THE STRANGE MINER.

Thames Star, Issue 3082, 3 January 1879, Page 1

THE STRANGE MINER.

Not many miles from Shasta City is the gulch, of which the following mining story is told :—lt is a pretty deep ravine, with rocks showing all the way up the sides. Gold in paying quantities has been found along the stream, but it seemed to disappear a few feet from the channel. One day, while a gang of busy men were toiling in* the stream, a stranger, evidently green at mining, came along and leaned on ragged elbows to watch, with protruding eyes, the results of their toil., The miner nearest him- took out a $5 'nugget, and anxiety overcame the greenhorn. " S-a-ay/'fhff.aske'd,'" where can I go to diugin' to find it like that P "

The hardy miner stopped his work, and giving the wink to all the boys, so that the joke should not be lost, pointed up on the barren rocks where no gold had ever been found. ' - .-.. " You see that rough lookin' place? " " Yes, yes," said, the, new hand. " Well; thar it is ri,ah. Jes ye stake ye out a claim, an'- go ter work, an' wheu we finish here we'll come up, too." Then the uew hand thanked the honest miner, and the boys all grinned appreciation of the joke. T(iat •lfternoou ' there was a solitary figure picking away on the slope', and every-time the miners looked up they roared with laughter. . But about the next day the greenhorn struck a pocket, and took out sjmuihing like £30,000 in a few minutes. Then, innocent to the last, he treated all around, and (bunked the miner who sont htm up there, and took his money and went down into the valley and bought-him a farm. Then 1 the unhappy miners arose, .'leaving their old claims and.dotted that hillside for days. But there were no more pockets anywhere. The whole thing reads just like a traditional fairy story. But then I saw the gulch. Much more unbelievable things happen in the mines. —Sau'Francisco Bulletin.