The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1895-01-16
THE SUNSET LEDGE.
ITS STORY AS TOLD BY THE OLD CALI
FORNlA MINER.

FORNlA MINER.
The Two Contractors Who Refused to
Heed Timely Warning-Fifteen Years
After a 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 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, finty and absolutely worthless,
but the men who discovered it thought
it worth development They put down
a shaft 100 feet in depth in wet and
treacherous ground, and they used no
timbers, Then they let a contract to
two men-a Cornish man and an Irish
man-to construct tunnel 100 feet in
length from the bottom.
Sometimes untimbered ground will
stand apparently firm and safe for
time, and then, with no peroeptible
cause suddenly get shaky and fall or
close in. This was just what occurred
at tho Sunset mine. The two men in
the tunnel had almost finished their
contract and were 'squaring up the
face" of the tunnel when one of the
men employed on the surface was low
cred rapidly. ran 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 a 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 joke upon
them or that it was scheme to get
them to leave the mine before their con-
tract was fulfilled At any rate, they
refused to leave the mine, and the man
who warned them returned to the sur
face only just in time to escape the fate
of tho men below. The shaft, with
roar, 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, and it was supposed that the tun-
mel had also collapsed To sink shaft
100 feet through treacherous ground
would take 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 names were forgotten. They were
like men who 60 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, somo-
where in great sepulcher upon which
they may look, but into which they can
not see
Fifteen years after the caving in of
the mine some prospectors overran 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 was their opin-
ion, they said, that the Sunset company
had not put their shaft down In tho
right place nor sunk 1t deep enough
They (the now company would choose
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 men s bones, but the new COM
pany began and finished their shaft.
Then they excavated tunnel and rails
ed an inclined shaft, hoping and ex-
peoting to strike the ledge where their
Judgment had led them to believe the
pay shoot was.
One day, when they fired blast.
there was rush of water down the in
cline, and the miners were driven out
After much trouble and expense lar
ger pump was put in and the mine
cleared, and the cause of the sudden
flow was explained. The upraise of tho
new company had entered the old tun-
mel of the Sunset company about 20
| feet from it's face. And there on 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 l 8 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
cd. San Francisco Chronicle