Evening star., 1896-03-14
MINING ON THE COAST.
The Barkeeper's Pay Was Gauged by
the Size Of His Finger and Thumb.

The Barkeeper's Pay Wns Gauged by
the Size Of His Finger and Thumb.
From the Butte Daily Inter Mountain.
Gathered in and around Butte are men
who have mined in almost every country
under the sun. but although charming con-
versationalists in the society of their
friends, for some unaccountable reason
they become suddenly dumb when ap-
preached by Il newspaper man. 1t was a
reporters luck. yesterday to run against
one who talked in an interesting way. He
was large, rather fine-looking man, ap-
parently about seventy years of age, ard
a man who had watched with close interest
the progress Of mining on the Pacific coast
since the historic days Of 40.
Yes. was out in Californy in the old
days." he replied to a question, and then
added with pleasant smile, Il was thar
from 40 to 80 and took all the courses,
from pan to little giant and from hand
made black powder cartridges to d.nnymite
When gold was discovered bv Marshall
IN tnat tail race Suffer was digging for his
saw mill at Coloma, rot a man in that
country knew thing about mining Never
heard how they knew it was gold hey?
Well. there has been a great MANY stories
toid about 1t, but here is the right one. 1t
was little nugget Marshall picked up,
worth three or four dollars. Each one of
tne gang looked at 1T, bit it, tasted it. rub
clear idea what it was. Several thought 1t
might be gold, but none was sure of it, A
nappy thought struck Marshall Mrs. Web
er boarded the hands. She was making
soIt soap from pine ashes I've. Marshall
proposed the lady should boil the nugget in
I've day or two. and IL it didn't change
color or lose its substance in the test it
was smre-enough gold. Well. it stood the
test The world knows the rest
Among the first on the ground was a
lot or greasers. a cross between Mexicans
anc lower class of humans. God knows
they We're all low enough, but the cross
was no improvement the general run
or the cattle. The greaser brought his will
loW-made pan and knife as his mining
TOOLS. He cut and scraped among crevces
OF rocks at the waters edge for 'chispas,'
or, as We call them. nuggets An enter
prising white man made rocker That
was great Improvement over the willow
pan and knife. In the fall Of 40 picks,
shovelS. iron pans. and sheet iron for rock
er screens had been shipped in from the
outside. Rockers sold for three ounces,
shovels half an ounce apiece picks the
same; pans for quarter of an ounce, gum
boots ali ounce pair, and whisky a pinch
a drink. That was the price in mining
camps. A pinch was what a barkeeper
could take between his forefinger and
thumb. They had big fingers and thumbs
in those days, and a barkeepers salary was
measured by their size. Wages was
ounce day.
1.-The Georgia bumper displaced the
rocker. 1t was something like a rocker.
but much larger and had several rifles
to catch the gold. The ends Of the rock
ers bump against blocks Of wood to lar
the gravel in the screen. and between
rifles. A bumper cost $500; a wheeibar-
row two ounces. and a China pump S25.
That made a bumper mining outfit. The
bumper didn't last long. for the Long Tom
soon took its place. That was stationary
affair with long screen in which the pay
dirt was thrown. Water was conducted on
the screen, the wash falling through the
perforations while one of the hands forked
out the rocks or small stones.