Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-07-17
4 Gold Miners Story,

III the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES To Duy DlDieS
for the hcatlcn.'
am not SO good as Minnie, l am
afraid, for said, g. shall have a hole
bored in mine, and wear it for charm
on my watch chain when I get onc.''
But frankie, aged nine, said, 81
shall sell mino and put What I got in
the savings-bank, and never spend it.,
but try to get more and more"
Why, you sorry little misor ~ said
my uncle, 81 am afraid you are be-
ginning wrong. Money is Il very good
servant, but terrible master. DO You
know, children, that nothing that
comes near You can tell SO sad
story Of hardship and sin and
suffering as your gold dollar Shall I
tell you its little history2'
OF course, we I'LL said "Ycs!"
We'll, said he, I" will try to tell
you how We used to Zig it in Montuna;
and when you don't understand you
must ask nae to explain. Minnie read
to us the other evening how poor Evan
geline wandered in search OF her lover:
Far in tho West there lies desert land,
where the mountains
Lift, through perpetual SHOWS, their lofty and
luminous submits.
Westward tho Oregon flows and tho Wallcway
and Owyhee;
Eastward, with devious course, among tho
Wind-rivcr Mountains,
Through the Swcct-watOr Valley prccipitatc
leaps tho Nebraska
A little farther north, where tic
mountains are thickcst, arc the head
waters of the Missouri, myriad OF
little brooks trickling from tho noun
tain sides. The bleak, brown mountains
are dreary wastes indeed. Grass does
not grow on them; only wild cactus,
and sage-brush, and few stunted
pines. The earth is parchcd like a
desert: But if you dig deep enough,
you will find there solid bases of gran.
lite, and through the granite, like
seams, run long veins of quartz, where
lie hidden the gold and silver.".
"Can you see it, uncle ~ asked /.
"Sometimcs You can, but usually il
is in particles as fine us NEAL
Chow did it come there, uncle9
"Ah! You must write to Mr.. Agassiz
to tell you that. I am only miner,
not a geologist. But T think he would
tell you that thousands and thousands
| OF years ago the rock was driven asun-
der ny volcanoes now extinct, ani into
the seams thus made were deposited,
one little atom ut time, our gold and
quartz. Then for centuries more the
volcanoes burned, and great glaciers
came down from the north, AMI under
the heat and cold the rock rotted and
crumbled away and set our gold dol
| }.lr8 fpnn from t1,nsn q
Then came the rains and melting Snow
of more and more centuries, and
formed little brooks, eating their beds
into the mountain sides, and bearing
little by little the gold am! sand and
gravel down towards the valleys. The
gold, being tho heaviest, sank always
to the rock ut the bottom. Tins every
passing year tho careful brook has
brought gravel and sand and clay to
hide your dollars from greedy men, till
1T buries them sometimes one hundred
ieet deep. Do you understand it,
Minnie?"
IA little. But should think the
gold would not all be OH the rock vi
the bottom, but scattered all through
the earth under the brook"
$50 it is, Minnie but it is mostly
at the bottom. If you take few shot
anu little sand, and shake them to.
gether III pan Of water, you will find
tho shot at the bottom, and the sand
above them. Just so the brook, on Il
larger scale, has shaken tho gold and
sand together for years."
"Ana should think, uncle, that the
largest Dit,ces IF rO17- -
Miners call them nuggets, Minnie. ,
Would be near the beginning OF
the brook, and the finest gold washed
farther down the Valleys"
$50 it is, Minnie. Do you under
stand, frankie 2"
mo. but no matter. l don't care
SO much how the gold gets into the
earth as how they get it out
Well, you see how hard Dame M.
turc has tired to keep her gold from
lis. She has hidden it deep in tn.
earth, - i'll u desolatc wililcrness,-ant,
has put rapid river above 1t, to set at
naught Ill efforts to dig for it, Per.
haps your gold dollars felt SO secure
that they laughed when few miners,
hunting for gold, rested by the allers
OF their brook one noon for dinner
'Wh,'e dinners cooking, I'll pan a lit
tic dirt, and see il [ can't find color,
sall one OF them, IL huge, brawny fcl
low, named Fairweather. SO he went
down among tho a'lcrs, and scoopcl
from the edge Of tho brook :, pan O.
elrth,-a common miik-pan, only mad.
of shcet-iron. Then STOPPING down Sc
that the water could flow into it. II,
shook his pan violently to and fro, dis
solving all the particles of earth
Then, pouring out tho dirty water ant
taking clean, he continued tlle shaking
and so on for long time, until only ,
little black sand was left in the bottom
with the gold."
Bat what is color. uncle George p
"Color, Frank, is what gold there i,
mixed with the black sand ut the cm
Of tho washing We think four cents
worth a fair color, but Flirweatl,o,
showed his comrades more than u dol
lar"
"You don't mean a real dollar, OF
course, uncle 2" said [.
! mo; but miners always talk in this
way, and mean by dollar one penny.
weight and not quite four grains, TROY
weight, which is about What gold
dollar wcighs.' -
"And were mt they all very happy,
Uncle Gcorgc1 I wish had been one
of them, said Frank.
I" can't say; but they tried moro
pans OF earth, and were lucky in all Of
them. Well in few days news came
to us 1T Balnock, that FairweatIlcr's
party had discovered new and very
rich gllch."
"a what, unclc2"
"a gulci,, w. for 80 miners call the
ravincs where they lind gold. In CALI
fornil they call tllom pllccrs. We alJ
hurried III hot haste to the new gulch,
to secure Il Claim before it was ill taken
up l got ono far up in tho noun
tuiIls.''
- How do you get claim unclo 2"
Why, whoever comes first selects
what he chooses, and then all tho
r'a'nl ''"',' "rs get together and make
'""S Tor the EuIch Oar laws allowed
every man I" own two hundred feet in
length down the rav,,c: h,.. he mus,
w"'k upon II lave days III rArI4 week, Or
..uybudy else colll>; t..Lo H..