Connecticut western news., 1882-04-12

nlZe6 the race or 1r1onQ III Lne StreeG. Having found piece of stone contain ing ore, the first thing he has to do is to discover where it came from. "Rock that is found away from a ledge is called ," float" and hunting for the ledge is called "tracing the float. 3 In order to do this he must reason out how 1t got to where he found it. There are several ways in which float can be carried from the ledge. It may have been moved by stream or "cloud brush" as sudden and very violent floods in narrow canyons are called; or, if the ledge be on a hill, 1t may have simply rolled down. The prospector knows that in whatever way it came to the place where he found it, the float was not moved up hill, and his search therefore is always in the direction oi higher ground. He makes his camp where grass for the "burro," wood and water are abundant, and begins opera tiops. ..s. ....
 If he sees, as he often does, that the piece of float he has broken open is on of many, and that there is, from where he is standing, line of stones extend ing up hill-sometimes in the form of a fan or great triangle--his work is easy in the extreme. He knows that all he has to do to find the ledge is simply to walk mp hill to where it is. But If he finds his pieces of float at the mouth of little canyon, up that canyon he goes, carefully examining the walls on each side. Sometimes prospector will find ledge in two or three hours, but 1t sometimes happens that he has to spend months in the search before he is successful. This he willingly does if the piece of float was unusually rich. In fact, instances of men working two and three years in their search have not been lacking in the history of the West, and in some cases the discovery at last has more than paid them for their time.
 Whatever period is taken in the actual finding of the ledge. the work, when it is found, is always the same: The first thing is the examination of the vein to ascertain what kind of ore it contains, together with it's probable value. To do this, the prospector takes small piece of the ore and, selecting smooth stone, proceeds to pulverize it by pound. ing it with hammer or another stone. He works away at this until he has got the rock as fine as -four, using toward the last his pestle and mortar. If it be fine gold rock-that is, if the gold in it be metallic and not an ore-he either washes the pulverized ore out in his horn spoon or mixes 1t with mercury. In either case he gets the gold and silver. Should the ore contain sul- phurets, ohlorides or carbonates, the prospector, if an old hand at the busi- ness, relies on his eye to tell him the value of the ore. In that case he pull verizes it as before, mixes it with chem ical reagents, washes the result, dries 1t, mixes it with mercury, and produces some amalgam, which is 8 bright, white paste. To this he applies heat, driving the mercury off as vapor, and he has the gold and silver left.
 The value of the ore having been more or less closely ascertained, the next thing to do is to trace the ledge so far as 1t ''crops out" or appears above ground. The prospector having done this, proceeds to "stake out claim upon it. The mining laws of the United States allows any man to take up; that is, take possession of, claim fifteen hundred feet in length upon ledge and three hundred feet on each side oi 1t. If he be the discoverer he is per. mitted to take up another of the same size "for discovery. as it is called, and as prospector always takes all he can, his claim Is three thousand feet on the ledge by six hundred plus the width ot the ledge, in width. Upon each of the four corners he plants post or ereots 6 pile of stones, and in or near each one he hides notice of pre- emption, whict generally reads somewhat like this:
 
 I, the undersigned, hereby take up $ claim upon this ledge, which hay. named the Roaring Tiger, fifteen hun 'dred feet in length and three hundred feet on each side of the ledge in width I also take up 8 second claim of tn, same size for discovery.
 JOHN SMITH,
 And so the ledge having been found assayed and "taken up" or "located, the prospector makes the best of hi way back to town in order to inform hi partner, the storekeeper of his luck ant to register the property. He is carefu to take with him a number of speoi mems of his claim. Reaching the town the claim is registered, the fees fo which are always paid by the store keeper, aud the amount of work neces sary to develop the ledge is decided up on. If there are many charges, tn storekeeper, being the capitalist of tn concern, pays them. The mine, if it b good one, is ultimately sold and tn profits divided between the owners The share coming to the prospecto generally goes as before, and when h is penniless once more, he shoulder his pick, gets fresh "grub stake" fror the storekeeper, is furnished with nor medicine for snakes bites, and start out to again find another paying mine
 Not the Fashion.