The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1885-08-29
NUGGET HUNTING.
Perslstency and Luok-Each has its Share
In tho Success.

An old miner who followed the gold |
excitement in its devious wanderings in
Australia, California, Mexico and
British Columbia, related to Call re-
porter few days ago several instances
OF lucky discoveries:
IAN old Dutchman brought the plod-
ding method of his race to the work OF
gold digging in Australia. All Of his
companions had bOldness and dash; but
few had the stolid persistency in the face
of bad luck that this Dutchman pos
sessed. He had been plodding along
for several months digging tunnel.
Heavy dull clay was all about him. Not
a promising sign beckoned him on. He
seemed to get more settled in his de-
termination to work the tunnel to the
end the more unpromising it looked.
He had been working On in the face Of
disco0ragement for several months.
One morning he was max ne his way
into his tunnel, and before he had gone
fourteen feet his heart sank within him.
There in the front of him was his tunnel
caved, The path that he had laboriously
dug into the hill was clogged with tons
of earth. But the quality of his character
asserted itself. Most men would have
volleyed oaths athis ill luck, and packed
up their kit and left. The miner moved
more Eowly than before, but he started
TO work again in the same tunnel. He
crawled into his tunnel, and with his
pick and shovel set to clearing away the
hill Of earth that blocked his path. He
had not struck dozen blows with his
pick before the sharp iron point struck
something solid. Mechanically he bent
forward and cleared away the earth, and
there before him was big nugget, as
nuggets 90, weighing fourteen ounces.
He erept out of the tunnel, bringing his
precious nugget with him, and when he
got into the fresh air and heard the birds
singing, he sat down and wept. Noe
begTudged the Dutchman his luck.
"a nuggety country that has been
only partially worked is just as good a
field as virgin soil" continued the miner.
The spots that have not been touched
may be very nests of the precious metal.
1t is dangerous to leave a single foot OF
gr0uud unworked. The fortune of a
lifetime might thus be passed by and
lost forever There are many instances
of just such cases. There was poor,
shiftless fellow, with wife in rags and
children in squalor. The whole family
usgu to go into the diggings together
and shift about till they had got enough
to buy something to eat. They kept
sinking lower and lower. But one day
they struggled into the diggings, not
having energy enough to push on
abreast of the workers. They fell to
picking q little pillar that had been left
standing in the midst of the diggings,
all about it having been worked. | do
not think it could have been more than
three feet across, certainly not more
than six. II Was aSpot that had been
neglected. as the diggers pushed their
drifts ahead. The squalid family began
work on this solitary pillar; all they
hoped was for few grains to feed them
for the day AS the man continued list
lessly, the sunlight was caught up by a
speck in the pillar that gllstened and
flashed The eyes of the poor fellow
sswit; he thought his work for the day
was done. He knelt down TO clean
away the dirt from the bright spot. As
he did 80 the shining metal grew to large
proportions. Immediately the whole
family was around it in eager haste to
uncover it. The further they cleared
The soil away about it the further il
seemed to recede. After working two
hours with growing establishment they
saw tho full outline of their prize one
of the largest Jumps of gold ever found.
That was the luckiest find ever made.
"Ihe Mount Moliagul nugget was
found in most peculiar place, resumed
the miner. There was an unusually
rich diggings in the vicinity of Mount
Moliagul. Victoria, that had made 8
hundred men rich. II had been thor
oushiy worked in every direction, anC
it was thought that every grain of GOLD
in Olc ncighborhood had been collected
The crowd that once made the camp s
bssy scene of life dissolved as quickly
a. { had collected, leaving the shanties
to Ghc mercy Of the weather, which soor
made them picturesque ruin. vi
toward the east there was solitary tret
stump. standing on a pillar of earth tina
had not been cut away by the golC
huutors because of the old roots of thu
tree chat spread through the soil. |
was not more than ten feet in circum
ference that had been left by the dig
gors. One day two miners came to tn
deserted camp, and stopped over nigh
on hI.e site of the old camp, The Stun
struck one of them as singular featur
of Che old diggings. and, being skillfu
miner. he knew that one part of mug
getty country was as likely to hide tn
precious metal as another. 1t Occurre'
to him that the ground under the STUN
was as tikeIy to prove rich as the poi
tons of the neighbOring field that ha
Yielded so much gold. He resolved t
work Che little mound the next day
Hig oDmpauion. however, was anXiou