Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/67

 of the community, and their vassals were blacklegs, road agents and thugs. When I struck Virginia City, my money had about run out, so I took the first job that offered, which was a pick-and-shovel job. They were building a road over the Pass and I was put on as one of the worknem. Having graduated from an engineering course in a technical school in Germany, I showed the foreman how to lay out the road so we could go over the hill on an easy grade. Pretty soon the supervisor came along and asked who had laid out that road. The foreman pointed me out, so Mr. Moore came to me, and when he found out that I was a college man he said, 'We can find plenty of men to do pick-and-shovel work. You should have a better job than this. If you were only a good rider I could get you a job on the pony express.' I told him I had served in the cavalry so I could qualify as a rider. He told me to report to the Wells-Fargo Company in Virginia City to take the run from Virginia City to Friday Station on Lake Bigler, as Lake Tahoe was then called. I rode from Virginia City to Gold Hill, Silver City, Pioneer and to Carson, where I changed horses. Then to a Mormon station and over the hill to Friday Station. I changed horses three times on this thirty-three mile run and was required to make the run in three hours. I carried letters only, for which the Wells-Fargo Company received 25 cents each. The regular stage left at 7:00 A. M. for Placerville. We left at 4:00 P. M., overtaking the stage at Placerville. A narrow gauge railroad ran from Placerville to Sacramento. By using the pony express the business men gained one day in time, thus speeding up their correspondence. I became well acquainted with Samuel Clemens, better known to the general public as Mark Twain, who was a reporter on the Virginia City Enterprise at that time. He was a likeable chap. He used to come around and say, 'What do you know in the way of news today? Anything exciting happen on the run today?' Once in a while I would