gave me much good advice about my future movements, and seemed disposed, in every way, to be as kind and obliging as he could. From him I learned that there were a number of old Confederate soldiers in the city and vicinity; but as I was anxious to get to the Eldorado, where I expected to make my fortune, with as little delay as possible, I made no attempt to find any of them.
After taking a rest for a day or two in Salt Lake City, I again started on my journey westward. At Ruby Valley, in Nevada, I met a gentleman who was engaged in mining operations, and he advised me strongly to go to the Reese River gold regions. I was not greatly prepossessed with him, and yet he was certainly a man of intelligence and cultivation, and, as what he told me only served to confirm what I had heard from other persons, I concluded to take his advice. On arriving at Austin, a new city in the mountains, near the Reese River, I accordingly left the stage and took lodgings at the Exchange Hotel, which was kept by a Slavonian by the name of Mollinely.
