In Fact, All Through The Seven Counties I
Traversed - Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada And
Yuba - I Found Bret Harte Had Left But A Hazy And Nebulous Impression.
Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford, Horace Greeley, Bayard Taylor, Even "Dan
De Quille," Seemed Better Known.
The next morning I started for Sonora.
In seven miles I came to the
Stanislaus River, running in a deep and splendid canon. The river here
is spanned by a fine concrete bridge, built jointly by Tuolumne and
Calaveras Counties, between which the river forms the dividing line. In
the bottom of the canon is the Melones mine, with a mill operating one
hundred stamps. The main tunnel is a mile and a half in length; the
longest mining tunnel in the State, I was told.
A steep pull of two miles out of the canon brought me to Tuttletown.
Here I stayed several hours, for the interest of the whole trip, so far
as Bret Harte was concerned, centered around this once celebrated camp,
and Jackass Hill, on which, at one time, lived James W. Gillis, the
supposed prototype of "Truthful James." He died a few years ago, but his
brother, Stephen R. Gillis, is living there to-day, and after some
little difficulty I succeeded in finding his house.
Mr. Gillis scouts the idea that his brother "Jim" was the "Truthful
James" of Bret Harte. He said that in reality it was J. W. E. Townsend,
known in old times as "Alphabetical Townsend," also by the
uncomplimentary appellation of "Lying Jim." According to Mr. Gillis,
Bret Harte made but one visit to Tuttletown.
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