Inc. All rights reserved. Wood for shoring is dear and scarce.
Greedy men are cheap and plentiful.
In the earliest beginnings when the crust of the earth was being formed in a chaos of fire, and at intervals later during dramatic changes and upheavals on and beneath the surface, intense heat flashed metallic substances to steam and, when later condensed, these molten metals flowed into crevices and defiles in the common rock to solidify into veins and lodes deep within the ground. As the forces of wind and water wore away the surrounding area, they also ate gradually at the weathered ores, washing them downstream only to be dropped at slack-water areas, there again to be covered by overlying muck and sand, and to eventually form another vein or lode. Sometimes, in pre-history, these ancient stream beds were lifted high above the surrounding areas, only to be chewed at again by more modern stream systems. The prospector would pan up the stream until he ceased to find any color in his pan. At this point he moved up the bank of the stream sinking small shafts to keep track of the float until one shaft no longer showed evidence of metallic ores.