Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-21
Administer Rugs.
WI Moses & Sons, FSt., Cor. 1 TIN.

and bars, either by a rocker about the size
of a cradle, or by an ordinary tin pan,
known as placer mining. The diggings
along the Feather and Yuba rivers were
among the richest in California, and when
l was there in the fall of 1S49 men were
averaging from ounce to an ounce and
half per day. These deposits, however,
were soon exhausted, and now they are
getting 1t from the bed of the river by
means of dredges, as described in the arti-
Gle referred to-
Some very rich diggings were also found
at Georgetown, Placerville and Hangtown
twelve to twenty miles distant from Suffer- S
Mill, also on the middle fork Of the Ameri-
can river. AT Hangtown, some twelve or
fifteen miles from Suffers Mill, party
thought to play nice April fool joke on
the miners there. To do this he took his
pick, shovel and pan and went to the OPP
pOsite side of the little valley from the
branch where the mining was done, and
dug hole a few feet deep, threw in some
gold dust, or, as the saying is salted'' it,
took out pan full of the dirt and went
across to the stream and washed it out,
showing a good. rich supply of the gold.
The miners who had gathered around to
laugh at him for being such fool for ex-
pecting to find gold there were astonished
at the result, and in an hour claims were
staked out all around. AS 1T was then
dusk, they all returned to their shanties,
he chuckling over the good joke he had
played on his companions 1t turned out,
however that the diggings proved to be the
very best there were there, as it proved to
be the original bed of the stream which had
been forced to the opposite side of the little
valley by landslide from the mountain
long time previous.
Near the Spanish bar on the middle fork
of the river some fifteen miles north OF
Suffers Mill, was a little valley on the
side of the mountain, where in the spring
of 1885, found some thirty miGers>at work.
and among them were two men in a hole
some twenty by thirty feet, filled with wa
ter three or four feet deep. from which dur
ing the winter they had taken $4,000 worth
of gold. At the same time the others had
not found enough to pay their board
At best, placer mining was a lottery, as it
is and always will be. 1t has been said, and
/ believe truly, that all the gold obtained in
time and labor spent in getting 1T; and yet
such is the hope of striking 1t rich, that as
we see in Alaska men will endure all sorts
of priva tons and hardships in the hope OF
getting rich quick.
Even in California, where men could live
out of doors with comfort except during
the rainy season, the sickness and suffer-
ing was terrible. At that time there were
no vegetables or fruit to be had. and the
amount of sickness from fevers, diarrhea
and scurvy was terrible. When the rainy
season set in hauling was rendered imprac-
ticable, and the consequence was that pro-
visions in the mines rose to famine prices
and many left the mines and went to Sac
ramento for the winter In the meantime
the vessels around the Horn were arriving
almost daily, bringing from 100 to $50 each,
and the steamer each three weeks bringing
nearly 1000 more. AS they could not go
to the mines, the bulk of them gathered
at Sacramento At the same time Chile,
whence the supply of flour was obtained,
had placed embargo on its expectation,
and the price rose from SIG to $50 per bar
rel in a week. To make matters still worse,
on the Sth of January Sacramento was in
undated with flood so great that the
steamer Senator, which ran between Sac
ramento and San Francisco, went up the
main street of Sacramento for half a mile
or more At that time there We're not TWEEN
ty wooden buildings in the place, the mass
having only tents, or frames covered with
common cotton cloth for shelter. During
the flood it necessary to go to the vi
entity of Suffers fort, mile or more dis
tant to get onto dry land. and as there
were not enough boats to convey the crowd
scores of the sick We're drown in their
tents.
Some idea of the condition of affairs may
be had when / state that the population of
Sacramento at that time was estimated at
10000, and that within six months there
were $500 deaths there! People who have
never had any such experience can form
that was endured there during the winter
of 1S49 and 1885, I saw crawling on
their hands and knees in the mud to get UNI
der wagon for shelter. II was terrible in
deed
Placer mining has long since given away
to hydraulic mining, which consists In
washing away the sides of hills, &C., by
powerful stream of water thrown from noZ-
Zles under a great head, and the mining of
quartz veins in the rocks.
Mining has become a secondary business
In California. her fruit and grain products
far excelling her product of gold, with in
finitely more comfort and less risk.
w. c. DODGE