Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/72

62 FRED LOCKLEY matter of weighing out the dust—it was a matter of de- ciding how much we could pay for it and make a reason- able profit. Gold dust from districts where there was silver in which the gold dust had a certain alloy of silver was worth $10 an ounce, while the gold dust from Canyon City or Florence was worth $17 an ounce. If the gold dust came from a district where there was copper, it had a different color and commanded a lower price. I averaged to buy $50,000 worth of gold dust a month, which was sent direct to the mint in San Francisco. Most of the saloons and merchants at The Dalles accepted gold dust in payment for their wares and sold the dust to us. In those days The Dalles was a wide open town. It was never a tough town like Virginia City. George Clayton ran the biggest gambling house in eastern Oregon there. You could get action on your money through poker, faro, three-card-monte, or you could bet your money on the small horses. Cigars were fifty cents and drinks two-bits. In fact, a quarter was the smallest coin used. Mary St. Clair, who was known from British Columbia to Old Mexico, was one of the famous characters of The Dalles in those days. She would charge you $20 a bottle for champagne, but she would hand the money over to anyone who needed it just as cheerfully as she took it. She had a heart as big as an ox, and if anyone was sick, she was the first one to offer help and the last one to leave. Vic Trevitt ran the Mt. Hood saloon just across from Mary St. Clair's place. Vic really ran a sort of gentleman's club. He wouldn't allow a drunken man in the place, neither would he allow gambling. He wouldn't stand for a rough house nor rough talk. In fact, you saw very few drunken men in The Dalles in those days. Everyone went heeled, so there was very little fighting, for in case of trouble it was a case of who was quickest on the trigger. It made people a little cautious about starting anything. So much gold dust was coming in that the citizens started an agitation for a mint, and in 1865 Congress appropri-