Show the prospector or and his burro I 1 4 B by y will 0 higgins when we strolled into this nice camping place yesterday said the prospector to his burro 1 I noticed that you made a beeline bee line for the muck heap left by some late occupants and that you seemed delighted with the bacon rinds and ham wrappings resting so alluringly on top of the pile As a matter of fact you had bad pleasant anticipations of devouring the whole of the junk vainly imagining that the entire mass was composed of choice tidbits when in reality the top covering was all that you could get away with notwithstanding your copper plated stomach of course you were disappointed and you have been grouchy ever since your experience peri ence being nearly parallel with that of a buyer 1 of a salted mine you say that you can hardly see what relation a salted mine has to a burro and its disappointment when a good looking garbage heap proves to be a false alarm and perhaps you are right but your experience has been so similar to that of some buyers of mining properties throughout this intermountain region that I 1 could not help but think of the disappointment of investors who thought they had the world by the tail call on a downhill down hill pull when as a matter of fact the bonanzas they thought they were buying were only worthless alons in which a little salt had been skillfully scattered around still if you were to dig deeper into the heap where you found your bacon scraps you might find another good sized pay streak of course you can do as you please in this matter but I 1 have known where salted mines have been developed into great properties and dividend payers and I 1 will tell you of one or two instances of this kind if you will misfortune and give bemoaning your cea cease so ine your ears for a few moments A few years ago continued the prospector a friend of mine got the getrich get rich quick fever and was all excitement over brought in by an some fine ore specimens old prospector who claimed he had fiad made a big discovery out in the peavine leavine range this prospector told rny my friend that he h had driven a twenty foot tunnel in the development of his property and that the face was one mass of ore that would average to the ton in free milling gold ore he the prospector would like to work it himself but he had received word and he exhibited the cablegram that his mother was in very poor health in the old country and that lie he felt it his duty to go over and take care of her in her old age under the circumstances therefore he would sell his bonanza worth at least for spot cash my friend thought he had the ace coppered and decided to make a personal inspection of the property before absolutely closing the deal so he took an ancient chair warming mining man out with him as he professed to being leary of a reputable mining expert and the two with the assistance of the prospector made a fair sampling of the face of the tunnel the assay returns were even better than expected and within three days after tests had been received the deal was consummated and the prospector left for parts unknown my friend and his so called expert then went out to peavine leavine and began began taking out a shipment A consignment of tons was sent to the nearest and the receipts aggregated not more than 20 per ton hardly enough to pay expenses my friend thought that this was due to some error on the part of the and kicked like a bay steer but he decided to make another shipment to a reduction plant on the coast this was done and the settlement sheet disclosed values of 5 a ton and my friend was called upon to make up the discrepancy still he was not entirely discouraged and decided that he had struck a lean place in the vein so he put on two men with instructions to work for at least a month and to keep the tunnel going assays essays were made every three or four feet with only a trace for three weeks the returns were no more encouraging during the last week however ore of a different character was encountered in a stringer about four inches wide samples were sent to my friend and he went way up into the air when some of them disclosed values of to the ton another shift was put on and inside of two weeks the stringer had widened to three feet it was then that it was discovered that the prospect in the first place had been salted with ore from the old oid mohawk mine over in the next range and that the samples shown by the prospector and very placed by him into the face of the tunnel were entirely foreign to the formation however my friend was then on velvet and within five years he was able to take out over net cash before he sold out to a french syndicate for nearly a million 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector one cannot always tell just what shell the pea is under but if one is willing to take a chance he may be fortunate in the end even if a game has been fixed on him and a cod co d deck sub for the pack in hand I 1 wm would buiu not be discouraged if I 1 were you none what wh I 1 ever for if you keep steadily at work on that garbage dump you may eventually be rewarded reward pad by finding high grade on the foot wall and there you are and then thell some soine |