The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30
STORIES OF The MINES.
Three Of Them From an Old Miners
RepeTtOTy.
An UndergrOund Blast That Released
Two Long-Imprisoned skeletons-Car-
ried a Companion Through a Flooded

riea Companion Through a Flooded
Tunnel.
From the san Francisco Chronicle.
In Butte county there ls quartz mine
which has been abandoned Tor raar,
years. only the oldest residents Of tt.
vicinity remember the names of the lo.s-
tors. and scarcely trace of the sh,f,
and buildings remains. The led.e was dis
covered away back i'm the eariv davs
when quartz first attracted the motto. OF
prospeetors: when many worthless Lodges
were worked because the miners had not
yet learned how 10 read tho value o. such
ore by the minerals ia %. It's location. din.
and contact with other formations. The
Sunset ledge was small ninty. and abso-
lutely worthless. but the men who dIscov-
cred il thought % worth DEVELOPMENT.
They put down "a shaft a hundred fee, in
depth, in wet and treacherous ground.
and they used no timbers. Then they let
contract TO two men. a Cornishman ami
an lrishman, 90 construct a tunnel 100
feet In length from the bottom.
Sometimes untimbered ground will stand
apparently firm and safe for time, ana
tAtNAif NiNN NV if'i'tlfAAllf fNuNts suddenly
get shaky and fan or close in This was
Just what occurred at the Sunset mine.
The two men In the tunnel had almost
finished their contract and were "squar-
ing up the face" of the tunnel when one
of the men employed ON the-.lurface was
lowered rapidly. ran 10 them. and told
them 10 leave the mine instantly. because
the shaft was closing In. Why the men
refused, In the face of "a certain horrible
death, to heed the warning Is a mystery.
The messenger begged and threatened.
but they were obduratc. They laughed at
him, told him TO sit down and smoke a
pipe with them. and said they would leave
the tunnel only when they had flushed
her mp In shape Perhaps they imagined
the man was playing a joke upon them.
or that IL was scheme to get them To
leave the mine before their contract was
fulfilled. At any rate. they refused TO
leave the mine, and the man who warned
them returned To the surface only just in
time to escape the fate of the men be-
low. The shaft, with "A roar closed in
and they We're entombed
No effort was made TO rescue the buried
men II was impossible 20 save them ~
they were not killed by the cave, and It
was supposed that the tunnel had also
collapsed. To sink shaft TOO feet through
trcacherous ground would take long
time, even in these days when all the
at our disposal
The mine was abandoned. Fifteen years
went by The story Of the mine
and the buried men became an
old one Their names We're FOR
gotten, They were like men who
20 down TO the sea in ships and perish In
sight Of their homes Their friends know
that somewhere in the sea their bones
are bleaching. somewhere In great sep
ulcher upon which they may look, but
into which they cannot see.
Fifteen years after the cavIng IN OF the
mine some prospectOrs overran the lucai-
itv. They were told the story OF the Sum
set ledge. and they went to its groupings
and TO the dump where the shaft had been
and tested the ore they found there.
Whether they found any gold Is not
known, but they found something which
encouraged them. Perhaps they were not
well versed In quartz and believed thar
any ledge would pay n developed. They
resolved to reopen the mine. II was their
opinion, they said that the Sunset com
pany had not put their shaft down In the
right place nor sunk It deep enough. They
0he new company would choose "a better
spot, sink their shaft much deeper and
tap che ledge on the pay shoot Ola men
who heard OF II shook their heads ana
proph&Aed failure; they said no luck could
come from disturbing dead mems bones
but the new company began and finished
their shaft. Then they eXcavated a tun-
mel and raised an inclined shaft hoping
and expecting TO strike the ledge where
their judgment had led them to believe
the pay shoot was.
one day. when they fired a blast there
was a rush OF water down the incline
and the miners were driven out. After
much trouble and expense q larger pump
was put I'm and tho mine cleared, and the
case Of the sudden flow was explained.
The upraise OF the new company had en-
tered the old tunnel OF the sunset com
pany about twenty feet from its face.
And there, on a heap Of rock, leaning
against the walls, were two srinning
skeletons. The bones OF the dead contract
ors. who had sat there. grinning at their
fate and for fifteen years patiently wait
ing to be found, We're removed from the
mine and given decent burial The mine
was again abandoned, aud viii probably
never be again opened.
A friend Of mine, an old miner who
began life picking slate in the coal mines
of Wales. and who has spent the greater
part Of his years underground, once told
me a story which will doubtless be cassi
fed as a fish yarn" by every man who
has ever tried to walk under water or
crawl upon the bottom Of a river or swim
ming tank Briefly his story Is this.
He and boy were working in one Of
the long galleries of a coal mine. This
gallery was not level, but for several hun
bred feet from the main gangway Of the
mine had a downward pitch, II then tool
an upward inclination for several hun
bred feet more. Near this mine were
other old wotklngs which had been for o
long time abandoned and were full Of
water One day the workmen in one Of
the galleries broke through into one Of
the flooded mines. and the water rushed
in It ran into the gallery where my
friend and the boy were working COM
pletely fll.ng it for 800 feet. Owing to the I
solidlty Of the formation through which (
they were digging and TO the UP grade Of
the gallery. the air could not escape, but I
was compressed and the water stood mp
against that body Of compressed air /
Ike a straight and polished wall.
This was a condition of things from +
which there was no apparent means Of 1
escape The old coal cutter, however, did I
not lose his head, but sat down calmly and, /
as he said, figured I'm OUT thus. They I
could not live on air, compressed air not I
being any more nutritious than any other
kind To walt until the water could be
pumped from that gallery would afford
glorious example of patience, but IL might
be a matter Of weeks months, years. How
great the flood was he IA NOT know. 1t
might occupy all the in,e rior of the mine