The Red Cloud chief., 1880-07-15
Stories From the Mines.

1880 'N'NH
in which the first discoveries of gold In
California were turned 10 - by
ingenious spectators. and among them
are the following: In one district the
gold-dust was mi>cd with large quanti-
ties of fine black sand. which the
miners-most of whom were raw hands
blew of from the gold in their anx-
iety to arrive AT the orc itself. a keen
old man turned their impatlencc To ac-
count by shamming lameness. and pre-
tending that in his weakly state he was
not equal 10 the toll of mining. and WAS
thus compelled To resort In the poor
and protitless branch Of gathering the
black sand. which he sold rs Il substi-
tuie for emery. He used to ga about
on an evening with n large bag and a
tin tray. requesting the miners To blow
their black sand upon it. and returning
with il To his hut. BY the aid Of quick
silver he was able io extract the gold,
double in quantity Ia that which was
obtained by the Understanding miner
at the washings.
Tricks Of every kind were played
upon newcomers in search of the gold
Ell treasures. One story l. toll of some
American associates who had been
working at an Improbable spot. put
ting up a notice that their valuable
site was for sale. a they were going
elsewhere. A few Germans who had
just arrived offered themselves as pur-
chascrs. The price asked vas eNorbi-
tant, as the proprietors stated that the
''diggings'' returned a large amount Of
gold. and the following day WAS APP
pointed for the Germans to come aud
see what could be produced in the
course of a few hours working. The
sellers went during the night and secret
ed the gold-dust in the banks. SO that j;
would come TO light. as 4 natural de-
post. when the earth was turned up.
The following morning the poor Ger
mans were so delighted with the appsr-
ent richness Of the place that they gave
a large sum of money and W. valuable
gold watches for the property. The
Germans were laughed AT; but they
went to work. and actually succeeded
in raising a large moun Of gold be-
meath the spot where the Others had
left of. The Americans were thus out
witted in turn. and ~endeavored u get
repossession Of the place BY force; but
another company Of Germans arriving.
they were obliged tn decamp-
An old miner relates this story:
while working on Rock Greek. the
weather being very hot, We ALWAYS had
neal US a can OF water. and close IN II
we put a teacup 10 hold the PARTICLES 81
gold as We collected them. One morn
ing as we were at WORK athirsty digger
came by. who asked permission Ia take
a draught of water, which being grant
ed. he filled up the cup, and quafed of
the costly drink. without either drink
ing our healths or leaving the least sed-
iment at the bottom. 1 suspected At
first that some trick had been PLAYED
upon US. and he had secreied the gold:
but from the evident distress Of the
man. and the earnest manner in which
he promised TO repay Us when he go,
work. firmly believe that be had sval-
lowed the gold. not having noticed 1t i
the cup
Scarcely twenty-three years have
elapsed since the gold yield in Califor-
MIA became an undoubted fact. and
within that period many mill
ions Of dollars worth Of gold-dust
has been added 10 the wealth Of the
world. But even these results have
been eclipsed by the wonderful discov-
cries of gold in Australia So extern
sively are the gold deposits distributed
throughout tina, great country. that
Melbourne. the capital. has been said
TO be paved with the rich metal. the
broken quartz rocks which have been
used to make the streets being found TO
contain gold--HarPer's FosnJ People