The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-03-07
THE SUNSET LEDGE.
RS STORY AS TOLD az THE OLD CALI
EORNiA MINER.

~ wv " Cn08G W
Heed . Timely warning-Finsen Years
After n Blast Released . Pair u Grin
ming Skeletons.
> In. Butte county there is q quarts
mine which has been abandoned for
many years. Only the oldest residents
of the vicinity remember the names Of
the locators, and scarcely a trace Of the
shaft and buildings remains. The ledge
was discovered away back in the early
days, when quartz first attracted the
notice of prospectors; when many worth
less lodges were worked because the
miners had not yet learned how to read
the value Of such ore by the minerals in
it. its location, dip and contact with
other formations. The Sunset ledge was
small, tlinty and absolutely worthless.
but the men who discovered it thought
it worth development They put down
o shaft 100 feet in depth in wet and
treacherous ground, and they used no
timbers Then they let o contract to
two men--a Cornish man and an Irish
man-to construct q tunnel 100 feet in
length from tho bottom.
Sometimes untimbered ground will
stand apparently firm and safe for n
time, and then, with no perceptible
cause, suddenly get shaky and fall or
close in. This was just what occurred
at the Sunset mine. The two men in
the tunnel had almost finished their
contract and wera ''squaring up the
face" of the tunnel when one Of the
men employed OH the surface was low
cred rapidly. a to them and told them
to leave the mine instantly because the
shaft was closing in.
Why the men refused, in the face OF
. certain horrible death, to heed the
warning is . mystery. The messenger
begged and threatened, but they were
obdurate. They laughed at him, told
him to sit down and smoke q pipe with
them and said they would leave the
tunnel only when they had finished
her up in shape" Perhaps they imag-
ined the man was playing a joke upon
them or that it was a scheme to get
them to leave the mine before their con-
tract was fulfilled. At any rate, they
refused t leave the mine, and the man
who warned them returned to the sur
face only just in time tn escape the fate
Of the men below. The shaft, with a
o closed in, and they were entombed.
No effort was made to rescue the bur-
led men. 1t was impossible to save
them if they were not killed by the
cave. aid it was supposed that the tun-
mel had also collapsed. To sink a shaft
100 feet through ~treacborous ground
would take a long time even in these
days, when all the 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 men became an old one.
Their ame 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 are bleaching, m
where in q great sepulcher upon which
they may look. but into which they can
not see. "
Fifteen years after the caving in Of
the miEe some prospectors ovarran the
locality. They were told the story of
the Sunset 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. Per-
haps they were not well versed In
quartz and believed that any ledge
would pay if developed. They resolved
to reopen the mine. 1t vas their epin-
ion, they said, that the Sunset company
had not put their shaft down in the
right place nor sunk it deep enough.
They (the new company would choose
a better spot. sink their 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 new COM
pany began and finished their shaft.
Then they excavated a tunnel and rails
cd an inclined shaft, hoping and ex-
pecting 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 b in
cline, and the miners were driven out.
After much trouble and expense q lar
ger pump was put in and tho mine
cleared, and the cause Of the Sudden
flow was explained. The upraise Of the
new company had entered the old tun-
mel of the Sunset company about 20
feet from it's face. And there on q heap
of rock, leaning against the walls, were
two grinning skeletons. The bones OF
the dead contractors who had sat there
grinning at their fate and for 10 years
patiently waiting to be found were re-
moved from the mine and given decent
burial. The mine was again abandoned
and will probably never be again open
ed San Francisco Chronicle.
Queer Ways Of the Toad.
Paternal affection is not perhaps the
| nrecisA emotion thai we should be dis