ROUGHING IT IN A GOLD MINE.
Dear Editor:
I am not a subscriber to your interesting little paper, The Great Round World, but my teacher Miss Margaret Gannon subscribed for this paper and she reads it to us, that is, to the class, when it comes. I was very much interested in the letter "Little Friend" wrote to you. She must be a very kind-hearted little girl. It may be interesting to some of your readers to hear how I went to a gold mine and got out some gold. As I was going to "rough it" I only took my rifle, mackintosh, and boots, and a small valise with my other necessary articles. I got on the train, and it took two hours for me to get to the little station at Cedar Falls, N.C. The mine was two miles from the village. I reached there at five o'clock. The little shanty where we lived while we were there was about twelve feet long by eight feet wide.
The bunks were folded up during the day and unfolded at night.
After hanging up my gun and putting my valise in the corner, I went to the shaft or hole from which the gold ore is taken. After the two men went down the shaft, the men at the top hauled up the bucket, and they put in the tools, which were eight sharp drills, an eight-pound sledge-hammer, and a scraper about three feet long. I got in among the tools, and down I went. It was warm above, but on the way down the shaft, which was thirty feet deep, it became cooler and damper. I stood on one side with a small pick to cut out nuggets, while the men drilled a hole about two inches in diameter and one foot deep, which they afterward filled with dynamite. After sending the tools up, the other man and I went up, while the man we left in the shaft lit the fuse. We all pulled at the windlass, and he was soon at the top. After taking off the bucket we ran up the hill about a hundred yards to watch the result.
With an awful explosion and a tremendous shower of rocks the dynamite blew a big hole in the side of the shaft. After driving out the smoke by dropping large cedar bushes in the shaft, we went down again.
We filled the bucket with rocks, which were drawn up. We soon emptied the shaft in this way. Then we went to the top and assorted the ore. I filled a large box with the richest rocks I could find, and they were shipped the next day.
Besides blasting for the ore, I panned a little, that is, I had a shallow pan with a little of the dust from the shaft and some water. I washed the dust until I had very little dust left; then I took a quill toothpick and picked the small nuggets from the pan and put them into a small gold vial full of water.
After staying at the mine four days, I went home, having had a fine time "roughing it" in a gold mine.
Please send me full particulars of the "Who? When? What? Chart" as soon as you possibly can, and also tell me whether you will send me one of those books which you want criticised. I am eleven years old. I like to read very much—history, travel, and adventure being my favorites. The books I like specially are Oliver Optic's works for travels, and G.A. Henty's works for historical facts and thrilling adventures. I like other books also.
Hoping that I do not inconvenience you, I am respectfully,
Jules W.L., Jr.
Greensboro, N.C., March 25, 1897.