Miner

“ These mines, with their prolonged subterranean workings, their stamping and crushing mills, and the smelting works which have been established near them, fill the district with noise, hubbub, and smoke by night and day; but I had turned altogether aside from them into a still region, where each miner in solitude was grubbing for himself, and confiding to none his finds or disappointments. Agriculture restores and beautifies, mining destroys and devastates; turning the earth inside out, making it hideous, and blighting every green thing, as it usually blights man's heart and soul. ”

“ Some are sent to the mines, where they will kindly lead the miner to the richest lode, or maliciously, by noises imitating the stroke of the hammer, and by false fires, draw him on to where the worst ore in the mine lies, and then laugh at his disappointment. ”

“ Holes will be burned and dug into the hard ground here and there, and into the quartz-ribbed mountains and hills; ragged towns like beaver and muskrat villages will be built, and mills and locomotives will make rumbling, screeching, disenchanting noises; but the miner’s pick will not be followed far by the plough, at least not until Nature is ready to unlock the frozen soil-beds with her slow-turning climate key. On the other hand, the roads of the pioneer miners will lead many a lover of wildness into the heart of the reserve, who without them would never see it. ”

“ No one can appreciate the magnitude of those various movements by a simple perusal of statistics of the mineral wealth which they disclosed. He must pass through the mining belts and note how almost every rod of ground, over vast tracts of country, is filled with prospect holes that attest the miner’s former presence. If the trapper carried the tools of his trade to haunts remote and inaccessible, the miner, with his pick and shovel, certainly outdid him. ”

“ The placers where the auriferous dust is found are, in comparison with the whole extent of the country so named, exceedingly limited. The miner often travels many miles over this region—he wanders for days along its river banks and over its bars, and turns aside into some of its numerous ravines—he often pauses to examine spots which appear to him favorable, and with his pick, shovel, and knife—always his companions—digs his fifty holes, testing each with his pan, without success. ”

“ The miner should try to obtain a mine, to which access is not difficult, in a mountainous region, gently sloping, wooded, healthy, safe, and not far distant from a river or stream by means of which he may convey his mining products to be washed and smelted. ”

“ The miner should not dig in those solitary mountains, dispersed through the plains and open regions, but only in those which are connected and joined with others. Then again, since mountains differ in size, some being very large, others of medium height, and others more like hills than mountains, the miner rarely digs in the largest or the smallest of them, but generally only in those of medium size. ”

“ Or one stroke too many of the miner’s pick, may let in a volume of black and stagnant water from an unused and forgotten pit, which rising slowly at first, then gaining, in volume, in strength, in rapidity, buries the miners in a watery grave of horrible and loathsome desolation.
Yes, the miners are brave; for small pay they toll unremittingly, labouring in the dark, exposed to many dangers. Day by day these men go down into the mines literally with their lives in their hands. ”

“ The miner should never excavate the low-lying plain, nor one which is perfectly level, unless it be in some mountain, and rarely should he mine in the other kinds of plains.
With regard to the conditions of the locality the miner should not contemplate mining without considering whether the place be covered with trees or is bare. If it be a wooded place, he who digs there has this advantage, besides others, that there will be an abundant supply of wood for his underground timbering, his machinery, buildings, smelting, and other necessities. ”

“ But the miner may dig in all parts of them, except where there are precipices, and he should not neglect even these latter if metallic veins are exposed before his eyes. There are just as great differences in hills as there are in mountains, yet the miner does not dig except in those situated in mountainous districts, and even very rarely in those. ”

“ The miner passes most of his life in places where there is a great deficiency of oxygen. Deep down in the mine the air is usually very bad, being full of smoke and damp, and the hut in which he sleeps is too often overcrowded, while the places in which he seeks his amusement, should he live in a mining camp, are usually little better. ”

“ Every day, a few yards from our present abode, we tread ashes where stood a miner’s forge about twenty-five years ago. Children play about the places in the hill-side where the miners once levelled the earth floor of their tents. When we visit the gold-show and the copper-show, we wonder if ever the agricultural age will merge into the metal age here. ”

“ In other cases, it is enough to follow out the threads of ore which occur, by workings made in their direction.
[843]
The miner, in searching within the crust of the earth for the riches which it conceals, is exposed to many dangers. The rocks amidst which he digs are seldom or never entire, but are almost always traversed by clefts in various directions, so that impending fragments threaten to fall and crush him at every instant. ”

“ But the miner does not dig in those surrounded on all sides by mountains, nor in those that are open, unless there be a low plain close at hand, or unless a vein of metal descending from the mountains should extend into the valley. ”

“ The labor of the miner is peculiar, and his food appears to me badly suited to meet its requirements. At the close of a hard day's toil the weary miner has to climb, by vertical ladders, through a height of from 600 to 1,200 feet, before he can reach his cottage, where he naturally looks for his food and sleep. ”

“ THE MINER.
Here is a miner at work.
He is away down in a deep coal mine.{95}
The sun does not shine in the dark coal mine.
So the miner has a little lamp in his cap.
Now he can see the hard, black coal.
See him lift his pick ax.
Click, click, click-ity click!
Hear the song of the pick ax!
He digs out the coal with his sharp pick.
All day long the busy miner is at work.
At night he comes out of the dark coal mine.
He gets into a strong iron basket.
Then he goes up, up, up, out of the mine.
How happy he must be to see the bright sunshine!
{96}
THE ENGINE.
“Puff, puff, puff!” ”

“ It has sometimes happened that in a large load, and where it is largest, the miner has suddenly arrived at a piece of dead ground in the middle of it, which in depth spreads wider so as to occupy nearly the whole of the vein, leaving on each side only a small connecting string of ore. This has been known to extend many fathoms in length and depth, and from its being narrow above and widening below, it has obtained from the miner the name of a horse. ”

“ By having no scientific knowledge of mineral veins and geological structure, as practically adopted in Europe, all rule in the process of mining and raising the ore had degenerated into mere guess work, and thousands of dollars had been wasted, in some places, where the application of some of the plainest mining principles, would not have warranted the removal of a shovel full of earth. In short, there was here observed, a blending of the miner and farmer character. Almost every farmer was a miner. ”

“ Their condition is now improved, but they formerly worked eleven or twelve hours a-day, and occasionally even from thirteen to sixteen, far down in the depths of the earth, in a heavy and noxious atmosphere, in a half naked state and in unnatural positions, kneeling, stooping, lying upon their sides and backs, at any moment liable to the loss of life. The miner has not only to undergo bodily labour, but must exercise skill, patience, presence of mind, coolness, and thoughtfulness. ”

“ In respect, however, of injurious influence on the integrity of the animal frame, there are few kinds of bodily labour that can be compared with it. The subterranean labours of the miner commence at the early age of from eight to ten. At first, and for several years, the young miners are employed principally in conveying in wheelbarrows the ore and broken rock from the inner extremity of the galleries to the nearest shaft. ”

“ The miner, after he has selected out of many places one particular spot adapted by Nature for mining, bestows much labour and attention on the veins. These have either been stripped bare of their covering by chance and thus lie exposed to our view, or lying deeply hidden and concealed they are found after close search; the latter is more usual, the former more rarely happens, and both of these occurrences must be explained. There is more than one force which can lay bare the veins unaided by the industry or toil of man ”

“ We passed over two shafts, each fifteen hundred feet deep, from which the miners were pouring, like flies out of the bunghole of a sugar cask. Probably over twelve hundred men are employed in this mine alone. They get, as wages, from six to ten reales per day, and one bag of ore out of every eight they break. The ore is sent up in small coarse bags, each one with the miner's mark on it, and dumped into small iron cars when it reaches the adit, and drawn out by mules. ”

“ An experienced practical miner, who had been among the first to reopen some of the ancient works at the Minnesota mine, recognised in the copper gouges implements adapted to produce the singular tool-marks which then excited his curiosity. ”

“ As soon as the miner comes above ground he gargles a little water to get the worst of the coal dust out of his throat and nostrils, and then goes home and either washes or does not wash according to his temperament. From what I have seen I should say that a majority of miners prefer to eat their meal first and wash afterwards, as I should do in their circumstances. It is the normal thing to see a miner sitting down to his tea with a Christy-minstrel face, completely black except for very red lips which become clean by eating. ”

“ Besides a knowledge of metals to guide him in his search, 62 the miner must be endowed with a number of rare qualities, from that vigorous strength indispensable to one who has to raise heavy burdens, and support all day the enervating fatigue of underground work, down to activity and pliancy of limb, united with undaunted resolution and coolness. Sometimes, after toiling for a month, during which he has barely earned enough to live upon, in a week, or even in a day, he recompenses himself for his long privations. ”

“ The miner's object is to come at a deposit of tin five feet thick at the bottom of the pit, and as he works forward he throws behind him the waste matter. Water is conveyed from the river by a wooden trough into an insulated mass of the lower stratum, in which the tin is washed. ”

“ The miners dig square wells, supporting the sides with piles and cross-pieces. These wells are sunk to the depth of fifteen or twenty cubits. When it is secure, the miner descends with a basket, which he fills with loose earth, the basket is drawn up, and the jewels are picked out and washed in the brooks in the neighbouring hills. They continue working the wells laterally till two meet, when the place is abandoned. There are very few accidents. The precious stones that are found there consist of rubies, sapphires, topazes, and other crystals. ”

“ If the vein or bed in question be placed in a mountain, and if its direction forms a very obtuse angle with the line of the slope, the miner begins by opening in its side, at the lowest possible level, a gallery of elongation, which serves at once to give issue to the waters, to explore the deposit through a considerable extent, and then to follow it in another direction ”

“ The miner who, two thousand feet under ground in the heart of the Comstock, is digging out silver ore, is, in effect, by virtue of a thousand exchanges, harvesting crops in valleys five thousand feet nearer the earth’s center ”

“ It makes us pause for an instant, to the miner's infinite amusement, in the very act of knocking away a tiny morsel of ore from the rock, as a memento of Botallack. Having, however, ventured on reflection to assume the responsibility of weakening our defence against the sea, by the length and breadth of an inch, we secure our piece of copper, and next proceed to discuss the propriety of descending two hundred and forty feet more of ladders, for the sake of visiting that part of the mine where the men are at work. ”

“ The miner in a newly-prospected gold-field is a person who spends his days in a hole, and has no belongings but the clothes on his back and the shovel in his hand. He lives on his expectations. The regular prairie settler, would arrive in the spring, camp in his waggon, stick grains of corn under the sod, and think himself lucky if he could raise both the corn and a loghut, 9fourteen by twelve feet, before the cold weather set in. ”

“ Already the corves which took them down to their work in the early morning must be on their way up to the surface, and it is time to have the savoury messes ready for dishing up. Abundance is on the board, for the miner’s wages are sufficient to supply him with what would be luxuries to an ordinary labourer above ground ”

“ The shafts by which the miners descend, and through which the ore is raised to the surface, are scattered over a considerable extent of sterile ground, whose dreary appearance, and the sallow countenances of the miners, concur to excite ideas of gloom, apprehension, and melancholy. ”

“ The return horse is a result of the necessities of mountain sections, especially the needs of miners. Most Western mining-towns are located upon a flat or in a gulch. The mines are rarely near the town, but are on the mountain-slopes above it. Out of town go a dozen roads or trails that extend to the mines, from one to five miles away, and 116 much higher than the town. A miner does not mind walking down to the town, but he wants to ride back; or the prospector comes in and wants to take back a few supplies. The miner hires a return horse, rides it to the mine, and then turns the horse loose. ”