The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1886-05-01
WESTERN PRosPECToRs.
Patience and Perseverance Demanded oi
Those Who Search for Gold.

The life of prospector is hard one,
and to follow it man must have pa
tence and perseverance, and endure
many hardships. He is generally on
the move, going from one camp to an
other, adopting any vacant camp he
may be fortunate enoughto find, or hur-
Tidly constructing his temporary dwell
ing-place of the simplest kind from ma
terial most convenient. One end of /
cabin is almost always monopolized by
huge mud fireplace and chimney. On
the side is door, and opposite a win
dow, the latter generally consisting of
square hole provided with wooden
slide. A swell prospector sometimes
has half-window, with some of the
panes actually unbroken. The possess
or OF such a luxury generally moves it
about with him and adapts it to various
structures. In one corner of the cabin
there is bunk, generally constructed
of poles, sometimes of boards; the other
furniture usually consists of table, a
stool or cracker-boX, few tin plates,
pans, etc. The prospector is seldom
''at home, except in severe weather,
and then his most comforting solace
must be either a roaring fire in the big
chimney, his pipe, an almanac, or his
hopes of striking it rich on the morrow.
According to theory, good quartz
prospector should be also an assayer.
He should know in what formations of
ao,.fh on raly tfN. opA thnY, ha
able to test it scientifically by fire and
acid assays. It's reasonable to suppose
that such man would be moSh success
full, but iG appears that it is not thus.
Any old prospector will tell you that
scientific fellers never find any thing.
They can't see into the ground, and it
is where you find it, not where it ought
to be, according to theories. Some
greenhorn, tenderfoot, or migrant al
ways finds the bonanzas." have
observed this to be frequently the case.
Many quartz prospectors, after find
ing ledge, select fragments from va
rious parts of the rock, and, after pull
Verizing it in hand-mortar, wash the
result in horn or saucer, and if no free
gold is obtained it is considered worth
less. Ore containing sulphurets, silver,
lead, tellurium, ETC., has of course to be
practically tested by fire or acid assays.
The pocket-hunter is a comparatively
newcomer in the country, and only
made his appearance during the last
year and a half. He, too, is a pros
pector, but he despises quartz. He pros
poets for gold only, and does not desire
to find a little of it in huge masses of
flinty rock. He expects to dig hole in
the earth the size of barrel and take
therefrom fortune in the pure article.
His hopes are neither grOundless nor
without precedent. A number of peck
cts and seam deposits have been found,
some containing few ounces and 9TH
ers thousands of dollars. was shown
hole yard square from which $1,000
was recently taken q was also shown
the mint's receipt for the dust) The
deposit was found within foot of the
surface on hillside. These pocket de-
posts are found in various formations,
and scientific fellows" don't succeed
well in locating them, either. They
are usually found in decomposed quartz,
in clay seams and sometimes in wash
gravel. The mode of prospecting fol
pockets is simple, but it, too, requires
hard work and faith. The pOcket-huntel
selects section where extensive placer
mining has been done and where the
yield was rich. He conjectures that thu
gold came from some where, and hi
follows the gulches up stream as far a
they have been worked, and there take
e l.,,N g., ~ 4
sides. If he obtains a ''color," or specl
of gold, from the surface it is a fin
prospect, and he follows the trace care
fully, taking the next painful of dirt t.
be washed from higher ground, and s.
on until the prospect fails; then he dig
for the deposit Occasionally it is there
Indications are often found wher,
weeks of panning fail to locate fror
whence they have been washed o
throwns and again. pockets are foun
by mere accident that have thrown n
trace to the surface. A good prospec
may be obtained from every spot on
hillside, and yet nothing be found be
meath the surface.
A pOeket-hunter will carry and was
dirt for days without obtaining a color
When he obtains speck of gold, how
ever, and if it is the rough, unwashe
pocket metal, his chance is fair of find
inga deposit-perhaps fortune. Tn
winter season is the most favorable fC
prospecting in this manner, as ever
gulch then contains sufficient water fc
panning, while during the summer tn
prospector must either follow waite
courses or carry dirt long distances t
springs or streams and there pan j
There are those who frequently fin
pockets, and, even though the deposit
are large, they find them often enoug
70 prosper moderately well in the III
certain occupation and appear chez
full, confident and always possessed of
little money. am inclined to thinl
however, that, considering the numbC
engaged, the fortunate ones are few
and for the amount of labor perfCrme
] am forced to believe that both pro
peetOrs and pocket-hunters are scantil