents in leadville and started the first regular gambling-house
he is now getting up in years and has developed some eccentricities at the little counter where he dispenses drinks is a box in which is placed a bible so that a gentleman in the interval of playing euchre or whilst refreshing himself with a cocktail may read a verse or two over the clock face is written please don't swear and under strong provocation pap has been known to enforce this request with a round oath though these little matters may seem to indicate what leadville would call old-fashioned notions pap is well abreast of the times he has fitted up machinery by which the saloon is illuminated by the electric light and in other ways keeps his eyes open to the attractions of his place paps tables were all going and so were the four at the texas house two of the tables are for faro one for draw poker and the fourth for a game called stud house poker an improvement in speculative range on the older game which has recently made great headway in leadville the fair road tables were most patronised
the banker sits in the middle under the fierce light of two huge gas burners on his right in a high arm-chair sits a man who in the interests of the proprietor keeps his eye on the game and sees that all bets lost to the bank are paid in the contrary case it is reckoned that the players may be trusted to see justice done i visited several gambling dens and found prevailing everywhere the same quiet bordering upon dull melancholy the proprietors of the gambling dens like the lessees of the drinking and dancing saloons were pining for pay-day i made the acquaintance of one gambler who as far as personal appearance and history went comes nearer to the realization of mr john okehurst than seemed possible born of a well-known massachusetts family he had been a gambler miner billiard-marker and some other things not so reputable having won and lost several fortunes at cards he had arrived at the conclusion that the chances are greatly in favour of the bank he had accordingly very early after pat wyman began to flourish at the corner shop set up in business for himself and has so greatly prospered that he is now building a new saloon
paved as he mentioned with pardonable pride with minton's tiles directly imported a tall handsome dark-eyed light-hearted man i suspect he would not hesitate either to shoot or cheat an acquaintance if direct advantage were to be obtained but if physiognomy is not wholly deceitful he looks like a man who would stand by a friend and be kind to women and children in these respects and with the advantage of gentle birth and early education he is a fair type of the drinking gambling shooting and hard-working men of leadville chapter six
