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. The bustle
and excitement of the mining days are passed forever, in all
probability, for old Sonora; but in their place have come the peace and
quiet that accompany the tillage of the soil; for Sonora is now the
center of a prosperous agricultural district and the town maintains a
steady and continuous growth.
Here I had the pleasure of an interview with Mr. John Neal, a prominent
and respected citizen of Tuolumne County, who as Commissioner
represented his county at the San Francisco Midwinter Fair. Mr. Neal is
over eighty, but still hale and hearty. He was the first person I had
thus far encountered who had known Bret Harte in the flesh. He had also
known and frequently met Mark Twain, "Dan de Quille" and Prentice
Mulford. Of the four, it was evident that Mulford had left by far the
most lasting as well as favorable impression on his mind. Of him he
spoke in terms of real affection. "Prentice Mulford," he said, "was a
brilliant, very handsome and most lovable young man." I asked him how
these young men were regarded by the miners. He said: "In all the camps
they were held to be in a class by themselves, on account of their
education and literary ability. Although they wore the rough costume of
the miners, it was realized that none of them took mining seriously or
made any pretense of real work with pick and shovel." Mr. Neal knew
James Gillis intimately and admitted he was a great story-teller. In
fact, at the bare mention of his name he broke into a hearty laugh. "Oh,
Jim Gillis, he was a great fellow!" he exclaimed. He said unquestionably
Mark Twain got a good deal of material from him, and feels certain that
Bret Harte must have met him at least on several occasions. Mr. Neal
stated that up to the time of the Midwinter Fair, the output of gold
from Tuolumne county reached the astonishing figures of $250,000,000!
What it has amounted to since that time, I had no means of ascertaining.
It is only twelve miles from Sonora to Tuolumne. From the top of the
divide which separates the valleys there is a beautiful view of the
surrounding country, the dim blue peaks of the Sierra Nevada forming the
eastern sky-line. One of the chief charms of an excursion through these
foothill counties is the certainty that directly you reach any
considerable elevation there will be revealed a magnificent panorama,
bounded only by the limit of vision, range after range of mountains
running up in varying shades of blue and purple, to the far distant
summits that indicate the backbone of California.
Tuolumne is situated in a circular basin rather than in a valley, and
thus being protected from the wind, in hot weather the heat is intense.
If there are any mining operations in the immediate vicinity, they are
not in evidence to the casual observer. It is, however, one of the
biggest timber camps in the State. In the yards of the West Side Lumber
Company, covering several hundred acres, are stacked something like
30,000,000 feet of sugar pine. The logs are brought from the mountains
twenty to twenty-five miles by rail, and sawn into lumber at Tuolumne. I
was told that the bulk of the lumber manufactured here was shipped
abroad, a great deal going to Australia.
Tuolumne, in Bret Harte's time, was called Summersville. It was
destroyed by fire about fourteen years ago, but the new town has already
so assimilated itself to the atmosphere of its surroundings, that its
comparative youth might easily escape detection. Altogether, I was
disappointed with Tuolumne, having expected to find a second Angel's,
owing to its prominence in Bret Harte's stories. A lumber camp, while an
excellent thing in its way, is neither picturesque nor inspiring. I
spent the night at the "Turnback Inn," a large frame building,
handsomely finished interiorly and built since the fire. It is, I
believe, quite a summer resort, as Tuolumne is the terminus of the
Sierra Railway, and one can go by way of Stockton direct to Oakland and
San Francisco.
Returning to Angel's the next day, I lingered again at Tuttletown. There
is a strange attraction about the place - it would hold you apart from
its associations, The old hotel, fast going to decay, surrounded by
splendid trees whose shade is so dense as to be impenetrable to the
noon-day sun, is a study for an artist.
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