By William Daugherty in 1891
Man in a bathtub.
Water was a luxury in the early days of Pioche, Nevada, when it cost 25 cents a bucketful, which by the way, is usually the price paid, and the first tax levied in the history of all Nevada mining camps. Hence, it is not mentioned here as a novelty or a matter of extraordinary character, but merely as one of the conditions under which the vagaries of human nature are developed into a craving for the unattainable, especially in the case of sick people, who are in like cases, usually petulant and exacting.
At the time mentioned, the Meadow Valley Company had an outside foreman named Tom, an Irishman, who was noted for his robust strength and general disregard for that quality that is akin to godliness. In direct opposition to Tom’s nature, the company had provided him with a clerk, who was a little sickly fellow in the last stages of consumption and deeply convinced that only daily bathing in cold water would prolong his life. Tom and he occupied a comfortable cabin together, fairly furnished and carpeted. For convenience and economy, the clerk, whose salary would not stand a daily tax of a dollar for a bath, as was then charged, sent for and obtained a patent rubber bathtub, and commenced taking a bath daily in the cabin, during Tom’s absence. Tom observed the wet spots on the carpet and showed his impatience over such a waste of water, but concealed his anger for a while until he discovered the clerk’s habits were unchangeably fixed. Then, Tom let his Irish temper loose and asked him why he did it. The clerk explained, but Tom hooted at the need of a daily bath, and in support of his position, he said: “Here ye are, takin a bath ivery day, spillin the wather all over the kyarpet, and makin a muss; and yur so wake you can hardly walk. And luk at me, I’m strong and harty, and kin thrash a houseful of yez, and I niver take a bath.”
By William Daugherty, for the Reno Evening Gazette, February 12, 1891. Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated January 2021.
About the Author: Written by William Daugherty wrote for the Reno Evening Gazette in 1891. The Gazette was first published on October 12, 1876, and continued for the next 107 years. In 1977, it was merged with the Nevada State Journal and continues to exist today as the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Note: The article is not verbatim as spelling errors, minor grammatical changes, and editing have occurred for the ease of the modern reader.
Also See:
Pioneers on the Nevada Frontier (Reno Evening Gazette)
Tales of the Overland Stage (Reno Evening Gazette)
Nevada Mining Tales (Reno Evening Gazette)