Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-07-11
The Story Tetler.
MY LUCK IN A TUNNEL.
AN OLD MINERS STORY.

AN OLD MINERS STORY.
am an old miner. Not one of the
nowadays stripe, but an old 1849 Cali
fornian miner. I have been engaged
in all description of mining transac-
tions, except the new tangled one of
mining stock in companies-"feet," l
believe they callit Among my varied
undertakings was one operation in a
tunnel, in which I and my partners en-
gagged in the summer of 1852.
One afternoon in that year, as / was
carrying up bucket of water from the
river to our tent at the top ofthe bank,
my foot caught under a large stone,
and my perpendicular was at once
changed to horizontal posture, while
the water from the overturned bucket
spread itself in various directions.
I raised myself to my feet again,
and picking up the bucket was about
to retrace my steps to the river, when
my attention was attracted by folded
paper, which had been placed under
the stone causing my fall. When my
foot tripped, the stone was overturned
and the paper, folded in letter form,
lay exposed to view. Bending over,
I picked it up, and began to examine
1t. It was written with pencil, in
characters very irregular and stifay
formed, as if made by person with a
wounded hand. The contents were as
follows:
IF this letter should fall into the hands
of any person, I wish to inform them
that I have been attacked and NOR
tally wounded by my two partners
who wished to obtain my money. Fail
Fthey have fled, leaving me here to die.
Whoever gets this letter will find, buried
in q ravine at the foot of a 'blazed' tree.
|25 PAGES due north of this, bag contain
ing $5 900 in gold dust. That it may prove
more fortunate property to him than it
has to me, is the hope of
ANDREW FORREST.
stood for some minutes after read
ing the letter like one awakened from
a dream. could not convince myself
that the letter in my hand was a gen
uine document, and read it over and
over again, thinking I might get some
clue from the handwriting to the real
author. 1t might be trick got up by
my partners to raise laugh at my ex-
pense. No, the place where it was
found and the purely accidental dis
covery, rendered such surmise very
improbable. sat down on log and
turned the matter over in my mind
for some time. At last I got up, and
pacing off the required distance in the
direction mentioned in the letter, l
came to a large tree. Carefully e3-
amining it, I discovered scar clearly
indicating that the tree had been
"blazed" at some remote period. This
was confirmation strong as proof OF
Holy Writ" and Immediately went
to work to discover the locality of the
ravine. Here I was at fault. Moth
ing of the kind was to be seen. To
all appearances a stream of water
never had passed in the neighborhood
of the tree. This was not encourag-
ing; and I sat down on the ground
and read the letter again, to see if l
had not mistaken some of its direc-
tions. No, was in the right place,
but where was the ravine?
A tap on the shoulder aroused me
from my meditation, and on looking
up saw my two partners, who loudly
abused me for having neglected the
preparation of their supper. AS an
excuse showed them the letter, and
detailed the manner of finding it. To
my surprise, they were as much ex-
cited by its perusal as I had been, and
looked around perseveringly for the
ravine, but without effect for some
time. At last Jack Nesbitt, who had
been miner since '4S said:
~ think there has been a ravine
here, but it has been filled up by the
rains"
On close examination we decided
that his suspicion was correct, and
after some consultation we determined
that the next morning we would COM
mence digging.
Morning came and we repaired to
the spot with pick and shovel. Jack
proposed that we should follow the
course of the ravine, which appeared
to run into the body of the hill, rather
than dig down in any one place. The
result was that in a few days we had
formed quite cave in the side Of the
hill.
We worked at this tunnel for four
days without finding the bag. On the
fourth day Jack proposed that he and
my partner, Bill Jennings, should carry
the dirt down to the river, and wash
it, leaving me to dig in the tunnel. In
that way, they thought, we might at
least "make grub" while searching for
the hidden money. I thought the idea
foolish, but as they entered so eagerly
into my views regarding the buried
bag of dust, I made no objection to the
plan, and dug away with redoubled
energy. In fact, I had thought so
much about the object of our search
that I had become utterly regardless of
anything else. I had dreamt of it
when sleeping, mused on it when wax
ing, and it had obtained complete con-
troll of my mind. Day after day we