The Nevada journal., 1860-03-30
LETTERS FROM EBENEzEER.
PiddIe & Musser.

MR EDrToR:- have looked IN vain for some
notice lin the papers of this enterprising mining
firm. The works of other Companies have been
described and Landed, but not word Of Piddle
& Musser. think they have been used very ill
and am determined they shall have justice done
them. Rush Il fleAn, IN the adjoining claim,
have been puffed at great rate; they certainly
have deserved it. yet, why overlook Piddle
Musser? For the purpose of giving p. & NJ.
their Just due made them visit at their dig
gings, and will give SHORT sketch of what l
saw and learned Piddle 4 Musser have owned
their present claims near three years, and have
Musser truly says, made ga tarnal ugly hole
in them" They have not taken ont much above
water money, yet but ere expecting te find
channel before long. They orened their dig
gings by running an open cut through the rim
rock, which does great credit TO their peseyer-
anee being some thirty feet deep, and is to go
still deeper as their ground suce has but about
four inches of fall. Musscr says they can soon
cut it down enough 10 make another run. This
be thinks is better than to run a tunnel as Rush
= Klean did; for the bedrock has only to be
cut down about once twice a month and don't
take but about week to do it, and they can do
the work themselves. Noticed their boxes were
not set on regular grade. Some had four inch
es fall, sorne sixteen, and some two, and even
three feet. Musser explained this by saying
there was a great difference Of opinion with re-
gard to the proper grade for boxes, and it was
hard to say what was the right degree of steep
ness to save gold well; so he fist sot hisn as
they happened to come, an if one didn't keteh
the gold, mabbe the next'n would" His boxes
are ten inches wide on the bottom-he likes mar
row boxes better than wide ones, a small head
Of water will do more toward forcing out dirt in
anarTow box: or in his own expressive language
Take r small narrer box, so the water runs deep /
in it, an yer kin send rocks through jist howl |
+ h..
pipe with an inch nozzle. Piddle. who always |
holds the pipe, says it throws sharper stream
than large nozzle, and their gravel is so hard |
that they need a sharp stream to cut it. Piddle,
says Rush HI can use twO-inch pipe and two
hundred and fifty inches of water. and run drifts
all through their ground; which is all foolish
ness, ''cOs if they'd only small pipe they .
could cut thare bank thout driftin' an needn't
buy half much water" While Piddle was
thus discoursing he did not forget to play the
pipe but was DO ing away around a stone which
preseI tly dropped out and Pid,lle remarked that
. the hydraulic was great invention Musser,
who was raking in the ground-sluice, now come
up and hooked his hoe around the stone Piddle
had got out and dragged it back a few feet. No
ticing that several huge heaps of rock had aceu-
M 'as,cd near the head Of the ground-siui and
ncarto where they were working. | asked Mus
ser if it wouldn't be GOOD plan to have derrick
10 hoist thsl m out with ins.ead ofcarrying them.
lie Informed fAe that he did 1T believe in any
uch expensive n;.chine and want going to
move the piles of stone, for he had sCraped the
ock all of ,Tith a hoe, and any how he didn't
,elieve there vas much on the bedrock
hing of seraping and fussing go much on beG.
ock was nonsense. Just q big pine log,
which had projected out over the digsings, topI ;
ed over into the cut. 1 asked Musser if it was
lot good plan to clear the logs and british of
,efore commencing to mine He thinks its'bse-
ess for they are not much in the way, and be
ides man might not want to work the ground !
lfter getting it cleaned off and any how, "he'd
bout lief work round 'em chop en-" He
ays he has always been unlucky-nothing pays
or him, and as soon any one else gets it he
makes money right along. Thee eaim he owned
,efore this one, he sold for a hundred dollars,
md "by joel the feler that got it cleaned up
wo thousand dollars the first run he made, and
lidn't do much but clean the bedrock and
ich." But Musser don't think the two thousand
'ame off the bedrock for he'd "hoed it down
rood" "No, "the feller got into streak" A
'urr now got into the pipe and burst the hose,
md left Pi,idle 4 Musser trying to fastcn the
eg of gum boot over the hole with the water
streaming and squirting over them. They really
10 seem unlueky. EBENEzER.