Christmas in the Gold Rush: First Piano in Camp
From the book, Old West Christmas: Tales with a Twist, by Craig MacDonald. The story written by a talented 19th Century newspaper reporter and editor in Nevada, Sam P. Davis, has been edited. Here’s the entire Christmas story…>
The First Piano In Camp
By Sam P. Davis
(In the mid-19th Century) there was a little camp about 10 miles from Pioche, occupied by upwards of 300 miners, everyone of whom might have packed his prospecting implements and left for more inviting fields anytime before sunset.
When the day was over, these men did not rest from their labors, like the honest New England agriculturalist, but sang, danced, gambled and shot each other, as the mood seized them.
One evening, the report spread along Main Street (which was the only street) that three men had been killed at Silver Reef and the bodies were coming in.
Presently, a lumbering old conveyance labored up the hill, drawn by a couple of horses, well worn out with their pull. The cart contained a good-sized box, and no sooner did its outlines become visible through the glimmer of a stray light here and there, than it began to affect the idlers.
Presently, the whole of the box cover was off, and the teamster, clearing away the packing, revealed to the astonished group the top of something which puzzled all alike.
“Boys,” said he. “This is a pianner.”
A general shout of laughter went up, and the man who had been anxious to enforce respect for the dead muttered something
about feeling dry, and the keeper of the nearest bar was several ounces better off by the time the boys had given the joke all
the attention it called for.
For those in the Christmas spirit, you may enjoy some of Craig MacDonald’s other stories from his book:
An Outlaw’s Christmas Eve Greeting
Finders Keepers True Old West Christmas Story
Santa Claus Papa True Christmas Story
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