86 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



well acquainted with all hands I would have and that hill is left in a dilapidated and forlorn 



moved an amendment to that name, "Big-foot condition. 



Bill," and substituted Big-foot Cook and Big- A little further along we came across two 



foot Camp. It occurred to us that tunneling is young men who were "in it," but on a small 



a very good business in connection with the scale. They conducted water in a pipe down 



bee-business. When you tire of working in the the hill, allowing it to flow through a long 



hot sun with the bees, then go into the tunnel wooden trough, in the bottom of which were 



and work in its cooling shades. Mr. Woodbury, 

 treasurer of our State Association, it will be 

 remembered, also has a tunnel into which he 

 can retire for work and reflection. When we 





.»vie' 



PLACER GOLD-MINING. 



had seen all that William had to show us, we 

 hoped him success in his tunneling operations, 

 and also success as a manager of the busy bee, 

 and continued our journey up the canyon. 



Lytle Creek Canyon has been noted from the 

 early settlement of this country as a gold-bear- 

 ing locality; and about the first object that 

 attracts attention upon entering the canyon is 

 a large hill, half of which has been washed 

 away by hydraulic mining. The person, how- 

 ever, who hydrauticked at such a rapid rate 

 died (people in the full pursuit of gold die). 

 There was some hitch in the after-proceedings, 



slats called riffles. The dirt is shoveled into 

 the upper end of the trough, and what gold 

 there may be in it is caught in the riffles as the 

 dirt is washed along. The little fine gold dust 

 that was thus secured was kept 

 very choice in empty cartridge- 

 shells. The camera caught a 

 very good view of the mining 

 operations, which will give the 

 reader some idea of how the 

 work is done. These young 

 men were working hard with 

 the pick and shovel, and were 

 making about enough to pay 

 for their victuals, or their 

 "grub," as they termed it. 

 They were thinking very loud- 

 ly, that, if their luck did not 

 soon change, they would seek 

 some other business. 



In another retired notch in 

 the canyon a darkey owned a 

 mine in which he claimed that 

 he was getting $20 a day. The 

 other fellows were, however, 

 somewhat skeptical about his 

 fortune. Seeing that our pros- 

 pects were not flattering for 

 gaining sudden wealth, and 

 also finding that the honey- 

 pasturage was not of a very 

 favorable nature, we turned our 

 pony's head homeward. 



The search for gold seems to 

 be very fascinating, and many 

 men have spent the best part of 

 their lives in this golden coun- 

 try prospecting and digging for 

 the precions metal, and still 

 have never made their fortune, 

 and sometimes barely a living. 

 Every piece of loose dirt all 

 through this canyon has been 

 worked over several times, and 

 the marks of the pick and the little pile of dirt 

 are seen away up on what would seem to be an 

 inaccessible cliff on the side of the mountain. 



If the yoiuig men we met, who were toiling 

 for such low wages (some days they said it was 

 ten cents) had turned their attention to the 

 production of honey, even in this canyon, the 

 profits from the golden drops gathered by the 

 golden Italian bees would have been much 

 greater than can ever be expected in an old 

 worn-out mining region. As we journeyed 

 homeward these wore the reflections of the 



Rambler. 



