Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-09-12
Was it Spirit Influence that found
Mineral

superstitious age, We copy from the Re
ligio Philosophical Journal We don't
republish the article because of its mer>
its, or because we believe in the doc
trine Of Spirituaism, bat simply to show
how superstition and the darkest of err
ror, is stalking in our midst. IF any
thing coaid be shown, or any proof CIV
en-, tina the spirits ever did what 10 claim
ed by the Spirituaists, we should be
ready to believe that they had some>
thing to do with finding the mineral al
luded to in the article but up to the
present time there has been no evidence
whatever given of even the mere exis
tence Of spirits. That 'oldl and expert
enced miners considered this land outside
the range of mineral" is not strictly
the fact. Many of the miners Of this
village have often stated that thy always
considered the land was in the mineral
range, and that there nsuxt be min~ral m
that place SOMEWHERE. Indeed, mary
parties have tried to purchase said land
but could not, because of its being hell
so high on account of its supposed mn
eral wealth. AS to the wonderful de-
vclopncnt made to Peter Clegg, by she
'wcll built man" and. the "lgit III the
form of a STAR" is altogether TO old a
story, and too thin, to admit of any be
lief whatever from an intelligent conMu>
nifty. Besides he, Peter, has repeatedly
denied he whole statement to his asSo
ciates time AID time again. Bat we res
fer our readers to the article itself, and
let them judge for th> mselves Of its mer
its.
In 1868 9 we were digging for mineral
with poor success, living from hand to
mouth, and not knowing Oh Sat rday
where Mondays provision was to come
from. Our work was about three miles
east Of Dodsevilc, on proper ty owned by
one Roberts. On the way from Dodge>
VILE, where we lived, 10 our work On Rob
erts' farm, we passed through an open
prairie of some eighty acres, belonging 10
j. p. Thonls~n, of Buffalo, New York
Old and experienced miners had avoided
this land, considering it outside of the
range of Mineral in TACT, the whole com-
munity had decided THIS was not mineral
lan1.
In November, 1859, Peter Gig, in
omins hcme from his work, saw before
him stout, we'll built man, who looked
and acted like a brother miner. lie
was,". he said, when | first saw him,
about fifty yards from me and before NE.
We continued walking for about one hun
drcd yards, when this man suddenly van
iShcd OF disappeared in wha. seemed like
smoke or mist. On the 9th of Novcmb> r.,
1868, and about one week after seeing this
man, was again crossing this op!n prai-
RE, going to my work. / Was alone, and
near the middle of the field or open Lrai-
rie, when there arose up out Of the g. und
about one hundred yards in front of me,
a light in the form o: star. | should
judge it some three feet IN diameter. This
light slowly assembled Into the air about
one hundred feet, when it disappeared
FROM my sight. Subsequently | saw eth
er phenomenal at this spot, and on each
occasion | was instantly impressed that
there was mineral under this open field"
After these occurrences We took a permit
to dig on this ground, and that, too, in the
face of the fact that the pubic declared
there was no mineral under this ground
For ov-r year we toilrd on amid the gas
and steam vi the pcopls-no one believing
that we would find mineral. We fire.
quently had to qlit work in our shaft, and
work out 10y the day, to get means to live
and carry on our work. Frequently, while
sinking our shaft, we heard the good PEG.
pie sometimes pity US as deluded fanatics,
and again jeer at US as lunatfcs, WHO need
e.. guardian. But We toilld on until
the 22d of D ,m5er, 1870, when Oh, drill
passed through the rick, and entered an
opening Of six or eight inch, s. These op-
cnings, known among miners, wien found,
are under what is called or known as
Glass Rock, and are called Flat Openings.
Two days later we found mineral. and from
that time TO this We have continued to
raise mineral, and are now working the
mine with eight mcn, and 1t will take US,
from present prospects, ten years, with a
heavy force of men, to exhaust it and we
affirm that had not this phenomena occur
red to US, We should never have sunk a
shaft where we did. We are not rich, but
have plenty, and are doing we'll B-fore
we fund this mineral, it was diffi.u.t to
meet tie daily expenses of the faulty, and
as 10 getting trusted, it was out of the
oupSfi,,n Now that u.a have fnnnd min