Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 3, 1895 - Travels and Excursions, Volume II
(333) Page 311
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EPISODES m THE STOKY OF A MINE
dump on the green world below, and seen the sun
lying broad among the wreck, and heard the silence
broken only by the tinkling water in the shaft, or a
stir of the royal family about the battered palace,
and my mind has gone back to the epoch of the
Stanleys and the Chapmans, with a grand tutti of
pick and drill, hammer and anvil, echoing about the
caiion ; the assayer hard at it in our dining-room ;
the carts below on the road, and their cargo of red
mineral bounding aud thundering down the iron
chute. And now all gone — all fallen away into this
sunny silence and desertion : a family of squatters
dining in the assayer's office, making their beds in
the big sleeping-room erstwhile so crowded, keeping
their wine in the tunnel that once rang with picks.
But Silverado itself, although now fallen in its turn
into decay, was once but a mushroom, and had suc-
ceeded to other mines and other flitting cities.
Twenty years ago, away down the glen on the Lake
County side, there was a place, Jonestown by name,
with two thousand inhabitants dwelling under can-
vas, and one roofed house for the sale of whisky.
Round on the western side of Mount Saint Helena
there was at the same date a second large encamp-
ment, its name, if it ever had one, lost for me. Both
of these have perished, leaving not a stick and
scarce a memory behind them. Tide after tide of
hopeful miners have thus flowed and ebbed about
the mountain, coming and going, now by lone pro-
spectors, now with a rush. Last in order of time
came Silverado, reared the big mill in the valley,
311
dump on the green world below, and seen the sun
lying broad among the wreck, and heard the silence
broken only by the tinkling water in the shaft, or a
stir of the royal family about the battered palace,
and my mind has gone back to the epoch of the
Stanleys and the Chapmans, with a grand tutti of
pick and drill, hammer and anvil, echoing about the
caiion ; the assayer hard at it in our dining-room ;
the carts below on the road, and their cargo of red
mineral bounding aud thundering down the iron
chute. And now all gone — all fallen away into this
sunny silence and desertion : a family of squatters
dining in the assayer's office, making their beds in
the big sleeping-room erstwhile so crowded, keeping
their wine in the tunnel that once rang with picks.
But Silverado itself, although now fallen in its turn
into decay, was once but a mushroom, and had suc-
ceeded to other mines and other flitting cities.
Twenty years ago, away down the glen on the Lake
County side, there was a place, Jonestown by name,
with two thousand inhabitants dwelling under can-
vas, and one roofed house for the sale of whisky.
Round on the western side of Mount Saint Helena
there was at the same date a second large encamp-
ment, its name, if it ever had one, lost for me. Both
of these have perished, leaving not a stick and
scarce a memory behind them. Tide after tide of
hopeful miners have thus flowed and ebbed about
the mountain, coming and going, now by lone pro-
spectors, now with a rush. Last in order of time
came Silverado, reared the big mill in the valley,
311
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Early editions of Robert Louis Stevenson > Collected works > Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Travels and Excursions, Volume II > (333) Page 311 |
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Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/90443371 |
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Dates / events: |
1895 [Date published] |
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Places: |
North and Central America >
United States
(nation) [Place in text] North and Central America > United States > California (state) [Place in text] |
Subject / content: |
Description Travel |
Form / genre: |
Written and printed matter > Books |
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Dates / events: |
1894-1898 [Date printed] |
Places: |
Europe >
United Kingdom >
Scotland >
Edinburgh >
Edinburgh
(inhabited place) [Place printed] |
Subject / content: |
Collected works |
Person / organisation: |
Chatto & Windus (Firm) [Distributor] Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 [Author] T. and A. Constable [Printer] Longmans, Green, and Co. [Publisher] Colvin, Sidney, 1845-1927 [Editor] |
Person / organisation: |
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 [Author] |
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