SEVEN MONTHS IN AMERICA.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 78

SEVEN MONTHS IN AMERICA.

o .. — . Br Two Otago Bois.

On March 23, 1904, we left Auckland by tlio s.s. Moura, to connect with the R.M.S. Aoiar.gi at Suva, Fiji, for Vancouver. We were setting out with the intention of settling in Canada, about ■which so much has bean heard in tii& colonies, and .incidentally to make "a lew ii.iil.ona."

The trip up was uneventful, except for tbs extreme neat just baicre arriving in iSuva. Several of ihe nreincn succumbed to its diects, and the chief engineer jokingly remarked that if we wished to cabeii t.he Aorangi we would have to .don our working clothes and assist in the stoker bold. Later m the day we visited the engine room ond stokehold; but iivs nunutes there was quit© sufficient, as the thermometer stood at 135deg Fahrenheit On -Sunday , 27th, the sea i\ ater registered 83deg F., and at midnight, in spite ot heavy r<.iiu having' fallen during the after noon, the thermometer stood at 84deg F.

At HonoJulu several passengers joined us, principally Americans returning home. We became very intimate with one of them, a native ot San Francisco, and after we had landed in America he was kind enough to assist us in every way within his power. A rather amusiug incident occurred just ad ihp Aorangi was leaving the wharf at Honolulu. She had -ii-awm out about 20f^, whien two middle-aged gentleman were seen running along the wharf wildly gesti culating. Luckily the pilot's boat nad not yet left the wharf, and the two were literllly pitched into it by the stalwart kanaka crew, who speedily rowed to the ship's &ide, up which the belated onec scrambled amidst the wild cheering of the passengers. The Aorangi arrived in Vancouver on April 4. Quite a little excitement was caused among some of the Australian passengers at the sight of the snow-clad zrcmntaius on the Washington side of the> straits. It was the first snow they had seen; but they were destined to see it &t closer quarters, the train on which they embarked for liie East being "held up'" for two days by snowslides in tbs Rockies.

On our arrival in Vancouver we found that no mail had come through for two weeks, with the result that business was. almost at a standstill. We at once setout to find work, but at the end of three days m c were still unemployed, and feeling rather disgusted with Vancouver. In the meantime our American friend had been urging us to go with him to Saa Francisco, painting its charms in glowing colours. On Sunday a party of Aorangi passengers, ourselves included, took ferry to North Vancouver, a go-aihead suburb, to see the Indian settlement. While waiting for tbs steamer to return our friend a.gain urged us to go with him to San Francisco. Finally we took a 10-cernt piece and tossed it — heads we went, tails we> stayed in Canada. Heads turned up twice, and that afternoon saw us on our way to Victoria to join the Pacific Coast boat for San Fiancisco.

Before we could get our tickets, hiowcver, we had to go to the United States immigration offioei*, who, before giving us tickets stating that we were desirables, required us to pass a medical examination. This was easily done, as the doctor merely looked us over. One has i<y undergo quits an ord-eal before being allowed to set foot on Uncle Sam's territory. On board the s.s. S the purser examined us as to our ivorldly wealth, whether we were under contract, and finally demanded 2dol — the usual fee for immigrants other than Canadians, Mexicans, and Cubans.

As our vessel steamed thiough the Golden Gate the health and Customs officers boarded us, and we were required to swear that we had no dutiable articles in our baggage. (Tha's did. not prevent a rigorous search o.f every item, before it left the- dock.) We found that the American ship's crew tacked considerably of the courtesy so noticeable on the Union Steam Ship Company's fleet. The appointments also are very indifferent, 'batlis being an unknown quantity. Finally we were allowed to land. Here our friend proved a friend indeed, seeing us to a very comfortable and cheap hotel, and giving us generally directions how to find our way about the city before going to his own home.

San Francisco has been described so many times in colonial papers by travellers that it is quite unnecessnry for us to go into details beyond mentioning the fact that we found it was full of American hustle, and we had to hustle to keep clear of tho traffic— a great contrast to Victoria and Vancouver, where people take life veiy easy. Everybody was in a hurry, and on all sides huge "sky-scrapers'' were in course of erection. We spent the remainder of the day sight-seeing, and finished up by going to ths theatre in the evening. This, although one of ths best in the city, we found to b? decidedly inferior to those in New Zealand.

The next day we went to the Labour Office and stated our position. We were provided with a printed" list of "Wanteds," and decided to try shepherding, as we had ■both dome a litile of thiat kind of thing in New Zealand. In five minutes we had paid our dollars and were engaged at 30dol per mionth and found, and' were provided with instructions as to how to find the ranch. They waste no time over you. You take the place or not ; if not, you

must make room for ,-omeone else, as thera are probably a. couple of hundicd of men waiting outside. Last year this olh'ce provided 60,000 men with employment, all at a fee of fiom Idol to 2dol per head.

That evening saw us on our way to the> ferry station at the foot of Market street, vhere the feirics — huge paddle boatsleave for Oaklpnd, across the bay, and tho terminus of the Southern Pacific railway. Our destination w»'.s a little town called Elmira, in the Sacramento Valley, some 60 miles from San Francisco, on the Southern Pacific main line. On the way we were struck by the large and numeroua plantations of Australian blue gum trees, which seem to thrive remarkably well there.

We foin.d Ehrnira consisted of a couple of saloons and a store. Nobody met us, so we put up at' one of the hotels for tho night,, but a.s it was only a few yards £rom"i'h,9 railroad we got little sleep, owing to the thundering of heavy freight trains to and from San Francisco. Next morning(Suinday) we were informed by the hotelkeeper" that G 's man was waiting fop us with a waggon. The waggon consisted of a few planks laid across the axles oi two pairs of wheels, and was drawn by a pair of very lean mules. The driver was a n:.ost ragged and unkempt individual, a Dane, with little to say, and answering; to the name of "Shorty." He responded with alacrity, however, to our invitation! to "liquor up." Just before starting wo -found that we were to have another passenger — a raAV Irishman just out, and engaged as "chor-enmn" on tbe same ranch as ourselves. After a couple of hours' drive through very uninteresting country we pulled up at the ranch. The homestead was completely surrounded with tall gum trees. We handed our papers to the foreman, and were informed that we would have to put up in the barn, as the "bunkhouse" was full. The barn was half full of trussed hay, with the stable on, one side, but looked comfortable enough. Soon afterwards the bell rang for dinner. Little was said during the meal, which gave us an opportunity to "take stock" of our co-workers, and a cosmopolitan crowd they were. The foreman (who dined and bunked with the men) and one other were the only Americans. Of the others, two were French, one Swede, two Danes, a Norwegian, a German, and the representatives of Great and Greater Britain — the Irishman and our two selves ; while the whole werei w^ted on by a decidedly dirty Chinaman. The food was good though plain, and we made a hearty meal, in spite of the fact that we were* allowed only one plate for both meat and pudding. We spent the afternoon looking over the ranch and a very large almond orchard. The ranch, consisted of about 6000 acres of flatcountry, covered with a thick growth of excellent grass. In the summer this grass dries up, and the sheep have to do taken to the higher-range country, where they are berded in bands of about 600. The. only cultivation on the place was the almond orchard, of some 20 acres. The sheep weremerinos and Shropshires, and were bred for their wool and stud purposes.

Before tea we lay <sown on our trunks for "forty winks," and w-ere. awakened by a discussion between our friend the Dane and the ploughman. They were unable to see us, and we presently heard them discussing ourselves as Englishmen, and all kinds of sheep herders, white collars, etc. After tea — this meal is called "supper" in America — =we found the foreman and choreman busy dressing a sheep for the kitchen, and making a very indifferent job of it. After watching their muddling for a time, we suggested we might be able to help them — an offer they willingly accepted. After the operation we found we had risen considerably in their estimation, so mucii so that the foreman suggested we spen3 the evening in the bunkhouse "swapping lies."

Before bidding them good-night we asked them what. time, breakfast was ready in the morning, and were rather staggered when told that the bell -ang at 5 a.m., and that work commenced immediatelyafter. At 4 a,m. we were awakened by a volley of curses and oaths — oaths that" would make an Australian bullock-driver blush. They proceeded from two plough-" men, who were harnessing their teams of mules. This occurred every morning. It had this much satisfaction for vs — that wa knew that as they came at 4, we had still, another hour in bunk.

After breakfast we were told to bring In a "band" of sick sheep, and started of? through tie long, wet grass. On the way we started up a number of jack rabbits, which loped off for a short distance, and! then placidly went on feeding. Tli«y -were very like the English hare, the fur, however, being slightly lighter in hue.

The sheep, we found, were indeed sick, and we counted no less than 100 dead_or dying lambs strewn about. Many of them were in a frightful condition from maggots, a.nd this was tho cause of most of the deaths. Arriving at the yards, or corrals, we set to work to dress them, and a disgusting job it was. The remedy used! was a solution of Little's fluid dip, and its effect was wonderful, the sheep being clear of maggots in a few hours. After this

\re were shown how to dress, their feet, as nearly all of them were in a bad state. This we heard has to be done every year owing to the character of the soil, there being no gravel or rock in it to wear them down. This applies to merinos only, other varieties not being affected. As -we had neither of us done any ■work for some months, we found the continued stooping very irksome, and, to make matters worse, the sun at midday was intensely hot, and very glad we were when the bell rang at 7 p.m. for supper. The only thing that served to break the monotony was the amusing arguments which occurred among the different nationalities as to the merits oi their respective countries.

Matters proceeded quietly for nearly two •weeks, when the shearers came, and things livened up considerably. The men (11) ■were all Portuguese, making the population still more cosmopolitan. Fine-built men they were, but foul-mouthed and .vulgar to a degree. The method of shearing"; differs from that in New Zealand. The sheep are run into an open corral facing -the "board," the shearers drawing their cheep from it, and returning the shorn ones to the same pen. The fleece is tied into a bundle by the shearer and thrown up to the baler, each man keeping his own tally. The fleeces were light, the sheep i>eing shorn twice a year. We were told .off to keep the shearers' corral full, and an easy time we had. A few days after the shearers arrived the foreman went into Elmira, leaving one of us virtually in charge. At midday he returned, considerably the worse, of liquor, and bringing with him an Irishman named Mike. This man had been an employee on the ranch for some years, but & few weeks previously had had some trouble with the foreman and had to quit, but had now been reinstated by the owner. No sooner did we see him than we had a presntiment of trouble, which came soon enough. After dinner we started work, as usual, the foreman having gone to bed. Mike strolled down to the yards with an idiot of a dog, which immediately proceeded to scatter the sheep, -uike looked over the yard, and legan to issue orders right and left, interlarding them with choice oaths.

After half an hour of this we asked him if he were boss here. *No, but I'm going to be,". was his reply. Without another word we, together with one of the Frenchmen, picked up our coats and walked off. After some trouble we succeeded in arousing the foreman, and told him we were, going: to" quit.. "I can't square up with you," boys," he- said ; "I have not enough money." By "the time we had changed and jpatjked up/ however, he was sufficiently sober- to think a little, and decided to drive into Elmira to see if he could- raise the money,- and offered to take our baggage in wf£h 'Mm, *we Walking hebind.

3?he only "thing we regretted leaving was m. little collie bitch, which had become very much attached to us, the Frenchman, with the' demonstrativeness of his race, hugging and almost crying over her as he bade her good-bye. We reached Ehnira at 8 that tired and hungry, and found that the foreman had succeeded in getting sufficient money to pay us off. Supper was long over at the hotel, so we bought some canned goods at the store, and going over to the aotel had a jolly little meal together. After squaring up, we parted with the foreman with mutual expressions of goodwill.

Next morning we took train to San, Francisco, arriving about midday, much to the surprise of our friend, whom, we looked up on the way to our hotel. Here we parted with the Frenchman.

Next day we went to the Employment Office again, and this time we decided to try mining. We were soon accommodated, and engaged as muckers in a non-union mine at 2£ dollars per day, le?s 75 cents for board and lodging. We started that evening on a stern-wheel steamer for Stockton, up the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. We arrived at 8 a.m.J and found that we would have to wait till 1 p.m. for" the train to Milton. Stockton is a thriving little town, with large flourmills, and is '.the centre" of the fertile fruit-grow-ing, San-. Joaquin Valley. Milton, is some 25 miles east of' Stockton' the litfe for the first "'few- "miles running through' large orchards ' of. cherries, prunesj etc. Leaving the cultivation, the line runs into some Tolling hills, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The train stopped just outside the depot to allow the engine to make a flying fihunt — that is, the engine starts the train and is then uncoupled, and shoots ahead down the side line, at the end of winch is a turntable. Immediately after the engine has passed the points, they are thrown over, and the cars run down the main line to the depot. On this occasion the points refused to work after the «ngine had passed, and the cars gaily followed her down the side track. In vain the engine-driver applied the brakes until Ms driving-wheels were locked, but the impetus of the train was too great. Over the turntable we went, and then it was seen that the engine would reach the end of the line, which had no stop-block. Seeing this, the fireman and several of the passengers jumped, going headlong down a steep embankment, much to the amusement of the bystanders. The engine pulled up in a ditch, smashing her bogies and ■wrecking herself completely. Nobody was Irurt. Milton is just such another village as Elmira. We found a stage-coach waiting to take us to Hodson, our destination, and m-ei-a soon on our way. (To be continued.) IE Ka who grows two blades of grass rWhere only one had place Deserves the thanks of every class And benefits the race, Then worthier still of honoured name, While coughs and colds endure, iEmblazoned on the scroll of fame. Ja Woods' Gbeat Peppermint Cure.