The record-union., 1897-09-19

| Twenty feet below we struck our nrSt
landing, from which a small prospect
tunnel had been run. We tested all
the timbers about the landing with our
candlesticks; they We're entirely de-
cayed with dry rot. Miners use their
candlesticks for all sorts of little things
like that; any miner as he goes along,
without thinking, viii jab mis- candle
stick into timber or bit of rock, to
see what condition it's in.
We Went on down TO the next landing,
and found all the timbers- there just as
bad: so in going on down to the bottom
we had TO take the greatest care not to
touch or jar them, for with the slate
resting on them, the slightest move
might bring a cave about our ears. We
fully realized the danger but we We're
both old miners and knew how to make
every move cautiously till we had left
the shaft several*fee behind us
We had come now to the old tunnel
at the bottom of the shaft, and we eX-
pIored this to the end, some eighty-five
feet; there it ended in an upraise about
twelve feet high, the workings bear
ing off in a sixteen-inch seam OF APP
| parently barren quartz, with large
! quantities of manganese. Then we went
back to a..place.about twenty feet from
the foot of the shaft, where there were
| evidences of a very rich seam having
been worked a foot or more into the
porphyry The entire face of the rock
was black with Manganese, and we REG
ognized it~as the place the first miners
had called the Devils Blow Hole, "
from its sootiness.
Henry stuck his candlestick into
crevice, took the small pick, and began
| to work off the face of the rock stuck
my candlestick into another place, ana
STOPPING down, spread one of the ore
sacks fiat below where Henry was
picking. I damned the steel bar in the
farther corner pinning the sack sharp
in the crevice he was working at, so
that no ore should be lost, and held the
bar in one hand, resting the other hand
on the rock over my head, and watch
ing the spot he was picking for the
CLINT of gold.
After picking into the rock for few
inches he brought out a single nugget
of about two ounces, which we exam
ined closely, and then 1 pocketed it.
Fine gold could be seen occasionally,
and as the pile on the sack Was grow
ing larger, bent down again to ar
range it so as to catch the ore bet
ter
At that moment I felt the mass of'rock
on which my hand was resting shlver
slightly, and heard fragments of rocks
fall about me. / glanced up at Henry
and he, with pick suspended In air,
looked down at me- We9lSnew it was a
temblor, but neither of us spoke, and
though we were little startled, 1t was
evidently not serious. Henry lifted his
pick, and was just striking another
blow, when there came a terrific up
heaval that dashed US together against
the face of the rock. The candles went
down and were buried under debris
we were in absolute darkness.
We chung desperately against the
rock. shrinking into the smallest space
we could, while the grinding and crash
ing Of the rock went on about US with
the most terrific roaring, as though
the mountain was being ground TO
fragments, with wave after wave of
the temblor, Bits of slate from the
| hanging wall were constantly falling
on and about US, and If the working
| of the seam had not made something
of nook in the porphyry just where
we were, we should have been crushed
| on the spot Our thick felt hats pro-
| tected us. The roaring of falling tim
bers and rock in the shaft was deaf
ening and dreadful; the air was hot,
and so full of dry dust we could hardly
breathe. And all this in pitch dark
ness; it is strange men ever go through
| such an experience and stay sane. L
don't know how many men in the
world have ever gone through an earth
quake in anyold, caving mine.
1t was after the shake was over, how
ever, that Ifhad my senses enough to
] take in the full horror of it. No way
out but the shaft and that filled with
fallen timbers and broken rock-no one
| knowing where we were-no water in
the tunnel, and little air-only parts
of two candles-slate exposed in all this
part of the mine George and Joe
would make search for us, but it
would be a systematic one beginning
at. the upper tunnels, and would occu-
by hours for they would have to eX-
plore miles of tunnel before last of
all, they tried the old abandoned one.
When they came to it the timber at
the top of the shaft, with the rope,
would tell the story.
1 saw these things in one flash, and
all sorts of other things came into my
head-things 1 had not thought of for
years. The air was sitting, and there
was something horrible beyond de-
scribing in the darkness and the
knowledge that we were buried alive
in the ground. It took little while
for YOU to realize, when you were re-
ally there, what that darkness was,
and you never could realize it if you
had not been through it.
Henry had not said a word, but had
i lain crushed against the rock, and only
groaned now and then. Now thing
happened that made my blood turn
cold; he struggled suddenly to his knees
and began pouring out strange sounds
words that were utterly meaningless
to me. 1t flashed into my mind that
he had gone insane, and was a jabber-
ing maniac. This added so to the
horror of the situation, that my hair
stiffened UP. and my heart stood still.
| But in another instant l caught the
words. "Gott in Hinlmel," and ''meine
Frau" and realized that he was pray
ing-praying in German, as fast as he
could get the words out. The thought
had lust crossed my mind before that
he might be of German descent: but l
had no idea that he spoke German, for
he had not the least accent, and seemed
altogether American bred.
The revulsion of feeling at discover
ing I had a praying man with me, in
stead of a maniac, was so great that l
threw my arms about him and be-