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

He Took All the Courses From Pan ts
 Dynamite-His Story of the Marshall
 Find-Barkeepers Who Had Big Thumbs
 and Fingers.
 Gathered in and around Butte are men who have mined in almost every country under tho sun: but, although charming conversationalists in the so- ciety of their friends, for some unac- countable reason they become suddenly dumb when approached by a 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 age, and man who had watch ed with close interest the progress of mining on the Pacific coast since the historic days of 1849.
 "Ycs, was out in Californy in the old days" he replied to n question, and then added with plt as;tnt smile: "I was thar from 1S49 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 in that country knew q thing about mining. Never heard how they knew it was gold, hey? Well, there las been a great many stories told about it, but here is the right one: It was a little nugget Marshall picked up, worth S3 or $4. Each one of the g;lng looked at it, l~SN but none of them had a clear idea W hat 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 p;nc ashes lye. Marshall proposed the lady should boil the rug get i'll lyc a day or two, and if 1t didn't change color or lose it's substance ill the test it was sure enough gold. Well, it stood tho test. The world knows the rest.
 Among tho first on the ground was llt If frrr'ilsC rS, ;I CT, SS GCtNICCn Mex jeans and :t luNvor class of humans God know, t!4. ; N,trC all ] NV enough, but the cross w;ls no imp OvCmt on the general run of the cat lC. The grCaser brought his willow made p:;n and knife ils his mining tools. H cut uMd scr;lpCd i,noME CT, vices of reels at tho waters ( dAG I,r 'chiSpts, or, ;,s we call them, t-..le;gCla. All ontorpr ,;iES white man Ll:l,ln u T, vkrT. That was great i'm l}ruv, mr ly ,vr the illow pan and knife lii thu t.1l of IS53 picks, shOvcls, iron p,Gls and shC,t iron for rocker scr1cus had Locn shipped i'll from the 0dtsidC. ICckc IS ld ! Jr three ounces, 8huvCls half :m ounce :.piCce, picks the sumo; p.ns fm u quart T. of an ounce, gun lOOts iul Cuncc d pair and whisky q p:I,ch drink. That was tho price in mining camps. A pii ch was what a DarkCcpcr could take LctwCcn his fore finger and thumb. They had big fingers and thumbs ill those days, and . bar keepers salary was mo ;usurcd by their size. Wages was an ounce q day.
 'Thc Georgia bump r displaced the rocker. Itwas something like d 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 ounc( S, and China pump $25. That made Q bumper min ing outfit. The bumper didn t last long, for the Long Tom soon took its place. That was a stationary affair, with long screen i'll 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 CT small stones
 "A sluice or two wCrc 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 ill 1850. Improvements i'll modes of placer min ing rapidly followed. Sets of sluices without the Toms were used, then ground sluiCing came next, and hydrau- lie mining, where water and fall could be obtained, displaced tic rocker, bump CT and Tom. Hydraulic mining is an old thing now.
 "How about underground miningP" inquired the reporter.
 ''GOld bearing quartz was first dis covered by sOmo miners in tho bed of Deer creek, below Nevada City, ill the summer of 1850. It was found ill mar row vein, Lut tic disc very led to the opening up of the gnificent 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 well. 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 ill San Francis co express office knocked it out, and gi- ant powder came into use. You know the rest. ''-Butte Inter- Mountain.