Show the ile xie life ilc of a mlucy CITY march 7 ath th 1875 editor deseret news the miners taken as a class so far as my experience extends are a hardy generous hearted spendthrift a pen d set of a restless easily excited never thoroughly satisfied roving disposition and the aa saying 3 ing has become proverbial on onee once c 0 a miner and never fit for any settled mode of life the life ot of a miner 1 I speak of the men who work in the mines for wages is a singular mixture of hard bard labor want of foreit forethought hought danger disease dissipation and careless reckless recklessness nem neu the scene of his labors is gener generally villy underground far away from gods blessed health giving sunlight in the midst of palpable dark darkness ness dess his work is carried rl da on n by the light of a candle I 1 in a shaft tunnel or cross drift t he the atm aam atmosphere of which is so dense derise and warm that he is in may instances forced to work denuded of every stitch of clothing with the exception of a pair of heavy boots or shoes which he is obliged to wear to protect his feet from the sharp rocks nud aud even then the perspiration rolls from his body in a perfect stream the air which he breathes on account of bad circulation ia is laden with the noxious vapors which exhale from the ores in which he works and often poison his blood to buch such an extent that he is soon incapacitated for labor for tho the balance of his life and death often ensues this is particularly the case in the mines in this thia viel vick anity owing to the ore containing lead arsenic antimony and sulphur it itlay la a common occurrence in the great cottonwood mines to hear of u a miner v who ho has got leaded and has gone to the city to get cured but the cure is seldom permanent and soon the poison polson makes its appearance in the shape of paralysis ar T chronic rheumatism in some one of its 16 various forms the majority of the miners labori laboring Rg in the above mentioned men ton mines and those of bf bingham canon come conae from their work tork vork with a ghastly yellow look on their faces the result of a few days labor in the midst of pf the poisonous exhalations exha lations of the afore mentioned minerals and from which there is no escape short of forsaking the business of a miner and taking up some more mor e healthy but less re a vh occupation these are only a small portion of the dangers to which the miner is exposed his life is 14 constantly in danger from the premature explosion of blasts and the chances tor for such accidents have hav very every much increased within the last few years by the introduction and almost universal use of giant glant powder in the mines of which an old miner once said to me it its s very sartin on stuff it may ex explode 0 do while lying quietly in the box gril grit er it may explode while you ha have ve it in your hand without any apparent caused cause and a man may use it for years till he hd thinks it as harmless as a new born babe and then have it crawl up on him in the brush and bust him all to flinders then there is constan constant fand and imminent danger to him liim from falling rocks which have hung apparently solid and secure lecure in the roof for months until by fhe he constant jar of the blasting er or by the notion of water they all at once become loosened tremble and drop if unfortunately some poor wretch of a miner is be beneath heath he is 33 crushed into a shapeless mass massa masga ri iid lid 4 the public unthinkingly reads in ill the daily journals our nals that a sad accident occurred in the mine yen yeA yesterday erday by which one or more miners lost their lives and that is the end of the tm matter another danger to which the miner is constantly exposed is that the mountain by long con linued excavation becomes become s honeycombed and no amount of careful jimb timbering ering I 1 can su sustain stain thelm the immense merise melise weight which is constantly pressing ng upon these timbers which are I 1 am sorry to say very often carelessly put up the result is a q cave pave in the mine and hundreds of poor fellows may at any instant be shut out from the help of their fellow men and either be crushed to death in the twinkling of aleye or more horrible still be shut up from the free air of heaven and doomed to die a fearful lingering death fron suffocation the generality of mining towns are eminently preeminently pre hard places although there are many good and virtuous men and aud women in ill most mining localities yet they keep themselves aloof and the average inhabitant is of the very scum of society blasphemy of which a pirate would be ashamed and billingsgate lings gate which would make a denizen of the lowest slums of london blush greet the ear on every side under these circumstances men with nothing to restrain thena theca soon become as hardened as the hardest miners as a class work faithfully and constantly till pay day comes around usually every month when they receive their wages wadea and go to the town to make some sim simple 1 e purchase or perchance to pay for 0 r I 1 goods ghods which they purchased during the previous month mouth this done their intentions are to return to their W wora ora but the camp is filled with shar sharpens pers both male and female they know to a minute the time when their victim gets his money and spider like ilke they have been weaving their webs for days there is no place of or ment where he can go the place is composed of stores hotels ea eat t ing houses saloons gambling houses and more saloons dan lan dance danee c e h hous 0 u 9 es are there also where the painted courtesan hangs around the door watching for her victim as the saloonkeeper saloon keeper and gambler are watching there are music and light and dancing within her den and she knows he will surely come and that he will let iet ee ve the portion of his earnings which has escaped the tiie clutches of the saloonkeeper saloon keeper and gambler she is not dis disappointed ap he looked around for J jaek Jack Bill or dick with whom to take a drink he wanted canted a little fun and then to go back to work the is tak tal taken en another must be taken with his comrades for the rake of good fellowship his blood is heated the gaming table attracts his attention he will take one stroke at the tiger soon successive drinks and hild losses render him reckless and as herise bercse ber he her risea lse ise from the faro table cursing hi his s bad luck h he e says well 1 ill lil iii ill have one fling around the room with the hurdy gurdy the drink has maddened highe has ha no virtuous sister or mother near nean to check him film the memory of bf other days and arid better actions is siuk sink in oblivion on annonce and once in the sirens deruhe deu he remains there until every farthing of his money ey is expended then the bravos who haunt the place kick him out and he returns to his work if haply he has not hot forfeited his pl place hee ice in the mine and repeats the experience next pay day such buch is the life ilfe of too many miners it is spent in fruitless toil in the cours course 0 of time lime the in miners iners constitution is broken I 1 his health impaired by dissipation and the unavoidable unhealthiness of his occupation cu pation and his ultimate end is a premature and impoverished old age if lie be providentially escape the 60 hospital pital and a lingering death therein RUDIO |