Some Reminiscences of Early Trinity [pp. 17-32]

Some Reminiscences of Early Yrinity.
comply with the request, and opened the the State has seen the day when it had
doors of the little log jail, whereupon they within its bounds ofie or more of what were
piled in, thick as sardines in a box, some then known as "characters," but in the
waiting outside for whom there was not even language of the present day would be classistanding room. Some sort of a compro- fled as "cranks." Several of this species
mise was entered into by which old rights of of humanity have found an abiding place
location on the stream were allowed water at some time or other in almost every
to work the locations out, but the respective one of our permanent camps, and their
legal questions at issue between the ditch idiosyncrasies or peculiarities form a subject
owners and their opponents were only deter- of gossip among the old settlers unto this
mined after a long and vexatious litigation. day. It would be asking too much of my
This was upon WVeaver Creek, or rather readers were I to attempt to describe these
upon its branches. I owned an interest in gentry at length or in detail, so one or two
a ditch at the mouth of the creek, below, instances must suffice.
about seven miles from the reservoirs. Our Leaving "Greasy John" and "Pinky"
own company and the company owning a out, I come to one who felt himself slighted
ditch parallel with ours talked loudly of having if he did not have a row with some one
a legal tilt with the upper ditch owners, also. every day. I don't know that I ever heard
The creek carried half a dozen or more of his winning a battle, but he kept on
heads of water, even in the dryest season. fighting all the same, and the times when
By a judicious division of this water, some Sam was without a black eye or some other
working by night and others by day, all the token of a recent encounter on his face,
companies were enabled to put in full time; were few and far between. But such a
but when the waters were reservoired at time did come at last, and his friends took
night this happy arrangement was stopped. advantage of it. Sam was, taken to the
Another bad feature of the matter was that clothing store one Sunday and rigged out in
as all the miners using water began work at a suit of immaculate black, including a
about the same time in the morning, the stove-pipe hat of the most approved fashion.
water did not reach the head of our ditch The addition of a white shirt and neck tie,
until about nine o'clock when it came in a to which he had been a stranger for many a
body with a head big enough to fill a dozen year, completed his costume; and thus
ditches like ours, but lasting only a little equipped he was takento a daguerreotypist's,
while. But we wisely, I now think, deter- and had his portrait taken; and a pretty
mined to let matters take their course. good-looking picture he made, too. But
Where ditches could not be constructed alas, the morrow saw the patched up truce
to work the river bars, large water wheels between Sam and whisky broken, and with
were built, some of which were so large the triumph of the whisky Sam's desire for
that they would raise water enough to run another row came, and was duly gratified.
two sluices to a height of forty feet. It is With a black eye and otherwise battered
estimated that at least thirty large wheels of countenance, Sam was taken to the daguerthis kind were carried away by the great reotypist's again. As he never bore malice,
freshet of i86i, since which time that he enteredinto the spiritof the joke, looked
method of obtaining water has fallen into his worst, and the two pictures, labeled redisuse. Wheels were a very unsafe piece spectively "Sunday," and "Blue Monof property even at the best, and only re- day," adorned the windows of the drug
sorted to in the absence of any other way. store for many years.
Probably every place of any note within Sam was working at one time for some
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[Jan.