She Said Most Positively That
She Never Saw Bret Harte In Her Life, But Had Frequently Seen "Dan De
Quille" And Mark Twain.
The latter, she said, made periodic visits to
Tuttletown, and always stayed with "Jim" Gillis - called by Twain, the
"Sage of Jackass Hill."
Mrs. Gross, who keeps the Tuttletown Hotel and whose husband owned a
store across the way, built of stone but now in ruins, was born in
Tuttletown. She asserted she never heard of Bret Harte being in
Tuttletown and feels it to be impossible he ever taught school there. At
this ancient hostelry, built of wood and dating back to the early
fifties, I dined in company with an old miner, who told me he came
across "Jim" Gillis in Alaska. He said: "Gillis was a great josher. For
the life of me, I could never tell from his stories whether he had been
to the Klondike or not."
Chapter III
Tuolumne to Placerville. Charm of Sonora and Fascination of San Andreas
and Mokelumne Hill
Sonora is nine miles distant from Tuttletown, and I reached it in the
early afternoon. Perhaps of all the old mining towns, Sonora is the most
fascinating, on account of the exceeding beauty of the surrounding
country. No matter from what direction you approach it, Sonora seems to
lie basking in the sun, buried in a wealth of greenery, through which
gleam white walls and roofs of houses. Even its winding streets are so
shaded by graceful old trees that buildings are half hidden.
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