Collection: Directories and Documents > Nevada County News & Advertisments

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Title: 1877 Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Nevada County News & Advertisments # of Pages: 238 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-14 06:12:44 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:08:54 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:08:54

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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62 MARCH 18, 1877 GRASS VALLEY UNION Although everything was secure, the visitors received a convincing proof of the great proof of the great pressure upon the timbers, by reason of the swelling of the ground, by seeing timbers, two feet in dimensions, splintered and bent as if they had been but slender supports. As the sight [seers] became accustomed to the situation, the great vein of quartz, ranging from three to eight and ten feet in thickness, with its ribboned bands of blue and white, and streaks of mineral, could be distinctly seen between the dark gray walls which so firmly enclosed it. After an inspection of this level for several hundred feet to the east, our conductor proposed that we should descend to the night level through the stopes. We thought we saw a quiet twinkle in his eye, indicative of fun, when he made this proposition. He led the way by dropping into a small hole at one side of the level, his companions blindly following, guided by their flickering candles, which throw but an uncertain light upon the road their footsteps were to travel. We soon found that it was a rough and rugged one—sometimes sliding down a sloping, muddy wall, then dropping over a bank of rock, or crawling through holes that did not seem half large enough, or grouping [sic] carefully over broken piles of rock, that threatened to trip up and send us to some uncertain depths below. But the trip was finally accomplished, and our party of prospectors landed safely on the ninth level, nearly 1,000 feet below the croppings, hearted and blown, and good specimens of miners so far as the mud of the stopes would make them. But they all said it was jolly and instructive, and they were glad they had come, and were all the better informed as to what mining was by that mode of investigation. We found John Polglase, underground foreman, close up in the breast of the east drift on the ninth level, superintending the work of an Ingersoll drill, which was making the rock-ribbed barriers of the ledge give way under its lightning strokes. We wanted John to compliment us after coming down that stope, and asked him if we were not a handsome lot; but he wouldn't do an injustice to his conscience, and said we were “the blackest looking crowd” he had ever seen down the mine. We watched the Ingersoll drill with interest for a while, and wondered why in all those long years of mining, those powerful auxiliaries were not sooner invented to relieve the slow and expensive mode of hand drilling. As yet the ninth is the lowest working level of the Idaho, but the mine shaft is down nearly to the tenth level, and a winze is also down seventy-eight feet below the floor of the ninth level several hundred feet east of the shaft. We did not go to these lower points, but climbed the ladder to the eight level, and were there perfectly willing to take the cage for the surface, which we reached after being under ground several hours, highly entertained and instructed by all we saw, and gratified by the attention shown us by Superintendent Coleman. As to the underground appearance of the Idaho it can be said to be as good as ever. The lower levels are giving out excellent rock, and enough ground is opened to insure three years’ work without regard to anything beyond. But the deep workings show a strong ledge of pay ore, and there is no fear but that the regular monthly dividends will be declared for years to come, and the Idaho continue to be, as it now is, the representative gold mine of California. A WASHING MACHINE.—There is, at last, a washing machine which will do its work well and rapidly, and yet does not tire to death the person who operates. We allude to the “Complete Washer,” for which Mr. Silas Beesley of this place is the agent. Give him a trial with his machine. It works on the wash board and hand rubbing principle; it is small and fits in any ordinary wash tub; can not get out of order; costs only eight dollars; takes hold of and cleans any article of cloth from a fine piece of lace to a pair of blankets. It is the best washing machine yet invented. Mr. S. Nichols of Nevada City and Mr. Silas Beesley of Grass Valley are the agents for the “Complete Washer” for Nevada County. GOING EAST.—Mr. C. E. Sherman who has been engaged in working metals in this vicinity for a year or more, and who wound up business of the Fryer Noble Metal Mining Company, so far as Grass Valley is concerned, will take his departure for the eastern States on next Tuesday. Mr.