The Osceola times., 1885-08-29
NUGGET HUNTING.
Psrsistsncy and Luck-Each has Its share
I'm the Success.

Psrslstsncy and Luck-Each has Its Share
In the Success.
An old miner who followed the gold
excitement in its devious wanderings in
Australia, California, Mexico and
British Columbia, related to Cal 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 10 get more settled in his de-
termination to work the tunnel to the
end the more unpromising ii looked.
He had been working On in the face of
Encouragement for several months.
One morning he was max ng 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
velleyed oaths at his i'll 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
forw ard and cleared away the earth, and
there before him was 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. Noone
begrudged the Dutchman his luck.
"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 very nests of the precious metal
1t is dangerous to leave a 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 a poor,
shiftless fellow, with wife in rags and
children in squalor. The whole family
used to 90 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 a little pillar that had been left
standing in the midst of the dggings,
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 diggers pushed their
drifts ahead. The squalid family began
work on this solitary pillar; all they
hoped was for few grains to feed them
tor the day. As the man continued list
lessly, 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 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 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.
1.-The 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
il 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 rs quickly
as it had collected, leaving the shanties
to the mercy of the weather, which soon
made them a picturesque ruin. OF
toward the east there wasa 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. 1t
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 q skillful
miner, he knew that one part of mug
getty country was as likely to hide the
precious metal as another. II 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
Welded so much gold. He resolved to
work the little mound the next day.
His companion, 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 ~
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 dscov-
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 another grain of gold.
Kan Er0rrieco Gail