The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1895-02-07
TRAGEDY OF A WESTERN NINE.

In Butte county there Is quartz
mine which has been abandoned for
many years, sars the San Francisco
Chronicle. Only the oldest residents
of the vicinity remember the names
Of the lCcaters, and scarcely trace of
the old shaft and buildings remains to
mark the spot. The ledge was dis
covered away back in the early days.
when quartz first attracted lie notice
of prospectors; when many worthless
lodges We're worked because the
miners had not yet Learned how to
read the value of such ore h. the min
erals in it, its location, dip nd con
tact with other formation. he Sun
set ledge was small, hinty and abso-
lutely worthless, but the men who dis
covered it thought it worth delvop-
ment They put down a shaft 100
feet in depth IN wet and trgacherous
ground, and they used Nc tlmbers.
Then they let contract to TWO lnen,
a Cornishman and an Iii Imam, TO
construct a tunnel 100 feet n length
from the bottom of the shaft.
Sometimes untimbered ground viii
stand apparently firm and safe for
time, and then. with no perceptible
cause, suddenly get shaky and fall or
close in. This was just what occur
red at the Sunset mine, The two men
in the tunnel had almost finished their
contract and We're 'squaring up the
face of the tunnel when one of the
men employed on the surface was
Lowered rapidly, ran to them and told
them to leave the mine Instantly be
cause the shaft was closing IN, Why
the men refused III the face Of Ger
tain horrible death to heed the warn
ing is a mystery. The messenger
| begged and threatened, but they We're
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 fin
ished her up in shape" Perhaps they
imagined the man was playing joke
on them or that it was a 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 roar and ii
rumble, closed in, and they were en-
/ tOmbed.
No effort was made to rescue the
buried men 1t was impossible to
save them if they were not killed by
the cave, and it was supposed thai
the tunnel had also collapsed. To
sink shaft 100 feet through treach-
erous ground wonld take a long time,
even III these days, when ali the ''nod
ern appliances" for such work are al
our disposal. The. mine was aban
dOned. Fifteen years went by. The
story Of the mine and the buried men
became an old one. Their names
were forgotten. They were like men
who go down to the sea Ill ships and
perish in sight Of their homes. Their
friends know that somewhere in the
sea their bones are bleaching, some
where IN great sepuicher upon
which they may look but into which
they cannot see.
Fifteen years after the caving in
of tho mine some prospectors over
ran the locality. They were told the
story of toe Sunset ledge, ard they
went to its groupings and 0 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 encour-
aged them. Perhaps ther were not
we'll versed in quartz, and believed
that any ledge would pay { develop
ed. They resolved to reopen the
mine. 1t was their opinion, they said,
that the Sunset company lad not put
their shaft down in the light place or
sunk it deep enough. TE3y Ohe new
company would choose a better spot,
sink their shaft much deeper and zap
the ledge on the pay shoot. Old men
who heard it shook their heads aud
prophesied a failure; they said no
luck could come from disturbing dead
mems bones. but the new company
began and finished their shaft. hoping
to strike the ledge where their iudg
ment 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 ex-
pense large pump was put in and
the middle cleared, and the cause Of
the sudden flow was explained. The
upraise of the new company had en-
tered the old tunnel of the Sunset
company about twenty feet from its
face. And there, on a heap of rocks,
leaning against the walls were two
grinning skeletons. The bones of the
dead contractors who sat there grin
ming at their fate and for fifteen years
patiently waiting to be found. we're
removed from the mine and given a
decent burial. The mine was again
abandoned and will probably never
be again opened