Wichita eagle., 1888-08-14
CALIFORNIA; GOLD.
HOW THE MINERS SWEATED AND
DIED FOR IT $4,000.

sands Who Lsfs the States Full of Ex-
Pectancy-Plcnty Of Gold Lst-Inal-
cations.
Taken from 1850 10 iseo the great majority
of 6iggers did not, in my belief. average 81
PEI day for their work and tine. There
Was often so much time used ur before the
actual gold bearing earth could be worked
or washed Men worked cue. two. and some
times three years in digging bitches 70 s,es
water on their claims Wster Is almost a.
necessary for gold workings as Is air FOR
human breathing. bitches had 10 =, dug
canals would Be the nlcse apn-os,-iat, nar,eI
over loo miles In lenSth - tap tas snow fed
streams In the hiSheS1 S'e-.s.s Digging I'd
there IN places was 81 ags:L Tt~sra was
little 70 dig in, AMI 5.,r water WAS in ,,lac-s,
brought IN immense li.t1.ss. BOXED 20 tho
sides Of precipices 2oofect from H.. ,sllsv
below. In river mining Years were so-,.-
times spent in blasting races through omar
ter of a mile of finey rock, and then. WIZ,
the river bed was finally laid bare, lit1le cola
was found In river mining certainly on.
claim out OF three proved a total fs,lure On
dry. upland surface diggings men s.ene
years waiting for water that Is. waiting
either for the promised ditch 70 he com
pleted, or waiting fos the winter rains How
did they livef Perhars by packinr buckets
OF dirt hah mile 20 the nearest creek or
river and there washing IL. Or bv rocking
out dollar or two day from the on
turned over gravel on some rivers banks.
And a miserable, squahd life 1t was for thor
sands who had come out from the states fail
Of the expectancy OF returning home in five
years at least with pile and marry tns
girl left behind.
but they stayed ten and fifteen and twenty
years in cabins which here world u,t Ia
deemed tit for stables. Cooking Tor them,
selves, washing for themselves, so-vettin.-
what It was 70 sleep Ii clean sheets or any
other kind, living on tough beef, beans and
bacon, working like pacxhorses summer aat
winter; getting yearly more gray ard
grizxled and angular; looking year after
year on the same gloomy, sterile. chsparr-,i
covered hillside, their only recregtioo th,
sunday trip TO the nearest store or r.,rf,r, (,r
their provisions, where they might or NIGHT
not but generally did wind I'D with NOR.
or less of drunk, aad then fer two. th,ae
or five miles over hill aud d.,rff, erl,,,
trudge home again Little wonder the %.
drunk 1t was tho only method OF s-etti-.-
temporary relief from lifetime OF blas1ei
hopes-the only salve to apply T. the old
longing for their eastern homes Tb..N., v-s-,,
the men whose eastern relatives sometimes
thought strangely Of because they did not
make or send home money. Most Of them
now are buried and enriching the soil they
dug in Many OF them arc in narneless and
unknown graves. Many went insane. Some
times one was left. the only resident ION the
Bar" Then it would be reported that Smith
was acting queerly, and Smiths next transit
ton would be 20 the county hospital aud
from thence TO one of California; two insane
asylums
Is there much gold vet in California;
Lots Of it. Lots of it, though, where vou
must put dollar and a half in 20 get one
dollar out Lots OF it in places whers. after
you dig certain depth, you meet too much
rock TO blast and hoist out and water -
pump out Like Springfield Fiat IN
Tuoiunne county, geological curiosity
plain mile square, out OF which all tho
red pay dirt has in former years beer, taken
10 depth of ten or twelve feet, leaving ex-
posed great knobs and ridges OF reddish rock.
washed and worn by some great water power
untold ages ago into fantastic shapeS These
are all really loose bowicers from the Sisa OF
Q small church down. Thsy are OF marble.
Break of piece and the fracture under thu
yellowish red Of tho outside is as white ~ Loaf
sugar. Rich gold. and plenty OF II, has been
taken from Springfield Flat Il was worth
nearly si9 per ounce. when Tuolnnlne River
gold brought but 81 But Spring;lold Fiat
could never be bottornei on account Of tho
enormous bowbiers So strangely piled IA
there and the water beside, though the n,iz-
gets grew bigger rs they WORKED down into
the crevices. II il On the ''bowidor range"
This is n remarkable underground geological
freak. running many miles ~ southern Cal
fornia, Of great bOwiders similarly yslea On
each other, and in places, as ct TaIlec.to,
where shafts were sunk in Il, tho bottoms
have tup.bied ont and revealed subterranezu
streams running underneath
There arc ranges Of low hills bordering tho
San joaquin valley D. @er.sd, Stanizlaua
and adjoining counties. where SINAI! '',ros-
pects' Of gold may be obtained There arc
miles 81 these ''woshed zrsveln mounds But
save IL rainy wea.lAsor, Then tho ~afer CONES
right down on the spot WHERE you want -
Iise il, thero Little working tbes.s placers 10
any profit. What With digging and cartang
tho dirt half a mills or more u thu river ard
there washing it, and possibly being urlsisr
the necessity Of pudding IL before You N
wash IA, thess is more nan dollar spent n
yeteing a dollar osit let gold hes IA the1s
sills-lots u is, eoasd you get ss out n q
uYnp. And there Is many another t-po4at
ocked up IN CALIFORNIA; hills and mum ;.airls
winch time RAY reveal, bet u look TOR is
low il b hook for the nesdlo la an acre Of
d stacks.
This side N tho Rocks hes nevrr b--~n
.proepected' for gold thoroughly "a tho
,ther. There nine-tentos Of lhs Gr1. scstIers
ave been miners mrs or iesx. Whatever
her oocGEatsn. they havo kep< Ga eye open
or ''~urfsce Indications, end q PICK and pan
ANDY 70 tsst gravel for god vsso-ver they
.ad leisure and water 10 vash il Asa re-
ult, from Cazfboo 20 Mexico -cnree q su.ch
Iists that white man has vixa.ad bur: chas
ias feft tbs good --eking niner's PICK On
hts side, and especially at The ez+rvG.e --.<.,
u Idea prevails thai becanso n Il an oSsr
cttisd country II can have no unknown min
raj deposit. Few people hero kaCw Row TO
respect or ~axA pen Of dirt Cod aazt
lay be IN yo-ur dor yard for aga snd gro
% s-sp of IL press1o~. asd many psopls
'onIcnr know what Il wa II /, did--Yress-
.ce xs4ord in S.w York Star