m*- w - Clpdigital.org

770 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
quadruped, specimens perfect and flawless
that museums the world over would
gladly welcome to their galleries.
Let us follow, in a hurried way, the
procedure "Long Shorty" and "The
Malamute" take as a sample of the
present day prospecting in deep ground.
A spot is selected where experience
shows the dirt to be not over fifty feet
deep to bedrock. Gold usually lies from
one to five feet just above the original
rock. A steam prospecting boiler of
from four to eight horsepower, light,
portable and simple, is set up. This is
connected by rubber hose to a common
cast iron pipe three-quarters of an inch
in size. A tripod of three timbers tied
together is set up and the pipe placed
horizontally against this with one end on
the ground at the spot wdiere the shaft
will be sunk. Steam is turned on and
as the live steam, shooting from the pipe
into the ground, thaws the frozen muck
and gravel, the pipe is twisted and
pushed down with the aid of wrenches.
Deeper and deeper it goes, gradually
working to a depth of fifteen or twenty
feet. Then another pipe of sufficient
length is coupled to it and the twisting
continues. This process is kept up until
the pipe is worked down to bedrock.
Steam tl.en is left turned on in the pipe
for a length of time, varying with the
kind of ground being worked, usually
from two to four days. By this time the
gravel is thawed for a distance of three
feet all around the pipe. The pipe then
is pulled out and the shaft is ready to
be "mucked out."
A windlass is set up over the hole on
a cribbing of poles a few feet high and
one of the partners, protected against the
biting cold by "parka" and packshoes,
takes his place at the handle. The other
goes into the hole and the mucking is
started.
P.ucket after bucket is taken out and
dumped just over the edge of the cribbing,
and as the pile of muck grows, the
man in the hole works deeper and
deeper. Progress is usually from five to
ten feet a day.
After two weeks of this alternate
freezing and sweating the hole has
progressed close to bedrock and hope
rises and falls in the hearts of the partners
and the gravel is watched closer
and closer and analyzed and discussed—
and sometimes cussed. This is the time
to begin to pan. All water is frozen and
to put the hands into cold water outside
is to invite frost-bite. So a sample of
the gravel is taken to the cabin and there
in the warmth and comfort is panned in
a tub and the result is made known.
Hope is never abandoned until the original
bedrock is reached.
Then it is either a case of black looks
all around, a realizing of the futility of
aspirations and endeavors and a burrowing
into the robes for a two or three
days' sleep or else a general rejoicing of
all hands. Each celebrates after his individual
style; the siren is tied open, the
bar is wrecked and the doxology is sung.
Only in this case "God save the King"
or the Swedish national air is apt to
take the place of the doxology. Strange
as it may seem there are comparatively
few Americans in the country. British,
Scotch, and Swedish predominate.
If the pay justifies it then a larger
boiler is secured and a small steam hoist
is set up, and the process known as
"taking out a winter dump" is started.
As mentioned before, no water is to be
had, and the pay dirt is hoisted and
dumped on a pile which grows with the
result of each day's work and remains
there until the break-up in the spring.
Securely established under ground
with the one man who remains on top
housed in the engine-room and out of
the cold, all can laugh at the marrowfreezing
weather now. The temperature
fifty feet below the surface, winter
and summer, remains about the same,
just below the freezing point.
Here steam is requisitioned again and
this time forced horizontally into the
dirt through "points", little more than
hollow pipes with driving heads attached.
These points are driven into
the frozen gravel abotit two feet apart