The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 24, 1898, Page 22

THE - SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, - BLACK OAND MINING MADE_TO PAY AT [AsT & % WORKING EACH sand gold mining has been a hobby of mining enthusi- E in California for a numb: ears, but in the majority cases all endeavors in that di tion have resuited either di trou or at least unsatisfactorily. The people of Humboldt County h done their full share of this unpr: ble speculating, and not until within a month have their efforts been, reward- ed. But following t meth- ods of gold dis A, a few weeks of rich s years of work ard THiE HE double-turreted monitor Monadnock came down from Mare Isiand a few days ago, looking as grim and black as a foundry as she took her place in warship row off Folsom-street wharf. After remaining there a few days she departed on her voyage to Manila, and s now somewhere nears Honolulu. Considering that this was p her “coming out” among her sis : our new navy, It is difficult to imagine that she has had “a past.” Not a gcandal! Oh, no; but a my te A deep. dark, unfathomable my 'y that for years caused the tongues of more than the mere gossipers to wag and furnished food for thought to the delv- ers into occult science. For the Monad- nock was haunted almost from her birth. It was away back in the '70's (she's not such a young thing. a all), that Messrs. Secor, Vanderbilt and Burgess came out from the Bast with a Govern- ment contract to repair the old and original Monadnock. Be it known that the navy then contained a double- turreted monitor of that name—a monitor which had successfully made the voyage from New York to Mare Island in 1868, convoyed by the steamer ‘Vanderbilt. It was to repair this old monitor that Secor et al. secured the first appropria- tion, for the average Congr in those days had no true appreciation of the value of a navy, their motto in ef- fect being, “‘Millions for patches; not a cent for new ships.” Fortunately the representatives from California, aided by their -colleagues from the Atlantic coast States, formu- jated a plan whereby they might suc- cussfully pull the wool over the eyes of the fresh water statesmen from land Jocked 'States; said plan providing for the building of a new vessel under the fiction that an old one was being re- paired, California’s distance from the national capital affording excellent op- portunities for such a scheme. Under the coaching of these Con- gressmen the contractors, on their ar- rival at Mare Island. it is said, visited the old Monadnock at her anchorage in Rotten Row, and taking a rivet hole out of one of her side plates proceeded to build a new vessel around it on the stocks which they had erected on the Vallejo shore, all progress on such work »eing regularly reported to Washing- ~n under the head of ‘repairs.” ‘41 the hands of a few score of me- chanics these “repairs'’ progressed with more or less speed, with occasional in- termissions of a year or two each for lack of Congressional appropriations, and in time the ribs of iron and plates of steel gave shape to the hull. Tt was while the vessel was in this stage that one of the contractors, who had taken up his residence near by, was awak- ened from his slumbers one night by a furfous pounding at his front door. He found the night watchman of the shipyard, an old man named Narvey, at the door, almost in a state of col- lapse. It required the administering of a “cordial” to restore the frightened watchman to his senses. He ex- plained that he had been driven from his post by a horrible ghost. In vaip the contractor strove to re- ractically sters of e N THE pyc Rs’ STRUGGLE ITH o BSTREPEROS . e AY DIRT, =S @ 2 A /A G\ (\\J/‘ \ #H‘ sparkling dirt,and each ebb has carried a portion of it back to sea. Until re- i that the only sand was ods were introduced in the Little River di ict about three years ago. who went into ‘“e plan and they worked 1 were doomed to 1 A PAN OF BLACK SAND FOR COLOR, ferariifiency have done th times with p From a Photograph. The two machines which v have filled the been the schemes devised for profitably 0 running by reason of break vielded results w m. turning out gold to the most sanguin the | gold working them. Humboldt County Plant after plant was erected, all of Claim sand equally rich and machiner s f $200 a day at an expense of fever, and there are to= least a & number of tlese strips of gold be which were of a crude and ex for WOTKing: IoERE Exeatar capde Wopanoul s ke and this dozen men in Humboldt who would not ing black sand along her c and for antal character. One machine The handful of men who are work- °n an investment of about $8000. \‘}A)l‘\ll)—“’ sha mining plants ars past miners had been struggling nother w ed without su ing this are in consequence a Supervisor N. H. Pine, who is r one of the with the proble a. They arc there. The pi her year has chinery Is work smiling uppn and varies in width, and cov thing less than two hur d a sand containing gold dust ligs directly on the in long strips all along the Pa- mldway between Trin ka down. Several in what is known as the Little R > 1 _coast district. du to stampedes i For ages back each flooding tide has handled b washed up and deposited at the foot of Tt was the bluff a . layer of the black and that more lant lot. m of getting the gold Profiting by the failures of the None of the machines handled the sand ju % Mention of the Klondike dent and principal owner o e h where the new ma- pioneer miners, those who took up the thoroughly nor in a sufficient qu e i s ty they will not countenance. They are’ ard placer mine, ng s two miles long, work later realized that success could for profit, Finally perseverance won,* driving their machinery night and day his company had s fAirough hardling a and of the-three plants-erecteéd two are and only a break-down -Stops-ite ZEach. which he c be ‘attained arge amount of that a large r0s8it remai ), and that only v y at now g worked -five or thirty years at operation, while the and. It was 1 time brings anothér shift of men, more so th nightfall sends a happy lot tc last twe > of the three plants the, the rate his plant can handie it, which men are all interested in the capital is about 250 to of pure sand per day tock of the mine, while in the other of tw hours. He emph: his more men confide t his plant will clear up h the ent mth for the next twenty-five successful 1ough it could be 1 ful plants have been at work about a month, and since then nearly every regular a s ackage of ~apital At the time of my recent one of S‘ e the the ‘l't‘n»r only con- Finally a bright thought struck the for Narvey was in the main a sensible rels with buckshot. wharf almost d wting to return to his post when his contractor, and he declared it to be man and fairly endowed with courage, On the next night, and for several shadow of the bow wplover volunteered to accompany his belief that the ghost was the and he resolved to hold his job. succeeding nights, Nar him. vice of some envious person, whose The next day the story of the ghost- peace, and he felt r ctly under the the face of the moon, as. the lone . which towered watcher meditatively munched his meal ; was left in above him for a height of forty feet and listened to the mournful sobbine ured at the or more, and proceeded to enjoy his of the waves as they washed scoany Each carrying a lantern, a thorough it was to frighten Narvey into re ly visitation was told all over town, . thought that his shotgun threat had midni ili i % X ying 1 1 y sitatic s a ) b oug @ S s & a ght lunch. the piling and under e o inspection of the hull and surroundings ing, so that the trickster might get Narvey never failing, by way of fair indeed exorcised the ghost. Seven bells had struck and the mys- \\'}:arf. .f}\p:n'onxt‘ll;“‘iil Sl‘l’;s!)()l:s\\'?(fh ::; was Inad?‘ with no result, a fact which Jjob with its accompanying salary warning, to announce that thereafter One night, while comforted with this tic hour of 12 was fast approaching. sobbing of the waves c: 2 i \,_nl_y confirmed the worst fears of Nar- $30 per month. he would be accompanied on his rounds consoling belief, and having just gone Rain had been falling, and B}n‘k clouds fitfu){dg\ rf“t“u:l:; ('?nr]g::nh;l“md = vey. The suggestion struck fruitful soil, by his tru gun, loaded in both bar- the rounds, he seated himself on the were fast chasing each other across ing of cha ns and pull‘ey biocka (c\;e?l.:: derrick spars, while the occasional slapping of a ratline aginst the sides of the poles and staging, with occa- sional whistling through gaping holes in the sh de, added to the many sounds of the sea, familiar to all old sailors, furnished anything but food for pleas thoughts. It was while thus surrounded that Narvey was suddenly aroused from his reverie by the sight of some black sig- nal wigwagging on the wharf almost at his f With a wild ery he ds bucket at the phantor then realizing that it ¥ flection of turned his sel’s bow and je ‘With an effort he gra discharged both barrel horrid object full and fair, for with a thrill and quiver it rustled for a mo- ment, then hung limp and still across e of iron. Narvey s rce less de- spair. Would he be ju: 1 by the law ng a follow mortal? Was it ad- e to throw the body overboard to arried off by the out-rushing tide? No! He would awake the town, and telling what he had done stand py his deed. Resolved on this course he started for the , but had scarce taken two steps when there came a swishing sound from e, and in a setond he vas doused from head to heels with a tful of chilling cold water! A horrid, uncanr :h of derision rang out on the st and then the almost tchman saw the awfal off the bow, glide nd disappear in he roof of the space GVe main workshop. The next day the story of this latest itation was all over Vallejo and the “ople only tapped their antly and looked pity- vay. dropped his job and there was a different watchman on duty the next night. The new man seemed to tire of his job, how in a week or g0 and re: ed. Another and another owed in -short order, and then it admitted that either it was a ghost or else in the long list of ap- plicants for the job the contractors had not yet appointed the man who was working for it in such a mysteri- pus manner, P Loted S Lot Sy St As sailors are more superstitious than gamblers it may be well to add the statément, whether accurate or not, that several years after the happening of the events recorded, some small boys in bathing near the old shipyard ! % G AT ARy s £ 9 ? brought to the surface a rudely formed ’, O b ) T o 3 3 4 < v scarecrow, made of wire and covered ;m%{,\fi e Ko ; & . with & old dress that had once been e PR D T 2 i SanR = e : A % white. This, it was claimed, solved = B RS ¥ the mystery of ‘“‘the ghost,” the expla- nation being offered that the author of the malicious pranks on the night WITH @ WILD CRY HE GRABBED HIS GUN @ND LOOKED UPWARD ONLY TO BE HORROR-STRICKEN BY THE SIGHT OF THE TERRIBLE THING ON ¥ e choosni biefiatyey hag evwn it from the bow of the vessel over the THE VESSEL’S BOW. workshop, whence it fell into the bay and sank.