登陆注册
5379700000093

第93章

Six months after my entry into journalism the grand "flush times" of Silverland began, and they continued with unabated splendor for three years.All difficulty about filling up the "local department" ceased, and the only trouble now was how to make the lengthened columns hold the world of incidents and happenings that came to our literary net every day.Virginia had grown to be the "livest" town, for its age and population, that America had ever produced.The sidewalks swarmed with people--to such an extent, indeed, that it was generally no easy matter to stem the human tide.The streets themselves were just as crowded with quartz wagons, freight teams and other vehicles.The procession was endless.So great was the pack, that buggies frequently had to wait half an hour for an opportunity to cross the principal street.Joy sat on every countenance, and there was a glad, almost fierce, intensity in every eye, that told of the money-getting schemes that were seething in every brain and the high hope that held sway in every heart.Money was as plenty as dust; every individual considered himself wealthy, and a melancholy countenance was nowhere to be seen.There were military companies, fire companies, brass bands, banks, hotels, theatres, "hurdy-gurdy houses," wide-open gambling palaces, political pow-wows, civic processions, street fights, murders, inquests, riots, a whiskey mill every fifteen steps, a Board of Aldermen, a Mayor, a City Surveyor, a City Engineer, a Chief of the Fire Department, with First, Second and Third Assistants, a Chief of Police, City Marshal and a large police force, two Boards of Mining Brokers, a dozen breweries and half a dozen jails and station-houses in full operation, and some talk of building a church.The "flush times" were in magnificent flower! Large fire-proof brick buildings were going up in the principal streets, and the wooden suburbs were spreading out in all directions.Town lots soared up to prices that were amazing.

The great "Comstock lode" stretched its opulent length straight through the town from north to south, and every mine on it was in diligent process of development.One of these mines alone employed six hundred and seventy-five men, and in the matter of elections the adage was, "as the 'Gould and Curry' goes, so goes the city." Laboring men's wages were four and six dollars a day, and they worked in three "shifts" or gangs, and the blasting and picking and shoveling went on without ceasing, night and day.

The "city" of Virginia roosted royally midway up the steep side of Mount Davidson, seven thousand two hundred feet above the level of the sea, and in the clear Nevada atmosphere was visible from a distance of fifty miles! It claimed a population of fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand, and all day long half of this little army swarmed the streets like bees and the other half swarmed among the drifts and tunnels of the "Comstock," hundreds of feet down in the earth directly under those same streets.Often we felt our chairs jar, and heard the faint boom of a blast down in the bowels of the earth under the office.

The mountain side was so steep that the entire town had a slant to it like a roof.Each street was a terrace, and from each to the next street below the descent was forty or fifty feet.The fronts of the houses were level with the street they faced, but their rear first floors were propped on lofty stilts; a man could stand at a rear first floor window of a C street house and look down the chimneys of the row of houses below him facing D street.It was a laborious climb, in that thin atmosphere, to ascend from D to A street, and you were panting and out of breath when you got there; but you could turn around and go down again like a house a-fire--so to speak.The atmosphere was so rarified, on account of the great altitude, that one's blood lay near the surface always, and the scratch of a pin was a disaster worth worrying about, for the chances were that a grievous erysipelas would ensue.But to offset this, the thin atmosphere seemed to carry healing to gunshot wounds, and therefore, to simply shoot your adversary through both lungs was a thing not likely to afford you any permanent satisfaction, for he would be nearly certain to be around looking for you within the month, and not with an opera glass, either.

From Virginia's airy situation one could look over a vast, far-reaching panorama of mountain ranges and deserts; and whether the day was bright or overcast, whether the sun was rising or setting, or flaming in the zenith, or whether night and the moon held sway, the spectacle was always impressive and beautiful.Over your head Mount Davidson lifted its gray dome, and before and below you a rugged canyon clove the battlemented hills, making a sombre gateway through which a soft-tinted desert was glimpsed, with the silver thread of a river winding through it, bordered with trees which many miles of distance diminished to a delicate fringe;and still further away the snowy mountains rose up and stretched their long barrier to the filmy horizon--far enough beyond a lake that burned in the desert like a fallen sun, though that, itself, lay fifty miles removed.Look from your window where you would, there was fascination in the picture.At rare intervals--but very rare--there were clouds in our skies, and then the setting sun would gild and flush and glorify this mighty expanse of scenery with a bewildering pomp of color that held the eye like a spell and moved the spirit like music.

同类推荐
  • 叶天士医案精华

    叶天士医案精华

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 凤山县采访册

    凤山县采访册

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宝云振祖集

    宝云振祖集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 续萨婆多毗尼毗婆沙

    续萨婆多毗尼毗婆沙

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新镌绣像麴头陀济颠全传

    新镌绣像麴头陀济颠全传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 夕阳残照(最受学生喜爱的散文精粹)

    夕阳残照(最受学生喜爱的散文精粹)

    《最受学生喜爱的散文精粹》从喧嚣中缓缓走来,如一位许久不见的好友,收拾了一路趣闻,满载着一眼美景,静静地与你分享。靠近它,你会忘记白日里琐碎的工作,沉溺于片刻的宁谧。靠近它,你也会忘却烦恼,还心灵一片晴朗。一个人在其一生中,阅读一些立意深远、具有丰富哲学思考的散文,不仅可以开阔视野,重新认识历史、社会、人生和自然,获得思想上的盎然新意,而且还可以学习中外散文名家高超而成熟的创作技巧。
  • 三国之星空神话

    三国之星空神话

    真实的三国,名将难求。叶锋将如何与各方枭雄竞争,游戏的背后又有何种秘密?敬请关注本书,让我们一起见证屌丝的崛起。群号:928226374
  • 怯爱

    怯爱

    她,一个精明的女强人,感情空白;他,一个帅气的男人,为了生活,不得不做了别人的情人,他们相遇相知,奋不顾身的爱着。他,一个名门望族的混血男人,以一个强势的第三者入侵,他们三人的命运终将如何?一个女人的情感纠葛,让你体会其中的心酸无奈,感动缠绵…
  • 心灵甘泉:沙与沫

    心灵甘泉:沙与沫

    沙与沫是一本关于生命、艺术、爱情、人性的格言书,值得反复品读。除了哲理以外,诗集还富于音韵之美,宛如天籁,传达出生命的爱和真谛,让那些困顿彷徨的人们,都能得到慰藉和鼓舞!诗文超越了时空、国界的限制,字句中蕴含深刻的哲理,体现了人类共同的情感,满足了不同心灵的不同需求。
  • 我在灵域的升级日常

    我在灵域的升级日常

    这是一个小人物的升级日常,一个非生即死的所在,莫名的被选择成为了这死生之地的成员,灵域中,一切既有定数,又充满变数,楚牧不想死,那就是只能在这生与死的杀戮中,不断获胜,一步步变强,向那象征荣誉的最高位置的灵域之王——阎王,发起挑战。
  • 都市之最强天尊

    都市之最强天尊

    【火热新书,都市爆款】老子将来是天尊,最强的那种,就问你怕不怕?
  • 玄幻无敌帝皇

    玄幻无敌帝皇

    混沌之域,神魔并起!然太古时代,太古神魔大战,战波使大陆化为兆亿尘埃,埋葬神魔。无数纪元过后,混沌与秩序再演,世间重有神邸诞生,无数宗门,帝国林立,万族空前繁荣。然世间偏落一角,一尊来自洪荒太古时代的无敌魔帝复苏了!叶倾城:“人间万邪,我为君主!横扫天下,睥睨江湖!邪君所至,神嚎鬼哭;一笑乾坤,一眼今古!”
  • 重生之末世:掌控女王

    重生之末世:掌控女王

    有爱才有恨,当一切已成定局,悔之晚矣。韩雪望着怀里毫无声息的人,麻木的心碎了,她不是应该恨他吗?随后知道了,当年他离开的真正原因。心中便只剩下恨,她恨那些伤害过他的人,更恨的却是她自己。面临绝境,机缘巧合觉醒另一种异能,冷眼注视着,一脸胜利的卑鄙小人,她名义上的男友,冷笑的开启毁灭空间,本以为一切已经结束,才知道不过是新的开始……且看女主如何手持异能,走上于前世截然不同的强者之路,强强联手,笑看末世。。。。。。
  • 解读青少年心理文丛:把握青少年心理规律

    解读青少年心理文丛:把握青少年心理规律

    《解读青少年心理文丛:把握青少年心理规律》针对青少年朋友当中存在的厌学、耐挫力低、不适应集体生活、处事能力不足等方面的问题,提供合理的解决方案,帮助青少年朋友走出困惑,身心得到良好发展。
  • 李书福传

    李书福传

    没有高学历,没有硬背景,一个普通家庭走出来的不普通青年——李书福,创造了中国汽车产业的神话。 他,用聪明和汗水换来第一桶金,用疯狂和执着创建自己的吉利帝国,用梦想和智慧书写“蛇吞象”的神话——民营企业吉利集团吞并世界著名汽车品牌“沃尔沃”。 敢想才敢敢,敢干才能赢!“中国版福特”李书福用他的经历证明了这句话。“汽车疯子”李书福的成功经历,会让你更深刻地领会那句广告语的含义:Just Do It!