poor miners invented to pass the time during the trying season of
rains. Of course, poker and euchre, whist and ninepins, to say nothing
of monte and faro, are now in constant requisition. But as a person
would starve to death on _toujours des perdrix_, so a man cannot
_always_ be playing cards. Some _literary_ bipeds, I have been told,
reduced to the last degree of intellectual destitution, in a beautiful
spirit of self-martyrdom betook themselves to blue blankets, bunks, and
Ned Buntline's novels. And one day an unhappy youth went pen-mad, and
in a melancholy fit of authorship wrote a thrilling account of our
dreadful situation, which, directed to the editor of a Marysville
paper, was sealed up in a keg and set adrift, and is at this moment, no
doubt, stranded, high and dry, in the streets of Sacramento, for it is
generally believed that the cities of the plain have been under water
during the storm. The chief amusement, however, has been the raffling
of gold rings. There is a silversmith here, who, like the rest of the
miserable inhabitants, having nothing to do, discovered that he could
make gold rings. Of course every person must have a specimen of his
workmanship, and the next thing was to raffle it off, the winner
generally repeating the operation. Nothing was done or talked of for
some days but this important business.
I have one of these rings, which is really very beautifully finished,
and although perhaps at home it would look vulgar, there is a sort of
massive and barbaric grandeur about it which seems well suited to our
wild life of the hills. I shall send you one of these, which will be to
you a curiosity, and will doubtless look strangely enough amid the
graceful and airy politeness of French jewelry. But I think that it
will be interesting to you, as having been manufactured in the mines by
an inexperienced workman, and without the necessary tools. If it is too
hideous to be worn upon your slender little finger, you can have it
engraved for a seal, and attach it as a charm to your watch-chain.
Last evening Mr. C. showed us a specimen ring which he had just
finished. It is the handsomest _natural_ specimen that I ever saw. Pure
gold is generally dull in hue, but this is of a most beautiful shade of
yellow, and extremely brilliant. It is, in shape and size, exactly like
the flower of the jonquil. In the center is inserted, with all the nice
finish of art (or rather of nature, for it is her work), a polished
piece of quartz, of the purest shade of pink, and between each radiant
petal is set a tiny crystal of colorless quartz, every one of which
flashes like a real diamond. It is known beyond doubt to be a real live
specimen, as many saw it when it was first taken from the earth, and
the owner has carried it carelessly in his pocket for months. We would
gladly have given fifty dollars for it, though its nominal value is
only about an ounce, but it is already promised as a present to a
gentleman in Marysville. Although rather a clumsy ring, it would make
a most unique brooch, and indeed is almost the _only_ piece of
unmanufactured ore which I have ever seen that I would be willing to
wear. I have a piece of gold which, without any alteration, except, of
course, engraving, will make a beautiful seal. It is in the shape of an
eagle's head, and is wonderfully perfect. It was picked up from the
surface of the ground by a gentleman on his first arrival here, and he
said that he would give it to the next lady to whom he should be
introduced. He carried it in his purse for more than a year, when, in
obedience to the promise made when he found it, it became the property
of your humble servant, Shirley.
The other day a hole caved in, burying up to the neck two unfortunates
who were in it at the time. Luckily, they were but slightly injured. F.
is at present attending a man at The Junction, who was stabbed very
severely in the back during a drunken frolic. The people have not taken
the slightest notice of this affair, although for some days the life of
the wounded man was despaired of. The perpetrator of the deed had not
the slightest provocation from his unfortunate victim.
LETTER _the_ FIFTEENTH
[_The_ PIONEER, _May_, 1855]
MINING METHODS--MINERS, GAMBLERS, ETC.
SYNOPSIS
Difficulty experienced in writing amid the charms of California
mountain scenery. Science the blindest guide on a gold-hunting
expedition. Irreverent contempt of the beautiful mineral to the
dictates of science. Nothing better to be expected from the root of all
evil. Foreigners more successful than Americans in its pursuit.
Americans always longing for big strikes. Success lies in staying and
persevering. How a camp springs into existence. Prospecting, panning
out, and discovery that it pays. The claim. Building the shanty.
Spreading of news of new diggings. Arrival of the monte-dealers.
Industrious begin digging for gold. The claiming system. How claims
worked. Working difficult amidst huge mountain rocks. Partnerships then
compulsory. Naming the mine or company. The long-tom. Panning out the
gold. Sinking shaft to reach bed-rock. Drifting coyote-holes in search
of crevices. Water-ditches and water companies. Washing out in
long-tom. Waste-ditches. Tailings. Fluming companies. Rockers.
Gold-mining is nature's great lottery scheme. Thousands taken out in a
few hours. Six ounces in six months. "Almost all seem to have lost".
Jumped claims. Caving in of excavations. Abandonment of expensive
paying shafts. Miner making "big strike" almost sure prey of
professional gamblers. As spring opens, gamblers flock in like birds of
prey. After stay of only four days, gambler leaves Bar with over a
thousand dollars of miners' gold. As many foreigners as Americans on
the river. Foreigners generally extremely ignorant and degraded. Some
Spaniards of the highest eduction and accomplishment. Majority of
Americans mechanics of better class. Sailors and farmers next in
number. A few merchants and steamboat-clerks. A few physicians. One
lawyer. Ranchero of distinguished appearance an accomplished
monte-dealer and horse-jockey. Said to have been a preacher in the
States. Such not uncommon for California.
Letter _the_ Fifteenth
MINING METHODS--MINERS, GAMBLERS, ETC.
_From our Log Cabin_, INDIAN BAR,
_April_ 10, 1852.
I have been haunted all day, my dear M., with an intense ambition to
write you a letter which shall be dreadfully commonplace and severely
utilitarian in its style and contents. Not but that my epistles are
_always_ commonplace enough (spirits of Montague and Sevigne, forgive
me!), but hitherto I have not really _tried_ to make them so. Now,
however, I _intend_ to be stupidly prosy, with malice aforethought, and
without one mitigating circumstance, except, perchance, it be the
temptations of that above-mentioned ambitious little devil to palliate
my crime.
You would certainly wonder, were you seated where I now am, how any one
with a quarter of a soul _could_ manufacture herself into a bore amid
such surroundings as these. The air is as balmy as that of a
midsummer's day in the sunniest valleys of New England. It is four
o'clock in the evening, and I am sitting on a cigar-box outside of our
cabin. From this spot not a person is to be seen, except a man who is
building a new wing to the Humboldt. Not a human sound, but a slight
noise made by the aforesaid individual in tacking on a roof of blue
drilling to the room which he is finishing, disturbs the stillness
which fills this purest air. I confess that it is difficult to fix my
eyes upon the dull paper, and my fingers upon the duller pen with which
I am soiling it. Almost every other minute I find myself stopping to
listen to the ceaseless river-psalm, or to gaze up into the wondrous
depths of the California heaven; to watch the graceful movements of the
pretty brown lizards jerking up their impudent little heads above a
moss-wrought log which lies before me, or to mark the dancing
water-shadow on the canvas door of the bakeshop opposite; to follow
with childish eyes the flight of a golden butterfly, curious to know if
it will crown with a capital of winged beauty that column of nature's
carving, the pine stump rising at my feet, or whether it will flutter
down (for it is dallying coquettishly around them both) upon that
slate-rock beyond, shining so darkly lustrous through a flood of yellow
sunlight; or I lazily turn my head, wondering if I know the blue or red
shirted miner who is descending the precipitous hill behind me. In
sooth, Molly, it is easy to be commonplace at all times, but I confess
that, just at present, I find it difficult to be utilitarian; the saucy
lizards, the great orange-dotted butterflies, the still, solemn cedars,
the sailing smoke-wreath, and the vaulted splendor above, are wooing me
so winningly to higher things.
But, as I said before, I have an ambition that way, and I _will_
succeed. You are such a good-natured little thing, dear, that I know
you will meekly allow yourself to be victimized into reading the
profound and prosy remarks which I shall make in my efforts to initiate
you into the mining polity of this place. Now, you may rest assured
that I shall assert nothing upon the subject which is not perfectly
correct; for have I not earned a character for inquisitiveness (and you
know that does _not_ happen to be one of my failings) which I fear will
cling to me through life, by my persevering questions to all the
unhappy miners from whom I thought I could gain any information? Did I
not martyrize myself into a human mule by descending to the bottom of a
dreadful pit (suffering mortal terror all the time, lest it should cave
in upon me), actuated by a virtuous desire to see with my own two eyes
the process of underground mining, thus enabling myself to be stupidly
correct in all my statements thereupon? Did I not ruin a pair of
silk-velvet slippers, lame my ankles for a week, and draw a "browner
horror" over my already sunburnt face, in a wearisome walk, miles away,
to the head of the ditch, as they call the prettiest little rivulet
(though the work of men) that I ever saw? Yea, verily, this have I done
for the express edification of yourself and the rest of your curious
tribe, to be rewarded, probably, by the impertinent remark, "What!
_does_ that little goose Dame Shirley think that _I_ care about such
things?" But, madam, in spite of your sneer, I shall proceed in my
allotted task.
In the first place, then, as to the discovery of gold. In California,
at least, it must be confessed that, in this particular, science
appears to be completely at fault, or as an intelligent and
well-educated miner remarked to us the other day, "I maintain that
science is the blindest guide that one could have on a gold-finding
expedition. Those men who judge by the appearance of the soil, and
depend upon geological calculations, are invariably disappointed, while
the ignorant adventurer, who digs just for the sake of digging, is
almost sure to be successful." I suppose that the above observation is
quite correct, as all whom we have questioned upon the subject repeat,
in substance, the same thing. Wherever geology has said that gold
_must_ be, there, perversely enough, it lies not; and wherever her
ladyship has declared that it could _not_ be, there has it oftenest
garnered up in miraculous profusion the yellow splendor of its virgin
beauty. It is certainly very painful to a well-regulated mind to see
the irreverent contempt shown by this beautiful mineral to the dictates
of science. But what better can one expect from the root of all evil?
As well as can be ascertained, the most lucky of the mining Columbuses
have been ignorant sailors, and foreigners, I fancy, are more
successful than Americans.
Our countrymen are the most discontented of mortals. They are always
longing for big strikes. If a claim is paying them a steady income, by
which, if they pleased, they could lay up more in a month than they
could in a year at home, still they are dissatisfied, and in most cases
will wander off in search of better diggings. There are hundreds now
pursuing this foolish course, who, if they had stopped where they first
camped, would now have been rich men. Sometimes a company of these
wanderers will find itself upon a bar where a few pieces of the
precious metal lie scattered upon the surface of the ground. Of course
they immediately prospect it, which is accomplished by panning out a
few basinfuls of the soil. If it pays, they claim the spot and build
their shanties. The news spreads that wonderful diggings have been
discovered at such a place. The monte-dealers--those worse than
fiends--rush, vulture-like, upon the scene and erect a round tent,
where, in gambling, drinking, swearing, and fighting, the _many_
reproduce pandemonium in more than its original horror, while a _few_
honestly and industriously commence digging for gold, and lo! as if a
fairy's wand had been waved above the bar, a full-grown mining town
hath sprung into existence.
But, first, let me explain to you the claiming system. As there are no
state laws upon the subject, each mining community is permitted to make
its own. Here they have decided that no man may claim an area of more
than forty feet square. This he stakes off, and puts a notice upon it,
to the effect that he holds it for mining purposes. If he does not
choose to work it immediately, he is obliged to renew the notice every
ten days, for, without this precaution, any other person has a right to
"jump" it, that is, to take it from him. There are many ways of evading
the above law. For instance, an individual can hold as many claims as
he pleases if he keeps a man at work in each, for this workman
represents the original owner. I am told, however, that the laborer
himself can jump the claim of the very man who employs him, if he
pleases so to do. This is seldom, if ever, done. The person who is
willing to be hired generally prefers to receive the six dollars per
diem, of which he is _sure_ in any case, to running the risk of a claim
not proving valuable. After all, the holding of claims by proxy is
considered rather as a carrying out of the spirit of the law than as an
evasion of it. But there are many ways of _really_ outwitting this
rule, though I cannot stop now to relate them, which give rise to
innumerable arbitrations, and nearly every Sunday there is a miners'
meeting connected with this subject.
Having got our gold-mines discovered and claimed, I will try to give
you a faint idea of how they work them. Here, in the mountains, the
labor of excavation is extremely difficult, on account of the immense
rocks which form a large portion of the soil. Of course no man can work
out a claim alone. For that reason, and also for the same that makes
partnerships desirable, they congregate in companies of four or six,
generally designating themselves by the name of the place from whence
the majority of the members have emigrated; as, for example, the
Illinois, Bunker Hill, Bay State, etc., companies. In many places the
surface soil, or in mining phrase, the top dirt, pays when worked in a
long-tom. This machine (I have never been able to discover the
derivation of its name) is a trough, generally about twenty feet in
length and eight inches in depth, formed of wood, with the exception of
six feet at one end, called the "riddle" (query, why "riddle"?), which
is made of sheet-iron perforated with holes about the size of a large
marble. Underneath this colander-like portion of the long-tom is placed
another trough, about ten feet long, the sides six inches, perhaps, in
height, which, divided through the middle by a slender slat, is called
the riffle-box. It takes several persons to manage properly a long-tom.
Three or four men station themselves with spades at the head of the
machine, while at the foot of it stands an individual armed "wid de
shovel an' de hoe." The spadesmen throw in large quantities of the
precious dirt, which is washed down to the riddle by a stream of water
leading into the long-tom through wooden gutters or sluices. When the
soil reaches the riddle, it is kept constantly in motion by the man
with the hoe. Of course, by this means, all the dirt and gold escapes
through the perforations into the riffle-box below, one compartment of
which is placed just beyond the riddle. Most of the dirt washes over
the sides of the riffle-box, but the gold, being so astonishingly
heavy, remains safely at the bottom of it. When the machine gets too
full of stones to be worked easily, the man whose business it is to
attend to them throws them out with his shovel, looking carefully among
them as he does so for any pieces of gold which may have been too large
to pass through the holes of the riddle. I am sorry to say that he
generally loses his labor. At night they pan out the gold which has
been collected in the riffle-box during the day. Many of the miners
decline washing the top dirt at all, but try to reach as quickly as
possible the bed-rock, where are found the richest deposits of gold.
The river is supposed to have formerly flowed over this bed-rock, in
the crevices of which it left, as it passed away, the largest portions
of the so eagerly sought for ore. The group of mountains amidst which
we are living is a spur of the Sierra Nevada, and the bed-rock, which
in this vicinity is of slate, is said to run through the entire range,
lying, in distance varying from a few feet to eighty or ninety, beneath
the surface of the soil. On Indian Bar the bed-rock falls in almost
perpendicular benches, while at Rich Bar the friction of the river has
formed it into large, deep basins, in which the gold, instead of being
found, as you would naturally suppose, in the bottom of it, lies, for
the most part, just below the rim. A good-natured individual bored
_me_, and tired _himself_, in a hopeless attempt to make me comprehend
that this was only a necessary consequence of the undercurrent of the
water, but with my usual stupidity upon such matters I got but a vague
idea from his scientific explanation, and certainly shall not mystify
_you_ with my confused notions thereupon.
When a company wish to reach the bed-rock as quickly as possible, they
sink a shaft (which is nothing more nor less than digging a well) until
they "strike it." They then commence drifting coyote-holes, as they
call them, in search of crevices, which, as I told you before, often
pay immensely. These coyote-holes sometimes extend hundreds of feet
into the side of the hill. Of course they are obliged to use lights in
working them. They generally proceed until the air is so impure as to
extinguish the lights, when they return to the entrance of the
excavation and commence another, perhaps close to it. When they think
that a coyote-hole has been faithfully worked, they clean it up, which
is done by scraping the surface of the bed-rock with a knife, lest by
chance they have overlooked a crevice, and they are often richly
rewarded for this precaution.
Now I must tell you how those having claims on the hills procure the
water for washing them. The expense of raising it in any way from the
river is too enormous to be thought of for a moment. In most cases it
is brought from ravines in the mountains. A company, to which a friend
of ours belongs, has dug a ditch about a foot in width and depth, and
more than three miles in length, which is fed in this way. I wish that
you could see this ditch. I never beheld a _natural_ streamlet more
exquisitely beautiful. It undulates over the mossy roots and the gray
old rocks like a capricious snake, singing all the time a low song with
the "liquidest murmur," and one might almost fancy it the airy and
coquettish Undine herself. When it reaches the top of the hill, the
sparkling thing is divided into five or six branches, each one of which
supplies one, two, or three long-toms. There is an extra one, called
the waste-ditch, leading to the river, into which the water is shut off
at night and on Sundays. This race (another and peculiar name for it)
has already cost the company more than five thousand dollars. They sell
the water to others at the following rates. Those that have the first
use of it pay ten per cent upon all the gold that they take out. As the
water runs off from their machine (it now goes by the elegant name of
"tailings"), it is taken by a company lower down, and as it is not
worth so much as when it was clear, the latter pay but seven per cent.
If any others wish the tailings, now still less valuable than at first,
they pay four per cent on all the gold which they take out, be it much
or little. The water companies are constantly in trouble, and the
arbitrations on that subject are very frequent.
I think that I gave you a vague idea of fluming in a former letter. I
will not, therefore, repeat it here, but will merely mention that the
numerous fluming companies have already commenced their extensive
operations upon the river.
As to the rockers, so often mentioned in story and in song, I have not
spoken of them since I commenced this letter. The truth is, that I have
seldom seen them used, though hundreds are lying ownerless along the
banks of the river. I suppose that other machines are better adapted to
mining operations in the mountains.
Gold-mining is nature's great lottery scheme. A man may work in a claim
for many months, and be poorer at the end of the time than when he
commenced, or he may take out thousands in a few hours. It is a mere
matter of chance. A friend of ours, a young Spanish surgeon from
Guatemala, a person of intelligence and education, told us that after
working a claim for six months he had taken out but six ounces.
It must be acknowledged, however, that if a person work his claim
himself, is economical and industrious, keeps his health, and is
satisfied with small gains, he is bound to make money. And yet I cannot
help remarking that almost all with whom we are acquainted seem to have
_lost_. Some have had their claims jumped. Many holes, which had been
excavated and prepared for working at a great expense, caved in during
the heavy rains of the fall and winter. Often, after a company has
spent an immense deal of time and money in sinking a shaft, the water
from the springs (the greatest obstacle which the miner has to contend
with in this vicinity) rushes in so fast that it is impossible to work
in them, or to contrive any machinery to keep it out, and for that
reason, only, men have been compelled to abandon places where they were
at the very time taking out hundreds of dollars a day. If a fortunate
or an unfortunate (which shall I call him?) _does_ happen to make a big
strike, he is almost sure to fall into the hands of the professed
gamblers, who soon relieve him of all care of it. They have not
troubled the Bar much during the winter, but as the spring opens they
flock in like ominous birds of prey. Last week one left here, after a
stay of four days, with over a thousand dollars of the hard-earned gold
of the miners. But enough of these best-beloved of Beelzebub, so
infinitely worse than the robber or murderer; for surely, it would be
kinder to take a man's life than to poison him with the fatal passion
for gambling.
Perhaps you would like to know what class of men is most numerous in
the mines. As well as I can judge, there are upon this river as many
foreigners as Americans. The former, with a few exceptions, are
extremely ignorant and degraded, though we have the pleasure of being
acquainted with three or four Spaniards of the highest education and
accomplishments. Of the Americans, the majority are of the better class
of mechanics. Next to these, in number, are the sailors and the
farmers. There are a few merchants and steamboat-clerks, three or four
physicians, and one lawyer. We have no ministers, though fourteen miles
from here there is a rancho kept by a man of distinguished appearance,
an accomplished monte-dealer and horse-jockey, who is _said_ to have
been, in the States, a preacher of the Gospel. I know not if this be
true, but, at any rate, such things are not uncommon in California.