Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-05-07
. LUCK IN a TUNNEL 81 Il,]

my foot caught under a 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 and common in that region
and period, I 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 q
folded paper which had been placed un-
der the stone which caused my fall
When my loot 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. II
was written in characters very irregular
as if made by person with wounded
hand, and written with a 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 Inv money. Failing to
discover it, after wounding me, they
have fled, leaving me here to die. Who
ever gets this letter will find, buried in a
ravine at the fool Of 'blazed' tree,
twenty PAGES due north Of this, bag
containing $4,000 in gold dust. That il
may prove more fortunate property to
him than = has to ne is the wish OF
ANDREW FORREST
stood for some moments after read.
ing the letter, like one awakened from
a dream. I could rot convince mvseL
that the letter in my hand was genuine,
and read 1t over and over again, think
ing I might get some clue from the hand.
writing to the real euthor. Il might be
trick got up by my partners to raise a
laugh at my expense. No; the place
were 1t was found, and the purely acct
dental discovery, rendered such sur.
mise very improbable. I sal down on e
log and turned the matter over IN my
mind for some time. At last I got up,
and pacing off the required distance in
the direction mentioned 10 the letter, l
came to large tree. Carefully examin-
ing it, I discovered scar, clearly indi-
eating that the tree had been "blazed"
at some remote period. This was icon.
firmatiol strong as Holy Writ" and l
Immediately went to work to discover
the locality Of the ravine. Here was
at fault. Nothing of the kind was to be
seen. To all appearances a stream of
water never had passed in the neighbour
hood Of the tree. This was not encour-
aging, and I sat down on the ground and
read the letter again, to see that | 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 me
for having neglected the preparation for
their supper. AS an excuse I showed
them the letter, and detailed the manner
of finding it. To my surprise. they were
as much excited Ivy its perusal as I 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 ravine here,
but it has been filled up by the heavy
rams"
On close examination we decided that
his supposition 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 bag 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 wo, ked at this tunnel four days
without finding the bag. On the fourth
day Jack proposed thai he and my other
partner, Bill Jennings, should carry the
dirt we had excavatcd down to the river
and wash il, leaving Inc to dig in the
tunrel. In that way they thought they
might snake grro" while searching fol-
hidden money. thought the idea very
foolish, but es they entered so eagerly in.
to my views regarding the buried bag OF
dust, Imade no objection to the plan,
and dug away with redoubled energy
In fact. I had thought SO much aoout the
object of our search that I had become
utterly regardless C almost every thing
else. I had dreamed OF ii when sleeping
unused on it when waking, and i had OBJ.
tai1ed complete contro. Of. my mind
Day after day we worked, I digging and
nv companions washing, yet strange tc
say, I. did not become discouraged. They
said nothing bout the bag of gold dust
and I asked them. nothing about the re-
suit Of their washing the excavated soil
We had worked about three weeks
and had formed tunnel cxten ding about
fifteen feet into the hill. when, completely
tired out, sat down to rest in the cave.
had only intended to sit little while ,bu
five min; ties had not elapsed before was
sound asleep. / was awakened by crash
and found my feet and legs completely
covered by mass of stones and dirt
The front part Of the tunnel had faller
in, and in a manner, buried; me alive
About ten feet of the tunnel renamed
firm, and from my observation of it!
structure prior to the accident was con
/ vinced that there was no cause to fea
danger from that quarter. My partner,
had carried dirt enough to the river t
keep them busy there for the rest Of TIL
day, so there was no need to hope 70
their assistance. The question that frs
presented itself to my mind was, how
long can life be sustained In this confined
|states had read dozen times stats
i tica IN relation Ii, the amOnnt IF air ron