Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-03-28
TERRIFIC %coAsTING.
Two Miners Shoot Down a Mountain
side ON Pan and shovel.


Two Miners Shoot Down a Mountain
Side ON Pan and Shovel.
1t is difficult to imagine a more dare
devil and thrilling adventure than that
of two men sliding down a steep, ice
crusted mountain, n in a ~prospector's
pan and the other on a miners shovel,
vet such a hazardous undertaking was
accomplished the other day by Pete
McGoff and yankee Bill' Murphy,
miners and prospectors in the Sierra
Madre mountains, when they flew like
the wind down one side of the t~reeless
Quartzite mountain, Wyoming, a dis
lance of two miles, with a descent of
about 35 degrees, and landed in 25 feet
of SnOWdrift in the 40 foot chasm of
Cow creek.
Pete and yankee Bills" love of adj
venture will brook perils of any kind
and at n time for the pure love Of
sport, periIs at which the tenderfoot
would stand aghast. Both are known
for the chances they take with their
lives. The greater the danger the more
ready they are to enter into il: Pecul-
lar "cusses" these two rough miners,
and it vas in testing wager simply
that they raced down this mountain,
Pete in the pan and yankee Bill"
squatttng On the shovel, both finishing
with a record breaker and what might
have been a neck breaker.
They climbed to the top Of the peak
two feet of snow on the day of the
adventure to wash out a decomposed
Quartsite which showed rusty iron ore
and which led them to believe would
carry gold. In the afternoon it turned
off cold and froze a crust on the snow,
so that the surface of the mountain re-
sembled glass. 1t was near shutdown
when the two men finished prospecting
and started to retrace their way down
the mountain. The slippery iced snow
impeded their progress, making the
Journey slow and dangerous at best.
Less than 100 feet down Pete testing
Iy proposed to yankee BilT' that they
slide down on the pan and shovel.
"I'n beat you down." said Pete, suit
ing the action to the word by getting
into the pan.
"You can't beat me- replied yankee
Bill" at the same time Squattiag down
on his shovel, unmindfuI of the possible
danger ahead.
At first both slid along in a jerky
fashion, for they were obliged to push
themselves along at times. Suddenly,
however, the descent became much
more abrupt, n the two men launch
ed into and shot down with &C
celebrating speed, like comets through
space. The sensation they felt can
neither be described nor imagined.
They tore down the mountain side like
an avalanche, each holding on to his
metal sled with a viselike grip. a mile
was covered in apparently an instant,
when a ridge Formation turned them
off their course, and they flew still
faster at an acute angle. The 40 foot
chasm Of Cow creek was inevitable,
and before they had time to realize the
danger they had leaped over its edge,
cleared Cow creek and, as if human
drills, bored the snowdrift % feet.
When dug out, Pete and yankee
BnP' did not exactly need the corone
but there were not enough plasters
and liniment in camp to soothe their
bruises. They came up smiling, how
ever, each stoutly maintaining victory.
The shovel and pan will be exhumed
next spring by nature.