The 49er

Author's Note: This piece was written for my goal to use quotes from a text and for a writing piece for the grade book.

He walks up over the top of the hill with a gleam in his eye as bright as a star. People stand in awe as one man, that looks like he was chewed up by a giant and vomited out, stands on the hill. His name, is Jonathan. Jonathan walks down the hill and asks a man where the leader of this mine is. He points and tells him that his name is Antonio Franco Cornell. (The Gold Rush History) He walks up to Antonio, “When can I have a job?” “I do not hire but I have slaves to do my work for me, they do not get paid in money but by a bed and some food.” “I have been through more than you can possibly imagine and I need a stable job for right now! My family is dead and I have nothing left!” “Settle down my dear friend. It seems you have been through a lot considering what you look like. Why don’t you get some rest and we can talk about a job later?” Jonathan then gets led to a large shack like thing and inside it is a feast fit for a king. He sits down and digs into the best meal he has had in a month. After that Jonathan finds what seems to be an open bed and lies down and falls asleep immediately.

After a long nights rest Jonathan wakes up to people yelling at each other. He gets up and walks outside to find to men fighting over a piece of gold about the size of someone’s fist. (The Gold Rush) There are two men fighting. One is a tall beast of a man with a big beard and bulging muscles. He seemed like he could be something out of Greek Mythology, something of a relative to a Minotaur. The other, a rather plump fellow, looks like he is an overgrown grape with skin a head and legs. The plump one yells, “What do you think you’re doing with my gold?!” The bigger man yells back, “We found it at the same time you small little thing of a boy!” Just then Antonio walks up behind them and puts one hand on each of them. If you had no sound at this moment and had no idea what was going on you could have thought that he was giving them a blessing, like a priest at a church. But that could not happen because there was maybe 10 priests in all of California. (The Gold Rush History) Antonio then said to them, “Why would you fight over gold that is going to be mine? I am in charge of you. Don’t you remember our little agreement? I give you food, water and a bed to sleep in while you provide me with gold.” The two men looked at each other and the plump one picked up the gold brushed it off and gave it to Antonio. It could have been, it should have been, it would have been Antonio’s but with a kind heart he gives it to Jonathan. Antonio tells Jonathan, “Use this to buy yourself some good clothes and a bar of soap. The store is down the road about 3 miles. After that we can talk about your job.” (The Gold Rush History) Jonathan thanks him and gets on his way.

While walking Jonathan sees two more men yelling at each other. One looks like the king had a brother who got beaten up but got all the clothes, and the other looks like a living raisin who is a farmer. It was a farmer and mine owner fighting. (The Gold Rush History) Jonathan stop and asks, “What are you two yelling at each other about that could make you so angry?” The old man answers, “ This lad here is turning my farming land into a mine! All my crops are dying and I’m losing money!” Then the younger one replies, “It is not my fault if your farm is right above a gold mine! I can go where I want to go, it’s a free country out here!” Jonathan tells the young man to find another place to mine that does not interfere with his crops but that the farmer should give some of the land to mining to split the profit. The two men agree and Jonathan is back on his way.

He gets to the store and hears a woman yell, “We got a new customer here Mel!” “Ok!” he yells back. Jonathan enters and the man asks, “What do you want? We have a little of everything here.” “I’ll have some decent clothes and a bar of soap please.” The man stares at him for a second then shows him where everything is. Jonathan looks at everything and finds some nice clothes in the middle. There is a shirt that sparkles like a star in the night sky, a pair of cowboy boots that are whiter than pearls and a pair of jeans as dark as the ocean. Jonathan hands him the piece of Gold and says, “Here this is probably enough for these nice pieces of clothes.” Mel, in return, says to him, “No it’s on me. That rock is worth way more than these pieces of clothes.” Jonathan thought this was weird because prices are very high in California but he didn’t argue. (The Gold Rush History) Jonathan thanks the man and returns to the mining grounds.

When Jonathan gets back he sees some people leaving. He stops and talks to one man named Darrell. Jonathan asks, “Why are people leaving? This is a great place for mining. Isn’t it?” “Yes it is.” Darrell answers. “But wheat is selling for a lot right now and people want in on farming wheat.” After that, Darrell was on his way. Jonathan then decides to find Antonio and finds him fairly easily because he is the only one who is clean in the camp. Jonathan walks up and Antonio says, “ Nice clothes you found there, glad to see you spent my money well.” Jonathan was going to give it back but he decided to keep if for his own good later on. Then Antonio says to Jonathan, “Boy, I’m losing a lot of men to farming wheat. Do you mind picking up an pick axe and mining some gold?” Jonathan agrees and gets to work. He decides to not go in a mine to start off just to get the hang of mining. It takes a little while to break the top but once he does it’s smooth sailing from there. After about a half foot dug he comes across a piece of gold. He picks it up and bring it to the washbasin for gold. (The Gold Rush History) Jonathan cleans it up and brings it to Antonio. “Nice job! I see a bright future in mining for you son.”

Jonathan decides to go into one of the mines now. He walks a little further in and hears a cracking noise. It sounded like a tree when it’s about to fall. He decided that it was just one of the miners in one of the side mines. He walks further and sees a man lying on the ground. Jonathan walks up to him and sees what a gruesome death this man had. Part of the mine collapsed on him and trapped him. It seems that the man couldn’t get out and no one would help him. So, since no one would help he took his own life in his hands, and gave it up with a slice of a knife. Jonathan walks in a little further hears a loud crumbling noise and turns around to see the entrance to the mine cave in. (The Gold Rush) He sprints for the entrance and to his doom. The rest of the mine collapses and kills him.