Year: 1877




who came hither in the first years of the
gold discovery, very large proportion
were men under thirty years of age, fully
imbued with the spirit of adventure and
Of buoyant hope and health and strong
constitutions. Such men were fitted and
such were the men needed for the battle
with Nature in her own stronghold. 1t
was not until the later years tina. older
men, men who had reared families and
were desirous Of ending their days in the
Golden State turned their steps across the
Sierras and descended with the flow of
waters toward the Pacific.


The men of early times were exposed
TO hardships such as the miners of the
present day are exempt from, yet they
did not yield to disease unless it was of a
contagious or virulent nature. The lack
Of fresh vegetables was sore one to the
Forty miners and many suffered from
scurvy by reason of the unaccustomed
diet. The following year the mountain
]
and many were laid in their long homes
from these two diseases, which seemed to
/ battle medical skill. But after that year,
in which the sufferings of the overland
/ immigration had, in a measure prepared
their system for the ravagcs of disease.
/ the proportion of deaths to the population
] Iol


mated and the natural healthfulness of
| the climate made the condition Of life
which prevailed in the flush days" when
| a man was sat home when he got his hat
on, :" not only bearable but actually health
ful. But we are wandering far from the
subject of which we designed to speak,
Passing through the cemeteries of this
place, one who knew those in life who are
buried there, cannot help rejecting on
the great number Of men who have came
to violent deaths. OF these there are
very few, comparatively, during the later
years Of mining, bat before the aid Of
science was called in, and when the mines
were in that intermediate period during
which operations were principally con-
Quoted by ground sluicing, there was
scarcely week passed but some unfortu-
nate deliver was crushed out Of existence
by the treacherous banks, in some part of
the county. The low, rich, shallow dig
gngs had been mined away and the min
ers followed the precious deposits into the
deep banks, almost always at the ii.k of
life and limb. If a record had been kept
Of the men, young and strong, in the full
vigor Of active manhood, who had gone
out TO their claims in the morning, only to
be crushed into shapeless masses Of in
sensatc clay before the night came, the
list would be simply appalling. There is
scarcely mining camp of any note in
the county but has furnished its dozens
and scores of victims. Men seemed to be
driven on to their destiny, almost against
their own presentiments. Others, again,
seemed TO make no effort to escape the
fate before them, but stood spelbound,
like the bird is said to be under the fasci
nations Of the serpent, while :he crumb-
ling earth cracked and settled before
coming down with its deadly force. While
some camps were more fated than others
so it was OF claims. Take Sidney Hill for
instance. 1t is years since any work was
done there by white men except that
done two years ago, when it claimed its
victim, S usual, but during the days
when it was one of the big claims Of the
county, it was as if man took his life in
his own hands to go there 10 work. The
claim was worked before the days when
hydraulics lad come into general use, ard
in fact, it was of such q character of min
ing that, with the imperfect system of
hydraulic mining which prevailed for
many years, the ordinary way OF 'goug-
ing" the deep bank was the fastest by
which it could be worked. Had the own
ers Of the Sydney Hill mined with the
improved appliances of the present day
the yield of that section would have
been enormous while it lasted, and
scores, perhaps of men who were crushed
to death under the treachcrous clay ,
been yet among US.


Another fruitful source Of danger was
in the seamy bedrock. In ground sluic-
ing and piping both, under the old min
ing system, bed rock bitches had to be
cut at short distances apart, and in these
bitches many good man has perished.-
\ OF so much in the deep cuts where dan
ger was guarded against by networks of
timbers, as in the numerous shallow
ones, did danger lie. Cut in all direc-
tions through the bed rock, the worker
knew not at what moment he might
strike the blow which would sever the
support of the mass of rock at his side
, The number of deaths in this manner,
though not MS great as Of those killed by
caving banks has been very large. But
the danger from that source is now mar
rowed down until now we rarely arc call
ed upon TO mourn the loss of one cut down
| in health and strength as of old.


Since the placer mines are worked with
the improved machinery now almost
wholly in use, mining IS no longer to be
looked upon as n hazardous vocation. The
power Of the stream sent through the
"giants" will drive the dirt into bedrock
bitches for distance as great as the
"pressure," and this does away in a
great measure with the necessity for the
numerous side bitches once so essential in
mining. So, too, in the increased power
the water has in cutting the bank from q
safe distance, gives comparative immu-
nity to the worker. The miner of the