ing into my office to read it to me. He was a picturesque character for he wore his hair long and wore high boots, tucking the trousers in one boot and letting the other trouser leg cover the boot. He was really a pretty able lawyer and a very genial man, but I wasn't very crazy about his poetry. He sent his verses to the Times-Mountaineer at The Dalles, publishing it under the name of John Smith, Jr. Later he ran a good deal of his verse in the Blue Mountain Eagle at Canyon City under his own name of C. H. Miller. Still later he adopted the name of Joaquin Miller, and when he went to England, his picturesque attire and his western manners made a big hit. His wife, Minnie Myrtle Miller, to my mind, was a better poet than her husband, but her verse has never been published except in newspaper form.
"On July 10, 1866, I was married to Marie Louise Fleurot, who was born in France and who came to Port- land in 1857. She attended St. Mary's Academy in Port- land for eight years. Her father and mother ran the French Hotel at Canyon City. This hotel was next to my store and there I became acquainted with my future wife. We were married by Father Macklin, a fine, big-hearted Irish priest. After having been in Canyon City for about five years, one August day—and it was 104 in the shade—one of the buildings caught fire. Canyon City, as its names indicates, is in a canyon, and the flames swept from building to building and within a short time the city was like a roaring furnace. Two hundred and fifty five buildings were reduced to ashes, among them our store. In 1870, when I was burned out at Canyon City, I came to Portland. Having had no insurance on my store or stock of goods, I was broke and had to get something to do. At that time Judge Otto Kramer's father ran a store here. He gave me a job as porter and janitor at $40 a month. After a while I was promoted to salesman at $75 a month, and later my salary was raised to $100 a month. When Mr. Kramer sold out I
