Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-05-01
For Amateur Miners.


Cour d Alene country not only has the
western heart been scorched, but the
eastern entrail has been somewhat
singed with the yellow fever. Cow
boys, who have spent their lives at
bookkeeping. and road agents. VINO
have devoted themselves TO carving
the missionary box through the aisles
of the deadly Sunday school, are SPRING
ing up in every community along the
seaboard and preparing themselves for
the arduous functions of vigilance COM
mittee secretaryships. Tried and ex-
perienced miners who for years have
been digging around in claims that
paid from Sc to $40 per week, are crop
ping out and talking 'leads' and .'lev-
els with zest and finish that stagger
the amateurs of 40. Brooklyn has
caught the symptoms in Il greater or
less degree and the amount of back
yard practice in the arts and manners
of miners is appalling.
For the information of those who
have tried practical mining theoretic-
ally little advice or two may be in
teresting and instructive.
To be miner one must habituate
the hip bones to the constant presence
of buck pistol No matter how much
bark it rubs off the system, the pistol
must be there, or the dirt don't pan. A
man without pistol may dig for
months without results, while the fell
low in the next hole, with the eight
pound weapon strapped over the bend
in his body will toss up git by the
bucket. The outcrop has nothing to
do with it and the existence of vein
right at the edge OF the pit is utterly
unimportant. The chap without a gun
gels no metal.
A bowie knife down the back of the
neck is the second element in success
full mining Thousands of men have
attempted to get on without it, and
they unanimously testify that quartz
won't rise an inch. a man might be
turned loose in 4 mint and starve to
death unless the knife was properly
placed, with the handle sticking right
up under the ear. Don't try to succeed
without it. 1t may come n little awk-
ward at first, but you can practice fall
inc down stairs with stair rod under
your vest until you get the suspension
of the business.
Thirdly, brethren, you want red
shirt. 1t costs SIS q dozen to get the
white article washed in the mines, and
the best paying claim in the district
turns to pyrites before starch. The
shirt must be red and button up the
front. a man in the Black Hills once
created prejudice against himself in
q garment that fastened up behind. for
his neighbOrS protested want of stock
in a shirt front that wouldn't look a
man in the face. The boots should
come to the knee and offer refuge for
the legs of the trousers. This is the
walking costume. For full dress when
you turn out to tree q man you Just
pull the trousers out and then you are
complete. You never know when you
will have to assume q look OF stern de-
termination and inteXible purpose.
You may be called on to do a dull thud
! act At any moment, and you might
practice on the servant girl. Hang her
up in the yard two or three times q
week until YOU get the grim purpose
fixed in your mind and then shoot her
Sunday mornings, so as to p,sfect
yourself in the ''cold DROP business.
You might gobble her salary in order to
fine, and then stab her every day or
two to show her she has tackled the
| wrong bad man.
You want wide hat. The wider
the better. The more Gainsborough
you can get the further it will carry
you. But to wear it so the front won t
get mixed up with your grub and
prayers takes long and patient effort.
| The band around it should be full of
| pockets for cartridges and the top
| should have Il hole in it TO show what
the revenue officers did when you were
Il moonshincr.
When You have figured yourself out
| so you can walk in the boots, keep cool
in the shirt, quit filling your back teeth
| with the hat, twist your head without
carving it off with the knife and bend
| over without firing the pistol bullets
into your leg, you will be :; miner. You
don't want any pick, shovel or pit.
| There is no need of claim interest or
/ even grub stake. Just 60 right out to
| the diggingS and walk around. You'll
| Get rich. Don't be alarmed about re-
suits. If you don't catch any dust
you'll be so rich in pure lead before
| you've been four hours in the regions
that you can only distinguish yourself
from shot tower by the ability of the
tower to stand alone while you are
triced up to black jack to keep you
from dropping through the mountain.
| Try it, young man. And if your eXecu-
| tors and creditors don't wish you had
| stuck to the entry clerks desk it will
be owing to you're having slipped
up on these instructions somewhere
and missed the combination Brooklyn
Eagle.
a Grand Staipyyay