Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-10-15

L. SSSoAhS @ Oulul- uC
bottom was out Of the mine and the
owners pockets, for while they had
$4,000 worth of machinery, which, with
the freight overland, had cost them
$4,000, they had no mine and there
was no immediate call for water works
III that section just at that time. So
they came to- me with the proposal
that if would control the water they
would give me quarter interest in
the mine. At first refused, for con-
sfdered the stock too we'll watered to
be OF much use. tc any one but stock
broker or eastern tenderfoot, but at
the -intercession of the Horton boys,
who gave the Dutchmen credit for be-
ing good, hard-working: fellows, who
would be ruined completely unless
could find a; way to help them out, 1
consented to- walk over to their hole
in the ground and take look at the
rather curious feature of a mine that
had tide which rose and fell once
II three days, with a mean variation
O.: four feet, and. as lew water was to
occur that day I started and slowly
walked over with the Horizons and the
Dutchmen.
LAS We approached the mouth of the
mine, I noticed dozen ;or two yards
from the mouth Of the shaft, fine
mountain rill~tumbling over the rocks
with a fall of about 25 feet. 1t was
about four feet across and a foot or
Is inches deep, and after admiring the
fall few moments l asked Jake, one
OF my. would-be German partners, why
they had not put up wheel and used
the water power to run their ore
crusher, instead of the more costly
steam engine"
won't do he replied, it will stop
pretty soon and won't run again for
three days. stared at him with
amazement.
What" 1 exclaimed, mot run for
three days?"
Yes said he, indifferently, it will
stop by 3 o'clock this afternoon
said nothing more, but determined to
be On hand when it stopped and try
and find out why it stopped. l exam
ined the mine and found things about
as l have already outlined them, and
casually asked Hans, another Of the
Germans. when he expected the tide
to commence to rise again, when
was astonished to hear him say about
3 O'Clock .andiathen the water comes
up about three days, then goes down
again in one day 4 examined the
tunnel and by aid Of my pocket COM
pass determined its general direction
Ma1aaelsTsPes ah f ny ny b0eRe @RR aFGfe m
lieu of a transit made rough calcu-
lation, which l kept to myself, sat
down to dinner, after which spent
an hour or more in examining the last
ore taken from the mine. -'-'-s-
About p. m. climbed the rock
to the brink. of the waterfall and founo
the hole in the rocks through which
the stream came, few feet back of
where it took. it's plunge. All there
was to be seen in that direction was
hole the size Of mans body, yet while
I looked the water, which for some
few minutes had appeared to be rapid
ly getting lower, stopped with a low
rumbling sound. The show was over.
| turned on my heel and led the anx-
ious Germans back to the Office, and
in Is minutes became the owner of
one-fourth interest in the Wild Horse
Nine for the usual sum Of a dollar,
ETC., with the condition that 1 was to
have sole control of the mine for one
year and that my partners were to
take up work at. once on the aband-
oned tunnel and run it not exceeding
1OC feet: in any direction | named.
Work on the tunnel commenced the
next day at an angle. of 60 degrees to
the right of the former line toward
the stream, but so feet below the head
of. ssne fall, ,..and 10 days afterward
.was=awakeped. one morning with the
.newsasfromsGtho .disgusted; Germans
that they had struck water. il me tun-.
mel and. could go no further. Ithink
at that moment. that l. could have
bought the's rest of the Wild Horse
Nine for another dollar. =; = I'd
,""Good,' said, l., and put on my hat.
Good grunted Jake; bad, bad! I
tiIk dot mountains vas What you call
one sponge, ain't' it?' and With the
three walking dejectedly at my heels
we set out for the tunnel. A nice two
inch stream. Of waten was squirting
from the face of the rock. To make
long story short, plugged that hole,
loaded it with 80 pounds of powder,
put in time fuse, had the tools taken
from the tunnel, lighted the fuse and
took to my heels. A minute later a
muffled explosion shook the earth and
yellow stream of dirty water, the full
size of the tunnel, shot from its mouth.
I looked at the waterfall. 1t was
stopped. sent Jake down the shaft
to see if the water was rising or fall
ing and he came back with face like
a full moon, with the information that
the water was running out as quick
as snefer was? ssBy 6 pm. that night
there was not a drop of water in the
wild Horse mine and but small
stream flowing from the tunnel
1.-THE next morning we blew out the
heading of the shaft and found our
selvessin a,rock chamber42O by so feet,
which wasS the natural reservoir that
had caused all the trouble for the mine;
had furnished the little waterfall with
water and myself with a comfortable
fortune which is safely invested in
United States bonds, from which l
carefully cut the coupons every Ssix
months. What had happened? Was
this the passage from the reservoir to
the outlet above? The fall was simply
natural syphon, which once started
drew out the water until it was low
enough to let airq-into the long end
Of. the tube; when it stopped and took
two or more. days to fill UP and the OPP
GRAFTON was repeated. When my Ger.