New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-06-29
The Perils Of Gold Mining.

An intelligent correspondent of the Williams
burg Times writing from Forest Greek, Austria
LA, narrates the following incidents illustrative
of the dangers which beset the Australian
miner:
Perhaps no death is more terrible than that
which awaits the digger the heavy yellow dust
with its tempting look, keeps the miner burrow-
ing in the earth, with thousands OF tons sus-
pended over his head, ana by a tenure less reli-
able than that which upheld the sword of Da-
mocles An acquaintance of mine-Nutter,
from the State Of Maine-persisted in taking
out a rich pillar from a very dangerous hole,
and succeeded but he was not fairly on the
ground again, when fifteen or twenty yards
sank down With dead heavy crash Little
stones accidentally falling, and hard Jumps of
dirt have killed those in holes, and great care
is necessary to guard against these evils
g At Baalarat, where the holes are very deep,
accidents are common--one occurring there
lately. A man digging found the bottom grow
ing soft, but paid little attention until his legs
sunk in so that he could not get them out, be
shouted for his mates to let the rope down,
and he fastened it around his waist, but they
could not pull him up; they procured assist
ance and twisted off the crank Of the windlass
they then seized the rope in their hands, but
it was of no ayail-the water dubbed up
around the man in the hole, the quick sand
rushed in, buried him to his waist and neck,
5tiHed his cries, and rose thirty feet above his
head To dig him out was useless, in fact next
to impossible. The rope was cut and its end
pushed beneath the quicksand In another III
stance, o man driving sixty feet under ground
loosened a large stone, and found water trickle
through were 1t had been, but not dreaming OF
danger from water, he struck his pick IN, when
the water burst through with great force; he
had the presence of mind to drop his pick and
! turn round; the water drove hun violently Int
| the main hole, and being a swimmer he KEPT
| upright in the hole until he was drawn up
| when carelessly getting out he slipped and fell
losing his life by the full But notwithstanding
| the many accidents that occur, perhaps they
Are not greater for the persons employed thar
| in any other business or traffic in life, There
are numbers at the mines who would not go t.
| the bottom of some Of the holes for all the goit
in Australia, but the great majority Woult
gladly place their lives against tortune--my
| self for one.
As to the productiveness, positively and rea
lively, as compared with California, he says
| :. would not vet wish to hazard an opinion 0
| the Australian gold fields, but am convinced
that almost the whole soil is more or less tilet
with the precious metal, and that eventual.
companies, assisted by machinery, may do well
but the very general impression here is, that tn
| richest gulies, fats, and hills have been worked
| miner, who has been some time on the diggins
tells me that nearly every creek and gulley il
the colony has been prospected-that during til
last six months more than forty parties Of Cali
forniaus have been constantly on the search
and that the conclusion Of the Caltornians Is
that more extensive fields exist in Australia.
1t is a fact, that the Cahfornians are dissatis
fed, and are leaving in great numbers, and $
are the Americans generally, all dissatisie
with the Government. 1t cannot be denied tina
California is preferable to Australia-wages az
better there, and the yield of gold greater, com
pared with the numbers digging-to say moth
ing of being in decent country