The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-09-12
NUGGET HUNTING.


Persisssney a1A-xaek-E.cA has tn shass
htlse suoseo
An old miner who followed. the 6uld
excitement in its devioHs wandermgs n
Australia, California, Mexico and
British Columbia, related to Cal 70
porter few days ago several instances
Of lucky discoveries:
IAN old Dutehman 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 persistepcy IN the face
Of bad luck that this Dutchman pos
sessed. He had been ploddi,g along
for several months digging q tunnel
Heavy duh clay was all about him. not
. promising sign beckoned him on. He
Seemed to get more settled in his de-
termination to work the tunnel 10 the
end the more unpromising 1t looked
He had been working On in the fnce OF
encouragement for several months
One morning he was making hts way
into his tunnel, and before he had gore
fourteen feet his heart sank within him
There In the front of him was his tunnel
caved! The path that he had laboriousiy
dug into the hill was ciossed with tons
of earth. But Inequality q his character
asserted itself. Most men would have
velleyed oaths athis Ill luck, and packed
up their kit and left. The miner moved
more slowly 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 a big nugget, as
nuggets go, weighing fourteen ounces.
He crept 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. No one
begrudged the Dutchman HIS luck.
"A nuggety country that has beeh
only partially worked is just as good a
Held as virgil soil, )" continued the miner.
THE spots that have not been touched
may be very pests Of theprecious metal
1t Is dangerous to leave single foot of
ground unworked. The fortune of
lifetime might thus be passed by and
lost forever. There are many instances
of Just such calsa There was a poor,
shiftless fellow, with wife in rags and
children In squalor. The whole family
used 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 little pillar that had been left
standing in the midst of the diggings,
all about II having been worked. |, DO
not think II could have beeh more than
three feet across, certainly not more
than six. 1t was spot 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
speck in the pillar that glistehed and
flashed, The eyes OF the poor fellow
saw 1t; 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 large
proportions. Immediately the whole
family was around 1t 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 astonishment they
saw the full outline of their prize one
of the largest Jumps of gold ever found.
That was the luckiest find ever made.
"rhe 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 a
hundred men rich. 1t had been thor
oughly 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 a
busy scene of life dissolved as quickly
as 1t had collected, leaving the shanties
to the mercy of the weather, which soon
made them picturesque ruin. OF
toward the east there was a 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 II
was not more than ten feet in circum-
ference that had been left by the dig
gers. 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 a skillful
miner, he knew that one part of nug-
getty country was as likely to hide the
precious metal as another. 1t occurred
to him that the ground under the stump
was as likely to prove rich as the por-
tions 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
10 be off to the latest dfggings, where
the excitement was at the highest pitch.
But the first miner, who had resolved to
explore the solitary patch of the de-
serted diggings, persuaded his partner,
and together they set to work on the
old stump. They began by undermin-
ing one side of the stump, but before
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