Louisiana capitolian., 1879-12-20
LUCK in A TUNNEL.

IlVWAuUND w SpN ANcNNNss oVAsHSS
but an old 40 California miner. ! have
been engaged in all descriptions Of nine
ing transactions, except the new tangled
one of mining stock In companies
"fcet," believe they call it. Among
my varied undertakings was one opera
ton in tunnel, in WHICH my partners
and | engaged in the su,nIner Of 1852.
One afternoon of that year, as l was
carrying up q bucket Of water from the
river to our tent at the top Of the bank,
my foot caught under large stone, and
my perpendicular was, at once changed
to horizontal posturg while the water
from the overturned bucket spread itself
in various directions. With few cxplc-
tives of rather forcible character, quite
customary and common in that region
and period, raised myself to my feet
again, and picking uF the bucket, was
about to retrace my steps to the river,
when my attention vas attracted by .
folded paper that had evidently been
placed under the stone that caused my
fall. When my foot tripped, the stone
was overturned, and the paper lay ex-
posed to view. Ipicked it up and pro-
&C .ded to examine it. 1t was written
with pencil, in characters very irreg-
ular and stitfiy formed, rs if made by
person with q wounded hand. The con-
tents were az follows:
III this letter should fall into tho hands Of any
person, wish 10 inform him that | have been
attacked and mortally wounded by my two part
ners, who wished to obtain my money. Failing
10 discover It, after wonnding me, they have fed,
leaving mo to die. Whoever gcts this letter will
find buried in iavne nj the foot Of q "blazed'
tree, twenty five PAGES due north Of this, bag
containing 5000 in gold dust. That II may
prove more fortunate property 20 hin thai. To
mo the wish Of ANDREW FOREST"
stood for some moments after read
ing tho letter like one awakened from u
dream. / could not convince myself
that the letter in my hand was genuine,
and read it over ana over again, think
ing might got some clue from the hand
writing to the real author. 1t might
be a trick got up by my partners to
raise q laugh at my expense. No, the
place where it VA found and the purely
accidental discovery rendered such q
surmise very improbable. I sat down
on log and turned the matter over and
over in mind for some time. At last |
got up, and pacing off the required dis
tance mentioned IN the letter, | came to
large tree. Carefully examining it, l
discovered scar, clearly indicating
that tho tree had been "blazed" ut some
remote period. This was confirmation
strong as Holy Writ" and went to work
Immediately to discover the locality Of
the ravinc. Here I was at fault. Moth
ing of the kind was to be seen. TO all
appearances % stream Of water never
had passed in the ncighborhood of the
tree. This was not encouraging, and l
sat down on the ground and read the
letter again, to see if lhad not mistaken
some Of its directions. No; ! was in the
right place, but where was the rayine!
A tap on the shoulder aroused me from
my meditations, and looking up, saw
my two partners, who loudly abused
me for having neglected the preparation
Of their supper. AS IN excuse | showed
them the letter. and detailed the manner
Of finding it. TO my surprise they were
as much excited by it's pcrusal as | had
been, and we looked around pcrsevcr-
ingly for the ravinc, but without effect
for some time. At last Jack Nesbit, who
had been q miner since $50, said:
81 think there has been q ravine here,
but it has been filled up by rains"
On close examination we decided that
his supposition was correct, and after
consultation we determined to com
mence digging early the following morn.
ing.
Morning came, and VIC repaired to the
spot with pick and shovel. Jack pro-
posed that we follow the course of the
ravinc, which appeared to run into the
body Of the hill, rather than dig down
for, az he said, we would be more likely
to find the bag in the bed of the rayine
by following it up than by digging
down into any one place. The result
was that in few days we had formed
quite cave in tho side of the hill.
We worked at this tunnel for fou,
days without finding the bag. On the
fourth day Jack proposed that he and
my other partner, Bill Jennings, should
carry the dirt we had excayated down
to the river and wash it, leaving me to
dig in the tunnel. In that way they
might "make grub" while searching foI
the hidden money. thought the idea
foolish, but rs they entered so eagerly
into my views regarding the buried bag
Of dust made no objection to the plan
and dug away with redoubled energy
In fact l had thought 80 much about the
object Of our search that had become
utterly reguardlcss of almost everything
else. had dreamed of 1t when sleep
ing, mused on it when waking, and il
had obtained complete control of my
mind. Day after day we worked, dig
ging and my companions washing; yet
strange to say, l did not become dis
couragcd. They said nothing about tn,
bag of gold dust, and i asked them
nothing about the result Of their wash
ing the excavated soil.
We had worked about three weeks