New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-05-11

, A. ar.
over which he can get thoroughly excited 1t Is the
,,r. harves:ins his commencement day, the going to
DIV his dividends; anything in fact which signifies the
,e,,oc ana rocSct,ng os the results OF labor But
surnaSscs an these It's interest nasmuch As uut we
las minute the cleauer-up may have no WARNING u ~"
much his lpbor has been worth His crop Is all "nuer
nfoand 50 that there has been no opportunity Oh Is
n,;ng whether it MAS heavy light Is it stood III ''e
ear; taco has been no list OF dividends paoNshed' nc
has hal 40 friendly professor tell him whether ne mas
.akcn a prize this time not He may go To ce'n w
without cent in his pocket and until IT'S over ne "s
not know taa; is. if it b. first clean mp "ne."ei.
w, be sin cut-ess when he stops or whether lie WIZ
wall away with some thousands OF dollars NO WOMB
then that even the phegmatic miner grows excited over
it. -,,
Aud what kind Of process Is it tins ail-ao'o'o"S
cleaning 10 p Well 1t is much like poterlhS aoo'' al
a., in hole IN the ground up TO your ankles IN ulfy
water and with long handled spade in your hand win
which vu scrapc aud prod snd shovel at dirty surface Oh
rock 7 have been hard at work at it all day since
O'clock this m ,rjng 50 avn not likely To be mistaken as
TO the general characteristics OF the operation
TIE ELUSIVE GOLD DUST.
Many OF THE TRiBUNEs readers are doubtless wen
yered in the mysteries OF placer mining bnt for the sSe
Of the residue VINO are not | must ask them win
MoliArc's " ". to allow me TO talk TO them Tor
minute a. If they did not know Greek In inc H'N'
place then. nobody should be deceived by the name
surface mining" placer mining i more commonly
ironcal Yesterday heard an old miner giving new
arrival in camp who had just yentured to advance an
opinion not complimentary 10 the prospects q" he re-
con "a piece OF his mind. IN tell you what t. o
remarked lyon BANKED tenderieet You come III mere
and expect Ia find the streets covered wi'h huuuie"
dollar nuggets Rted arh handles SOS you can pick them
M more comfortably" As matter OF fact there is ho'-
ing apparently which gold hates more than to DE oaho
Instead of developing handles and lying the top OF the
oand to help the poor prospector, it will do the NEAL
est things get out of his way No one WHO mas ho'
been in diggings can have any idea of the petty under
hand devices to which gold will stoop to AVOID Dchs
made into money Fortunately for the prospector 1t Is
only indaerently equipped with locomoton; if nature
had nv any mistake it legs wings no man would
yer have found grain of II. As is. the only thg
has TO help its flight its weight but II makes Tue
most of that One has frequently read of dggngs which
maid from grss-roos TO bedrock and in parts Of Cali
forns there gulches where the earth vas so close ana
s that the gold could not force its way through and"a'
ANONYMOUSLY caught bottled up IN the glaSsr0ots ana
shaken out into the slices.
Here. however the soil is loose aud light. so the dust
has no difficulty in finding way through. Year by year
and century after century it has devoted to making >ef
as heavy possible and slipping and sliding between the
Grains of sand and SOIL until arrived at the gravel In
the Cur Aenes the gravel is even o0ser than the SOIL
and that too offered easy passage TO the elusive
mineral. so it went on slipping and siding afoHhu ono
pebble and under the next until it came to the bed rock
takes pretty neaNN tNng 10 SILK sui" "'
so that here 1t may supposed the gold confessed Sei
beaten and gave up trying sink Not Bit OF it; 1t inst
set work and hunted around for cracks ana ceces 10
hide ill., II the rock was smooth granite 1t wOuid 90
almost any distance 10 find chnk To SIP MO- "hcie
was slate II has wormed and whccded it, way in be
tween the layers frequently TO the depth OF some cheS
The thing which gold dust cannot do Il climb 80 't
whenever in sliding down the sopng rock looking for
crack IL came ridge or rifle instead OF crack
1t was balcl and there it is found slllhing to-day 1t
s. no donbt highly cTeditahe 10 the gold itself tht
should set itself desperately to avoid being hunted mp
and made into filthy lucre aud 80 becoming tie OF
all manner of imaginable evils to man; bat il makes ter
riby hard work for the miners The '@ut a. Aieho TO-
cion more aver is undoubtedly bad country TO open
that say, the timber il heavy the Wlhl'f ohS 'e
culcbes wide and consequently bedrock deep, ana Tie
larger streams have bat little fall. The claim on which
have been worknsi perhaps happily situated as any
jn the district for working, hut even on u Two men hau
found II five hard weeks work, what with clearing I'M
Der shovcng and drain -dcinne to get te uecAs
cleared for action Then gang OF tour men had worked
for FIVE days nc clearing piece o. bed roc" Wh'h is
eleven feet down and putting sluce and this morn
ing At 8 o'clock when Joined them they were about to
begin the sixth There had been. therefore nearly
hundred days work done Oh the cLtin-and nara Woik
too with ten hours OF il 10 the day-without any nope
Of or attempt being made at getting ont cent OF gold
beyond the washing OF occasional painful OF soil No
the gold does not lie about the ground In nuggets with
handles 10 them
IL A PLACER MINE.
The spot is pretty one rs an artist cooid WISH
60 see: a small tearing the right hand BANK % %
rushing tumhlng little mountain stream, with high
banks of snow either side of it and couple OF t"
nine trees spanning by way OF bidgc, in one corner
OF tho clearing a long log hut Cthc home of tie pro
rIieorsl and behind the hut and around on every size
the dense forest OF pine and cedar end spruce shooting
straight out of the level snow and standing on ecT
against the further BACKGROUND Of mountains slope be
cN,, ooh dahl ti1ig-
snow-capped. BIT cleaning Up" has nothing to DO With
scenery aud down in that hole eleven ioet -deeH Inc
view consists chiefly mud; mud all around MS and uud
under foot with here and there point OF rock showing
through and paddles of dirty yellow water IN each de-
preston The mud. however is only few inches Getp
and before nghtla hope to have II AL shOveleG up
leaving the bedrock clean. aud to have al hustled mo
that line OF bright yellow wooden BOXES No' w
which Rushing through VIII soon separate inc
gold from the earth and gravel. -,
And this is where the miner hlS ms le'esei ~ VA =,
OF IL weight that the gold has been aue 10 eie
the for long but now that Il Is caught ls hcaFi
is lis ruin and as hes III re siulce noH, ~ mus
wish II lighter that il could be carried away Win
the water and the mud again
sHoVELIING MCD.
For sn hour or so cleaning upis celebrating work
enough Tie great long handled, sharp pointed spade
seems a clumsy thing TO work with at FIRST and Tie no
vice feels convinced that II he had the making OF spades he
would turn ont something much more handy III spite OF
rubber boots too the water ia nuisance. man gives
np irving to keep hands dry after about five minutes
IN half an hour gives up trying to Keep his face dry
and within an hour he Is wet aud spAhed from head 10
foot and begins feel like real miner by tbs time
too, he has abandoned expecting to turn mp nugget
every time he lifts "A shOyeu OF mud. At inst he stops
10 examine every pebble that he comes upon uUeN-
pectedly. and every alternate shoyelfu he sees some
thing glisteung which has to be investigated
before he can go on This however. wears OF ana
reconcled the fact that his business al
present is shovelng mud picking up nuggets.
The mud 1t Is trie. has gold in it, and for all he knows
the last shovefu he dropped into the suce may have
been worth $50; for time he works vigorously
enough and handles the dirt respectfully But the seu
neut soon wears out while the mud keeps and about
the third hour shoveliDg mud especially other peoples
,nnd crows wearisone But IL is only O'Clock in the