The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-06-28
Concluded from last week.

to California. So eager were they tC
reach the new Colchis on the Pacific
coast that they had no time to ex-
anime the signs of mineral wealth
strewn on the barren ridges rising
above the dreary desolation over which
they trekked. Many of them enter
ed California by the trail that follow
ed the Carson river to the crest OF
the Sierra, south of Lake Tahoe, and
then descended among the pinewoods
of Placerville, where they went to
work with pan and shovel in the gold
bearing streams tributary to the Am
erican river. The Carson valley be-
came resting place on the road 1t
was an oasis In the desert pilgrimage.
That migration was like the march of
an army of camp followers; It included
all sorts and conditions of men and
women. even children. Among others
a party of Mormons came westward
from Salt Lake City In 1S49 and one
of them, William Prouse, of Cornish
origin, PANIED gold In a little creek
that entered the Carson river from
the west, where the town of Dayton
now stands. The gravel was not rich
enough to beguile the prospector from
the largerf lure that lay across the
mountain rampant separating from
California what was then part Of
Utah, but is now Nevada. That little
creek became known as Gold Canon; it
was the door to one of the treasure
vaults of the world--the Comstock
lode. After the Mormons had passed,
a group of Mexicans, from Alamos, in
Sonora. tried to work the gravel with
their bateas. separating the gold from
the debris by dry washing, using
air instead of water as the medium
for their concentrating process. But
their winnings were small and sup
plies of every kind were SO costly
that no ordinary yield would suffice.
So they also quit. Others came, for
the diggings We're near the overland
trail. A little camp was established
In Gold Canon in 1851. Longtoms and
rockers became numerous, and the
placer miners slowly worked up the
creek toward the great vein from
which most of the gold had come.
About 100000 worth of gold was ex-
tracted annually until 1857, by which
time the gravel in the lower part of
the creek and on the bars of the Car
son river had been pretty well work.
ed out.
We may feel surprise that the indi-
cations of greater riches in the out
crop that crossed the ravine near its
head were ignored so long, but we
who have read last years almanac
and can view the signs of ore in the
light of later knowledge must make
allowance for the complete ignorance
OF vein structure and lore distribu-
ton prevailing among those early day
prospectors. Besides, the miners that
We're content to make a few dollars a
day In Gold Canon were shiftless,
ignorant, sodden lot. Not all of Them
among the illiterate mob that found
slim pickings in the gulch were two
brothers named Grosh, the sons of a
clergyman In Pennsylvania. They
came to Gold Canon from the Califor-
fla side, having had some experience
N Eldorado county They We're in |
-elligent and observant young men. |
md they went up the gulch to find
"a Tn
wrote to their father telling him that
hey had found silver, lit resembles
hin sheetlead broken very fine. and |
cad the miners to suppose 1t to be-"
fhe placer miners had often complain
ID of the heavy mineral, called by
hem sand of iron" and blue stuff
hat chung to the bottoms of their
luice boxes and clogged their rock
RS. They had no idea that it was
ornsilver and argentite. Later the
'rosh brothers reported the finding Of
two veins of silver at the forks of
'old canon one of these veins {
perfect monster" This was the 4
utcrop of the Comstock lode. Their {
rst assay Of the black rock" show $
d $500 per ton in silver. A refer {
nee to cupellatlion suggests that they n
ad a portable muffle furnace. Thue $
hey prospected for silver when not Y
arning bare living by washing FOR +,
old In the gulch. Their hands had I
,uched the great bonanza, but they h
Id not know ii and they did not live G
profit from it. Tragedy logged I
ieif Footsteps. First their hacker il
gorge Brown, cattle trader In the II
arson valley was murdered. Then $
ne of the brothers, Hosea Grosh, died v
ON the effects of an accident to his 9
'ot Finally. the older brother, Allen, "
ed from exposure while crossing the $
lnge into California during the win G
r of 1857, His papers were thrown o
way when he and his companion, LII
ichard Buckle. were struggling in the D
low. Buckle barely survived. and IL
ter regaining some measure of Io
rength betook himself on bandaged 8,
jumps to Canada. So the heavy hand q,
misfortune erased the exploratory ltt
ork of these intelligent young men. Liza
I'd 1t was left for a drunken loafer cs
I'd shifty imposter to give their "
mes to Virginia City and the Com st
Dck lode. The heirs of the Grosh "a,
L. -