The San Francisco call., 1899-08-28
A WEEKS TALES FROM
THE MINING FIELD

Tie attendance and enthusiasm at the
annual convention of the Ell Dorado
| County Miners Association at Placer
Vile on Saturday evening shows that the
life and the enterprising spirit of the
mining regions are increasing with the
growing mining prosperity. Other county
conventions will early follow and there
is every promise of Secretary Benjamin
of the California Miners Association
meeting with great success in his efforts
to stimulate the increase of membership
IN the county associations and so furtner
strengthen the State association, which
is composed Of these federated county
organizations.
A lucky tenderfoot has struck it rich in
the woods about six miles west of old
Fruitvale, Shasta County, in section 3,
township SO north, range west, and Gre
ated rush to the new diggings. week
or two before James Wilson and wife of
Oakland struck out north for a health
vacation and wisely decided to go far
from the Southern Pacific and close to
nature, They travelled the Fall River
| road for twenty-five miles from Redding
to the old Ben Jenkins place and then
| they followed the Ridge road for miles
until they found a deserted old cabin and
settled In 1t with joy and canned goods.
Mr.. and Mrs. Wilson were not after gold.
they knew nothing about mining and no.
pody knew anything about gold being in
those parts. No experienced prospector
was ever fool enough to dig on section 3,
and the old miner who left the cabin long
ago used to strike out over a trail north
by northeast to hills worth exploring.
Wilson decided, however, to be miner
Tor few minutes as well as a fisherman
and child of nature, and took pick and
shovel and told Mrs. Wilson that he was
going to be a prospector until supper was
| ready. He went about 100 yards from the
cabin, keeping in reach of the supper
| voice, and went to digging in an easy
place AS the Redding Searchlight says:
After working for a quarter of an hour
| he struck a small boulder, and throwing
! it out Of the way, a bed Of sparkling gold
miner, who had struck gold before he had
started the perspiration, called his wife
upon the spot. The gold stood out in little
| clusters. Wilson proceeded to develop his
property and found the pocket, if such it
is to be extensive. On the day follow
out. Mrs. Wilson brought specimens of
the quartz to Redding, and its unusual
much gold she and her husband have
has already reached handsome sum.
Of lying ba rich in the no yGpy Gd h4Hs He
country thereabout is being plastered
with location notices. More than thirty
of the place where the Wilson's made
their strike. Indications of gold silver
and copper are said to abound
Many, cemeteries here and there in the
gold mining regions have seen the peace
OF the dead disturbed by gold diggers.
Every mountain hamlet has its little city
Of the dead near by, and here and there
these consecrated acres contain gold
enough to pay for working. In some
cases hydraulic miners have come along
with their big fumes and giants and gone
to working the surrounding ground.
Sometimes the bones have been moved to
patch of ground that could be better
spared to the departed miners by the
live ones, and in some cases the sur
rounding ground has been sluiced away
to the line of the cemetery fence leaving
high and deep banks from which, with
the wear of weather and time, collins
would later stick out. overhanging the
bedrock reached below. One of these au-
Trinity Trinity Center on the upper % Trinity
River where the rest of the deep river
beach has been worked on all sides, leav-
! ing square block of ground thirty or
| forty feet high that looms up with raw,
red sides from miles away. There are
others elsewhere that have been so let
alone.
other rich cemeteries have had other
troubles. and there is one up at Column
bia, Tuolumne County, that has just been
saved by Father Guerin. who wants to
let the gold rest there under the dead
where the Almighty put it. 1t seems that
the bedrock in that Catholic, cemetery
is quite rich, the pay dirt in which , the
dead are entombed going sometimes
several dollars to the pan Joseph
Morris and James Hambleton, although
they had not yet acquired claims in the
burying ground proceeded some time ago
to run a tunnel drift out into the pay
Ito stealthily doing their tunneling at
night and kept it UP for several nights
until their CHASTITY trespassing was dis
covered and put stop to last week by
the good priest in control of the ground.
In the past the adjoining ground was
worked so close to the cemetery that the
fence was undermined. The County Sur
veyor last week staked out the boundaries
of the conSecrated ground and gold dig
gers will be kept out of it until they have
no more use for nuggets.
There is a little gold excitement in the
mountains in the interior of Santa Bar
bara County, where there was one three
or four years ago. Last week the County
Recorder received four location notices
by mail from Guadalupe and recorded
them. AS location notices are now an
important subject of discussion, the
form Of one of these may be of interest.
1t is as follows:
Xxi PUCK June 16 1899
this is to certif that I Mrs Alice Nc
Phial and Mrs A Hobson hav Locked all
vakend ground between the Cumbland
and Shonedoah mines running from the
E End of cumbland to the n. w. End
of the Shanedoah mine about one Mile
North of the schol house in Santa Bar
bara county.
There are a great number of mining
men In Los Angeles at the present
time, says the Los Angeles Times. Many
of them are here on business connected
with Southern California properties,
some buying supplies for their own prop
critics, others on their way north or
south; others, again. are here with their
families taking advantage of the less in
tense heat as compared with that which
usually prevails in other sections at this
period of the year. The majority of them
express the desire to learn more OF the
mineral resources of this part of Cali
fornia, and manifest surprise when told
of the number of mines that are being
worked and the value Of the metals and
minerals taken out.
W. H. Crocker has bonded for Eastern
parties says the Yreka (Cal) Journal, the
Reeder and Brown group of quartz ledges
In Fools Paradise district on Shasta
River. about half way between Hawkins
Vile and Klamath River, and that they
are to be thoroughly prospected with
new six-stamp mill. The Lodges In that
district have all shown rich prospects,
and good placer mines also exist, which
have not been worked to much extent on
account of the lack Of water and want of
means on the part of owners of claims
to build mills, bitches and other i'm
provements needed for successful op-
erationS.
Denis Clark, the millionaire mine
owner of Spokane, Wash, who has been
inSDecting some mining properties in