Year: 1872

DEAR Journal :-Thinking that you
might like to hear from this place, will
give you all the news l know.


We are all done sluicing and busy
cleaning bedrock. We had a prosperous
season, with plenty of water and the
gravel banks paying better than ever
before. Manuel Silva Il Co. have taken
out about FIVE thousand dollars this sea-
son, which we call very good for three
men at work in the claim This is the
only claim on the south side of the creek
that has struck the back channel. hear
that James A. johnson and Silva & Co.
have put their claims together and intend
to put in a three-foot fiumeand use all the
water from the new ditch Mr.. johnson is
bringing in from the South Fork. The
ditch will carry about one thousand inch
es of water, is about half done and will
be finished in good season. They are
going to work this claim the same as they
do the middle mines-with about three
hundred feet pressure and three-inch
nozzle. Mr.. Sicox has taken out over
five thousand dollars this season. His
new ditch is finished and he is commence
ing to build his reservoir this week. He
will have about three hundred and fifty
feet pressure, and will get eighteen-inch
pipe and Hydraulic Chief with three
inch nozzle. This looks like going to
work the right way. Now, for instance,
the Scientific Press states that Messrs.
Williams and Cox at Chanderville, Sier-
ra county, this year worked fifteen claims
of one hundred feet square, each averag-
ing thirty feet in depth of gravel. This
you see, gives little over one hundred
and sixty-siX thousand six hundred and
siXty-six cubic yards. This gravel yield
ed only ten cents per cubic yard, or about
one-third of cent per cubic foot. A
color, by working this quality of ground
in II pan, would be very doubtful. The
above working was was done with eight
hundred inches Of water, one hundred
and fifty feet pressure and Il Craigs
Globe Joint, throwing five and half
inch stream of water, and realized seven
teen thousand dollars. Now, how many
thousand acres of gravel there are in
Trinity county that will pay five times
that much and have never been touched.
For instance, in Weaver Basin if Il claim
don't pay twenty-five cents to the single
foot of bed rock the miners don't make
much profit, where their gravel beds lay
about he same and the boulders about
the same size. Now, on this creek, they
can't work the claims as fast as they do
in the middle counties, because there are
too many large boulders, but in Weaver
Basin they could if they had the pressure.
N. B.-I heard e little story the other
day about one of your townsmen There
WAS gentleman from San Francisco out
here last week, and he told me that him.
self and your townsman came to Califor-
mia together around the Horn, in early
days. They went into port at Rio and Of
course all went ashore. Now it happened
that your townsman wandered out into
the country all day by himself and found
Il beautiful wild animal all spotted He
thought he would catch t-how delighted
the Captains wife would be when he
made her present OF it after he got on
board. SO after it he sailed and soon
overlook and captured it and started for
the vessel. When he got on board they
all asked him what he wanted with the
animal. He said he was going to make
the Captains wife present Of it. They
all gave him n vide berth, he assured
them that it was very tame-they should
come and feel what fine fur it had. Still
they all kept clear of him, and so to show
them how tame he had it already, he
tossed it up like ball, when whew up
went its tail and gave him a full blast.
He commenced to holer murder and
Iun around ON deck. The Captain and
mate soon came and inquired what was
the matter. He told them there was
huge wild animal on board and it would
kill them all if they did not destroy it.
Paul knows what skunk means ever since.


Guopnu Hopps