The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-12-06

MELT a hole. about four feet across
! down through the ground to bedrock
i This thawing Is very slow proccss
Two fires are used in each hole in each
"a hours, and twice in "a hours the
thawcd dirt is ehovelcd out, From
one to two feet can be thawed in d
I Day, depending on whether tho soil Is
I ruck or gravel The wood for the
fires has 70 be cut as it is used.
As the hole deepens q bucket and
! windlass is supplied The man at the
bottom shovels in the dirt and the
man on top hoists il, and he on the
surface has by far the hardest job
for he must stand the worst billiards
that blow anywhere on the American
continent.
II the prospectors have the neces-
sary capital boiler is used in place
Of the fires and the thawing is done
by steam points. This is much
faster process. But | am writing Of
the lives Of the ordinary prospector,
who has far more of sand than money.
And so on, day after day these men
toll, working often from l6 70 Is hours
in thawing the two or more shafts,
cutting the necessary wood and haul
ing out the dirt with a windlass and
bucket, The bucket tapers wide at the
top so it can be easily dumped.
As the hole goes down, they pan
and estimate, and one of these old
"sour coughs" can in few minutes
mental calculation determine just how
rich the ground is to the running foot,
problem that would take consider
able figuring for man fresh with the
figures.
The big guess is, as the shaft deep
ems, whether the condition of the bed
rock is such that it has stopped the
the descent of the gold. or whether it
is smooth and hard and the yellow
flakes have gone on down--somewhere
in Alaska.
And when the bottom is struck, the
bed rock or floor through which the
gold cannot penetrate, then in short
time the hopes of weeks are fulfilled
or blasted. There on the bed rock
may be seams from which a pan of
dirt may be almost half gold, or 1t
may be as free from any flakes as it
John D. Rockefeller's head Of any
signs of hair.
It is a great, fascinating gamble.
II the lead is struck, then it Is but
a question of following it with tun-
nels, and every bucket of dirt means
a lot of very fast money. Fortunes
are often made in a month. Then
again the dirt may be just average,
where good wages may be made by
staying with the streak.
The horizontal shafts are thawed in |
the same way, by building fires and
thawing ahead. When the bed rock is
near enough to the surface open cuts
are made in place of the underground
tunnels, and this is far easier.
If strike it made, about the first
thing that is done is to beat it for the
nearest river town and spread the
news. Uusually few close friends
are tipped off before the stempede is
started. II is peculiar phase Of min
ing life that the minute prospector
makes strike he jumps to civiliza-
lion and proclaims it. He wants com
,any, camp. the excitement Of
stampede and above all, a store where
nc can buy stuff and saloon where he
AN irrigate his insides. Men who
nave worked for years in the solitude
" prospecting simply go bugs when
hey at last make strike, and then
when tanked up with kick" booze, ;
which is about the first thing they do, ,
hey literally raise hell and scatter
heir first gold dust like sand.
And no man is so thoroughly self {
atisfied and supremely happy as :
sour dough" back from a Strike"
displaying his dust and nuggets and
cling the boys to beat it out and :
take. 7
And how they do stampede. A pack I
4 wolves chasing wounded caribo i
ould not beat them for lust. They
our in and stake their 20 acres, and I
Ike crazy men they work their heads
fl and their hearts out TO get down to q
he pay streak.
And a late conner, perhaps "chee-
hako" (tenderfoot) who never panned i
n ounce Of gold in his life, and who
axes what is left, claims a veteran
,ould not look at or consider doing
nough assessment work on to hold
DR. speculation, this tenderfoot may.
nd is liable to strike the richest dirt r
, the whole camp.
All rules Of the mining game are y
n in Alaska gold hunting. Every
hing is chance "Gold is where you