Of course, when
the rain set in, as everybody knew, the dam would go, and the river
diggings must be abandoned till the water subsided and a fresh dam
was made; but there were two months before them yet, and everyone
hoped to be down to the bedrock before the water interrupted their
work.
The hillside, both in the Yuba Valley and for some distance along
Pine Tree Gulch, was dotted by shanties and tents; the former
constructed for the most part of logs roughly squared, the walls
being some three feet in height, on which the sharp sloping roof
was placed, thatched in the first place with boughs, and made all
snug, perhaps, with an old sail stretched over all. The camp was
quiet enough during the day. The few women were away with their
washing at the pools, a quarter of a mile up the Gulch, and the
only persons to be seen about were the men told off for cooking
for their respective parties.
But in the evening the camp was lively. Groups of men in red shirts
and corded trousers tied at the knee, in high boots, sat round
blazing fires, and talked of their prospects or discussed the news
of the luck at other camps. The sound of music came from two or
three plank erections which rose conspicuously above the huts of
the diggers, and were bright externally with the glories of white
and colored paints.
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