Show 1 the pro prospector dector and his burro by will C higgins it is evident said the prospector to his burro that you take but bui little stock in the story I 1 told you two weeks ago about the manner of my discovery of a bonanza on the top of an inaccessible cliff through the medium of some wild geese I 1 had captured and which I 1 used as a type of flying machine and your skepticism in this matter is not to be wondered wonder ed at as since then and since the recital of the adventure in the columns of the salt lake 11 mining ining review more than one of my associates have intimated that I 1 was several kinds and brands of a liar all of which I 1 have taken jn in good part as it is difficult to ruffle the equilibrium of a man who has told the truth and that I 1 told the truth in this instance if I 1 never did before is evidenced by the fact that my bank roll is of such proportions that I 1 have been invited by the Guggenheim ers to engage with them in their numerous promotions you complain also about the discovery being made in a spot where it would be impossible for a burro to visit and that tha t as for you you would like to be in position to verify some of the fairy stories I 1 have been telling you during the past few years in order to dissipate the shaky feeling you have often ex experienced perien ced in the region of your solar plexus caused you believe by a sickening doubt as to my absolute veracity city out which possibly may have been caused by an attack of infantile colic of course it is nearly always necessary to take the story of a prospector with a grain of salt as it were but believe me they are the real salt of the mining industry just as a faithful burro is among the in on a long prospecting trip and the proof of the reality of more than one improbable report they bring in from the hills is shown in the imposing mills hoists and surface improvements which adorn producing mines which at one time were nothing but prospects and which formed the basis of such flights of fancy that in the telling of their discovery the prospector pio is accounted as being a dreamer or imposter or both w but continued the prospector you desire to be shown and it is more than fortunate that I 1 am in a position to show you in order that the deep suspicion of me that troubles your gentle heart may be forever set at rest it is still light enough to see quite well and I 1 want to call ball your attention to the big hoisting plant near the crest of the mountain just across the canyon from us it is a lively camp as you will observe but eight years ago there was nothing there but a few scrubby pines and mountain oak it is a rugged section of the range and at the time I 1 speak of there was only a single trail that led from the canyon to the summit and believe me if two men or two burros were to meet on this narrow thoroughfare one or the other would have to turn back or fight for the right of way it way was nearly dark when I 1 camped years ago on the same spot where we are camped today I 1 was up early in the morning and had already given your mother her cupful of barley when I 1 noticed that she was looking intently at something that greatly interested her on the mountain side on the other side of the canyon following her gaze by sighting along her outstretched ears I 1 was enabled to see that there was some movement along the trail I 1 have just mentioned at first farst I 1 could hardly make out what the objects were that I 1 saw but was soon able to make out that a big buck deer was going down the trail and that a brown bear was going up it was the mating season for deer at which time the bucks are fearless and so 1 looked for something interesting to happen when the buck and the bear met on the narrow passageway nor was I 1 mistaken for when they met preparation was made at once for battle the buck pawed the earth and threw clouds of dust over his broad back while the bear sat up on his haunches and growled ominously after looking at each other for a moment the buck lowered his mighty antlers anglers and charged the bear like a streak of lighting but just as swiftly the bear sort of sidestepped and gave the buck a blow with his paw that staggered him again they closed and it seemed as if they never would separate indeed they seemed to be entirely absorbed in each other just the same as a young couple behind an umbrella down at long beach and the embrace of the bear was n anso ling for when I 1 reached the scene of battle half an hour afterwards the buck lay dead on the ground while bruin was making off up the path licking his many wounds I 1 felt sorry for the buck for he was a fine specimen and an d was wondering where his mate was when I 1 chanced to look around the battlefield which looked as if a tornado in a big hurry had passed that way the ground was torn and trampled but i what interested me the most was the frag ments of quartz that had been uncovered and torn up during the fracas this looked good to mo and a closer examination re r e healed the fact that the rock was quite rich in native gold going iback back to my camp I 1 got my pick and shovel and before night after doing some trenching drenching tren ching I 1 uncovered a true fissure ledge that was about three feet in width and that would assay about 75 in gold to the ton besides several ounces in silver for a week I 1 was engaged in prospecting the vein making locations and putting up monuments and then I 1 hiked back to the town at the mouth of the canyon where I 1 bought a lot of provisions and supplies hired two miners and started back to begin some systematic work in the development of my new find which was a blind vein and so completely covered by debris that nothing short of an earthquake of a battle royal between two wild beasts would have ever revealed its existence inside of six months I 1 was shipping to the lane slow speed mill on bay horse creek ten miles away with a downhill pull and a year later was paying myself dividends at the rate of a month As a matter of fact I 1 was making too much money and was getting tired of what would seem to be a pleasant pastime when some new york guys who had brains as well as wealth and who could use both to good advantage e happened along and taking a fancy to my little mine made me a proposition to buy which I 1 accepted on the spot for my long suite is rambling about the hills looking for prospects rather than mine development and operation and you may be sure that I 1 was glad to let go for with what I 1 had taken from the mine and with what I 1 got when I 1 sold it I 1 had as much or more than any right minded man should have to worry over in less than a year after I 1 had disposed of the mine a fine hoisting plant was installed the same that you have been looking at and for the past seven years the owners have been turning out gold ore at the rate of a month and the property looks good for several million more 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector it is the doubting that are a menace to the mining industry and much more so than are the fairy tales told by enthusiastic prospectors pec tors prom from the former one will never get more than a of grief but if the story of 0 the mining pioneer is given some little consideration great mines are developed where nothing but desert nothingness long had reigned and there you are and then some |