Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1895-02-07
THE SUNSET LEDGE.
IT'S STORY As TOLD BY THE OLD CALI
FoRNlA MINER.

Heed o Timely warning-Fifteen Years
After . Blast Released Pair Of Grin
ming Skeletons.
In Butte county there is quartz
mine which has been abandoned for
many years Only the oldest residents
Of the vicinity remember the names Of
the locators, and scarcely trace of the
shaft and buildings remainR The ledge
was discovered away back in the early
days when quartz first attracted the
notice Of prospeotors; when many worth
less lodges we're 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, finty and absolutely worthless,
but the men who discovered 1t Thought
1t worth development They put down
shaft 100 feet in depth in wet and
treacherous ground, and they used no
timbers Then they let contract to
two men-a Cornish man and an 1rish
man-to construct tunnel 100 feet in
length from the bottom.
Sometimes untimbered ground will
stand apparently firm and safe for a
time and then, with no perceptible
cause, suddenly get shaky and fall or
close in. This was just what occurred
} at the Sunset mine Tho two men in
the tunnel had almost finished their
contract and were "squaring up the
- k,,,,nnl .,ytNn,, pf fh.,
=, men employed ON the surface was low
cred rapidly, ran to them and told them
y to leave the mine instantly because the
t shaft was closing In. =.
4 Why the men refused, in the face Of
g O certain horrible death, to heed the
warning is Q mystery. The messenger
! boggcd and threatened, but they were
obdurate. They laughed at him, told
him to sit down and smoke pipe with
g them and said they wculd leave the
r tunnel only when they had "llnishod
r her up i'll shape" Perhaps thoy imng-
o ined the mau was playing joke upon
Il them or that it was ~ scheme to get
y them to leave the mine before their con-
h tract was fulfilled. At any rate, they
o refused to leave tho mine, and the man
who warned them returned to tho sur
y face only just in time to escape the fate
>, Of tho mon below The shaft, with a
y roar, closed in, and they were ontombod.
,c No effort was made to rescue tho bur
d. iod men. 1t was impossible to save
N them if they were not killed by the
IN cave, and it was supposed that the tun'
y, mel had also collapsed. To sink shat,
IN 100 feet through treaoherous ground
D.. would take long time even in these
", " days, when all the modern appliances
" for such work were at our disposal
The mine was abandoned. Fiftcet
years went by. The story Of the min'
US and the buried men became an old one
~ Their names were forgotten. They wer,
he like men who 60 down to the sea II
tv ships and perish in sight Of their homes
Their friends know that somewhere il
ng the sea their bones are bleaching, some
nd where in great sepulcher upon whicl
be they may look, but into which they can
DC not see.
ct Fifteen years aftor the oaving in o
W. W. the mine some prospectors overran tn
90 locality. They were told the story o
ID the Sunset ledge, and they went to 1t
OF. croppings and to the dump where th
in shaft had been and tested the ore the
Of found there Whether they found an
ed gold is not known, but they foun
ne something which encouraged them. Per
oi haps they were not we'll versed 4
E Es quartz and believed that any ledg
NJ, nd would pay II developed They resolve
nd to reopen the mine II was their opir
*. ion, they said, that the Sunset oompan
en- had not put their shaft down in tn
It's right place nor sunk it deep enough
le- They (the new company would choos
he . better spot, sink their shaft muc
is; deeper and tap the ledge on the pa
,n' shoot.
,s 4e Old men who heard of it shook thoi
sr heads and prophesied failure. The
to said no luck could come from disturb
of ing dead men q bones, but the new con
on pany began and finished their shaft
Then they excavated tunnel and raj
ed an inclined shaft, hoping and o,
Of pecting to strike the ledge where thei
re. Judgment had led them to believe ii
rds pay shoot was.
out One day, when they fired bias
ON there was a rush Of water down tho Il
al cline, and the miners were driven on
'ne After much trouble and expense Ia,
10. ger pump was put in and the mir
% es cleared, and the cause Of the sudde
red flow was explained. The upraise Of q
his new company had entered the old tui
BAD mel Of the Sunset company about
Ing feet from Its face. And there on he'
srn Of rock, leaning against tho walls, we
or- two grinning skeletons The bones
ast the dead contractors who had sat the
grinning at their fate and for 10 yea
patiently waiting to be found were I
,or moved from the mine and given deoe
burial The mino was again abandon
re. and will probably never be again ope
!. Cd San Francisco Chronicle.
ing -
nds Queer Ways of tho Toad. !;