The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-12

cduleu SOOQS, air llSnIS ne calls
them; for with the exception of the
flour and the bacon, nearly everything
that is consumed in the winter, and a
! large proportion of the summer grub"
comes in the familiar tin can. These
cans accumulate in the summer and
spring in a great pile near the back
door of the cabin; but in the fall and
winter this pile gradually disappears.
Were it not for this the geo1ogist of the
future might load his cabinet shelves
with these exhumed remains of the
curious people who lived during the
tin age, with remains of petriied cans
with the fragments of petrified beans,
corn, tomatoes and cooked corned beef
clinging to them. The miner, however,
has use for these cans. When he has
one more guest than his cups count
up he takes a can and cuts it nearly
around the middle leaving, however,
an inch strip running to the top Then
he bends this strip down so as to
make a handle and behold, the guest is
provided with a cup.
The great favorite among cans is the
five gallon square kerosene can. This
! is found in many cabins doing duty as
water pail, the substitute for a bail
being a Stong stick placed across the
inside Of the top of the can, and kept
in place by nails driven through the
tin into each end of the stick. These
buckets are used also to bail out the
prospect shafts where the drainage is
not too great.
If the miner wants anything strong
and light give him some wire and
some tin cans and he will soon have a
serviceable article ready for use. He
uses the tin for a host of purposes; to
stop the cracks in his cabin, often to
cover the entire roof and sides; three
or four of the kerosene cans mentioned
make a good extension to the top of
his clay and stick chimney and give a
better draught.
I have seen such chimneyS not only
with the tin can extension, but with
the sides ornamented with rows of beer
bottles Embedded in the clay in fan
tastic designs. The cans are used to
mend boots and shoes, to store all
kinds of odds and ends in, to repair
snow shoes, to repair the sled on which
he hauls ore and supplies, and for a
score of other purposes. The tops of
the round five pound cans make good
table dishes, as well as baking tins
for his soda biscuits. One can holds
his tobacco; one is filled with needles
and thread, and another serves as a
scrap book to hold the clippings he has
made from the newspapers; while in
Vulnerable ones are filed with the
samples of ore from prospects all
over the district This last collection
generally fills to overlooking all of the
odd corners of the cabin, and accumu-
lates dust under the bunk in the cor
Sa=
CHAIRS MADE OF NAIL KEGS AND
BOARDS.
The hunter after precious metals,
when his day of toll is over, loves to
get into a big chair where he can lean
back, cross his legs and take a good
smoke. store chairs are no good
The glue comes out, then one round,
then a leg, and then a local human
cyclone reduces the remainder to frag-
ments and puts them in the fire with
remarks that cause the flame to color
and the smoke to curl; and in a few
moments the miner is back in the old
standby contentedly smoking his pipe
and peacefully gazing at the particular
spot in the ceiling around which he
has woven his highly colored dreams of
wealth and Independent life for many
weary moons
The first chair at hand is the nail
g with a long board thrust into it
for a back rest and another short
board across the top for a seat; and
this lasts for some weeks until after
a number of upsets the key gives way
and the owner resigns himself to the
necessity of constructing the standard
chair of crossed plank shown in the
illustration. Once in a while rude
rockers are nailed onto the bottom of
these chairs, but this is looked upon
as evidence that the faint of tender
footism is still lingering in the sys-
tenn, and is promptly frowned down by
all visitors. These chairs are clumsy
looking, but are really comfortable. and
exactly adapted to a good smoke and
the reveries of a bachelor mind.
Chairs made of deer and elk horns are
very rare, being seldom found except
in the cabins of those who devote more
time to the pursuit of game than of the
tickle goddess of fortune.
The first great object of miners
life is to find gold and silver, and he
must have good blacksmith's outfit
TO keep his picks and drills in good
condition for use; but he rarely has the
means at first to purchase a store out
fit, and if out prospecting cannot carry
such bulky articles with him. Here
western ingenuity again manifests it
self. A piece of stove pipe with a piece
of perfora ted iron for the bottom makes
as good forge as he needs. The <iece
of iron is placed in the bottom of the
pipe so as to give a draught; a little
above this holes are punched through
the sides of the pipe by which the
points of the picks and drills can be
thrust into the fire; the whole is filled
with charcoal, and the forge is ready,
looking something like a timers out
fit. If a special blast is needed a
China bellows is made. This is moth
ing but a square tube made of boards
1s-fA -1, - al
forth by hand; but crude as it looks,
It is very effective; by its use sufficient
heat to melt iron may be produced.
For an anvil a hard boulder will do.
but the miner has generally managed |
to bring along either a small piece of
railroad rail or die taken from the
scrap pile of some stamp mill. The low
er half of an iron quicksilver flask |
makes an excellent mortar for pulver-
izing the ore samples which he wishes |
10 test by panning; it can also be used