M is for Miners - Blogging from A to Z April 2020 Challenge!

Today M is for early Miners and MIning in British Columbia!

Blogging about British Columbia Genealogy Resources

Please be warned that the article below is taken from a 1914 newspaper and was in its original form, from a much older time period. Language and prejudices are not necessarily the same as now.

I think it does tell us quite a bit about the life of an independent miner in British Columbia (and elsewhere) during the various 'rushes'.

I've added some context at the end.

THE MINER’S TEN COMMANDMENTS

Published in the Queen Charlotte Islander, July, 1914 - July 11, page 4 and July 18, pages 4-5. Online in the University of British Columbia Historical Newspaper Collection

The following commandments are taken from a book published many years ago on the early history of British Columbia, and in view of the present excitement on Graham Island are worth repeating, although they are altered a little to suit prevailing conditions:

“A man spake these words, and said: I am a prospector, who wandered from ‘away down east’ and came to sojourn in a strange land, and ‘see the bear’. And behold I saw him, and bear witness, that from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, his whole body has passed before me; and I followed him until his huge paws stood still before a clapboard shanty: then with his head extended, he pointed to a candle-card tacked upon a shingle, as though he would say ‘read,’ and I read 

I.                     Thou shalt have no other claim than one.

II.                   Thou shalt not make unto thyself any false claim, or any likeness to a mean man, by jumping one; whatever thou findest on the top above, or on the rock beneath, or in a crevice underneath the rock; - or I will visit the miners around to invite them on my side; and when they decide against thee, thou shalt take thy pick and thy pan thy shovel and thy blankets, with all that thou hast, and ‘go prospecting’ to seek good diggings; but thou shalt find none. Then, when thou has returned, in sorrow shalt thou find that thine old claim is worked out, and yet no pile made thee to hide in the ground, or in an old boot beneath thy bunk, or in buckskin or bottle underneath thy cabin; but hast paid all that was in thy purse away, worn out thy boots and thy garments, so that there is nothing good about them but the pockets, and thy patience is likened unto thy garments; and at last thou shalt hire thy body out to make thy board and save thy bacon.

III.                 Thou shalt not go prospecting before thy claim gives out. Neither shalt thou take thy money, nor thy ‘showings,’ not thy good name, to the gaming table in vain; for monte, twenty-one, roulette, faro, lansquenet and poker, will prove to thee that the more thou puttest down the less thou shalt take up; and when thou thinkest of thy wife and children, thou shall not hold thyself guiltless—but insane.

IV.                Thou shalt not remember what thy friends do at home on the Sabbath day, lest the remembrance may not compare favourable with what thou does here,— Six days thou mayest dig or pick all that thy body can stand under; but the other day is Sunday; yet thou washest all thy dirty shirts, darnest all thy stockings, tappest thy boots, mendest thy clothing, choppiest thy whole week’s firewood, makest up and bakest thy break [bread?], and boilest thy pork and beans, that thou wait not when thou returnest from thy long-tom, weary. For in six days labour only thou canst not work enough to wear out thy body in two years; but if thou workest hard on Sunday also, thou canst do it in six months; and thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy male friend and thy female friend, thy morals and thy conscience, be none the better for it, but reproach thee shouldst thou ever return with thy worn-out body to thy mother’s fireside; and thou shalt not strive to justify thyself, because the trade and the blacksmith, the carpenter and the merchant, the tailors, Jews and buccaneers, defy God and civilization, by keeping not the Sabbath day, nor wish for a day of rest, such as memory, youth and home made hallowd.

V.                  Thou shalt not think more of all thy gold, and how thou canst make it fastest, than how thou wilt enjoy it, after thou has ridden rough-shod over thy good old parents’ precepts and examples, that thou mayest have nothing to reproach and sting thee, when thou art left alone in the land where thy father’s blessing and thy mother’s love have sent thee.

VI.                Thou shalt not kill thy body by working in the rain, even though thou shalt make enough to buy physic and attendance with. Neither shalt thou kill thy neighbours’ body in a duel; for by ‘keeping cool,’ thou canst save his life and thy conscience. Neither shalt thou destroy thyself by getting ‘tight,’ nor ‘slewed,’ nor ‘high,’ nor ‘corned,’ nor ‘half-seas over,’ nor ‘three sheets in the wind,’ by drinking smoothly down—‘brandy slings,’ ‘gin cocktails,’ ‘whiskey punches,’ ‘rum toddies,’ nor ‘egg nogs.’ Neither shalt thou suck ‘mint juleps,’ nor ‘cherry cobblers,’ through a straw; nor gurgle from a bottle the ‘raw material,’ or‘take it neat’ from a decanter; for while thou art swallowing, down thy purse and thy coat from off thy back, thou art burning the coat from off thy stomack; and, if thou couldst see the houses and lands, and gold-dust, and home comforts already lying there—‘a huge pile’—thou shouldst feel a choking in thy throat; and when to that thou addest thy crooked walkings and hiccupping talkings, of lodgings in the gutter, of broilings in the sun, of prospect-holes half full of water, and of shafts and ditches, from which thou has emerged like a drowned rat, thou wilt feel disgusted with thyself and enquire, ‘Is thy servant a dog that he doeth these things?’ verily I will say, farewell, old bottle, I will kiss thy gurgling lips no more. And thou, slings, cocktails, punches, smashes, cobblers, nogs, toddies, sangarees, and juleps, for ever farewell; thy remembrance shames me; henceforth ‘I cut thy acquaintance,’ and headaches, tremblings, heart-burnings, blue devils, and all the unholy catalogue of evils that follow in thy train. My wife’s smiles and my children’s merry-hearted laugh shall charm and reward me for having the manly firmness and courage to say no. I wish thee an eternal farewell.

VII.               Thou shalt not grow discouraged, nor think of going home before thou has made thy ‘pile’, because thou hast not ‘struck a lead,’ nor found a ‘rich crevice,’ nor sunk a hole upon a ‘pocket,’ lest in going home thou shalt leave four dollars a day, and go to work, ashamed, at fifty cents, and serve thee right; for thou knowest by staying here, thou mightiest strike a lead and fifty dollars a day, and keep thy manly self-respect, and then go home with enough to make thyself and others happy.

VIII.             Thou shalt not steal a pick, or a shovel, or a pan from thy fellow-miner; nor take away his tools without his leave, nor borrow those he cannot spare, nor return them broken, nor trouble him to fetch them back again, nor talk with him while his water-rent is running on, nor remove his stake to enlarge thy claim, or undermine his bank in following a lead, nor pan out gold from his ‘riffle box,’ nor wash the ‘tailings’ from his sluice’s mouth. Neither shalt thou pick out specimens from the company’s pan to put them in thy mouth, or in thy purse, nor cheat thy partner of his share; nor steal from thy cabinet-mate his gold-dust, to add to thine; for he will be sure to discover what thou hast done, and will straightaway call his fellow-miners together, and if the law hinder them not, they will hang thee, or give thee fifty lashes, or shave thy head and brand thee like a horse-thief, with ‘R’ upon thy cheek, to be known and read of all men, Californians in particular.

IX.                 Thou shalt not tell any false tales about ‘good diggings in the mountains’ to thy neighbour, that thou mayest benefit a friend who hast mules, and tools, and blankets, he cannot sell—lest in deceiving thy neighbour, when he retourneth through the snow with nought save his rifle, he present thee with the contents thereof, and, like a dog, thou shalt fall down and die.

X.                   Thou shalt not commit unsuitable matrimony, nor covet single blessedness; nor forget absent maidens; nor neglect thy ‘first love;’ but thou shalt consider how faithfully and patiently she awaiteth thy return; yea, and covereth each epistle that thou sendest with kisses of kindly welcome—until she hath thyself. Neither shall thou covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor trifle with the affections of his daughter; yet if thy heart be free, and thou dost love and covet each other, thou shalt ‘pop the question’ like a man, lest another, more manly than thou art, should step in before thee, and thou love her in vain, and, in the anguish of thy heart’s disappointment, thou shalt quote the language of the great, and say, ‘Sich is life;’ and thy future lot be that of a poor, lonely, despised, and comfortless bachelor.

A new commandment I give unto thee—If thou hast a wife and little ones, that thou lovest dearer than thy life,—that thou keep them continually before thee, to cheer and urge thee onward, until thou canst say, ‘I have enough—God bless them!—I will return.’ Then, as thou journeyest toward thy much-loved home, with open arms shall they come forth to welcome thee, and, falling upon thy neck, weep tears of unutterable joy that thou art come; then in the fulness of thy heart’s gratitude, thou shalt kneel together before thy Heavenly Father, to thank him for thy safe return.     AMEN—So mote it be."

I'm sure this piece has been republished many times, although I've not found it (so far) in an early BC history book as is mentioned in the article. Below you will see what must have been close to, if not the same as the original published version in the Placerville Herald (Eldorado County, California, USA) in 1853 during the California gold rush. The author,  James M. Hutchings, then had it published and copyrighted in 1853 as an illustrated 'letter sheet'. 

You will realize pretty quickly what one of the changes to suit conditions in British Columbia was, possibly made by James M. Campbell, then Editor of the Queen Charlotte Islander, published on the Queen Charlotte Islands, today Haida Gwaii.  See a modern map of Haida Gwaii here.

At the time, it was thought there must be oil on Graham Island (now Kiis Gwaay), and the paper is full of "Coal and Petroleum Notices" for licenses to prospect. I suspect some of those men are in this photo, taken by Charlie Ives and titled "Graham Island Oil Barons" (Haida Gwaii Museum). If you recognize any of them, please let me know.

Although there was prospecting and drilling beginning in 1913, nothing materialized, although there is certainly interest (and opposition too) today. 

The author, James M. Hutchings had quite a life, and he was indeed a miner  (I understand he lost all he made in California); he never was in BC. If you are interested, look for more on the web or check libraries for Seeking the elephant, 1849: James Mason Hutchings' journal of his overland trek to California, including his voyage to America, 1848, and letters from the mother lode by Shirley Sargent (A.H. Clark, 1980).

The miner's Ten Commandments, James Mason Hutchings, author; Ben Kutcher and Harrison Eastman, artists; Anthony & Baker, engravers. ©1853.

Library of Congress collection, LC-DIG-ppmsca-32175.