Three Men, Whilst At Dinner A Month Ago In
Red Mountain Valley, In Picking Round With A Small Axe Where They
Were Sitting, Knocked Off A Piece Of Rock Which, When Analysed,
Proved To Be So Valuable A Lode, That They Have Since Then Sold
Their Claim For 125,000 Dollars.
Any man can stake a claim of 1,500 feet on a vein if not previously
done; but he has to expend 100 pounds on it in the first five years to
enable him to obtain a patent from Government, which secures the
property to him for ever.
There must be a certain amount of excitement to miners as to what
treasure will be produced after every blast of gunpowder; but oh!
how I should hate the life, living underground in these
subterranean passages, which are all more or less wet from the
water percolating through the rock, and never able to see the sun
or the beauties of nature. The wages of the men are enormous, able
miners getting four dollars a day; sorters, or the men who break
and turn over the stone, three and a half.
Mr. W - - had a hard life when he first came out here in 1877; as
he and his partner worked with no other help for four years
underground mining, besides having to build their cabin, being
their own blacksmiths, assayer, cook, &c., and he declares he
enjoyed it immensely, with the exception, perhaps, of the first
winter, when, getting in their supplies very late, they had to
live on bacon (and that rancid) and flour, but little else.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 116 of 127
Words from 31152 to 31419
of 34200
