The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1886-11-06
AUSTRALIAN GOLD MINING.
Luck Of "A shiftiess Fsmiiy-One Of tn.
Largest Nuggets Ever Foun nd.
Iro,

" Largest Nuggets Ever Found.
q fSan Francisco CALL
q "a 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.
In the early Australian days the gold
diggers were as slatternly in their meth
DDS as the slovenliest girl that ever
} swept with broom. They hacked at
this spot and then at that; they ran
drift in one direction and then in an
other, deserving them both before they
were finished. Now | can inform you |
that thoroughness in mining is as essen
tial TO success as in any occupation in
this world There never were before or
since such superficial workers as gold
diggers. The nature of the work seemed
10 undermine the staying qualities of
their character. 1t was feverish, fasci-
mating, fuctuating. 1t soon trans
formed the steadiest man into tickle,
excitable, nervous and changeable per-
son. Looking over gold field in Aus
tralla these traits of the men that
worked there were written on tho face
OF the earth. Here there was a digging.
there another, and yonder another; It
was patchwork entirely. In nugget
mining it is dangerous to leave single ,
foot or ground unworked. The fortune
OF Lifetime might thus DO passed by {
and lost forever There are many in i
stances of Just such cases. I remember
one that impressed me SO forcibly that I
shall never forget it or the lesson it S
taught. b
There was poor, shiftless fellow,
with wife in rags and children in
haA hAa Il - r |
sack of flour at the grocery in the
camp. A more hopeless or wretched
life one never saw before or since. All 7
The lines of intelligence and feeling had
gone out of his wife's face 1t had the i
cold, changeless look of skull 1t was
ust such face that one sees when hope
las gone out of the life of the person. II
ne children were nearly naked and had -
nat hard look that people get who are
'oorly fed. The man was desolate
boxing being The whole family used
o go into the diggings together and ::
INIT about until they had got enough VI
. BUY something to eat. They kept -
mixing lower and lower Apparently -
ley were on that fatal incline of mis- -
,rtune that some families get on and LII
hlri downward with a fury till they
% plunged into the lowest abyss Of q
overty. You often see this strange 8
ItalIty attend family or a branch of
family. There seemed no hope for m
ese poor people. =.
But one day they struggled into the J
gglngs, not having energy enough to -
ism on abreast of the workers. They q.
IL to picking little pillar that had -
en- left standing in the midst of the III
sgings, all about it having been
'rKed. do not think 1t could have z
en- more than three feet across. GER =
My not more than six 1t was SPOT 8
It had been neglected, as the diggers =
shed their drift ahead. The soualid =
nlly began work on this solitary pill
all they hoped was for few grains &
feed them for the day. The sun was o
ming down upon them warmly. AS =
man continued listlessly, the sun %
1t was caught up by speok in the
ar that glistened and flashed. The s.m Me
OF the poor fellow saw it; he thought Hack
work for the day was done. He knelt hide r
m to clean away the dirt from the 10 0s II
mt spot. AS he did so the shining
al grew to larger proportions. Ords
Immediately the whole family was attsnt'
ina II IN eager haste to uncover it.
further they cleared the soil away
1t It the further it seemed to recede.
II working two hours with growing
nishment they saw the full outline
lelr prlze-one of the largest Jumps
Did ever found. That was the luck
find ever made. Men had crossed w.
TO discover such a nugget. Some
lem drove their picks within few
Is OF 1t, yet it was left to this shift
hanger on to uncover and become a
my man through its possession" o.,n