The gold hunters : $b A first-hand picture of life in California mining camps in the early fiftiesBorthwick, John David
History
The gold hunters : $b A first-hand picture of life in California mining camps in the early fifties
Borthwick, John David
California -- Gold discoveries; California -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Mining camps -- California -- History
We passed a most miserable night. We lay down as best we could, and were
packed like sardines in a box. All wanted to sleep; but if one man
moved, he woke half-a-dozen others, who again in waking roused all the
rest; so sleep was, like our supper, only to be enjoyed in imagination,
and all we could do was to wait intently for daylight. As soon as we
could see, we all left the wretched place, none of us much improved in
temper, or in general condition. It was still raining, and we had the
pleasure of knowing that we should not get any breakfast for two or
three hours.
We had another severe day on the river--hot sun, heavy rains, and hard
work; and in the afternoon we arrived at Gorgona, a small village, where
a great many passengers leave the river and take the road to Panama.
Cruces is about seven miles farther up the river, and from there the
road to Panama is said to be much better, especially in wet weather,
when the Gorgona road is almost impassable.
The village of Gorgona consisted of a number of native shanties, built,
in the usual style, of thin canes, between any two of which you might
put your finger, and fastened together, in basket fashion, with the long
woody tendrils with which the woods abound. The roof is of palm leaves,
slanting up to a great height, so as to shed the heavy rains. Some of
these houses have only three sides, others have only two, while some
have none at all, being open all round; and in all of them might be
seen one or more natives swinging in a hammock, calmly and patiently
waiting for time to roll on, or, it may be, deriving intense enjoyment
from the mere consciousness of existence.
There was a large canvas house, on which was painted “Gorgona Hotel.” It
was kept by an American, the most unwholesome-looking individual I had
yet seen; he was the very personification of fever. We had here a very
luxurious dinner, having plantains and eggs in addition to the usual
fare of ham and beans. The upper story of the hotel was a large loft, so
low in the roof that one could not stand straight up in it. In this
there were sixty or seventy beds, so close together that there was just
room to pass between them; and as those at one end became tenanted, the
passages leading to them were filled up with more beds, in such a manner
that, when all were put up, not an inch of the floor could be seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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