Ellsworth American., 1876-06-29
Crevicing in tha Pot Hole.

An old California miner tells Us about
the early day digging as follows: Here i
IA man lNiug in an uuComtortably cramprd
position on the steeply Inclined bank which
border the luulumuc. The sun be Ats down
hrrctly. Au egg VIII quickly COOK IN the
white. hot sand. One OF his arms reaches
10 the elbow down u hole in the solid rock
The hole i us round and smooth rs if made
by "a gigantic drlt. With a piece OF iron
hoop hrut al one end, he draws up bit oI
gravel yellow mold. 1t may require the
labor OF halt 4 day To tiI his gold pan. Tive
dirt when washed may yield five dollars;
IL may yield fifty. Mining is a lottery.
That hoie was made ages ago. \ peb-
bic lay in the eddy,snd the twIring waters
turned il round and round. Year after
year il kept on turning and slowly grind
ing particles from the bed rock. SO 1t
wore its way in deeper and deeper. until 1t
bored this hole. Had it been in quiet Wa
ter, the cavity would quickly have filled
up with sand. But the furious current
whirlcd the sand out as fast as it came in.
Only the heavier drift, black ironstone aud
an occasional bit OF gold, would remain at
the bottom. There the slowly accumula-
ting deposit was packed almost rs firmly
us cement. THIS is pot hole. and our
miner j. "creVicing.' That, in the earlier
and PALMER day of California gold digging
was the simplest and most profitable torm
OF mining. For machinery it required Oh
IS the pick, pan and spoon. Thousands OF
dollars have been taken in a tew hours
from pot holes but a few feet In depth and
few inches in diameter.
"Crevicing" was my first experience in
u.laing. | picked up woe-begune man vt
Hawkins Bar. We bought few dollars
worth of provisions and went up Quartz
Rock canyon. The route was difficult and
dangerous. Much of it was like prone
made along the steep slope OF "A Mansard
roof. We built tor ourselves brush house.
The foundation rock was inclined at an an
gle of forty-fiv degrees. IL was the best
location we could find. A few yards OF
the ledge dropped perpendicularly into the
river. On either side the gorge rose IL wall
OF rock many hundreds OF feet i'll height.
SO we lived and worked, day after day, at
au angle ef iorty-tiv degrees. We slept
at an angle of forty five. 1t was necessa-
ry at night 10 drive pegs for our feet to
rest agaiast; otherwise we might, in slum
ber, roll off down the gran lite declivity in
to the river. If anything upset it rolled in
to the river; if things were not propped
and checked they rolled into the river.
When the potato bag was left united it
| turned carlessly over, aud peck of pota-
toes went rushing and scampering over
the rocks, and plunged like SO many frogs
| into the river. If a pot, tin cup, pan,
was left ungualded, it rolled down into the
river with metallic clangor. The first
fall rain came in the night. The six months
| OF California's dry season is apt to tsrmn-
| ate with a sudden, tremendous ram, ,out no
one can tell whether its coming Will be
/ month sooner or later. The rains descend
ed we could not get away; our brush
house was a sieve; we could not light a
fire We could not exercise to keep warm !;
il was possible only to crawl in country
that is everywhere inclined at AN angle OF
lorty five. SO we sat the live long night,
and endured. and shivered, and were satur-
ated. Time never flies on such occasions.