The record-union., 1897-09-19
An EARTHQUAKE IN A MINE.

About ten years ago 1 was in charge
| of the working of little gold mine on
| top of enc of the highest peaks among
the mountains of old Shasta; SO high
We were almost in the clouds: and
| looking south from the mine the whole
valley of the Sacramento was spread
| out before US. 1t was six miles above
| the nearest station, and was reached
| by narrow trail winding among the
hills, v hich only a man or mule could
J travel, the ascent was so sharp and
| difficult; and we We're seldom troubled
with visitors. The story was that the
| first mule to get up there was so af-
| fected by the rarity of the air that he
went crazy; that was the way the mine
| got its name of Mad Mule" A mine
on an opposite peak, which was after
! ward sold to Senator Hearst, was call
| ed the Mad OK. The mine formation
| was most singular; l suppose there
| was not another like it in the coun-
| try. 1t was a belt Of porphyry, from
| eighty to one hundred and twenty feet
in thickness, standing nearly perpen-
| diculal, so that it formed a cross sec
ton Of the hill from summit to base,
and lying between walls of slate that
| varied from six inches to six feet in
| thickness; these formed the hanging
and foot walls. The country rock on
| either side was mostly quartz.
The porphyry was softer than either
the slate or country rock, and the
water had worn it into saddle shape at
the top, and as it descended it had
been worn away into a deep gulch, that
followed the course of the porphyry
belt to the foot of the mountain, some
two miles below.
The gold lay in veins, or seams,
| which started at the junction of the
porphyry or slate, and never ran back
into the porphyry more than five or
six feet. These seams invariably con-
tained burned manganese in the form
of SCOT, and in greater or less quanti-
ties according to the size of the seam
| sometimes scarcely more than the
| thickness of a sheet of paper, some
times widening out considerably. / do
not know how the manganese came
| to be III that Sooty condition; some of
it was saved and taken down to Pro-
fessor Joseph LeC0nte once, and he
said it was burned by chemical action
of the elements.
The mining was carried ON by tun-
neis, cut IN the porphyry from the face
of the hill, and the hill was perforated
| with these tunnels from summit to
base, on both hanging and foot walls
for they paid about alike. Sometimes
a seam would be followed hundreds of
felt, and paid as high as $4,000 a day
to the man. Only two men could work
a seam at once, and they would liter
ally take out the pure gold by the
pound. At other times it would seem
| to be pretty much worked out.
The mine had been worked by the
discoverer for many years before took
charge, and when I went up there I
made with him a thorough exploration
of the old workings six miles or
| more of tunnel work Among other
things, I learned that there was no
water at all in the tunnels of the hang
ing wall, but water in abundance in
all those on the foot wall I also saw
| that all the tunneling was done in
the porphyry, which would generally
| stand without timbering. Of course.
| as the seams began at the junction,
we had to barely touch the slate, but
as it would cave without end when cut
into or Academia ally broken, they shaw
ed along it as carefully as possible,
and wherever it was fairly exposed it
had to be timbered thoroughly to keep
| it from constant crumbling.
| Now, when the mine was first discov-
cred and worked they had not under
stood about this; so when they ran the
first tunnels, the lower one, they cut
into the slate badly and had to timber
| a great deal. This tunnel had been
very rich, but long ago had been aban-
doned as worked out, and the timbers
had heen left to rot.
1 had been working the Mad Mule
about two years. I had two young
Cornishmen running a tunnel to find a
seam near the top Of the hill. They
were good workmen, and expert; had
| been brought I'D in a tin mine, and
either could work to advantage in a
rathole if he had to, as he did some
times in following seams-especially in
very hard rock. Besides these two 1
had Henry.
Henry had worked for me the whole
two years. He was in all respects the
best miner l ever saw-thirty years old,
good build, strong as a giant, quick as
lightning-eyes like a rat, that saw
everything about hin1-no bad habits.
He had been married about six months.
He acted as foreman when l had a
number of men, and I always relied
on him to work the rich seams, as that
required the greatest care, and honesty
as well; for it was no uncommon thing
to take nuggets of pure gold that
weighed from five to hundred ounces
from seam in half days work.
He and his wife lived in the largest
and best cabin, which was set on a
shelf cut in the porphyry on the edges
of the gulch. She did the cooking for
the crowd, five of us in ALL
Well, about 10 o'clock one morning
was pounding out some rock 1 was
prospecting, when Henry came from a
tunnel above and threw his tools down
'n the ground by me, and said, well,
noss, seam worked OUTCOME; not a
color"
He took a pan, dumped into it thefew
lardfuls Of dirt he had brought along.
and washed it carefully with water
from the tub that stood near by for
that purpose. 1 finished prospecting
my rock, and washed it out and laid
down my pan.
well, Henry, it's now about half
past ten; let's go down and prospect
the Devils Blow Hole-we'l have time
before dinner. I don't believe they
got it all. I've not been down there
since l went with the old man two
years ago; and he said he took a three
and half pound piece out of it, and a
candle-box full Of nuggets besides
Henry said nothing-he was always a
man of few words-but we both went