San Andreas independent., 1858-02-20
A Trip Through the Mines.

On Saturday, February 9Th, having little
leisure time, hankering inclination and
prince among good fellows FLANK s, of
Stockton for travelling companion, we
/ started on tour of g observation or /" occu-
pation," if you please Ito quote from Army
orders on the Rio Grande), to pay little debt
/ in the courting business, which we promised
to settlev with the editor of the Sonora Her.
aid, whose visits in that line to this side has
it good road to travel, fine spring weather,
with the abalm of thousand flowers on
every breeze. Our subsistence supplies were
literally provided internally and externally,
while the g baggage manifested catering to
our tastes and appetites in a proficiency of
best" lager and cigars. Thus armed and
equipped and well backed" on our favorite
charger, Mazeppa mot the wild horse of Tar
tary, but the choice animal of the blooded
stock from the Livery stable of Messrs. Russell
& Mller), ga better never lifted leg" we felt
/ like bidding an eternal farewell to scissors,
pen and paste, inky type, papers, and the cry
of " copy" from the devil, (like Poe's Raren
"evermoren) How pleasant it is to feel free
if only for one moment, amid the thraldoms
of conscience and hate which follow like
shadows where e'er we co. and so depart
communicating all the hopes and fears
which bind the visible to the invisible world.
While thus moralizing, we shook hands with
care, and for time bid farewell to fraternal
friends and Independent subscribers, with
laudable design to give delinquents" and
ourselves an opportunity to observe the sol
emn admonition, "owe no man anything"
Taking the Kentucky House road, we soon
came to the quartz lode of Messrs. Meeks, Lee,
Rhead & Co., which recently prospected so
rich-S6O0 to one hundred pounds of rock
The party were at work, had opened space
fifteen feet long, six wide and about eight feet
deep, but the prospect" was not so favorable
as when first struck A blast was put off.
while we remained, shelling out some grey
quartz with particles of gold visible whether
the claim will be a permanent profit to the
owners, is hard to tell. The vein had been
traced some distance, and no doubt, is richer
and more extensive than any other opened
within ten miles of San Andreas.
An hours agreeable ride and friendly chat
brought US to Formans, where as usual,
"Milt" anticipated our wants and exposed
Hanks weaknesses lin which we joined) by
advancing '' slight sensation" which was
very gracefully administered, and which was
approvingly received by call of u.s."
At the Hawkeye, we partook of a capital
dinner, prepared " with ncatness and dispatch"
by mine host, wine and cigars throwed in
From Hawkeye to Angels, much mining is
going on. At Altaville. quite manufacturing
/ spirit prevails; fine brick and wooden resi-
dences are going up, and everything betokens
an assurance Of permanence and prosperity
| Here we left the main road and went down to
Nightingale Co.'s quartz mill, to hear and
see the giant arms of the mighty wheel as it
continues its endless round of chueeine and
slugging out the gold. The eternal "clatter''
prevented all conversation, except by signs,
which we (being neither wicked nor perverse)
did not seek. The quartz vein on which this
mill is located leads to the Specimen Hill claim
and MILL and as a short cut over the hill was
practicable, we struck for Angels creek below
the town and soon arrived at the immense
mill of the Specimen Co. Their works will
soon be completed, when new era will be
established in quartz crushing-ten stamps for
custom work, and ten for their own claim
The huge water wheel which is to drive the
machinery, has seven feet breast. When the
mill starts, all the new improvements now be-
ing introduced, will be more particularly de-
scribed.
In no camp in the mines can a stranger OR
an old resident spend happier afternoon than
at Angels. Everything is new or novel
quartz, quartz, QUARTz-even our lager flowed
in quartz. Amid profound silence. in the still
ness of the evening, we repaired to the stable
of friend Michael Cosgrove, ordered fleet
coursers, and started for Reynolds Ferry to
partake of the well-known hospitality of our
friend from the country, Mr. Daniel Sink
The night was dark, the road not over plain,
and the mud-holes kept fellow feeling his
way with much disquietude. Little parties of
miners coming in to spend their Saturday
evening at Angels, were met every few rods,
leading our natural temerity to picture bandits
or boges in hellish plight, as "each in their
caud hand held light" but as the poet says
Inspiring bold John Barleycorn
What dangers thou canst make us scorn
Wi tippenny. we fear evil,
Wiusqubau we'll face the devil!"
By this time we had crossed the ford and were
gently pressing past Los Muertos (murderers
camp) "where ghaists and houlets nightly
ery,' to Albany Flat The stars shone out
with a lustreless brilliancy, ever and anon the
"sugh" of mourning winds harped thousand
tunes from the dense foliage of neighboring
pines, sadly in unison with our own melan-
choy forebodings of the wiles and woes which
ever attend the care-worn disciple of Faust
AS we rode on in the dark and silence, our
companion a little in advance, wrapt in medi- |
tation on the grandeur of the scene, as the
breeze waited the sound of distant turmoil and
trouble in the angry elements of the lordly |
Stanslaus, mentally recited to the breeze
Ill wind pluck down the wood kings by their hair