Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-03-26

Heed q Timely warning-Fifteen Years
After Blast Released = Pair q Grim
ming Skeletons
Ia Butte county there is Quartz
mine which has been abandoned for
many yeara Only the oldest residents
Of the vicinity remember tho names Of
the looators, and scarcely a trace Of tho
shaft and buildings remains. The ledge
was discovered away back In the early
days when quartz first attracted the
notice Of prospeotors; when many worth
less lodges were worked because tho
miners had not yet learned how to read
the value Of such orc by the minerals in
it, les location, dip and contact with
other formations. The Sunset ledge was
small, hinty and absolutely worthless,
but the men who discovered Il Thought
Il worth development They put down
q shaft 100 feet in depth in wet and
treacherous ground, and they used no
timbera Then they let q contract to
two men--a Cornish man and an Irish
man--to construct a tunnel 100 feet in
length from the bottom.
Sometimes untimbered ground will
stand apparently firm and safe for
time, and then, with no percopsible
cause, suddenly got shaky and fall or
close In. This was Just what occurred
at the Sunset niue The two mon In
the tunnel had almost finished their
contract and were ''squnring up the
face" Of the tunnel when ono Of the
men employed on the surface was low
cred rapidly, ran to them and told them
to leave tho mine instantly because the
shaft was closing in. a
Why the men refused. IN the faco Of
q certain horrible death, to heed the
warning is a mystery. The messenger
begged and threatened, but they were
obdurate 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 finished
her mp In shape" Perhaps they iinng-
ined the man was playing joke upon
them OF that it was a scheme to get
them to leave the mine before their con-
tract was fulfilled At any rate. they
refused to leave the mine, and tho man
who warned them returned to the sur
face only just in time to escape the fate
Of the men below. Tho shaft, with a
roar. closed in. and thoy were entombOd.
No effort was made to rescue the bur
led men. Ii was impossible to sayo
them II they were not killed by the
cave. and II was supposed that the tun-
mel had also collapsed. To sink a shaft
100 feet through treacherous ground
would take long time oven in these
days, when all tho modern appliances"
for such work were at our disposal.
The mine was abandoned Fifteen
years went by. The story Of the mine
and the buried nen became an old one
Their names were forgotten. They were
like men who go down to the sea in
ships and perish in sight of their homes
Their friends know that somewhere in
the sea their bones nre bleaching, some
where In a great sepulcher upon which
they may look. but into which they can
not sec.
Fifteen years after tho caving in Of
the mine somo prospeotors ovorran the
locality. They were told the story Of
the Sunset ledge, aud 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. Per
haps they were not well versed in
quartz and believed that any ledge
would pay If developed. They resolved
10 reopen the mine It was their opin-
ion, they said, that tho Sunset company
had not put their shaft down in the
right place nor sunk itdeep enough
They (the now company would choose
bettor spot. sink thoir shaft much
deeper and tap the ledge ON the pay
shoot
Old men who heard Of it shook their
heads and prophesied failure. They
said no luck could come from disturb.
ing dead mems bones, but the now com
pany began and finished their shaft.
Thon they excavated tunnel and rails
ed an inclined shaft, hoping and ex-
peoting to strike the ledge where their
Judgment had led them 10 believe the
pay shoot waA
One day, when they fred a blast,
there was . rush Of water down tho in.
oline. and the miners were driven out
After much trouble and expense lar
ger pump was put in and tho miDo
cleared, and the cause Of the sudden
how was explained The upraiae Of the
now company had entered the old tun
mel Of the sunset company about 20
feet from its face And there on q heap
OF rock, leaning against the walls, were
two grinning skeletons Tho bones Of
the dead contractors who had sat thore
grinning at their fate and for 10 years
patiently waiting to be found were re-
moved from tho mine aud given decent
burial The mine was again abandoned
and will probably never be again open
ed San Francisco Chronicle