“CALIFORNIA ARGONAUT”

Ever’ once in a while I’ll fancy myself a wordsmith. I love to find examples of yesteryear whereupon just hearing the sound of a word, takes me back in time and feeling. ‘Argonaut’ is one such example, and…..the use of  “Californ’y” quickly puts both a time period and a mentality on its user.

Arogonuat: “A person in quest of something dangerous but rewarding, an adventurer.”

Never was a word used more appropriately, in the context of one who left the comforts of hearth and home, often wife and children, to brave a 3000 mile trek on foot or a 14,000 mile sea voyage around Cape Horn, only to reach the long sought destination and face privations, austere living, loneliness and thieves, often at cost of ones life.

Note: The Argonaut Mine, in Jackson, California, was discovered in 1850 and operated until 1942. It reached a vertical depth of 5,570 feet produced 25 million in gold.

SCOTT ROGERS