Diary 62-4: July, 1887 - preliminary transcript

Thursday June 30

Same -- Graduating exercises of Public Schools at Opera House -- AM & PM -- well crowded -- Ball in evening at Opera House of the schools and school authorities for the Benefit of the suffering wives & families of late disaster -- The Connection from the Can Va not completed yet & dont know when it will -- Situation getting desperate in case of the men being alive -- may starve to death -- Bed at 1 -- [next few lines erased]

JP Jones JG Fair J Poujade Adolph Sutro 1887 Hot Weather

Friday July 1, 1887

Clear & hot -- 84 deg -- PM I wrote letters to Hon J P Jones and J G Fair, San F & to J Poujade Pioche, Lincoln Co, Nev -- Evening down town -- Bed at 12 --

Saturday July 2

Same -- About town -- Wrote & sent letters to Adolphe Sutro with pamphlet -- Bed at 12 --

Sunday July 3

Same -- 86 -- PM about town -- Nothing new about the entombed miners -- Work to the rescue going ahead as usual from the Can Va side but all in the dark -- No more known than a week ago -- Lots of crackers, etc popping this evening and flags being

The 4th Keno Off for Reno

put up for the 4th -- Big Keno game at the International saloon rooms -- Biggest pool $50 -- ordinary pools, from $10 to $17 -- The mining pay day yesterday made things

flush -- Bed at 1 --

Monday July 4

Clear & very hot -- 96 deg in Reno -- Rose at 6 -- Left on 7:40 excursion train for Reno -- round trip $1.50 -- Arrived at 10:30 -- Had four coaches crowded from G H & Va -- Picked up passengers all along the route & took on 2 coaches & 2 excursion flats at Carson, all densely crowded -- Big crowd -- At Reno went directly home -- Found

At the Reno 4th Celebration Hot Weather

all well -- We attended the parade -- Balloon & all other propositions -- Home on the train at 6 PM -- Arrived at 9:30 -- Wrote up a column account of the Reno celebration for Enterprise, also couple of other items, read proof etc -- Bed at 3:30 -- It was a very hot day in Reno & I did sweat terribly -- 96° in the shade & some said 100 -- Over ten degrees hotter than we have it in Va -- We consider 86° mightly hot here -- About 4:30 PM gathering clouds in the south & west sent a warning gale, stirring horrible clouds of dust down the streets -- A few light thunder showers followed

Excursionists

On the way home those to go on the two flats behind having crowded into the 6 coaches out of the rain all the standing room was occupied -- Charley Legate & I got big 2 ft stacks of fuel from the tender ahead of us and sat them up end wise & used them for seats -- A family got off at Franktown & we dodged into their seats too quick -- Kept them all the rest of the way home -- The crowd that got off at Carson eased the accomodations very materially --

Rain Col UE Allen Air compressor stopped

Tuesday July 5

Cloudy & warm -- 82 deg -- Busy at home most of the day -- About 2 PM a very heavy rain for about an hour -- Dust laid effectually -- Was with Sam Davis of the Carson Appeal -- Visited the Con Va and the Gould & Curry works together -- The air compressor was stopped yesterday morning, it being ascertained that the pipe had been broken by the cave at the 1500 level of the shaft -- The air blower still working -- Bed at 1 -- Rec'd letter from Col UE Allen, Waterbury, Conn --

Edmonds -- Cooper Dramatic Co Shower

Wednesday July 6

Same -- rather rultry -- PM about town -- Evening ditto -- Bed 1 -- Good shower about 2 PM -- The Edmonds-Cooper Dramatic Company are playing at the Opera House this week -- to fair houses -- Haven't attended as of yet --

Shower JG Fair Pioneer Anniversary

Thursday July 7

AM cloudy but pleasant -- PM a smart thunder shower or two laid the dust -- good and refreshed all nature -- PM about town got letter from Col Jas G Fair, San Francisco, saying he had received no pamphlet & wanted one -- About noon went with Dr Delavan and put up our Pioneer flag, on the flagstaff, over the the old Hall on B st -- This was in honor of the anniversary of the acquisition of California, and, the day when the American flag was first raised on the soil of that Territory -- It was also

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in token of our regular annual meeting of the Society of Pacific Coast

Pioneer Meeting

Pioneers for the election of officers -- Evening I attended the meeting -- About a dozen present -- Election resulted as follows: from the Enterprise of tomorrow morning, the item being written & insterted by myself this evening -- I made a nice

I elected President of the P.C.P. Rain JG Fair

little speech in acknowledgement of the honor conferred in the electing me President of the Society. After adjournment I was about town -- Wrote up the meeting & 1 oor 2 other items for the Enterprise -- & read proof -- Bed at 1 --

Friday July 8

Cloudy & variable & fine -- Evening after dark a very few light sprinkles -- PM responded to the letter of Jas G Fair with a pretty lively one enclosing three pamphlets -- Evening was about town -- Bed at 12:30 -- Cloudy & threatening a big thunder shower -- The much desired connection on the mines not completed --

The Gould & Curry Rescue Connection made

Saturday July 9

Cloudy but sultry -- A very light shower or so in the AM & PM -- The long desired connection was made this morning of the rescue drift from the Con Va with Best & Belcher & and Curry -- Drill ran through into [crossant] about 4 AM, & at 8 a hole 3 ft wide was blown through -- Exploring parties failed to find the entombed

1887

miners -- 6 of them -- but got on their track -- They had removed a bulkhead 150 ft north of the Gould & Curry shaft & gone into an old drift that leads to a [sentence erased] incline of 550 feet further north -- This [sentence erased] runs down to the Sutro tunnel

The Mining Disaster in Gould & Curry Bodies Found

level -- It has closed [sentence erased] the welling of the ground etc, & also bulkheaded at lower end -- So no hope for them, they must be in that incline [sentence erased] -- Air pipes were being put in today and the bulkhead at lowed end removed -- Bodies will probably be brought out tomorrow -- I sent a telegram about it this evening at 7:40 to the Reno Journal -- Evening down town -- Bed at 2 --

The Bodies Brought Up

Sunday July 10

Clouds & Sunshine -- in PM about town -- Those bodies were found this morning, but owing to pretty extensive trouble in getting at them, bad air, etc, they were not brought to the surface until late in the evening -- About 11 oclock I was with Frank Trezona, & we to Conboce's undertaking shop and saw all the corpses -- They had evidently been dead many days and came apart at the joints unless care was taken -- in the handling -- They were rolled onto canvass sheets which were bound around them and ties securely, in order to bring them up the shaft -- The stench from

Horrible Corpses

them was simply fearful and I had to cover my nose and mouth with my handkerchief --