The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-05-06
LUCK IN A TUNNEL.

LUCK IN A TUNNEL.
am an old miner. Not one of tho
nowadays Washoe and Nevada stripe,
but an old 40 California miner. I have
been engaged in all descriptions of min.
ing transactions except one new-fangled
one 1T mining stock in companies-I be-
lieve they call it "feet.' Among nv va
rious undertakings, was one operation in
tunnel In which and my partners en-
gagged in the summer of 1852.
One afternoon in that year, as was
carrying up 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 posture, while the water
from the overturned bucket spread itself
IN various directions. With few exple-
tives of rather forcible character, quite
customary ard common in that region
and period, l raised myself to my feet
again, and picking up the bucket, was
about to retrace my steps to the river,
when my attention was attracted by a
folded paper which had been placed un-
der the stone which caused my fall.
When my foot tripped, the stone was
overturned, and the paper, folded in let
ter form, lay exposed to view. I picked
it up and proceeded to examine it. It
was written in characters very irregular
as if made by person with wounded
hand, and written with pencil. The
contents were as follows:
IF this letter should tall into the
hands OF any person, I wish to inform
him that have been attacked and NOR
tally wounded by my two partners, who
wished to obtain my money. Falling to
discover it, after wounding me, they
have fled, leaving me here to die. Who
ever gets this letter will find, buried in q
ravine at the foot of 'blazed' tree,
twenty PAGES due north Of this, bag
containing $4,000 in gold dust. That It
may prove more fortunate property to
him than it has to me is the wish of
ANDREW FORREST
| stood for some moments after read
ing the letter, like one awakened from
dream. could not convince mvselt
that the letter in my hand was genuine,
and read 1t over and over again, think
ing l might get some clue from the hand
writing to the real author. 1t might be
trick got up by my partners to raise a
laugh ut my expense. No; the place
we're 1t was found, and the purely acct.
dental discovery, rendered such a sur
mise very improbable. sat down on a
log and turned the matter over IN nv
MI nd
and pacing off the required distance in
the direction mentioned in the letter,
came to large tree. Carefully cxamin-
ing it, l discovered scar, clearly indi-
eating that the tree had been "blazed"
at some remote period. This was econ
frmatiol strong as Holy WRIT" and l
Immediately went to work to discover
the locality of the ravine. Here l was
at fault. Nothing CT the kind was to be
seen. TO all appearances stream of
water never had passed in the neighbor-
hood Of the tree. This was not encour-
aging, and sat down on the ground and
read the letter again, to see that I had
not mistaken any of its directions. No,
I was in the right place; but where was
the ravine?
A tap on the shoulder aroused me from
my meditations, and looking up I saw
my two partners, who loudly abused nc
for having neglected tie preparation for
their supper. As an excuse I showed
them the letter, and detailed the manner
of finding it. To my surprise: they we're
as much excited by its perusal as had
been, and we all looked around persever-
ingly for some time, but without much
effect. At last Jack Neshitt, who had
been a miner since 48, said:
II think there has been a ravine here,
but it has been filled up by the heavy
rams"
On close examination we decided that
his superstition was correct, and after
some consultation we determined to COM
mence digging early on the following
morning.
Morning came and we repaired to the
spot with pick and shovel. Jack pro-
posed that We should follow the course
of the ravine, which appeared to run in
to the body OF the hill, rather than to dig
down; for as he said, we would be more
likely to find the ba 6 in the bed of the
ravine by following it up than by dig
ging down IN any one place. The result
was that in few days we had formed
quite cave in the side of the hill.
We worked at this tunnel four 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 excavatcd down 10 the river
and wash it, leaving Inc to dig in the
tunnel. In that way they thought they
might snake grub" while searching for
hidden money. I thought the idea very
foolish, but as they entered 50 eagerly in
to my views regarding the buried bag of
dust, I made no obi lection to the plan,
and dug away with redoubled energy.
In fact: had thought so much about the
object Of our search that had become
utterly regardless of almost every thing
else. had dreamed of it when sleeping,
unused on it when waking, and it had OBJ
TAXED complete contro: Of my mind.
Day after day we worked, digging and
my companions washing, yet strange to
say, / did not become discouraged. They
said nothing ;bout the bag of gold dust,
and l asked them nothing about the re-
suit of their washing the excavated soil.
We had worked about three weeks,
and had formed tunnel extending about
fifteen feet into the hill. when, completely
tired out, sat down to rest in the cave. I
had only intended to sit little while. but
i've minutes had not elapsed before I was
sound asleep. l was awakened by crash,
ana found my feet and legs completely