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I guess I don't interpret it the same way you do Ashton. While I agree that the description in Conatser consists of both a tunnel (which is what Waltz defines as THE MINE) and a shaft above, I interpret it to mean that the shaft above leads to the same gold.
I highlighted in red the word that is the key to my interpretation...
"Some distance above the tunnel on the side of the mountain, is a shaft or incline that is so steep that one cannot climb down. This, too, is carefully covered. The shaft goes right down in the midst of the rich gold ledge, where it can be picked off in flakes of almost pure gold.”
Because it says THE, I interpret that to be describing the same gold is that which is located in the mine - if not, I believe it would have been written as "a" rich gold ledge.
What is really interesting to me is that no matter whether the shaft and tunnel are both leading to the same gold source or not, it implies that there is both a large and rich source of gold out there somewhere. It states that "some distance" above the tunnel is the shaft - I suppose everyone has a different interpretation of some distance, but as it's written, I envision it to be more than just a quick climb. That means to me that either the shaft/incline is really deep in order to intersect the gold in the tunnel, or the gold source happens to be fairly wide and runs at a certain angle such that it can be intersected by both the tunnel and shaft.
I'm rambling now and not making much sense, but I hope you understand how I interpret it.
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