Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1864-07-16
Idaho.

The Lordin .Nt,rs, has a correspondent in
this far off Territory, who dates from Grimes
Creek, Boise Basin, May 23d. AS information
from this region will be Of interest to many who
have the migratory fever, as well as others who
read without such prompting, and as the wri-
ter holds amost facile and graphic pen, and sees
things with no jaundced eye, we think the ar
ticle will be as acceptable to our readers as any,
thing we could lay before them.
Ihave had an experience, indeed several
Of them. / have been in these 'auriferous
region long emo gh to see the elephant
Yes have seen that noted quadruped from
the nethermost tuft of hair upon his raudal
appendage, to the point of his tasks.
have mined 10 every shape, form and man
uer-sluced, rocked, panned and prospec
ted. / have speculated in claims, made
money and lost. jumped claims (and jumped
over them,) That's my experience Now
for my observation. have tramped the
whole basin over from east to west, from
north to soutb, and give /: to you as my
candid, unbiased opuion, that there Is gold
here. Gold in the bills-gold in the
gulches = gold 10 the creeks = gold
everywhere = but. in your correspon.
dents pockets Yes, the precious metal is
here, but it requi es strategy and some
thing else to get it. The great defect Of
the county is the want Of water. The
gold here is the Rne dus'-varying in size
from pins head, to guat's hcad-so ex
ceedingiy fne it is hard 10 find. There are
entirely too many men here. The diggngs
cover an area of perhaps twenty square
miles; scattered over it there is at least
thirty thousand men. A few are making
lforlunes-the remainder are making a liV-
ing. 1t is impossible to tell what claim
holders are making. Every man here is
either on the buy or sell, and of course l.,
not expected to tell the truth. My expert
ence in working claim can hardly be taken
as fair criterion 10 Judge the generality OF
diggiugs by. / owned the fourth OF a
claim, out Of which four Of us took one
hundred dollars per day. We were in ec-
stacies; we had golden visions by day, and
golden dreams by night. All went merry
as marriage bell when unexpectedly the
waters failed us-and we failed. Such is
life. To use the miners phrase, men, who
think they have the dead wood oa tone
day are dead broke the next. 7-l - .79
There is nothing certain 10 this country,
but hard work aud hard fare. 1t any OF
your readers has any idea that mining Is
sn easy, pleasant and lucrative employment,
let him follow this prescription and be con
yinced. Let him, don the, raggedeSt pair
of unmentionables he has in his WARDROBE
4 take pair of blankets, pick and a shov
ell, camp under bush, or on the bank Of
some creek. Get hp at daylight, and cook
a breakfast of aspjacks, bacon aud coffee,
;nen select the roughest, roekiest spot u
the bed of the creek, and in mud aud wa
ter up to bis Saist, let him pick and shov
ell gravel from sun mp 10 suu doynn from
Monday morning TO Saturday night, 40 bis
washing, meuding aud marketing on Sun
day, at il again on Monday, let HIM repeal
the same process week after week, and q
the end of the year, when be squares hl'
accounts and finds Balance on hand =
dollars, 0 cts, If he isn't convinced OF OIL
error, he must be hard ofcooviction.'a Thl'
is no exaggerated fetion-lAIf know OF mel
who have been following this prescription
faithfully for the last fourteen years, who
have prospected almost every gulch ant
canon from Cape St. Lucas 10 Cafiboo
whose earthly possessions might be ipvenso
lrisdn ay---onsl gray .shirt,r ditto pair 2
4 numentionablss,a ditto damsgcd copsyi'p
rltiou. g.5 Yet these A sober and industrious
. men. Iknow others who will soon ieav
a the, country after . .sojoprn Of ~ or y,
4 mouths, with from s toS50 Thousand do
! lars. WORTH Of the precious dust. Such
life and iuckiu the miues' '.S