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

Yes, indeed, they dht, better than
you do your laws i'll Now England.
We had II miners court, which kept
everybody strictly to tho law"
How could thoy punish men with
out prisons z"
"By banishing them, an.l hanging
sometimes, Minnic.-I am afraid often
II little hastily, too. Woll, in few
days every claim for fifteen miles was
taken. All! we were busy bees living
our golden honey. Fnirwcathor and
his purity had tho best claims, as in
decd thoy deserved.
"Now, keep in mind what have
told y"n about tho gold, and 1 can
make our rude process of digging it
quite plain to you. 1t is scattered
through all the earth in the ravinc, but
mostly in the coarse gravel ,.nl sand on
tho rock ut tho bottom. Miners call this
the bcet-r'ck, and the gravel and sand
which lies upon tho bed rock, per
llaps five feet dccp,-thoy call the 3,uy-
t<irt Cam you understand wlly?"
And thoughtful Minnie answered
that she supposed it was because this
was til" only dirt that paid the expense
Of working.
Exactly, said my uncle; ".nd to
remove this pay dirt to the surface and
save the gold from the gravel is all
there is to gold-mining. Tie first great
trouble is tho wafer. The brook must
be managed iii some way, or no ono
could work. 1t would take too long to
explain to you how this is done, but Il
long canal, or ditch, as we call it, is
built through every claim, and every
| claim owner must contribute to the OK
pense Of it's construction. We worked
many a weary day upon our ditch.
How hard, after toiling for weeks in
this way, to find that your claim is
utterly worthlcss!"
Z" Do they ever find them 80, uncle p
| go yos, often. Mining is only lot
tory, nnd only u few draw q prize. I
llavo seen poor follows work for months
on il claim and make nothing. while
their neighbors above and below found
gold III plenty. On Fairwc:,ther's claim
it was only ten feet to the bedrock
and when the diggings are as shallow
as That, the miners shovel away all tho
earth which lies above the pay-airt.
This is called stripping. You should
have seen the carly days of our gulcl,
Tor anxious excitement! There were
the miners, Inch Of iron frames and
arms bronze1 by exposure; ana near
them, watching their success. the
herd OF lazy drones, thieves, and
gamblers who throng around new
mines us eagles gather together
over Il carcass. After considerable
labor, quite Il field of pay-dirt is laid
bare, and the washing commences.
Three boards are JAILED together.
making long trough, or Il box without
ends, with cleats across the top to keep
the sides firm. Several Of these boxes
are placed along i'll Il line over tho
place stripped Supported bv a staging
bullt tor the p''rpose), tho end of zach
box lifting into the next. Thus is made
drain Of from thirty to fifty feet long,
which miners call sluice boxes. Across
tic bottoms of these boxes are nailed.
every fewinches, little cross bars, called
rifles.
Having arranged his sluicc boxes
to suit him, the miner let's into them
the water from the ditch, and his men
commence slovelling in the pay-alrt.
Gre"t care is necessary in arranging
tho sluice-bcxcs, for ii there is too
rapid u flow OF water, it carries along
not only tue sand and gravel but the
gold also; and ii the boxes are too
nearly level, not only the gold but the
sand also sinks to tile bottom. But
the experienced miner sets them at lust
the right angle, and the swift stream
carries of the sand, while the gold.
which is seven times heavier, sinks
| hrAfffrn 80
riflies.'
But don't the larger stones sink to
the bottom too2" asked.
Yes but Il man stands over the
slulce: boxes with common::barn-fork,
| to pick them out as fast as the men
shovel them in. Sometimes large mug
gets are forked out in this wav. I
have seen one larger than my hand
and worth more than two thousand
dollars"
But what stirs and breaks ND the
Garth, uncle z" asked Minnie.
10, the man with the pick breaks it
into small Jumps, then in shovcling it
into boxes it is broken more, and the
rifles in the boxes keep it in constant
turmoil, 50 that the particles are pretty
we'll separated"
"DoD't the tiniest and finest Grains
OF gold wash away with the sand o. I
asked.
"1hey must be pretty fine to do
that; but IN the lower part of the boxes
they often pnt quicksilver, which your
chemistry will tell you is like most of
us, and absorbs grcedily whatever
gold comes near it"
! "But still 1 should think great
deal would wash away" said Minnie.
! 80 1t docs, Minnie; 50 much that
in California they have washed tho
same earth nine times with profit
g. should think they would want to
stop anil look to SEQ how much gold
they were getting don't they pretty
often ?" asked Frank.
mo, they are not 20 impatient as
you would be. They shovel the dirt
steadily all day till the sun begins to
60 down. Then the water is
turned away from the sluice.boxes. and
the miner looks after his harvest.
with small spoon lie takes into a pan
all that is left between the rifles in the
bottom of the boxes,-a mass of black
sand all yellow and glitterlng with
gold"
II should think it'would be m OK
citing time for him, uncle, =" said Min
ME.
$50 it is, for lie secs in moment,
almost, il he is Oh the road to fortune
or it lis time and labor are all thrown
away. Poor follows! it is oftenest tho
latter. But Fairweather found many
hundred dollars in his boxes, and he
was rich in II monlent.''
What did he do with the black
sand. nncle?" asked Frank.
| After drying over tho fire it is easily
removed ny a magnet, us you can sec
ny pouring little black sand from
your fathers sand box ON tho table
over your gold dollars; tho sand, YOU
WILL sec, clings in little spikes ill over
the magnet, but the gold doesn't mind
it at all.
"My claim was lar up in the noun
talns' and, after digging deep hole
IKE well for many days, we found the
bed rock seventy feet deep. This, OF
course, was too deep for stripping
aud the pay dirt was got out by =, all
icrent process, called ,1rtfxiny. This
Is something like coal-1ninimg. The
miner on his knees digs caves in every
direction, sl'ovelling the pay-.'irt into
huge bucket let down from above.
AS ho digs farther and farther, he
Keeps the earth above from falling Nv
calling OF boards held up by large
posts"