The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1872-04-20
ALONE 4 DESERTED NINE.
Strange and Startling Sights and
.IS
Frem the Nevada Enterprise.

Strange and Startling Sights and
Sounds.
l. Frcm the Nevada Enterprise.
A mining man tells us of lone ad-
venture OF his In mine, which he says
no small sum would induce him to re-
peat, owing to the great danger there is
of being crushed or shut in by caves
not that there is anything else to be
feared, oh, no, Beng impressed
with the idea that he could find paying
ore IN one of our mines Eve are not at
liberty to say what one), in which no
regular work had been done for some
years, he determined upon stolen
inspection into the Wilderness of the
old workings. He carried with him a
small prospecting pick, light rope
ladder about l6 feet in length, half a
dozen candles, and box of matches
Thus equipped he boldly entered a
tunre ell leading into the old works upon
vein at depth of several hundred
| feet below the surface. Upon reaching
the spacious old chamber, followed out
years ago in the vein, there reigned
such an oppressive silence that, as he
stoou alone in the middle of one of the
great cayernous openings and held aloft
his candle, he could hardly prevail up.
on himself to move.
| AS the moisture of the place settled
down upon his head and penetrated
| his clothing, so did all manner of SUI
perstitlons fears settle around his
heart and penetrate his soul. At every
step the old floor gave out hollow,
clanking sound, and he could hardly
move forward a dozen PAGES before he
was overcome by "a feeling that some
person or thing was following him.
Ashamed of such weakness, he would
try to shake off the thought, nothing
was following, and it would be child
ish to look around,-it would be an act
altogether unworthy of man. A step
or two, and an ugly, raw craunch under
his feet, with apparently an answering
craunch behind him. He must look
this time bat does SO with SMILE
such as one would smile into the face
of a ghost,-b sees nothing.
After many fac1ngs about, this way
and that, he in some degree shakes of
the feeling of being followed, and, with
what might be called tempered bold.
ness, passes through several old cham.
bers and arrives at the dark mouth OF
an old decline. Taking a sweeping look
IN eli directions to see that there is
nothing bad in sight, he enters the
yawning inclining and faces the inky
darkness and the chill, musty air tina,
rises from vast ranges of caverns below
Down he crawls, only stopping once tc
assure himself by one good leisurely
look that nothing is standing at the
mouth of the decline gazing down upor
him. Down, down he goes, peerine
now to the right, now to the left, into
great galleries as he passes them. till a
last the air becomes misty with the
moisture it carries, and below he hears
the dripping OF water.
Loud and musicsl the sound rings
| through the great caveruous place
which spreads out IN all directions from
the foot Of the incline, at which he ha.
at last arrived, and where he seats him
self to rest and gather resolution.
Hundreds of feet below the surface anC
below the nearest rays of the sun, b.
seems seated upon the brink of tina
other world tabled to exist within til,
outer shell Of our own. The Thousand
tiny, trckling streams and showers o
heavier drippings from on high, from
far up narrow wines, and oozing from
the broad faces of the lofty lode, fall
ing into pools about, send abroad 9
sound which is now as of children a
play, calling to each other at distance
now as Of bells, with the interminglins
OF ttute-lllle voices, and again like firm
ly sounded random notes on the piano
Gusts of air, loaded with darkness anC
filled with dampness-seemi tn,
weary breathings of the place come anf
go; halo forms about his candle t(
keep back the encroaching mists, and
taken ali IN all seems no place for NOR
tai man.
Here upon this floor is where he
hopes to make some discovery-hope:
to find behind the dilapidated tagging
at the end of some drift in the face O
some chamber, a vein of precious or,
that escaped the workmen of former
years. Here is the place, but now hi!
courage is almost gone. He remem
bers all the stories he has heard from
the German miners of their Cobalt :
species of subterranean devil, which
clothed az miners, are seen in the lone.
ly depths of the mines gliding abou
the chambers and peering out from
among the tim5ers, or are heard tc
scream, to groan pitifully, or to laugh
Wildly. He also remembered that more
than one poor fellow had met his death
IN the very level that lay before him.
Yet, remembering all these things.
he mad the courage to rise up and ven
ture forth upon the reeking and rotter
old floors, though he was obliged t,
turn and look to see that nothing fol
lowed in after him from the bottom O.
the decline
A CHASTITY place he found the level
The tlmbers We're hung with great fes
toons OF a peculiar fungus, resembling
the moss Of the live oak, but white as
snow Upon these festoons rested Clio
bules of moisture which were transpar
ent as distilled water, and which spark
led IN the bright light like myriads Of
diamonds All these growtlls however,
were not of the form described Some
| resembled exaggerated mushrooms, had
stems q yard long, that twisted about
like rams horns, and wore crowns OF
the size of a broad hat rim. Thew
mingled with the messy formation.
grew pendant from the roof of the
drifts, hung out from the "lagging. y
and sprouted up from the base of the
side supports, in short, In places so
| filled the old drifts that it was neces-
sary to crush through them. For an
| hour or more our adventurer wandered
| through the mazes of the level, more
intricate than the labyrintis CT Crete,
or %