The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-07-08
NUGGET HUNTING.
Persistcnoy aud Iuck--lsuci has it's Shnrs
I'm the Success.

An old miner who followed the gold ex.
element in its devious wanderings in Aus.
tralia, California, Mexico, and British
Columbia, related to Call reporter few
days ago several instances of lucky discov-
cries:
A nuggety 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 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
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 little pillar
that had been left standing in the midst of
the diggings, all about it having been work
ed. do not think it could have been more
than three feet across, certainly not more
than six. It was spot that had been neg
iected as the diggers pushed their drifts
ahead. The squalid family began work on
this solitary pillar; all they hoped WINS 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.
The further they cleared the soil away
about it the further it seemed to recede After
working two hours with growing astonish.
ment they saw the full outline of their prize
-one of the largest humps of gold ever
found. That was the luckisst find ever
made.
The Mount Moliagul nugget was found
in most peculiar place." resumed the
miner. There was an unusually rich dig
gings in the vicinity of Mount Moliagul
Victoria, that had made 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 e busy scene of life dissolv.
cd as quickly as it had collected leaving the
shanties to the mercy of the weather, which
soon made them picturesque ruin. or to-
ward the east there was solitary tree
stump standing on a 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. 1t was not more
than ten feet in circumference that had
been left by the diggers. One day two
miners came to the deserted camp and
stopped over night on the site of the old
camp. The stump struck one of them as
singular feature of the old diggings, and
being skillful miner, he knew that one
part of nuggety country was as likely to
hide the precious metal as another. II &C.
Cured to him that the ground under the
stump was as likely TO prove rich as the por-
tons of the neighboring field that had
yleioeu % huch soiu. ne resolved 10 Work
the little mound the next day. His COM
panion, however, was anxious to be off to
the latest diggings, where the excitement
was at the highest pitch. But the FIRST
miner, who had resolved to explore the soil
tary patch Of the deserted diggings, per-
suaded his partner, and together they set to
work on the old stump. They began by
undermining one side of the stump, but be-
fore they had dug in three feet they discov-
cred an enormous nugget, one of the most
valuable that had been found in the whole
diggings. They continued their labors and
uprooted the stump, but did not find an
other grain of gold"