Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-07-30
CHE Stusy Teller.
MY LUCK in A TUNNEL.
AN OLD MINERS STORY.

am an OlQ miner. NoI oue VI Vhe ho"a a
day stripe, but an old 1919 Californian
miner. 1 have been engaged in all des-
cription of mining transactions, except the
new-fangled one of mining stock in COM
panies-"feet," I believe they call it..
Among my varied undertakings was one
operation in tunnel, in which 1 and my
partners engaged in the summer of 1852.
One afternoon in that year, as was car
rying UP bucket of water from the river
to our tent at the top of the bank, my
foot caught under large stone, and my
perpendicular was at once changed to hor-
izontal posture, while the water from the
overturned bucket spread itself in various
directions. :,
I raised myself to my feet again, and
picking up the bucket was about to retrace
my steps TO the river, when my attention
was attracted by folded paper, which had
been placed under the stone causing my
fall. When nv foot tripped, the stone was
overturned, and the paper, folded in letter
form, lay exposed to view: Bending over,
/ picked it UP, and proceeded to examine it.
1t was written with pencil, in characters
very irregular and stiffly formed, as If made
by person with wounded hand. The
contents were as follows:
If this letter should fall into the hands of any
person, wish to inform them have been at
tackled and mortally wounded by my two part
ners who wish to obtain my money. Failing to
discover it, after woundlng me, they nave neo,
leaving me here to die. Whoever gets TINS let
ter will find, buried in ravine at the loot OF a
sblazed' tree, twenty-five PAGES due north of this.
a bag containing five thousand dollars in gold
dust. That it may prove more fortunate proper
ty to him than it has to me, is the hope Of
ANDREW FORREST.
stood for some minutes after reading
the letter like one awakened from dream.
could not convince myself that the letter
in my hand was a genuine document, ana
read it over and over again, thinking l
might Get some clue from the handwriting
to the real author. 1t might be trick got
up by my partners to raise a laugh at my
expense. No, the place where it was found,
and the purely accidental discovery, rem
dered such surmise very improbable. L
sat down on a log and turned the matter
over in my mind for some time. At last l
got up, and pacing off the required distance
in the direction mentioned in the letter,
came to a large tree. Carefully examining
it, I discovered a scar clearly indicating that
the tree had been 'blaZed" at some remote
proof of Holy Writ;" and I Immediately
went to work to discover the locality of the
ravine. Here was at fault. Nothing Of
the kind was to be seen. Toall appearances
a stream of water never had passed In the
neighborhood of the tree. This was not
encouraging; and l sat down on the ground
and read the letter again, to see II had
not mistaken some of its directions. No,
was in the right place, but where was the
ravine?
A tap on the shoulder aroused me from
my meditation, and on looking up saw
nv two partners, who loudly abused me
for having neglected the preparation OF thelr .s
supper. AS an excuse | showed them the
letter, and detailed the manner Of finding
it. 70 my surprise, they were as much ex-
cited by its perusal as had been, and look
ed around perseveringly for the ravine,
but without effect for some time. At last
Jack Nesbitt, who had been miner since
'4S said:
II think there has been ravine here, but
it has been filled up by the rains"
On close examination we decided that his
suspicion was correct, and after some con-
sultation we determined that the next morn
ing we would commence digging.
Morning came and we repaired to the
spot with pick and shovel. Jack proposed
that we should follow the course of the
ravine, which appeared to run into the
body of the hill, rather than dig down in
any one place. The result was that IN a
few days we had formed quite cave in
the side of the hill.
We worked at this tunnel for four days
without finding the bag. On the fourth dayX eyX,
Jack proposed that he and my partner, Bill
Jennings, should carry the dirt down to the
river, and wash it, leaving me to dig in the
tunnel. In that way, they thought, we
might at least "make grub" While searcn-
ing for the hidden money. thought the
idea foolish, but as they entered so eagerly
into my views regarding the 6urled Dag OF
dust, made no objection to the plan' ana
dug away with redoubled energy. IN 1act,
1 had thought so much about the object OF
our search that | had become utterly re-
gardless of anything else. | had dreamt OF
it when sleeping, mused on it when waking,
and it had obtained complete control OF my
mind. Day after day we Worked-l dlg-
ging and my companions washing; yet,
Strange to say, did not become dlscour-
aged. They said nothing about the bag OF
gold dust and l asked them nothing aoouG
the result of their washing the eXcaVated
soil.
We had worked about three weeks, and
had formed tunnel extending about hfteen
feet into the hill, when on one afternoon,
completely tired out, sat down to rest IN
the cave. had only intended to SIT little
while, but five minutes had not elapsed
before l was fast asleep. was awakened
by crash, and found my feet and legs com
pletely covered by a mass of dirt ana stones.
The front part of the tunnel had fallen IN,
and I was in a manner buried alive. About
ten feet of the tunnel remained firm, and
from my observation of its surface prior to
the accident, l was convinced that had no
roocon to annrehend danger in that quarter.