Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-01-01

Ma8 40 A#AAAA ## ~ @aAtA
which is seldom or never men
toned In print. II is called
"pocket mining" and I en- not
aNare that any 81 e q done OuL
side 0f that little corner Ute
gold Is not evenly distributed aver
the surface dirt, as IN ordinary
placer mines, but It Is collected 70
little spots, and they DE very
wide apart and exceedingly hard
to find, but when you dolfnd enc
You reap . rich and sadden bar,
vest. There are not now more
than twenty miners In that entte
little region. / think ] know ev.
cry one Of them persOhallyau1
have known one of them 70 hunt
patiently about the hillsldes every
day for eight months without find.
ing gold enough 70 make a snuff
bOx--his grocery bill running up
relentlessly all the time--and then
l have seen aim find a pocket and
take out Of it a thousand dollars
in two dips OF his shovel. ! have
seen him take out $4,000 In two
hours, and 60 away and pay up
every cent Of his Indebtedness,
then enter upon a dazzling spree
that finished the last Of his treas
IRE before the night was gone.
And the next day he bought his
groceries on credit as usual, and
shouldered his pan and shovel
and went off to the hills hunting
pockets again, happy and con-
tent. This Is perhaps the most
fascinating. Of all the different
kinds of mining, and furnishing q
|, handsome percentage of victims
to the lunatic asylum. Honest
toll and moderate gains in shops
and on farms have their virtues
and their advantages. Whenoa
man consents to seek for sudden
riches he does il at his peril. [NC
/ charge. II
; Pocket-hunting is an ingeniul
process. You mke o spadeful o
earth from the hillside and pnt1i
in 4 large tin pan and DISSOLVE anG
wash it gradually away, till no
thing is left but d teaspoohful 0
a fine sediment. Whatever golI
there was I'M that earth has re
NAMED, because being the heOVies
it sought the bottom. Amonl
the sediment you will find half
y dozen shining particles, no large
than pinheads. You are delight
4 edi You move Off TO one sid
a further, and wash q third pan.
you find no gold this time, 20
are delighted again, because 70
know you are on the right seen
You lay an imaginary plan, shape
Y, like a fan, with its handle up u
n hill-for inst where the end Of u
handle Is, you argue that the ric
:, deposit is hidden, whose vagrar
: grains of gold have escaped an
II been washed down the hill, spreaG
ing further and further apart
Is they wandered.
e And so you proceed up the hi
o. washing the earth and narroYir
I'd your lines every time the absen,
.m Of gold Ia tile pan SLOWS that u
3, are outside the spread Of thepaI
n. and at last, twenty yards A
the hill your lines have go
verged into a point--a sill
~ gle foot from that point va
~ can not find any gold You
u breath comes Shorthand quick, yo
are fcverish with excitement II
as dinner bell may ring its clapp'
1 OF, you pay no attention friend
may die, weddings transPif
10 houses burn down, they are hotl
n ing 70 you; you sweat. and Ill
and delve with 2 frantic interest
and all at once you strike It! u
J. comes d spadefdl Of earth an
~ quartz that 10 o. all lovely wit
sOiled Jumps andl caves ian
a sprays Of gold. Sometimes tn
ii one spadefll Is all-S500. Som.
q times the nest contains $1,000
IN ititakes you three or four days
y get ithl[ out. ThspOOket.mine
81 tell Of one nest that yielded s6C
n. 600, and men exhausted It
'ol two weeks, and then sold Il
ground for $4,000 to q par
who never got $500 out Of It q
IS tergard. l-. ,Dua 81
d. The hogs are good pocket-h hun
in ere. Ali the summer they 70
tie around the bushes, and turn Up
thousand little piles Of dirt, a
,,e' then the miners long for the rain
ne for the rains beat upon these !
" tie piles and wash them down a
tai expose the gold, possibly rig
on over a pocket. Two poke
ror were found in this way by i
rs. same man in one DAY. One hi
$1,000 in It and the other $500
.he That man could appreciate 1t, {
he hadn't had q cent in aboui
20 year.
nd In Tuolumne lived two mine
ct who used to 90 to the neighbC
ID ing village in the afternoon, a
les return every night with hOusohO
me supplies. Part Of the distan
~. - Ill IL -.