We decided to sink a shaft.

So, for a week we climbed the mountain, laden with picks, drills, gads, crowbars, shovels, cans of blasting powder and coils of fuse and strove with might and main.
At first the rock was broken and loose and we dug it up with picks and threw it out with shovels, and the hole progressed very well.

But the rock became more compact, presently, and gads and crowbars came into play.

But shortly nothing could make an impression but blasting powder.
That was the weariest work! One of us held the iron drill in its place and another would strike with an eight-pound sledge--it was like driving nails on a large scale.

In the course of an hour or two the drill would reach a depth of two or three feet, making a hole a couple of inches in diameter.