

IN THE MINING DISTRICT 215 



heavy, we cannot separate from the gold by washing, 

 we get rid of by first drying the whole thoroughly; then 

 we put it on a small tray and blow the sand away. 



In reading this description you will not think that our 

 labor is as heavy as it really is. Believe me, it is as ex- 

 acting, mechanical labor as can be done; and is intensely 

 so to one not accustomed to manual labor. The hard 

 stony soil has first to be loosened with a pick; then the 

 larger stones— often so heavy that they can hardly be 

 moved, have to be Tolled aside; next the dirt must be 

 shoveled together, and must then be carried to the rock- 

 er. Now consider that we have to remove the top dirt 

 before we reach the soil in which we find the gold; (on 

 the place where I am at work now I have to remove 5 or 

 6 feet of rocks — at times even more) that I have to carry 

 daily 40 or 50 pails of water a distance of from 200 to 

 300 yards over rough, loose rocks, that we have to work 

 in narrow holes or shafts from 6 to 10 feet deep, where 

 one never feels a draught of air, but where he is exposed 

 to a sun so hot that he can hardly touch the stones with 

 his hand; if you think of that you will concede that to 

 chop wood is in comparison with this, justly considered 

 to be light work. But one gets used to everything, and 

 so have I got used to this work, which now is not half as 

 hard on me as it was at first, though I am able to do al- 

 most as much again as I did at first. But I have made 

 it a rule not to over-exert myself; whenever I am tired or 

 do not feel like working I stop; I always bear in mind 

 that my health is my only capital, which I have to hus- 

 band most carefully. Yet I am making more money than 

 many others, because I attend to my work in an even 

 way without hurrying or exerting myself too much. 



Almost of the same construction as the rocker above 

 described is the "bull rocker," only with this difference 

 that it is larger, generally 2 feet wide and about 6 feet 

 long, and that the iron sieve which covers the whole 

 length of it is open at the lower end, so that the rocks 

 after being washed will by the motion of the rocker drop 

 off by themselves, and the sieve needs not to be emptied, 

 by hand, as with the small rocker. 



