The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-05-22
TRAITS OF TEE MINER
He Considers Mining the Only
Honorable Occupation in Life.
HIS CLOTHES HIS COAT OF ARMS
The Amusing Experience Of Two Miners
Who Took a Fancy for
Calves Brains.

LII lueS0 Jay WA6u Ilc SllNSE uu6SLlOu
is uppermost IN the minds of every one
when the aspirants for presidential nomi-
nations, and the bar.room ward heelers,
the metropolitan dailies and the jim-crow
weeklies are all, in their respective ways,
endeavoring to satisfactorily settle the
money problem, ones attention is naturally
directed to those men whose labor makes it
subsist.
BY one class of people the miner is
looked upon as huge octopus, ready, at a
favorable opportunity, to grapple the fnan-
cial system of this coultry and sap It's very
life.
BY the other class he is considered the
fundamental source of our nations pros
the price Of every commodity, the
affairs of every community. 1t may
be q matter of grave concern to
eastern editors and politicians to
decide in which category to place the
miuer-that of the thief or honest man.
But the miner himself has an utter disre-
gard for the opinion of these side-whis-
kered anglo-maniacs. He considers min
ing about the only honorable occupation in
life and treats the jibes of his adversaries
with as much Indifference as mastiff dog
does the yelping of small '.purp.n In his
estimation the tin dinner-pail is a badge
of nobility, and his hard-earned clothes
the grandest coat of arms in the universe.
Situated as he is his only apprehensions
are poor prospect and watered whisky.
His pleasures do not consist in being well
dressed, over-fed and eligible to some
| Ward McAllisters exclusive set. Dieting
| on sow-belly, clad in rough clothes, he has
more pleasure at game OF "urawn for the
drinks, than does the effemnate society
man at small sociable.
The average miner is an lnveterate
drinker, CANDLES, swears, chews, smokes
seldom attends church, and carries deadly
weapons; but to compensate for these
vices, he never surprises the community
by sudden soiourn to Canada. WiGow.
aud orphans never heap execrations upor
his memory after he is dead. If he il
married, his wife's time is spent in looking
| after the household affairs. He never has
occasion to fight her 'paramour at tifteer
paces-if he did there would be somebody
hurt. His daughters are not educated tt
the aesthetic idea of attending ''charit!
ball' (ha!f paked) neither DO the loca
newspal ers contain daily articles re
counting their downfall and disgrace; hi
sons are seldom profgates. Tue typica
miner during the winter months, work
for some mining corporation. When sprinl
comes, and the SHOWS have melt
ed off the mountains, he invests
in pair of cowhide boots, blue overhauls
a hickory shirt, aud with couple Of pound
of SOW belly ard -four, wrapped in hi
blankets on one shoulder and pick an
shovel on the other, he starts out to fir
with the tickle goddess. Winter after win
| % a ffpr ha tolls ippoec
antly for a fortune, which, in nine bun
bred and ninety-nine cases out of thou
sand, he never gets.
He loses his time and money, but neye
faith In his prospect. If the dirt gives tn
least signs of reward, he will go to now
with two or three samples in his poke,
show them to all his friends, and max
every man ne meets take drink wit
him.
The specimens increase in richness in
y proportionate ratio with his supply O
whisky, and when in the dim daylight @
the morning he reaches his cabin he goes t
bedIa millionaire. Atreceipt of the assayer'
report few days later he takes his disaI
pointment as a matter OF course sinks h
shaft fifty feet deeper, selects few NOR
specimens and has another "blowoutn L
him, the eastern expert, who general
strikes the camp attired in a Stanley he
y q
object of p.tiable contempt. Such a ere;
ture produces about the same effect upo
the rugged prospector, as would piece
raw pork if held under the nose of set
sick voyager. Although avery large majo
ity of the men who endeavor to becon
wealthy by extracting ore from the moul
tain fail, still, every now and then, son
one succeeds in striking 1T rich. Whe
fortune smiles propitiously, the miner, u
tho hc.> dnnG mi iG RI ohn
his family name or shake his old a
Guantapces.
In this city there resides in a palati
structure, man who made every dollar
his money ia mining; he is q member
the best club, aud IS recognized by Sa
Lakes most exclusive society, but still
when ne visits the place where he. mac
l his raise, he goes out with the boys, ar
paints the town urld hue. There is g
instance though, of the exception.
Two brothers bonded and leased q clair
and before their time expired they we
worth a couple of hundred thousand apiec
: AS soon as they became financially ca:
they assumed manners which they co
! sidered aristocratic. 1t is related of the
3 that they went so far as to order, dali
i from their cher, calves brains The
orders were promptly filled, and at the Ell
of the month the bill was RENTED; u
| charge for brains was objected to on u
ground that in the east the custom amor
|. butchers was 10 furnish this article free
D their favored patrons. =
This particular butcher who, by the wa
. was an Irishman, said all right that In t.
q future he would do likewise, which he d
| with daily regularity. Affairs thus Or
4 crossed until the two brothers and the
8 families left town, when the butcher d
closed to some OF -s'7---- =