Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-07-06
DAILY EVENING STAR,
THE PKRILs OF GOLD xIHue.

THE PERILs OF GOLD HINIIa. f1se
An intelligent correspondent of The
Williamsburg Times, writing from Forest
Greek, Australia, nar1ates 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 burrowing in the earth,
with thousands Of tons suspended over
his head, and by q tenure less reliable
than that which upheld the sword of Da.
mocles. An acquaintance Of mine
Nutter, from the State Of Maine-per.
sisted in taking out rich pillar from q
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 falliDg,1 and hard Jumps OF
dirt hayekilled those in holes, and great
care is necessary to guard against these
evils. 80 60. -.
"At Baalarat, where the holes are very
deep, accidents are common-one occur
ring there lately. A man digging found
the bottom growing soft, but paid little
attention until his legs sunk in so that
he could not get them out. He shouted
for his mates to let the rope down, and be
fastened it around his waist, but they
could not pull him up; they procured as
sistance and twisted of the crank of the
windlass they then seized the rope in
their hands, but it was Of no avsil-the
water bubbled up around the man in the
hole, the quicksand rushed in, burr. d
him to his aist and neck, stifled 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 instance, q man driving sixty
feet under ground loosened large stone
and found water trickle through where it
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
him violently into the main hole, and be-
ing a swimmer he kept upright in the
hole until he was drawn up, when care
lessly getting out he slipped and fell,
losing his life by The fall. But notwith-
standing the many accidents that occur,
perhaps they are not greater for the per-
sons employed than in any ther business
or traffic in life. There are numbers at
the mines who would not 60 to the bottom
of some of the holes for ell the gold in
Australia, but the great majority would
gladly place their lives against fortune
myself for one."
As to the productiveness, positively
and relatively, as compared with Cali
fornia he says:
"I would not yet wish to hazard an
opinion of the Australian gold fields, but
[ am convinced that almost the whole
soil is more or less filled with the precious
metal, and that eventually companies as
sisted by machinery, may do well, but
the very general impression here is, that
the richest gullies, fats and hills have
been worked. A miner, who has been
some time on the diggins, tells me that
nearly every creek and gulley in the col.
ony has been prospected--that during
the last six months more than forty
parties of Californians have been con-
stantly on the search, and that the con,
clusion of the Californians is, that more
extensive fields exist in Aus ralia.
cit is fact that the Californians are
dissatisfied, and are leaving in great mum.
bers, and so are the Americans generally,
all dissatisfied with the Government. 1t
cannot be denied that California is prefer
able to Australia-wages are better there.
and the yield of gold greater, compared
with the numbers digging-to say moth
ing of being in decent country"