Morning journal and courier., 1888-06-14

I decorated with glowing Autographs of theat | rical characters, interspersed with few
 noted politicians or statesmen. Here the | miners meet of Sunday or of an evening tc
 while away the hours in reading, chatting and playing various kinds of games.
 From here we kept onward and upward to Spanish camp, which, as it's name indicates, is similar camp to English camp, except that it's population is composed of Spaniards. We did not tarry here long enough to make much acquaintance with this village, but passed on by the old deserted Washington shaft to the American shaft, where we camped. The officer in charge of the Amer- ican shaft took charge of us and showed us through his department. Ia this shaft the water is four hundred feet deep and they keep pump running day and night to keep 1t to that level. By the kindness of one of the employers those of the party that were not too timid of being under ground and wading in little mud were favored with 8 trip of five hundred feet through an old de- serted tunnel. It was in this dismal place that our guide told us an old legend of the early mining days.
 As the story runs, youthful native be- came enamored of dusky maiden, but the cruel parents saw fit to frown upon his suit, and the dutiful daughter aequiesced in their decision and would have no more of him. Out of revenge for his slighted love he mur- dered the parents and stole away the maiden and carried her to this deserted shaft, where he had previously prepared strong room and plenty of provisions for long siege. The friends of the kidnapped girl sought her far and wide, but found no trace of her. He kept her here for several weeks, until his fendish heart had tired of it's revenge, when he fled to unknown parts and has never been heard from since. Before leaving he hung an old skirt at the mouth of the shaft with 6 note telling the friends of the girl her place of concealment, from which she was rescued more dead than alive.
 The entire mountain is honeycombed with miles and miles of tunnels, cuts and cross. cuts, there being upward of thirty miles of underground work.
 There are the Washington, American, Bue- na Vista, St. Isabel and Rando1 shafts, all executing the first being connected by tun- nels and underground ways. Some of these shafts ara over two thousand feet deep, and one of them is five hundred feet below the sea level. In this the temperature is very high, the miners being compelled to work in almost nude condition and to change shifts very often. Of late some of the shafts havr been bothered with an accumulation of gas es that are very unwholesome to the lsborer, and it fea cared that it will seriously impede the work ngs of the mines.
 The mining of quicksilver is far from be-
 as profitable as in years past, and it is only by the application of the most im- proved methods that it is made to pay at present prices. The reduction works are situated at the base of the hill and cover an immense area, and there is enough here to consume an entire day in sightseeing. All the ore from the various shafts is wagoned to the brow of the hill, and then let down to the works by means of an inclined cable railway right into the upper story of the building, thereby saving the hauling of it long distance, and also the elevating of 1t to the top of the works, where it begins its journey in the reduction process. The fur naces are run day and night, Sunday or Mon- day. Every hour they dump in carload of ore at the top and take load Of rock from the bottom. A small stream of pure quick silver is constantly running into an iron ba- sin, from which it is ladled out into scoop balanced for ninety pounds, from which it is funnelled into an iron flask and tightly sealed.
 The novice is very much surprised after viewing the white heat of the furnace and seeing the solid ore thrown in, to go to the base of the furnace and see the melted silver stream running out, to find that he can hold his hand in the liquid without being burned. Again he is surprised to see his guide drop heavy iron bolt into the liquid and find that the solid iron floats like cork. The most surprising thing to the stranger is to view all those shafts, pumping engine, hoisting works, hundreds of men employed in mining, teams and cars used in mining and transporting ore from the mines to the furnaces, acres of fur naces and miles of piping, and nothing to show for this great outlay of labor and capl- tai but tiny stream of bright silver that you would guess you could carry away in bucket at night.