Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-07-09
NUGGET HUNTING.
AND LUCK-EACH Has ITS
SHARE IN THE SUCCESS.

NUG6EI HUNI1NG.
PERSISTENCY AND LUCK-EACH Has ITS
SHARE IN THE SUCCESS.
An old miner who followed the gold ex-
citement in it's devious wanderings in Aus
tralia, California, Mexico, and British COL
umbia, related to CdN reporter few days
ago several instances of lucky discoveries:
ga nugget country that has been only
partially worked is just as good field as
virgin SOIL" continued the miner. "The
spots that have not been touched may be
the very nests of the precious metal. 1t is
dangerous to leave single foot Of ground
unworked The fortune of lifetime might
thus be passed and lost forever. There are
many instances of just such cases. There
was poor shiftless fellow, with a wife in
rags and children in squalor. The whole
family used to 60 into the diggings togeth-
er and shift about till they had got enough
to buy something to eat: They kept sinking
lower and lower. But one day they strag-
gled into the diggings, not having energy to
push on abreast of the workers. They fell
to picking 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. 1t
was spot that had been neglected as the
squalid family began work on this solitary
pillar; all they hoped for was for few
grains to feed them for the day. AS
the man continued listlessly, the sunlight
was caught up by speck in the pillar that
glistened and flashed. The eyes of the poor
fellow saw it; he thought his work for the
day was done. He knelt down to clean
away the dirt from the bright spot. AS he
did SO the shining metal grew to larger pro-
portions. Immediately the whole family
was around it in eager haste to uncover it:
about it the further it seemed to recede.
After working two hours with growing as
tonishment they saw the full outline of their
prize-one of the largest Jumps of gold ever
found That was the luckiest find ever made.
''The Mount Moliagul nugget was found
in most peculiar place" resumed the min
er. "There was an unusually rich diggings
in the vicinity of Mount Moliagul, Victo-
ria, that made a hundred men rich. 1t had
been thoroughly worked in every direction,
and it was thought that every grain of gold
in the neighborhood had been collected.
The crowd that once made the camp busy
scene of life Dissolved as quickly as it had
collected, leaving the shanties to the mercy
of the weather. which soon made them
picturesque ruin. Off toward the east there
was solitary tree stump, standing on
pillar of earth that had not been cut away
by the gold hunters because of the old roots
of the tree that spread through the soil.
| It was not more than ten feet in circum-
ference that had been left by the diggers.
One day two miners came to the deserted
camp, and stopped over night on the sight
of the old camp. The stump struck one of
them as singular feature of the old dig
gings, and being skillful miner, he knew
that one part of nuggety country was as
likely to hide the precious metal as anOth-
er. It occurred to him that the ground un-
der the stump was as likely to prove rich
as the portions of the neighboring field that
had yielded so much gold. He resolved to
work the little mound the next day. His
companion, however, was anxious to be OH
to the latest diggings, where the excitement
was at the highest pitch. But the first min
er, who had resolved to explore the solitary
his partner and together they set to work
on the old stump. They began by under
mining one side of the stump, but before
they had dug in three feet they discovered
an enormous nugget, one of the most val
liable that had been discovered in the whole
diggings. They continued their labors and
uprooted the stump, but did not find anoth-
er grain of gold"
pondent of the Cincinnati Commercial Ga
zette, who describes himself as an eye wit
ness of Sam Patch's last two jumps, writes
IS follows: "Sam Patch, the famous cata-
ract leaper, who asserted that some things
could be done as we'll as Others" took his
Final, eternal and life's fatal leap,' as To-
cal poet expressed it at the time, on a
gloomy day in November in the year 1929.
He had jumped the Genesee Falls at
Rochester, their natural height, one week
before, and was induced by the gamblers
aging and living off him to repeat the feat
on the fatal occasion. They erected a sort
of scatfold on the jutting rock whence he
had taken his departure on the previous oc-
casion, making it 25 feet above the rock, or
| l2O feet in all from the scaffold floor to the
surface of the river at the foot Of the falls.
Ascending to the scaffold with some diff
Guilty, considerably inebriated, and by a
steep ladder the unfortunate demonstration
Strengthened up with a jerk, bowed aWk-
wardly on all sides to the witnessing thous-
ands, then pushed pet bear off he had
with him, and instantly leaped forward
himself His person 'canted over on the
left side, and struck the water forcibly, no
doubt brusing him and forcing the breath
from his body. Nothing more was seen of
him till the next March, when his corpse
| was discovered among some bushes at the
mouth of the river, seven miles below,
very much mutilated, but recognizable by
handkerchief tied around the body. Patch,
beginning on the schooner yard-arms at
Patterson, n. j., was a special leaper for
20 years or more, jumped from amazing
heights at Niagara thrice before he tried
the Genessee rapids, and challenged the
inspection Of admirng thousands to the
| rea lilies of his fpatS If vet living he would
be about 80 years Of age, but who knows if
he had not tackled John Alcohol, his bear,
and great leap at one and the same time
he might not be jumping yet?'
CLOSING DoORs-Any one recovering
from a severe fit of illness, with overstrain-
ed or shattered nerves, that respond instant
ly to any sudden noise, will appreciate
the following from an exchange:
doors are what we have to deal with all
our lives, and yet nineteen people out of
every twenty make a noise closing every
door they go through. Physicians have
not yet learned that they disturb the pa
tient they are trying to quiet by closing
the door noisily when they enter or leave
the house or room. 1t is perfectly easy to
close door quietly, yet few people make
! it a practice to do SO until some one in the
house is i'll, and even then it is often for
| gotten. The patient that for days and
nights has been i'll and has had no rest is
| finally relieved from pain, and is quietly
| sleeping. If there is nothing to disturb
him, some hours of refreshing sleep may be
expected, giving the rest and strength so
much needed but some one, forgetful of
the needed carefulness, closes the door with
slam, and the patient starts with every
nerve quivering, not only losing the much
needed Slppn but having to suffer from a