The Elk Mountain pilot., 1882-04-20
now MINERS SUFFER-.

wild regions of the Far West, cannot
be exaggerated, but are of various
kinds. Sometimes the poor fellows
suffer from starvation. and sometime.
If We may judge By the accoun;
which we publish il another column
from Indigestion. Sometimes they
are cver-worked, and sometimes. iudg-
ing by the same account, it must be
awfuIly hard for them to get throug.,
their regular meals SO as to have little
leisure fer digging and other necessary
exercises. The account to which we
refer is true copy Of the bill run mp
by two superintendents and five work
men, belonging to a well-known mine,
at the nearest country store, and It is
duly certified by the superintendents
as correct. 1t does not include beef.
nutton>and pork-though it includes
almost everything else-these supplies
being furnished by the butcher, WHO
sends in Il separate account. The
miners are also supposed to catch
plenty Of fish and to shoot abundant
supplies Of bear and antelope. If they
do not Shoot any game, it certainly is
not for want of powder and caps, for
they lay in $50 pounds of the former
and 900 caps at one order.
The whole bill will repay a careful
reading by those who have indistinct
ideas as to how the suffering miners
live. When these seven men had
got away with 1000 pounds of wheat
flour, 400 pounds of Graham flour,
100 pounds O. oatmeal, 50 pounds Of
buckvheat, some rice, beans, old
apples, ralsins, currants, corn, toma-
toes, peas, succotash, cherries, grapes,
peaches, and strawberries, they must
have been too exhausted to work,
and the dozen pick handles, dozen
hammer handles, anvil, steel, nails,
and tacks ordered must have been
intended to iron clad the outside Of
sllelr cablrs, SO as to prevent any
interruptions Of their slun1bers. But
only such vigorous and energetic
natures as these miners possess could
have enabled them to grapple, after
all their previous provender, with
dozen jam, smoked lobster, canned
salmon, and mackerel, 3o6 pounds of
ham, zoo pounds of bacon, 20 sacks
of salt, keg Of pickles, 1895 pounds
of potatoes, 275 pounds Of onions, o2
pounds Of sausages, and a barrel of
sauer kraut!
Perhaps the Titanic apuetites OF
these heroes arose from their abssi-
nence from ardent spirits. They
needed case Of milk, IS pounds Of
coffee, 10 pounds of tea, 100 pounds
Of crushed sugar, 600 pounds Of gran
ulated sugar, two kegs Of syrup, a
bottle of vanilla, three bottles Of
lemon, and a single gallon OF vinegar,
to wash down the other contents of
the country store but there is no
champagne, brandy. whisky, OF Mara
chino mentioned in the bill. A suspi-
cious stockhclder or capitalist might
suspect that Bourbon was concealed
in the oilcloth ordered, and old Rye
in the 50 pounds of grlndstone but
a little reflection will dispel this doubt.
The grindstone was evidently neces-
sary to sharpen up the table-cutlery,
and the oilcloth to save table linen.
Only 4o pounds OF tobacco to assist
digestion would seem to be a very
reasonable charge, and only five boxes
of candles to light them to bed after
supper is really parsimonious econ
omy.
There may be, to the keen eyes of
Western miner, something so deli-
clously absurd in the fact that anv
Eastern capitalist wodld invest his
money in the mining country that the
pioneer of civilization fondly inagines
that any sort Of items viii pass muster
In mining account, and that the
greenhorn CT an investor will never
know how many pounds Of ham, flour,
potatoes, pickles, and canned straw
berries genuine miner ought to eat
during a month. By getting up very