Roughing It

Contents

Prefatory

 

Chapter 1

My Brother Appointed Secretary of Nevada -- I Envy His Prospective Adventures -- Am Appointed Private Secretary Under Him -- My Contentment Complete -- Packed In One Hour -- Dreams and Visions -- On the Missouri River -- A Bully Boat

Chapter 2

Arrive at St. Joseph -- Only Twenty-Five Pounds Baggage Allowed -- Farewell to Kid Gloves and Dress Coats -- Armed to the Teeth -- The "Allen" -- A Cheerful Weapon -- Persuaded to Buy a Mule -- Schedule of Luxuries -- We Leave the "States" -- "Our Coach" -- Mails for the Indians -- Between a Wink and an Earthquake -- A Modern Sphinx and How She Entertained Us -- A Sociable Heifer

Chapter 3

"The Thoroughbrace Is Broke" -- Mails Delivered Properly -- Sleeping Under Difficulties -- A Jackass Rabbit Meditating, and on Business -- A Modern Gulliver -- Sage-Brush -- Overcoats As an Article of Diet -- Sad Fate of a Camel -- Warning to Experimenters

Chapter 4

Making Our Bed -- Assaults By the Unabridged -- At a Station -- Our Driver a Great and Shining Dignitary -- Strange Place for a Front Yard -- Accommodations -- Double Portraits -- An Heirloom -- Our Worthy Landlord -- "Fixings and Things" -- An Exile -- Slumgullion -- A Well Furnished Table -- The Landlord Astonished -- Table Etiquette -- Wild Mexican Mules -- Stage-Coaching and Railroading

Chapter 5

New Acquaintances -- The Coyote -- A Dog's Experiences -- A Disgusted Dog -- The Relatives of the Coyote -- Meals Taken Away From Home

Chapter 6

The Division Superintendent -- The Conductor -- The Driver -- One Hundred and Fifty Miles' Drive without Sleep -- Teaching a Subordinate -- Our Old Friend Jack and a Pilgrim -- Ben Holliday Compared to Moses

Chapter 7

Overland City -- Crossing the Platte -- Bemis's Buffalo Hunt -- Assault by a Buffalo -- Bemis's Horse Goes Crazy -- An Impromptu Circus -- A New Departure -- Bemis Finds Refuge in a Tree -- Escapes Finally By a Wonderful Method

Chapter 8

The Pony Express -- Fifty Miles without Stopping -- "Here He Comes" -- Alkali Water -- Riding an Avalanche -- Indian Massacre

Chapter 9

Among the Indians -- An Unfair Advantage -- Laying on Our Arms -- A Midnight Murder -- Wrath of Outlaws -- A Dangerous, Yet Valuable Citizen

Chapter 10

History of Slade -- A Proposed Fist-Fight -- Encounter With Jules -- Paradise of Outlaws -- Slade As Superintendent -- As Executioner -- A Doomed Whisky Seller -- A Prisoner -- A Wife's Bravery -- An Ancient Enemy Captured -- Enjoying a Luxury -- Hob-Nobbing With Slade -- Too Polite -- A Happy Escape

Chapter 11

Slade In Montana -- "On a Spree" -- In Court -- Attack on a Judge -- Arrest By the Vigilantes -- Turn Out of the Miners -- Execution of Slade -- Lamentations of His Wife -- Was Slade a Coward?

Chapter 12

A Mormon Emigrant Train -- The Heart of the Rocky Mountains -- Pure Saleratus -- A Natural Ice-House -- An Entire Inhabitant -- In Sight of "Eternal Snow" -- The South Pass -- The Parting Streams -- An Unreliable Letter Carrier -- Meeting of Old Friends -- A Spoiled Watermelon -- Down the Mountain -- A Scene of Desolation -- Lost In the Dark -- Unnecessary Advice -- U.S. Troops and Indians -- Sublime Spectacle -- Another Delusion Dispelled -- Among the Angels

Chapter 13

Mormons and Gentiles -- Exhilarating Drink, and Its Effect on Bemis -- Salt Lake City -- A Great Contrast -- A Mormon Vagrant -- Talk With a Saint -- A Visit to the "King" -- A Happy Simile

Chapter 14

Mormon Contractors -- How Mr. Street Astonished Them -- The Case before Brigham Young, and How He Disposed of It -- Polygamy Viewed From a New Position

Chapter 15

A Gentile Den -- Polygamy Discussed -- Favorite Wife and D. 4 -- Hennery for Retired Wives -- Children Need Marking -- Cost of a Gift to No. 6 -- A Penny-Whistle Gift and Its Effects -- Fathering the Foundlings -- It Resembled Him -- The Family Bedstead

Chapter 16

The Mormon Bible -- Proofs of Its Divinity -- Plagiarism of Its Authors -- Story of Nephi -- Wonderful Battle -- Kilkenny Cats Outdone

Chapter 17

Three Sides to All Questions -- Everything "A Quarter" -- Shriveled Up -- Emigrants and White Shirts at a Discount -- "Forty-Niners" -- Above Par -- Real Happiness

Chapter 18

Alkali Desert -- Romance of Crossing Dispelled -- Alkali Dust -- Effect on the Mules -- Universal Thanksgiving

Chapter 19

The Digger Indians Compared With the Bushmen of Africa -- Food, Life and Characteristics -- Cowardly Attack on a Stage Coach -- A Brave Driver -- The Noble Red Man

Chapter 20

The Great American Desert -- Forty Miles on Bones -- Lakes Without Outlets -- Greely's Remarkable Ride -- Hank Monk, the Renowned Driver -- Fatal Effects of "Corking" a Story -- Bald-Headed Anecdote

Chapter 21

Alkali Dust -- Desolation and Contemplation -- Carson City -- Our Journey Ended -- We Are Introduced to Several Citizens -- A Strange Rebuke -- A Washoe Zephyr at Play -- Its Office Hours -- Governor's Palace -- Government Offices -- Our French Landlady Bridget O'Flannigan -- Shadow Secrets -- Cause for a Disturbance at Once -- The Irish Brigade -- Mrs. O'Flannigan's Boarders -- The Surveying Expedition -- Escape of the Tarantulas

Chapter 22

The Son of a Nabob -- Start for Lake Tahoe -- Splendor of the Views -- Trip on the Lake -- Camping Out -- Reinvigorating Climate -- Clearing a Tract of Land -- Securing a Title -- Outhouse and Fences

Chapter 23

A Happy Life -- Lake Tahoe and Its Moods -- Transparency of the Waters -- A Catastrophe -- Fire! Fire! -- A Magnificent Spectacle -- Homeless Again -- We Take to the Lake -- A Storm -- Return to Carson

Chapter 24

Resolve to Buy a Horse -- Horsemanship In Carson -- A Temptation -- Advice Given Me Freely -- I Buy the Mexican Plug -- My First Ride -- A Good Bucker -- I Loan the Plug -- Experience of Borrowers -- Attempts to Sell -- Expense of the Experiment -- A Stranger Taken In

Chapter 25

The Mormons In Nevada -- How to Persuade a Loan From Them -- Early History of the Territory -- Silver Mines Discovered -- The New Territorial Government -- A Foreign One and a Poor One -- Its Funny Struggles for Existence -- No Credit, No Cash -- Old Abe Currey Sustains It and Its Officers -- Instructions and Vouchers -- An Indian's Endorsement -- Toll-Gates

Chapter 26

The Silver Fever -- State of the Market -- Silver Bricks -- Tales Told -- Off for the Humboldt Mines

Chapter 27

Our Manner of Going -- Incidents of the Trip -- A Warm But Too Familiar a Bedfellow -- Mr. Ballou Objects -- Sunshine amid Clouds -- Safely Arrived

Chapter 28

Arrive at the Mountains -- Building Our Cabin -- My First Prospecting Tour -- My First Gold Mine -- Pockets Filled With Treasures -- Filtering the News to My Companions -- The Bubble Pricked -- All Not Gold That Glitters

Chapter 29

Out Prospecting -- A Silver Mine at Last -- Making a Fortune With Sledge and Drill -- A Hard Road to Travel -- We Own In Claims -- A Rocky Country

Chapter 30

Disinterested Friends -- How "Feet" Were Sold -- We Quit Tunneling -- A Trip to Esmeralda -- My Companions -- An Indian Prophesy -- A Flood -- Our Quarters during It

Chapter 31

The Guests at "Honey Lake Smith's" -- "Bully Old Arkansas" -- "Our Landlord" -- Determined to Fight -- The Landlord's Wife -- The Bully Conquered By Her -- Another Start -- Crossing The Carson -- A Narrow Escape -- Following Our Own Track -- A New Guide -- Lost In the Snow

Chapter 32

Desperate Situation -- Attempts to Make a Fire -- Our Horses Leave Us -- We Find Matches -- One, Two, Three and the Last -- No Fire -- Death Seems Inevitable -- We Mourn Over Our Evil Lives -- Discarded Vices -- We Forgive Each Other -- An Affectionate Farewell -- The Sleep of Oblivion

Chapter 33

Return of Consciousness -- Ridiculous Developments -- A Station House -- Bitter Feelings -- Fruits of Repentance -- Resurrected Vices

Chapter 34

About Carson -- General Buncombe -- Hyde vs. Morgan -- How Hyde Lost His Ranch -- The Great Landslide Case -- The Trial -- General Buncombe in Court -- A Wonderful Decision -- A Serious Afterthought

Chapter 35

A New Traveling Companion -- All Full and No Accommodations -- How Captain Nye Found Room -- And Caused Our Leaving to Be Lamented -- The Uses of Tunneling -- A Notable Example -- We Go Into the "Claim" Business and Fail -- At the Bottom

Chapter 36

A Quartz Mill -- Amalgamation -- "Screening Tailings" -- First Quartz Mill in Nevada -- Fire Assay -- A Smart Assayer -- I Stake for an Advance

Chapter 37

The Whiteman Cement Mine -- Story of Its Discovery -- A Secret Expedition -- A Nocturnal Adventure -- A Distressing Position -- A Failure and a Week's Holiday

Chapter 38

Mono Lake -- Shampooing Made Easy -- Thoughtless Act of Our Dog and the Results -- Lye Water -- Curiosities of the Lake -- Free Hotel -- Some Funny Incidents a Little Overdrawn

Chapter 39

Visit to the Islands In Lake Mono -- Ashes and Desolation -- Life Amid Death -- Our Boat Adrift -- A Jump for Life -- A Storm on the Lake -- A Mass of Soap Suds -- Geological Curiosities -- A Week on the Sierras -- A Narrow Escape From a Funny Explosion -- "Stove Heap Gone"

Chapter 40

The "Wide West" Mine -- It Is "Interviewed" By Higbie -- A Blind Lead -- Worth a Million -- We Are Rich at Last -- Plans for the Future

Chapter 41

A Rheumatic Patient -- Day Dreams -- An Unfortunate Stumble -- I Leave Suddenly -- Another Patient -- Higbie In the Cabin -- Our Balloon Bursted -- Worth Nothing -- Regrets and Explanations -- Our Third Partner

Chapter 42

What to Do Next? -- Obstacles I Had Met With -- "Jack of All Trades" -- Mining Again -- Target Shooting -- I Turn City Editor -- I Succeed Finely

Chapter 43

My Friend Boggs -- The School Report -- Boggs Pays Me an Old Debt -- Virginia City

Chapter 44

Flush Times -- Plenty of Stock -- Editorial Puffing -- Stocks Given Me -- Salting Mines -- A Tragedian in a New Role

Chapter 45

Flush Times Continue -- Sanitary Commission Fund -- Wild Enthusiasm of the People -- Would Not Wait to Contribute -- The Sanitary Flour Sack -- It Is Carried to Gold Hill and Dayton -- Final Reception In Virginia -- Results of the Sale -- A Grand Total

Chapter 46

The Nabobs of Those Days -- John Smith As a Traveler -- Sudden Wealth -- A Sixty-Thousand-Dollar Horse -- A Smart Telegraph Operator -- A Nabob In New York City -- Charters an Omnibus -- "Walk In, It's All Free" -- "You Can't Pay a Cent" -- "Hold On, Driver, I Weaken" -- Sociability of New Yorkers

Chapter 47

Buck Fanshaw's Death -- The Cause Thereof -- Preparations for His Burial -- Scotty Briggs the Committee Man -- He Visits the Minister -- Scotty Can't Play His Hand -- The Minister Gets Mixed -- Both Begin to See -- "All Down Again But Nine" -- Buck Fanshaw As a Citizen -- How to "Shook Your Mother" -- The Funeral -- Scotty Briggs As a Sunday School Teacher

Chapter 48

The First Twenty-Six Graves In Nevada -- The Prominent Men of the County -- The Man Who Had Killed His Dozen -- Trial By Jury -- Specimen Jurors -- A Private Grave Yard -- The Desperadoes -- Who They Killed -- Waking Up the Weary Passenger -- Satisfaction Without Fighting

Chapter 49

Fatal Shooting Affray -- Robbery and Desperate Affray -- A Specimen City Official -- A Marked Man -- A Street Fight -- Punishment of Crime

Chapter 50

Captain Ned Blakely -- Bill Nookes Receives Desired Information -- Killing of Blakely's Mate -- A Walking Battery -- Blakely Secures Nookes -- Hang First and Be Tried Afterwards -- Captain Blakely As a Chaplain -- The First Chapter of Genesis Read at a Hanging -- Nookes Hung -- Blakely's Regrets

Chapter 51

The Weekly Occidental -- A Ready Editor -- A Novel -- A Concentration of Talent -- The Heroes and the Heroines -- The Dissolute Author Engaged -- Extraordinary Havoc With the Novel -- A Highly Romantic Chapter -- The Lovers Separated -- Jonah Out-Done -- A Lost Poem -- The Aged Pilot Man -- Storm on the Erie Canal -- Dollinger the Pilot Man -- Terrific Gale -- Danger Increases -- A Crisis Arrived -- Saved As If By a Miracle

Chapter 52

Freights to California -- Silver Bricks -- Under Ground Mines -- Timber Supports -- A Visit to the Mines -- The Caved Mines -- Total of Shipments In 1863

Chapter 53

Jim Blaine and His Grandfather's Ram -- Filkin's Mistake -- Old Miss Wagner and Her Glass Eye -- Jacobs, the Coffin Dealer -- Waiting for a Customer -- His Bargain With Old Robbins -- Robbins Sues for Damage and Collects -- A New Use for Missionaries -- The Effect -- His Uncle Lem and the Use Providence Made of Him -- Sad Fate of Wheeler -- Devotion of His Wife -- A Model Monument -- What About the Ram?

Chapter 54

Chinese In Virginia City -- Washing Bills -- Habit of Imitation -- Chinese Immigration -- A Visit to Chinatown -- Messrs. Ah Sing, Hong Wo, See Yup, &C.

Chapter 55

Tired of Virginia City -- An Old Schoolmate -- A Two Years' Loan -- Acting As an Editor -- Almost Receive an Offer -- An Accident -- Three Drunken Anecdotes -- Last Look at Mt. Davidson -- A Beautiful Incident

Chapter 56

Off for San Francisco -- Western and Eastern Landscapes -- The Hottest Place on Earth -- Summer and Winter

Chapter 57

California -- Novelty of Seeing a Woman -- "Well If It Ain't a Child!" -- One Hundred and Fifty Dollars for a Kiss -- Waiting for a Turn

Chapter 58

Life In San Francisco -- Worthless Stocks -- My First Earthquake -- Reportorial Instincts -- Effects of the Shocks -- Incidents and Curiosities -- Sabbath Breakers -- The Lodger and the Chambermaid -- A Sensible Fashion to Follow -- Effects of the Earthquake on the Ministers

Chapter 59

Poor Again -- Slinking As a Business -- A Model Collector -- Misery Loves Company -- Comparing Notes for Comfort -- A Streak of Luck -- Finding a Dime -- Wealthy By Comparison -- Two Sumptuous Dinners

Chapter 60

An Old Friend -- An Educated Miner -- Pocket Mining -- Freaks of Fortune

Chapter 61

Dick Baker and His Cat -- Tom Quartz's Peculiarities -- On an Excursion -- Appearance on His Return -- A Prejudiced Cat -- Empty Pockets and a Roving Life

Chapter 62

Bound for the Sandwich Islands -- The Three Captains -- The Old Admiral -- His Daily Habits -- His Well Fought Fields -- An Unexpected Opponent -- The Admiral Overpowered -- The Victor Declared a Hero

Chapter 63

Arrival at the Islands -- Honolulu -- What I Saw There -- Dress and Habits of the Inhabitants -- The Animal Kingdom -- Fruits and Delightful Effects

Chapter 64

An Excursion -- Captain Phillips and His Turn-Out -- A Horseback Ride -- A Vicious Animal -- Nature and Art -- Interesting Ruins -- All Praise to the Missionaries

Chapter 65

Interesting Mementoes and Relics -- An Old Legend of a Frightful Leap -- An Appreciative Horse -- Horse Jockeys and Their Brothers -- A New Trick -- A Hay Merchant -- Good Country for Horse Lovers

Chapter 66

A Saturday Afternoon -- Sandwich Island Girls on a Frolic -- The Poi Merchant -- Grand Gala Day -- A Native Dance -- Church Membership -- Cats and Officials -- An Overwhelming Discovery

Chapter 67

The Legislature of the Island -- What Its President Has Seen -- Praying for an Enemy -- Women's Rights -- Romantic Fashions -- Worship of the Shark -- Desire for Dress -- Full Dress -- Not Paris Style -- Playing Empire -- Officials and Foreign Ambassadors -- Overwhelming Magnificence

Chapter 68

A Royal Funeral -- Order of Procession -- Pomp and Ceremony -- A Striking Contrast -- A Sick Monarch -- Human Sacrifices at His Death -- Burial Orgies

Chapter 69

"Once More upon the Waters." -- A Noisy Passenger -- Several Silent Ones -- A Moonlight Scene -- Fruits and Plantations

Chapter 70

A Droll Character -- Mrs. Beazely and Her Son -- Meditations on Turnips -- A Letter from Horace Greeley -- An Indignant Rejoinder -- The Letter Translated But Too Late

Chapter 71

Kealakekua Bay -- Death of Captain Cook -- His Monument -- Its Construction -- On Board the Schooner

Chapter 72

Young Kanakas in New England -- A Temple Built By Ghosts -- Female Bathers -- I Stood Guard -- Women and Whiskey -- A Fight for Religion -- Arrival of Missionaries

Chapter 73

Native Canoes -- Surf Bathing -- A Sanctuary -- How Built -- The Queen's Rock -- Curiosities -- Petrified Lava

Chapter 74

Visit to the Volcano -- The Crater -- Pillar of Fire -- Magnificent Spectacle -- A Lake of Fire

Chapter 75

The North Lake -- Fountains of Fire -- Streams of Burning Lava -- Tidal Waves

Chapter 76

A Reminiscence -- Another Horse Story -- My Ride with the Retired Milk Horse -- A Picnicking Excursion -- Dead Volcano of Holeakala -- Comparison with Vesuvius -- An Inside View

Chapter 77

A Curious Character -- A Series of Stories -- Sad Fate of a Liar -- Evidence of Insanity

Chapter 78

Return to San Francisco -- Ship Amusements -- Preparing for Lecturing -- Valuable Assistance Secured -- My First Attempt -- The Audience Carried -- "All's Well That Ends Well."

Chapter 79

Highwaymen -- A Predicament -- A Huge Joke -- Farewell to California -- At Home Again -- Great Changes. Moral.

Appendices

A. Brief Sketch of Mormon History -- B. The Mountain Meadows Massacre -- C. Concerning a Frightful Assassination That Was Never Consummated