Show the prospector and his burro 4 fialty by will C higgins 1 I have seen a great deal in the papers of late said the prospector to his burro regarding the recent finding of gold nuggets in california and alaska that were big enough to keep almost any company and in almost every instance they were nested with little baby nuggets which had the appearance of having just been hatched the big nuggets having a value of about 2000 each while the little fellows looked like day old chicks that city amateurs are always anxious to corral at 5 per but the largest of these big fellows could not come within hailing distance of the king of nuggets I 1 found at the f oot foot of mt aft davis twenty five years ago and I 1 want to tell you I 1 came very near losing my lif life e because of it before I 1 could get to carson city with my treasure atthe time I 1 speak of continued the prospector 1 I had been following float up the mountain side for several days about half way up the blossoms began to disappear and it became evident that I 1 was above the gold bearing zone and yet I 1 could find no sign of a ledge or fissure and every day proved to be a wate rhaul as far as I 1 was concerned I 1 had established my camp in a little hollow out in a flat some quarter of a mile from the mountain where a little spring gushed out of a crevice in the rock and afforded moisture for the patch of grass that my burro had located and upon which she was already doing the legal amount of assessment work and I 1 would have been perfectly contented I 1 it f I 1 had been able to locate only a hatfull of pay rock in place up on the mountain side for I 1 was sweet on a girl over in valley and was anxious to make a stake so that I 1 could build a real house for her with a bay window on the south side and a place by the big chimney for a genuine melo deon it was quite natural then that I 1 was somewhat downhearted down hearted and disappointed for the flo float at was full of gold and was surely thrown from a ledge some somewhere where in that vicinity and besides I 1 sore for I 1 bad walked miles over rugged v v ground before returning to camp so to ease my feet I 1 dug a small hole a little distance below the spring in which I 1 soaked my pedal extremities for an hour or more some gome of the sand and gravel was carelessly thrown into my gold pan near where I 1 was sitting and when I 1 got ready to wash my hands before preparing my evening meal I 1 filled it half full of water before I 1 noticed the sand and gravel it contained I 1 thought it would be a good opportunity to scour the pan as it needed cleaning badly and as I 1 did so I 1 noticed little bright specks around the edge of the gravel as I 1 worked the pan back and forth they had a peculiar shade of yellow and it instantly struck me that they were composed of native gold A close examination under my magnifying glass soon convinced me that I 1 was correct in the matter and after panning a few shovels full of the gravel I 1 knew that I 1 had stumbled upon placer diggings of considerable promise in the morning I 1 began to deepen the hole I 1 had made the evening before but had not sunk a foot before my shovel struck what I 1 believed to be bedrock later I 1 discovered that it was a boulder that hindered progress and I 1 worked quite a while before I 1 could get it out it was considerably larger than my head and so heavy I 1 could hardly lift it it was black and looked almost like a cannon ball I 1 tried to break it with my pick but made no impression upon it other than to make big dents in it but when I 1 had washed it off and when I 1 made a careful examination of the dents and gashes I 1 had inflicted with my pick I 1 found that it was a chunk of solid gold all day long I 1 fondled it and dreamed of my girl on the ranch bay windows and melodeons melode ons indeed I 1 was hefting eefting it and shouting for joy when a well known blackleg black wack leg such as infested the country at that timo time broke through the willows to my camp he wanted to know the cause of gf my hilarity of course I 1 was taken off my equilibrium but I 1 recovered my poise sufficiently to tell him that I 1 was feeling good over some fine float I 1 had found on the mountain during the day but he seem to think the rock was rich enough to cause one to break out like a lunatic and he looked at me in a most suspicious manner late in the evening he left me but I 1 was leary of him and on my guard that night I 1 slept out in the willows with my nugget hidden near me I 1 kept a good watch and about two in the morning I 1 saw the outlaw prowling about my camp he went into my tent and overhauled all of my belongings but of course he found nothing of value before sunup sun up I 1 had my burro packed and struck out in a beeline bee line for the west I 1 felt I 1 was being followed and once when I 1 was making out of a canyon a rifle ball pierced my hat twice the next day I 1 was fired at and the thing was getting so hazardous that after that I 1 traveled only hiving up and keeping during the night watch atch during the day when I 1 reached to a shadow carson city I 1 was worn down and believe me my burro was even thinner she had packed the big nugget than I 1 ifor for all the way at the carson mint I 1 cached the gold a and nd the next day the assayer in charge gave me a check for 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector it take me long to hike it back to the ranch where my personal bit of calico was waiting for me and it was not long before the house with a bay window was a reality and before the melodeon was duly in installed stalle I 1 but believe me I 1 would rather find a five foot ledge of than any number lof bg 25 gold ore nuggets the ledge is a thing to ae tie to and take comfort in but a nugget is a dangerous thing to have around and there you are and then some |