Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-15

banning this pan. and we saw him weigh
the gold, and 1t weighed 1912 and was In
nuggets worth So to 81 down to fine dust.
Ihese are creek claims, and holes are dug
IN the ground just deep as there Is pay
dirt Mr.. Shuler goes down to 10 cents a
pan average dirt, and stops. These shafts
are made by building fires every night and
In the morning all the thawed ground is
dug out.
Two men usually work one shaft one at
the windiass to bring up the buckets of dirt
ana one in the hole to I'LL the buckets,
Each bucket holds about five pans, and
they draw up about 800 buckets a day.
They sink these shafts and connect them
Until II Is a regular labyrinth. The buck
cts are thrown OFF on the dump, and on the
rich dumps gold can be seen all through
the dirt Next summer, when sluicing
time comes, then We wiz see the gold. Az
ter taking US through the mines, Mr.. Shu-
Ter got a pan of dirt out of a good shaft,
out not out OF selected crevice. He
washed it for us and took out $3.50. He put
the gold pan in a large tub of water, and by
a peculiar motion the rocks were all wash
ed perfectly clean and the gold was at the
potion OF the pan. With magnet he takes
all the black sand from the gold and there
II is, ready to spend; and the strange part
OF 1t Is that nine-tenths of these richest
claims are owned by the most ignorant
work, either.
II met an old miner tonight who has not
seen railroad for thirty-three years. He is
bright and a good conversa1ionalist but the
last time he rode on the train was in Califor-
mia in 1861, but one winter here he Travelled
l,Jo miles on snowshoes, and never had
them on his feet except to sleep. We have
been to one dance. Three men, all married
whose wives are on the outside, but have
been entertained by their friends here gave
dance one evening. They rented an emp
ty cabin, decorated 1t with flags and invited
about four couples The ladies took cake
and sandwiches, and we had such a good
timet We danced until $3.50 am. Our mus
ical instruments were the guitar and man
doItn- ] went in borrowed clothes having
none OF my own; also wore Mrs. Stephens
shoes, and was surprised to find 1 could
wear my same number after wearing such
large ones long The ladies wore their
shoes, but there was great changing of
shoes back to moccasins by the men. They
coOldnt stand the pressure We were en-
tertained at dinner one Sunday by a gentle
man, and he had his cabin as cozy as a
woman's. He didn't have a tablecloth but
served his dinner in courses and washed the
dishes between. He had evaporated vegeta-
bic soup. broiled steak, evaporated potatoes
and maccaroni, canned raspberries and
spice cake, which he made himself, and
conee; enjoyed 1t, as 1t was nicely cook
ed and served.
81 need something to wear 80 badlyl The
suit left home in / have worn constantly
from the 18th Of January to June 8, and
have worn IL to do my work In every day
since My only other dress has been 4
black skirt and a red sweater. 1 must have
something this spring but L dread To start
in to get a dress, as 1t will not only cost a
great DEAL but dread. trying the dress
makers here. | think Marion Christopher
will go out next month, and several other
Missouri boys. There will be q big exodus
next summer, unless something unexpected
comes up. The new creeks have not turned
out 50 we'll as expected, though the people
are keeping very quiet. so as not TO have
to pay the 10 per cent royalty. am so
hungry for something TO readi The books
here are passed around, until actually they
are black with dirt. Yesterday was the
first windy winter day we have had and
though the thermometer only registered 10
degrees above, still / heard more COM
plants of the cold than any day this win
ter The trails are all in fine condition lust
as solid and smooth as glass. A trip to
Dawson with a good dog is fun