Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1881-12-22
!" CAvED."

It's caved exclaimed Bill Beaver.
bursting into the cabin where / was lels.
urely eating breakfast and reading the
news from last years papers that were
pasted CA the wall. The ground has
cayed it came down mighty sudden
md little Jimmy was at the breast. ]
was further ont in the drift, and had the
start of it but it made such a close call
for me that | knew he must o got
ketched.
Tis technical jarg revealed to me
the fact that our mine had caved. an
had buried one Of our companions, tor
Little Jimmy was not an infant, but
a mIn-a miner and friend He had
been working at the g breast, or fathr.
est end OF the drift, but was now per.
haps sleeping bis last sleep in the lot.
tom Of the mother of us all.
Three years before we had come to
this creek, we had prospected the "sids
colors everywhere. Indications ia
vorable. so We D." staked" body of
ground along the main creek built
cabins, organized a company, of which
the writer WAS elected President, and
went to work to open our claim.
Those three years had been years of
toll ana privatiou. We were in the heart
Of the Rocky mountains. Our camp was
pitched in a little basin of valley,
warm and sunshiny, and just Mt the en-
trance OF deep and gloomy canon,
which We named 1.-THE Devils Gate, "
and through which our sparkling little
stream foamed aud tumbled down to the
great river, the Missouri. Our ground
was deep and very wet. Drainage was
necessary, and we had driven tunnel for
this purpose through the earth and
powders that filled the primeval bed of
the creek, until we had attained hori-
z0utal distance Of ! 900 yards but the
slope OF the gulch was so gradual that
we had not reached the 4" bed rock"
where We hoped to find the gold laid in
heaps. bed rock. being the objective
point, must be reached; so we sank a
shaft at the head of our tunnel and be-
took ourselves 10 pump.
As it was a couple of thousand miles
to the nearest foundry, and we could not
afford to await the completion of the
North Pacific railroad, pump under
the circumstances was problem ; SO l
will tell you how we got one. We had
blacksmith and carpenters tools, which
most of MS could use there was plenty
of timber growing on the mountains,
and pair of dilaridated freight wagons
supplied our stock of iron. Great slabs
or segmonts we're cut from the fir trees
and hewn and dressed on one side to a
smooth plane. The other side was
rounded 10 an arc or convex surface, so
that when four such segments were
placed together lengthwise. secured with
pins at the edges, which were first
squared and then made parallel, they
formed long, hollow trunk or barrel,
four squares within. but outside cvlin-
drical, and tapering slightly from one end
to the other.
Upon this were driven hoops or bands
Of iron, which forced the joints close
like those Of a cask, and thus we had
pumps or pipes of considerable length
and s0lldity. 1t was easy to fit TO them
valves and pistons, and 10 work them
with wooden walking beam. moved by
the crank of a water wheel. This crank
was a master piece. 1t hal an arm OF
leverage Of two feet. aud was forced
from the iron axle of enc of our wagons.
andlts dungeons or bearings were turned
IN lathe OF our own contrivinc. This
was heavy Job for orr own resources
but 1t was finished after an age (it
seemed to us) of toll, puzzling and per.
sp!ration, and we had produced machine
~ that was capable of raising TO 4
height OF nearly thirty feet many tons