St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-12-26
.s STRUCK A BONANZA.


i Mining In New Mexico.
I, "a onA'ever heard of u bonanza that
! MAS. discovered in a plain. matter-of.
factsway. A mine which is rich enough
! to have stories told abont it is always
stusibled on in the most unexpected
manner, and not unusually there is a
bit Gf the weird and uncanny thrown in
to give additional interest to the nara
ton. Tins q writer relates how, IN the
summer of 1861, while no was looking
for q stray horse in the famous San
Juaa county, h New Mexico, he Stun
bled upon ono Of the richest mines ever
fou,;d in that territory. His story is as
f0lissws:
Descending one of the lofty peaks I
was.soon inclosed in beautiful can
yon which led out to Ute creek. here
met two miners preparing to explore
sep old .tnhnc. or. rather q worlzed-out
ninS. They asked me 70 join them. to
which assented and started with them
sbout tvo miles away and soon we
were there. Arrived at the mine, and
jN0ging from the dump of country rock
piled mp. 'it was either q very rich mine
or no mine at all. No signs of ore were
on the outside dump. An open cut was
at m incline Of forty-fivc degrees
I'VE entered and were soon in what
one would suppose to he cave. Cam
dles.werc lighted and a general search
followed. The formation was por-
phyty. and. judging from the
gouging done, it was apparent
that great quantities Of precious
E:ctsl had been taken ont There were
no timbese, and the onlA support was
one large pillar left in about the center
of the workings about four feet in dia-
meter at the center, making the out
look very dangerous ] was about to
get out on account of few pieces of
wall rock giving way from the pillar,
sshen 1 was called back by one Of the
miners. He had discovered streak Of
solid gold running through the center
M Che pillar sand about two inches
thick. AT this time rctraced my steps.
and! there, with candle in trembling
hanas, stood two excited men pointing
ONT the pure yellow gold. For a mo-
ment I was unable to speak. One of
the miners said to me: well, don't
yOu see it?' .@-ss
80 iYes,' said. I, pointing to the cell.
Ing. .'and don't you sec the trap set for
us?' t- r-7
".Curse the trap. This is death
against gold Meanwhile I had fin.
gered around the gold. when part Of
tho pillar gave way, cxtinguishing the
lights. We foun6 our way cut safely,
and then wcsplanned to get the pillar
without jeopardizing our lives. l de.
ciinfd having anything to do with the
affair unless ] could get an outside job
Thi3. OF course. was ont of the ques-
lion; as there was only one sack Of ore
10 lie removed. So was considered
out pf it, which was only too glad to
accapt., My companions then entered
with . horn spoon and q small pole-
picif and were soon Mt work. Shortly
hey came out, and. picking up an old
,oRte sack used for . saddle blanket,
-e-ertered the mine. They were very
'ooH ont again. They had cut the pill I!
ar end filed their sack. Then came a
raFd handshakin9 on their success
The, sack was opened. Never in my
ifs hid l behold such . sight A coffee |
ack full Of nuggets!
''f was told to pick ont the finest |
pecimens for my own use, which did.
t wac piece as large as my fist and !
ontained sIsOi III gold Camp was made.
mitate procured and grinding ut once
eminenced. Ittook six days to reduce
to: pulp. the grinding being done by
and. Then the pulp was washed out
a Z prospecting pan. The gold was
aosily coarse and very bright. The
me gold required amalgameting. There
eing no quicksilver the remaining pulp
vas; taken to Taos and there amalga-
,ats,ds The proceeds Of that sack of
re .netted 9:s7 ounces Of gold, amount
ng 10 SIS. 600 in coin.
Il returned 70 Santa Ee month later
nd learned that great mining discov-
ry Had been made at the identical spot
rhere we had found the gold.
ltlzen f.-