El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-03-16
At the Royal Mint in England, 1S9

At the Royal Mint in Eugland, 1896
was an exceptionally busy year. Up
wards of %, 600, 900 more pieces were
struck than in 1895. In imperial coin
age there was an increased output OF
gold: silver, and bronze, while in the
supply for the colonies there was di-
minutiOn tof silver, an advance IN
bronze, and no nickel. English sove-
reigns and half sovereigns were coined
to the number of $3.50, $40, or rather
more than a million: above last years
return: the new silver coins totalled
%, go 500, also an increase of about
mill on: but in pennies, half-pennles
ana fa~thingS there was an increase OF
no fewer than "a, 100000. Gold to the
value of e2.000,000 was withdrawn
from circulation; silver e226, jos: and
bronze, e122, $50.
ALASKA MINES.
The gold diggings of the Yukon are
graded according to their depth as
winter and summer mines, claSS1h-
cation that has been recognized Onl.
within the last two years. says writer
in the Chicago Record" Until with
in that time the miners considered 1t
imp actlble to do any work in the win
ter and so they hibernated for eight
long dark months. consuming what
they had earned during their short
summer season. Winter was a time
for gambling and dissipation. and they
all collected at Forty Mile. and whiled
away the long night of self'lmposed
imprisonment.
Though the people of Forty Mile still
expect quite a muster from the mines
at the approach of cold weather. there
| is a very radical change from the old
order. They have discovered that they
can accomplish more in winter than
| in Summer, and as consequence the
| working year is three times as long as
| it used to be. And here comes in the
utility of classify ing the diggings ac-
| cOrding to their depth. II the gold
| lies only from two to or I feet from
| the SUI face it is necessary to remove all
the worthless ground, throwing it to
one side until after the pay dirt is TAX
en- out, after which it may be filled
where it was originally taken from.
1.-The difficulty of such mining is in
creased threefold by the fact that the
ground is frozen. Every foot of it.
either in singing or drifting, has to be
| thawed by small fires. The shallower
| mines. the whole process being in the
open air are worked in summer.
In the other kind. where the gravel
| is more than seven feet from the sur
face, they sink a shaft for a beginning.
| and then burrOw or drift under the
superficial part. removing only enough
dirt to allow space to work in. These
operations being underground. where
the miner is protected from the wealth
en-. are better adapted for the cold
season. So the miner builds his cabin
at the mouth of his shaft, gets in a
supply of wood to the most accessible
place. and TRANQUILITY views the APP
proach of cold weather. If he is of
provident habit it is not necessary for
him to expose himself greatly. He
must bring to the surface and dump
possibly a ton of dead ground in a
day, and also carry to safe place few
hundred pounds of pay gravel. There
is no necessity for being out of doors
more than a minute Q or two at time.
If one is prepared for them the wintesr
at the mines are not bad by any means.
Seventy degrees below zero Is about
the coolest, but that is not of frequent
occurrence. There is a good deal of dr. ,
still weather, with the thermometer
from 10 degrees to 30 degrees below,
and as much probably, early and late
in the season. when 1t hardly falls
below zero. | have met men who have
wintered on Forty Mile in an ordinary
tent.