National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-06-02
"CAyED."r-A MINERS STORY.

"CAVED."-A MINERS STORY.
Its caved!" exclaimed Bill Beave
tl.,ting into the cabin, where was leis-
/ m.y eating breakfast and reading the new,
rom some last years papers that were
m,ted on the wall. "The ground has
a.uil 1t came down mighty sudden
mI Little Jimmy was at the breast. |
4 ua, further ont in the drift, and had the
tart of il; but it made such close call
\ hr me, that know he must a got
htched."
This technical .jargon revealed to me the
i.t that our mine had cayed, and bad
buried one Of our companions, for 'Littlc
jimmy" was not an Liant, but a mana
miner and friend. He had been working
at the "breast or tarthest end of the
Drift but was now perhaps sleeping his
A,t sleep in the bosom of tho mother of
al
Three years before this we had come to
Do, creek. We had prospected the ''side
uIcheS' and the bars, and found "colors"
Hywhere. Indications were favorable,
We "staked' body of ground along the
main creek, built cabins, organized a com
auy, of which the writer was elected
PRESIDENT, and went to work to open our
claim.
Those three years had been years of toll
and priyation. We were in the heart OF
tc Rocky Mountains. Our camp was
pitched in little basin Of valley, warm
HA sunshiny, and Just at the entrance of
deep and gloomy canon, which We named
Tie Devils Gate" and through which
gr parking little stream foamed and
Hbed down to that great river, the Mis-
rL Our ground was deep and very wet. /
image was necessary, and we had driven
rnnel for this purpose through the earth /
end boulders that filed the primeyai bed /
Of the creek, until we had attained hori- |
zontal distance Of thousand yards but /
the slope Of the eulch was so gradual that /
we had not reached the "bed-rock,n y where .
we hoped to find the gold laid in heaps. !
Bed Rock" being the objective point,
must be reached, so we sank shaft at the .
lead Of our funnel and bctOok ourselves to
pump
As 1t was couple Of thousand miles to
tIe nearest foundry, and we could not at
ford TO await the completion of the North
Pacific Railroad, a pGmp, under the cir
cmStanceS, was problem; so l will tell
bow we got one. We had backsmith's
and carpenters tools, which most of us
could use there was plenty of timber
growing on the mountains, and pair of
dapldated freight wagons supplied our
stock OF iron. Great slabs or segments
We're cut from fir trees, and hewn and
lre>,ed on one side to a smooth plane.
he other side was rounded to an arc or
'nyeX surface, so that when four such
e-ments were placed together lengthwise,
secured with pins at the edges, which were
INt squared and then made parallel, they
ioued long, hollow trunk or barrel,
bar-square within, but outside cylindrical,
aud taperng slightly from one end to the
other. Upon this were driven hoops or ,,
'aAdS OF IRON, which forced the joints close,
Ne those of a ca>k, and thus we had
pumps or pipes of considerable length and
Nl'lty, 1t was easy to fit them with
'N'eS and pistons, and to work them with
wooden walking beam moved by the
crank Of water-wheel This crank was I
Masterpiece. 1t had arm or leverage of l
'"o feet, and was formed from the iron
ave Of one Of our wagons, and its gudgeons ;
" 'ear1ngs were turned in a lathe of our
own contnying. This was a heavy Job for |
ivy resources, but it was finished after an c
age II seemed to us, of toll, puzzling, and
respiration; and we had produced machin, L
VI? mat was capable of raising to a height {
nearly thirty feet, many tons of water y
fl day, and which answered all our re- :
iUiementS for drainage. SO that we were
'NF 70 reach that long-sought "bed-rock" /
I depth of ninety feet below the present L
.'' OF the creek. | will mention here that
" pump was twelve inches square inside, L
-.l had stroke of four feet, raising the &
% ~G'cr twenty-nine feet into a drain-tunnel, a
'"Vnce 1t flowed out to the surface, thou ID
'ir u, Yards down the canon. o
we had reached bed rock" :" but had not II
.uuck It very rich," and were running a a
-"t or tunnel on "bed-rockn across and q
y 10 the gulch in search of the 'pay- Il
'gaA' which we were hoping every day o
lnl' when the announcement of a start q
S accident was made. Here was the u
.il .ln OF our hopes and the death of our a
'end; for there was little room TO hope fC
any other result. o.
r Hot We supposed that mucn tlme
I'M wasted in such reflections, for telling
~. ! :. 10 rouse the entire camp, | rushed off c
Tue mine. Such of the men as heard OF W
~ occurrence hurried from their work, sc
'IEiig Y, with them their picks and shovels to
likely to be needed, and the miners IN
,r ~. wet dieglngs came clad in coats, high o'
',I ,pts' and helmet-shaped caps of India b,
5ogl' ,;og ana looking like knights in armcr. il
Ils they were, too, for that matter. +
Il 'n2ngh armed only with shovel and m
a. 'Iey were as daring and as generous in
s'ei beted prince who rode with lance M
IeSt to right imaginary wrongs; amp ir
:! were ready now TO risk every danger O,
ave the poor fellow buried in the mine ii
;g1 ~ reaching the scene found our ma s.
ore nViy apparently uninjursd. but looking et
~ closely discovered that the pump fo
.,,id Iot raising drop Of water, and il Of
.I5 NV not he long before the entire mine So
,sI .S oe Hooded. The pump must he re 9,
at once, on We could not hone to save Il