Weekly Trinity journal., 1870-03-19
Letter from New River.

sometime ago, to the people of all nations to
write to you, and as New river folks are some of
those people, though out of the pale of civiliza-
ton, avail myself of that invitation. Posi-
bly,, it may not be uninterestng to yourself and
readers to know something of the geography of
this section. New river, one of the tributaries
of the Trinity, rises in the mountains at its head
and empties into the Trinity at its mouth. In
this respect it differs from some other channels
that are used for the conveyance of fluids into
some of which the fluid is emptied into the
mouth and afterwards rises to the head. How
it is that the fluid thus operates in opposition
to the law of gravitation is not clearly under
stood even by those who have most frequently
proved the fact by experiment. Having risen
TO the head (the fluid in question) it imparts
reeling, vibratory motion to the whole structure
containing the channel into which it has been
emptied-not unlike the motions of a man in a
state of inebriaton-if you know what state that
is. If you don't you can doubtless find it in
Webster's unabridged, and inform yourself.
think it is defined in this wise L" lnebraton
the state or condition of victorious American
use of the fluid considered above are known to
obtain more especially in sparsey inhabited dis
tricts, where, for long periods the fluid is scarce
Tor none at all and other times abundant.
But III a place like your town, where it is al
ways abundant, and probably generally used
with about equal proportion of water, its Pc
cular effects not likely to be so apparent.
The channels-the inside of them-by constant
use, became scared, aud do not SO readily ad-
| of nst., A....
Possibly it may not be amisS To say something
of the gold mines, of this region. After resi-
dence of several months ON New river, | have
come 10 the conclusion there is gold here.
That that conclusion may not be thought a mere
opinion, will state how arrived at it, There
is mining company about three miles above
where | Stdy-not live. IL is called the {" Bo-
hama Scookum Chemuck company 1t is COM
posed of two individuals of the human species
and male gender. am acquainted with both OF
them and they told me, IA snort time ago, that
after run ot ten days they cleaned up their
sluices aud found gold in them. How much,
do not think it advisable to state. They are
both honest industrious, hard-working men
and do not wish TO put them in danger, nor
myself to the convenience OF having the peace
and quiet OF this community disturbed by the
depre datons of robbers. Also, "a man from
Virgin creek (why it is called by that peculiarly
seductive and mellltluous name don't under
j.
tributaries of the river. WE'LL this man from
that creek with the sweet name, brought gold
from there. We put it on pair of scales and
ascertained that 1t had weight; how much, l
don't think in this is worth stating. But
it helps to prove that my conclusions are not
without foundations, | also run a set of sluices
tor IL couple of months cleaning up semi
occasionally. fonnd gold in them at cleanup.
Not much, TO be sure, but enough SO that |
could tell what it was. So | consider | have
established the fact that there are gold here,
great many of them, numerous, but small.
Higher up, On the creeks and gulches at the head
of the river, il is not broke up into such small
pieces. They don't find so many, but the Jumps
are bigger. John Reach, a short time ago,
while slucing in his claim on Pony creek, picked
up seventeen-ounce lump. Whether or no he
was looking for that particular piece did not
hear. AT any rate, he found it. Mining Tor
gold is very much like hunting for ideas. You
don't always find either, when nor where you
expect-especially the ideas. While hunting
for some particular one, you frequently come
across dozen others you never had thought of,
and perhaps don't find the one you were looking
for AT all. But TO return to the entertaining (O
snbjeCt of mines. Pony creek, where the seven
teen ounce scad was found, is twenty five miles
above here. But think there are good dggngs
in this vicinity, if they could be found. Some
of them have been The Scookum Chemuck
boys have good claim. They came here last
Fall and were engaged from the first of October
to the middle of February in getting water upon
one of the high bars, of which there are many.
From their first run-ten days-they cleaned up
IL have concluded, after mature reflection, they
will be able to defend themselves against robbers
or confidence men) hundred and thirty eight
dollars. think that was doing pretty well, in the
face o. forty-foot bar, where they could only
set two lengths of hume, and did not uncover
more than ten feet square of bedrock. There
are many such bars. | might have had one,
equally as good the Scookum, with water on
it, before Bat thought | could do better
to use water already brought in, on bars adjacent,
in which, thus far have been disappointed.
But disappointments are nothing, when body
gets used 10 them.
Perhaps you and your readers think that there
isu anything to write about in this New River
country. | beg to state that both you and they
are most egregously mistaken. There are lots
of things here to write about. ] can write a let
ter every week for six months and not use up all
the matSial. III run short can send for more
/ But with your permission, | will first write up
what there is, occasionally, for the amusement
of your reader and the benefit of posterity