The Press., 1897-07-29
IN OLD CALIFORNIA.
A MINER WHO PUT IN FIFTY YEARS
 AT GOLD HUNTING.

AT GOLD HUNTING.
 He Took All the Courses From Pan to
 Dynamite-His Story of the Marshall
 Find-Barkeepers Who Had Big Thumbs
 and Fingers.
 Gathered in and around Butte are men who have mined ill almost every country under the sun: but, although charming conversationalists in the so- ciety of their friends, for some unac- countable reason they become suddenly dumb when approached by newspaper man. It was a reporters luck yesterday to run against one who talked in an in- teresting way. He was large, rather fine looking man, apparently about 70 years of ago. and 8 man who had watch ed with close interest the progress of mining on the Pacific coast since the historic days of 1849.
 "Yes, I was out in Californy in the old days,' he replied to Q question, and then added with pleasant smile: T was thar from 849 to 1889 and took all the courses, from pan to little giant and from handmade black powder cartridges to dinrymite.
 "Whcn gold was discovered by Mar shall in that tail race and Sutter was dig ging for his sawmill at Coloma, not a man ill that country knew thing about mining. Never heard how they knew it was gold, hey? We'll, there has been 8 great many stories told about it, but here is the right one: It was a little nugget Marshall picked up, worth S53 or $4. Each one of the gang looked at it, bit it, tasted it, rubbed it, smelled it, but none of them had clear idea what it was. Several thought it might be gold, but none was sure of it. A happy thought struck Marshall. Mrs. Weber boarded the hands. She was making soft soap from pine ashes lye. Marshall proposed the lady should boil the rug get i'll lyc a day or two, and if 1t didn't t change color or lose it's substance in the test it was sure enough gold. Well, it stood the test. The world knows the rest.
 Among the first OH the ground was q lDl of grCasers, a crt'ss LCtWCCn Mex jeans and ;L lower class of humans. God knows tA; J NTtrc all low enough, but the cross was no imp OvCmtnt on the general run of the cat;l Tho grcaser brought his willow made pun and knife as his mining tools. H" cut and scraped among crt vices of rocks at the waters rdSo fur 'chispas,' or, IS we call them, '..IGgCis. All cntCTpr. ,irg white man made n T, cllcl.' That was great inn i)rovC mclS ,.vrr the willow pan and knife. lii the fall of 1849 picks, shOvels, iron pans and sheet iron for rocker scracns had Lccn shipped ill from the outside. Rockers s-lu Tor three ounces, shOvCls half ;n ounce apiece, picks the sumo; pans fur a quarter of an ounce, gum Doots an ounce a pair and whisky a p;nch drink. That was tho price i'll mining camps A pii oh was what a Uarkeeper could take between his fore finger and thumb They had big fingers and thumbs in those days, and bar keepers salary was mo assured by their size. Wages was an ounce day.
 ''The Georgia bump( r displaced the rocker. Itwas something like a rocker, but much larger, and had several riff fles' to catch the gold. Tho ends of the rockers bump against blocks of wood to jar. the gravel in tho screen and be- tween rifles. A bumper cost $200, a wheelbarroW two ounces, and China pump $25. That made Q bumper min ing outfit The bumper didn't last long, for the Long Tom soon took it's place. That was a 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 ono of the hands forked out the rocks or small stones.
 "A sluice or two were added to the Tom. These, as well as tho Tom, were supplied with rifles, which generally caught about all the dust. Long Toms were first used in Nevada City in 1850. Improvements i'll modes of placer min ing rapidly followed. Sets of sluices without tho Toms were used, then ground sluicing came next, and hyClrau- lie mining, where water and fall could be obtained, displaced tic rocker, bump CT and Tom. Hydraulic mining is all old thing now"
 "How about underground mining2'' inquired the reporter.
 'Gold bearing quartz was first dis covered by some miners in tho bed of Deer creek, below Nevada City, in the summer of 1850. It was found in mar row vein, but tie discovery led to the opening up of the magnificent gold bear ing quartz mines of Grass valley ill Ne vada county. All the equipments of the mines were at first crude, but the mines were rich and paid we'll. Black powder was used in blasting where blasting was necessary. Some years after nitroglyc- erin was introduced ill the state, but an explosion of tho stuff i'll 8 San Francis co express office knocked it out, and gi- ant powder came into use. You know the rest. ''-Butte Inter Mountain.