1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



161 



BABY'S LOGIC. 



Today I asked my ni;i;;i'na if I could whittle, 



Yes, I dirt. 

 "Oh, 1K3. my girlie," said .she, "you're too lit- 

 tle," 



So slae did. 



But Tom stopped so h-ird riglit on my toe, 



I cried, I did. 

 She said, "Oh, you're too big a girl to cry out 

 so," 



That's what she did. 



Wliy can't I cry if I am little? 

 Or, if I'm big, why can't I whittle? 

 —St. Louis Republic. 



HIS LAST BLAST. 



Slug canyon. Sierra county, has al- 

 ways been famous for the number and 

 size of its golden nuggets. The canyon 

 heads among the huge skyward tower- 

 ing mountains that rise on the south 

 side of the Nortli Yuba, into which ri'v- 

 er it empties its waters just before the 

 lower end of the famous old mining 

 town of Downieville. In 1853 a son of 

 Erin named Mike Maroney had a placer 

 claim on this canyon of nests of golden 

 eggs, which in his opinion was nothing 

 less than the secret storehouse of the 

 "Goblins of the Golden Mountains." 



Mike's cl.'iim was not in the present 

 or modern channel of the canyon, but 

 upon a bench above it, whe^e was a 

 channel that had been formed by the 

 stream in ancient times. In this old up- 

 per channel stood a bowlder of enor- 

 mous size, a granite rock as big as a 

 cathedral. Mike was undoubtedly at- 

 tracted to tlie particular piece of bench 

 ground on which he staked out his 

 claim by the immense size of the bowl- 

 der lodged upon it, a rock so large it 

 seemed to be a pinnacle broken from the 

 top of one of the overhanging moun- 

 tains. He in some way got it into his 

 head that iu the old channel, at the 

 point where he had staked out his claim, 

 was gold proportionate to the size of the 

 rock and in keeping with the difiBculties 

 to be overcome. 



The bowlder stood in the lower end of 

 the old channel, which it blocked com- 

 pletely from wall to walL To blast it 

 out and get into and work the channel 

 seemed a herculean task. Many a miner 

 had looked the ground over and deoju't- 



ed with a sigh, after a careful survey 

 of the rock, before Mike Maroney set 

 his stakes on the ancient chanueh All 

 thought well of the ground, but feared 

 to attack the "giant" that stood in the 

 way. 



Mike built a small cabin on a bench 

 of the canyon above high water mark 

 and settled down in full sight of the 

 enemy he bad determined to conquer. 

 •Alone and single handed he mounted 

 the great granite rock and began drill- 

 ing and blasting it. The rock was hard, 

 and the work went on slowly, but he 

 was always to bo seen hammering and 

 banging away at the task he had under- 

 taken. All the miners jjassing up and 

 down the canyon halted for a word with 

 Mike. They admired his pluck and 

 cheered him on by telling him that un- 

 der the bowlder and behind it he would 

 find enough gold to load a train of half 

 a dozen mules. 



Mike was a small man as to height, 

 standing less than 5 feet in his boots, 

 but he was immensely broad across the 

 shoulders, and in strength was a little 

 Samson. Altogether he was a curiously 

 constructed creature. He had ahead big 

 enough for a six footer. His mouth seem- 

 ed the result of a slash of a cleaver, and 

 he wore it with one corner drawn up 

 toward his left ear in a very knowing 

 way. On his broad flat face was stuck 

 a short stump of a nose with vast cav- 

 ernous nostrils. Add to these features a 

 pair of enormous ears, little black eyes 

 that twinkle beneath an overhanging 

 crag of brow, then top out the whole 

 with a thatch of coal black hair the size 

 of a haycock, and you see Mike Maroney 

 as he appeared mounted upon his big 

 rock vrith drill and haaamer in hand. 

 Seen thus he might well have passed for 

 the king of the gnomes, just popped up 

 from the chambers of his golden caverns 

 for a mouthful of sunshine and a peep 

 at the npper world. 



Miko was nearly two years in blast- 

 ing out his great bowlder. When he first 

 began, such was his enthusiasm that he 

 thought he would make short work of 

 it, but after he had been engaged upon 

 it about tliree mouths he began to un- 

 derstand more clearly the nature of the 

 task he had undertaken. His stock of 

 provisions was exhausted, and he lacked 

 money with which to procure a new sup- 

 ply; also he could no longer obtain pow- 



