By William Daugherty in 1891
Badlands of the Panamint Range, Arthur Rothstein
The history of adventure in America from the days of Ponce de Leon and the Spanish grandees that were among his followers, down to the blue-shirted and bearded miners of ’49, has uniformly been followed with the same results. Life was one of tempting fate, wherein success, if it did come, can only lead to irretrievable disaster. The same results have been witnessed by nearly all who have spent their lives on the frontiers, and few there who are not living illustrations of life wasted if the gauge of material success is applied as the standard.
The above reflections have a direct application in the case of one of Nevada’s old pioneers, who after many successes, was at last buried by the charity of friends in New York City, where he died while endeavoring to dispose of mines, bonded to him for that purpose by old comrades who believed him invincible in making a deal. He had succeeded in such efforts several times during his adventurous career, but always with the same result at the end. The money made was wasted in a wild life, and spent without regret. He was consequently often in desperate straits, and when a mining deal was pending, he had no hesitation in asking for a loan from anyone he could obtain it from.
On one such occasion, he got a friend to go on a joint note for $1,500.00, and not being skillful with a pen; he asked another friend to write the note for him. This was done, and then he took the pen and signed it, with the remark, that he would never see it again when once out of his possession, and by way of explanation, said the reason was that his friend would have to pay it when it fell due, and that would be the end of it. “But,” said he, to the scribe who had written the note, “I wish I could sling a pen as well as you can.”
“What would you do if you could?” asked the scribe. He answered at once that he would get a position as cashier in a bank. The scribe reminded him that there was nothing in that for a man like him; and added, “What would you do if you got such a position?”
Men drinking at a bar.
“Do?,” said he, “I would proceed at once to close up the bank. Boys, come up and take a drink,” and the tall form of E.P. Rains advanced as he threw down a double eagle on Dave Nagle’s bar in Panamint, and he asked for no change when the glasses were emptied.
By William Daugherty, for the Reno Evening Gazette, February 19, 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)