The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-11-12
uISING LIFE AT ITS BEST.
Gold Diggers Who Live in Luxury and
Rehnement-The Usual Notion OF a
Mining Camp DIspeIied-The Grass Val,
lev md Nevada Districts.

ing country has so much increased that
side railroads have been constructed,
making this increase from ten to a hun
drcd fold. Such are the roads to Denver,
to Salt Lake City, the new and most i'm
portant narrow gauge Montana, that lead
ing to Eureka and the broad track to Vir-
ginia City, Nevada, the home Of the bonan-
zas. We had traversed all these, ard now
as for the fourth time we are going toward
home VIC are still 80 little in a hurry that
we cannot resist the invitation OF Mr.. Cole
man, who was fortunately our fellow pas
senge to make an excursion on his mar
row gauge road, and to visit Grass Valley
and Virginia City, to which it leads, to see
those pretty. towns, and to descend into
the Idaho Mine.
Coming from the west everybody is
crowding upon the platform or gazing
from the windows to get u view from Cape
Horn OF the valley below, where one may
step without difficulty twenty-five hun
dred feet and be picked up In fragments.
There is something appalling IN the IDEA
that this might be the fate Of q train load
OF passengers but for on faith in the en-.
~ginecring skill that constructed the road
and the confidence repOscd in the brake
men who hold our lives in their hands.
AcRoss THE TERRIBLE CIEAsM,
and piled up all around us, the monarchs
Of the Sierra, clad in regal robes OF snow
and forest green, with jewelry OF rocks,
look down, we may fancy, with more OF
admiration than contempt upon the little
human ants who have deticd their power
and march in tOrtuous lines over their
submits and with spider-wcbs bridge
their depths. Approaching the high cape
from the east the view Is still more start.
ling, OF mountains piled on mountains I'LL
the more distant peaks cOmmingle with
the skies. This is magnitied as VI plunge
down ontho narrow gauge to the valley
of the American river under the very base
OF Cape Horn, where the train we have
left is seen slowly creeping around its
verge. -
TIE MINERS PARADISE.
The town. beg it,. pardon-the city Of
Grass Valley, whore we first arrive, con-
tains 1000 inhabitants, and Nevada City,
three miles beyond, is about one'half Its
size, but both are rapidly increasing in
population. They differ from any thinning
camps" we have heretofore seen. Gcner-
ally these are devoid of any pretensions to
beauty or taste. There seems TO prevail Il
pcryerse desire to set these qualities ut de-
lance. To saves hundred yards OF travel
every tree is cut down for timber or fuel,
not d spear OF grass is encouraged to grow,
and the rudest architecture abounds. 1t
is the fixed purposeto make everything us
ugly and uncomfortable as possible, and 10
proclaim by all the surroundings that the
supreme, the only object Of life is TO grub
for gold. Here, at variance with MI the
principles OF miners, there is refinement,
education, society, pretty homes lost in o
dense shrubbery,,Oi orchards and vines,and
the air is pcrfumed with flowers. These
lovely little cities should eschew their vul-
gar titles and be cOntented with what We
shall always remember them to be, villages
Of this enchanting valley. We had no
claim upon the hospitality OF the people,
but their houses werg open, their tables
spread and their carriages were freely!
offered. After drivingthrough the shaded
streets we were taken to see the workings
OF some OF the mines. There are two kinds
gravel and quartz.
NNlANNNb y ~ WYNN hAsA |
A gravel mine is only n vast magniied
exhibition Of tho frat rude process OF
washing out gold In tin pans, by which the
early miners gained their wealth from the
once abundant placers. The placers were
the surface deposits OF ore swept down by
yater courses from the hills. Now, gun
powder and tho artificial apparatus OF by
draulic hose are brought to bear upon the
gravel hills. They are first undermined,
and then blasts, frequently OF eight or ten
tons at, d time, are exploded, pulverizing
solid mountains, 10 be played upon by
streams OF 10 inches in diameter, with Il
force attained by descending pressure.
The dust being washed out by processes
fur III advance OF the original hand pans,
gold in far greater abundance Is the result.
In this way tho "Milton Company" alone
obtained gold OF the value OF $i0S,0O0 last
year. About onc-halfoft he mining OF the
Grass Valley and Nevada districts, as well
as at Bloomfield and other places on stage
routes IN connection with the railroad, Is
Of this description. Tho quartz mines are
OF more uncertain Value, but many Of them
are V more productive. We had the
opportunity to examine only one Of them,
tie "Idaho." This Is the richest OF all. Il
belongs chiefly to the Mcssrs. Coleman,
who own the majority Of the 600 shares,
which have already paid los dividends Of
81 30 each per month, and promise good
results for n long time TO come. Into the
bowels OF
THIS CAVE or ALADDIN .rH
we descend eleven hundred feet, and then
fur below the busy world on the earth's
,.,sf,., ,a, .Un,1nnn1 nInhNt in tunnnll 0NNII
drifts, lighted by tallows candles, meeting
troops OF begrimed miners and hearing the
explosions d giant powder eehoing through
tile vast CataEomhs, wondering at tho IN
genuity and perseverance, Of men VINO
seem willing TO penetrate to the very cen
tire OF the globe and TO explore this great
terrestrial ball itself for the sake OF the gilt
tpring dust It contains.l IN gravel and
quarts mining alike, g%pnpowder Is tho
prime agent Of development, and We some:
lines wonder how the gold and silver OF
antiquity was produced IL, such quantities
without its us0. Now, u Is Indispensable,
except in simple placer workings. Tho
gravel being loosed by Its force, rs has
been noted, Is then washed by hydraulic
pressure, whereas the hard quar- is pull.
verified by steam, operatingon forty stamps
Of I ~qGaseless din. The result Of both pro-
ce.sses Is The Ine dust from which the pure
gold is extracted by the amalgamation OF
quick silver, We ~wGrGpleased and INSTRUCT
Cd by what Yp saw IN the mines, but our
more cheerful remembrance Of Grass Val
ley is Of its romantic approach, Its groves,
gardens, and 1t h~ospitable people.
"KrssrSo two or three of his ~parishion.
ers who wore very intimate in his family,
Mt T. -. III