Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 326

The Mines Story of the Gold Fever: "The Whitest Man in the Mines"

This serial adventure opens in Dog-Town, a rough mining settlement composed primarily of tents and claim-holders. Louis Badeau, a quiet, well-mannered young man carrying a wheelbarrow, arrives despite warnings from a weathered prospector. Upon entering the settlement, he witnesses miners engaged in a fierce gunfight at the claims, interrupted by a girl with long black hair. Badeau establishes a modest tent camp upriver and cooks a simple supper of salt pork and flapjacks. That evening, a group of drunken miners approaches his tent demanding he pay "his footing"—a camp custom requiring newcomers to buy whisky. When they threaten and vandalize his tent, Badeau emerges from hiding with a bow and arrow, drawing it against them. His calm, polite demeanor gradually disarms the ruffians, who are ultimately moved by his stated purpose: earning money to support his widowed mother.