The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-12
Copyright, 1896. by S. S. Mcclure
Limited)

Limited.)
DENVER, April 11.-ATiners' cabins
are always interesting to the uniniti-
ated, for the visitor expects the interior
10 partake of the individualism of the
owner, and the visitor is rarely dis
appointed. | do not now refer to the
homes Of those living in coal and iron
regions nor the great mining centres
like Butte or Cripple Creek, but the
CABINS OF the latter camps where fif-
teen or twenty men are gathered
around a five or ten stamp mill in some
lonely far away gulch; and of the great
army of prospector5 holding down
isolated claims among the mountain
solltudes. | heard an eastern visitor
express surprise not long ago because
the miners seen We're pale He had
expected to see each face tanned and
brown like the face of an African ex-
plorer.
The visitor did not realize that from
late in the fall until early in the spring
quartz miners see as little of the sun
as do the Esquimaux in the land of
six months night. During this portion
OF the year they get up before sunrise,
work all day in the black depths of the
mine, and quit work after sunset
Under such conditions it is natural
that the miners first considerati ton is
his light He viii have nothing to do
With the little ramps so common among
the coal miners in the east. The ma
ture of his work is such that he can
do nothing with a little tin pot filled
with lard oil dangling from his hat
That may do very well for pick work
on coal and other soft material. but
the ores of gold and silver are gen.
orally hard, vary greatly in quality
and texture, and are full of seams and
cross fractures. These the miner must
take advantage of in breaking down
the ore, and he must have a light
that can be fixed close to where the
pick point must strike. Let the ten
derfoOt take pick and strike briskly
into the ore at random and as the
point clangs against the f1inty quartz
he will feel a Jingle in his arms and a
jar run through his shoulders that he
viii never forget; one that will make
him careful next time to take advant-
age Of seam, crevice or soft spot,
where the stroke will accomplish
something without being too hard on
? erveS and steel
THE MINERS CANDLESTICK.
IN drilling for blasting also, the holes
have to be put in at all angles in the
roof, sides, and ends of the workings:
and the man who is holding the drill
wants his partner to see clearly just
where to strike so as to hit the drill
squarely on its head. Otherwise the
seven and-a-half pound hammer might
miss the drill head, or glance off and
break the turner's wrist, or go crash
ing into his face. Through long eX-
perience it has been found that nothing
VIII serve the purpose so we'll as can
dies, and these must be the very best
quality that can be had; they must
not melt readily in the heat of the
great depths, or burn out too fast
where there is a heavy draught. Above
all they must give a clear blaze. free
from smoke. Then he must have some
thing that will hold this candle near
the point where the pick must strike,
or near the head of the drill This has
led to the invention Of the miners
candlestick, as shown in the illustra-
ton. This article OF universal use in
the mines is not patented, and the
sticks are nearly always homemade.
The hook enables the miner to hang
1T to any minute hollow or projection,
and the sharp point enables him to
stick it into any crevice or soft spot
in the ore body, while the handle is
large so as to enable him to give it a
vigorous thrust if necessary. AS these
candleSticks are homemade it has be-
come a proverb in the west that 1.-The
miner is known by his candlestick."
Many of these light holders are quite
elaborate in finish and polish, and no
good worker would consent to carry
for a single days work poorly or
clumsily made candleStick. AS they are
made Of the best of steel and are about
eight inches long. they are as danger
Gus in the hands OF an angry man as
the famous Spanish stiletto; and they
have figured in many of the blood
splitting cases in the courts Of the
mountain regions
As the miner lives and works so much
in the dark, and as his cabin is gen.
orally down in the gulch near the creek
while his mine is high up on the hill
above him, he must have good light
to go and come over the slippery trail
where he may have to crawl along the
edge of a precipice, and where he is
sure TO feel the full force of the fierce
Hyiutr-y blasts There is generally a
lantern or two around his cabin, but
when the glass is not broken, or the
kerosene can empty he would not think
of carrying it to the mine, for there |
it would be sure to come to grief. What !
is wanted is something that can be |
thrown down and kicked into the cor |
ner of the blacksmith shop: something |
that picks, drills. hammers. shovels |
and chunks of ore can come into con-
tact with without shattering; some |
thing that he can throw, light and all. |
at the huge mountain rats that steal |
his candles So an old tin can is ia |
ken and put on the stove until the
roughly opened top melts off; then
hole is punched through the slide just |
large enough to push a candle through; |
then q piece of wire is fastened from
one end of the can to the other for a
handle and ihe has the miners favor
ite lantern: one warranted always to
be ready, to give a good light. to stay
lit in the fiercest blasts, to stand the /
toughest usage, and to make the thiev-
ish rat think that the great comet of
final destruction has arrived at last,
USES OF THE OLD TIN
CAN.
The miner is great consumer of