The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-12
CALIFORNIA; GOLD.
HOW THE MINERS SWEATEO AND
0lEO FOR IT t850-60.

cations.
Taken from 1850 TO 1850 the great majority
| OF diggers did not, in my belief, average 81
pCr day for their work and time There
w. often so much time useS up before the
cc,ual gold bearing earth could be worked
CO. vcShrl Nh worked oac, two, and some
times thrcc years m digging bitches 10 set
water on their claims Water Is almost aS
necessary for geld workings rs Is air for
human breathing bitches had % be dug
canals would be the moro appropriate namc)
over 100 miles IN length 10 tap the snow fed
streams in the highest Sieiras Digging up
there in places was OF no avail There was
little to die in, and the water was in places
brought in immense fumes, boltcd to the
sides of precipces 200-fcet from tho valley
below. In river mining years were some
times spent IN blasting races throusha quar-
ter of a milo of lnty rock, and then. when
the river bed was finally laid bare, little gold
was found I'm river mining certainly one
claim out Of three proved a total failure On
DRY upland surface diggings men spent
years waiting for water that IS waiting
either for the promised ditch 70 lie com
p.cte., or waitin, i05 tine winter rains. How
did t.ey live Perhaps bv packing buckets
OF GIrt half a milo ID tie nearest creek or
river and thero washing e. Or 10y rocking
ont % dollar or two "a day from the oft
Turned over gravel on some rivers banks.
Aad % miserable quaiiI lifa h. was for thou
sands who had comb oat from tine states ft'll
OF tho expectancy of returning home in five
years ct least with a pile and marry the
girl left behind
But they stayed ten aud teen and twenty
years IN cabins which here would not bo
deemed lii for tables. cooking for them
selves, washing for themselves, forgetting
what 80 WAS 70 sleep ~ clean sheets or any
other Kind; living on tough beef, beans and
bacon working like packhorses summer and
winter; getting yearly moro gray and
grizzled and angular; looking year after
wear on To- saIo C,ool-, at1rilc, claparral
covered hillside, their only recreation the
Sunday trip tO the nearest store or camp for
their provisions, where they might or IN ght
not, but generally did, wind up with moro
or less of a drunk aad then for two, three
or five miles over hill and down gllch
tradgo home again. Little wonder they got
drunk. II was the only method of getting
temporary relief from n lifetime of blasted
hOpe3-thc Only salve 10 apply 10 the old
longing for their eastern homes These were
the men whose eastern relatives sometimes
Thought strangely of because they did not
make or send homo money. Most of them
now are buried and cnriching the soil they
dug in Many Of them are nm uamelcs and
unknown raves Many went insane S0le-
times one was left. tho only resident "on she
Bar Then .t woul be reporteIt that Saith
wa5 acting quco,lr. end Smithsuczj transit
ton would hc o. t.o county spt1l and
from theme. to mco, CaiIfona5 two insane
aymms
Is there much gold yet in California
Lots cf IL. Lots of DO. though, where You
must put a dollar ard % half in 10 get ere
dollar OFT Lots Of n in places where after
You dig a certain Depth YOU meet too much
rock to blast and hoist ont and water TO
pump ou' Like Springfield Flat in
Tuolumne county, geological curiosity
a plain mile square, ont of which all the
red pay dirt has in former years been taken
10 a depth Of ten or twelve feet, leaving ex- (
posed great knobs and ridges Of reddish rock, /
washed and worn by some great water power /
are all really loose powders from the size of /
a small church down. They are Of marble. |
Break off piece and the fracture under tho
yellOwish rel Of the outside Is az whto rs loaf +.
sugar Rich gold, and plenty of 1t. has been
taken from Springfield Flat 1t was worth T.
nearly $40 per ounce, when TuOlumne River
gold brought but sl7 But Springfield Flat
could never be bottomed on account of the
enormous bowl1ers SO strangely piled in
there and the water beside, though tho mug
gets grew bigger rs they worked down into
the creyiccs. 1t is on the "bowlder range
This is a remarkable underground geological
freak, running many miles in southern Cali
fOrnia, of great powders similarly piled on
each other, and in places, as at Valiccito, I
where shafts were sunk in it, the bottoms
have tumbled out and revealed subterranesn
streams running underneath
There are ranges Of low hills bordering the
san joaquin valley u MERGED, Stanislaus
and adjoining counties. where small pros
poets" of gold may bee obtained There are
mic, If these "wa,h ] -eayei mounds Dus
savc in rainy weather when the water comes
right down on the spot where You want o.
use II, there is little working these placer, t.
any ur IT, What with digging and cerriag
the dirt laif mile or more to the river and
there washing it, and possibly being under
the necessity OF pudding 10 beforeyou can
wash il. there IS moro than dollar spent Ia
getting % dollar oit. NcCgod lcs in those
Liils-,ots OF IT, could yOl get 30 out IN a
lump. And there Is many another deposit
locked up IN Cal.foruiaa hills and mountains
which timo may reveal bat to look for j,
now is u look for tie leedie IN am acre of
Laystacas
This side Of thc Rockies has never been
'prospectel' for gold SD thoroughly as tie
otlcr. There uinc.t,uth3 Of tAe first settlers
have been miners more or less. Whatever
their occupation, they have kept an eye open
for surface Indications" and pei, and pan
handy to test gravel for gold whenever they
had leisure and water 90 wash II. As q re
suit from Cariboo to Mexico scarce gulch
exists that a white man has visited but that
has felt the good seeking miners pick. On
this side, and especially at the extreme cast,
an idea prevails that because it is an older
settled countt it can have no unknown min
eral deposits. Few people here know how TO
prospect or wash a pan OF dirt. Gold dust
may be in your door yard for ages and give
no sign Of its presence, and many people