Show the prospector dector and his burro by WILL C HIGGINS the snow slides coming down the steep slope of thunderclap hill said the prospector to his burro may prove of benefit and advantage to the prospector and claim holder if they do not wreck cabins and kill two or three unfortunates in their course for they are liable to plow up the ground and smash through masses of rock to such an extent as to uncover and expose blind ledges or veins whose outcrop have been weathered away and afterwards cov sred bred with debris from disintegrating limes and but these disclosures however will not be revealed to man until after the snows have softened under the gentle influences of approaching spring when the bonanza in embryo may be soon discovered by some fortunate prospector or remain for years virtually within sight and reach of a host of treasure seekers who fol following lowin in the old rut of ages fail to turn either to the right or left in their quest for the root of all evil there are two natural agencies continued the prospector which often prove of benefit and assistance to the prospector if he is fortunate enough to escape with his life when connected up with either of them and these agencies are snow slides and floods and either of them in their terrific negotiation of cliff and mountainside leave desolation in their course and at the same time may have uncovered one of dame natures treasure depositaries deposit aries that has long escaped the notice of man mail or have defied his efforts to master the combination of the time lock you say that you like snow and water for the general good they do the country and that you have always noticed that the barley sack is filled with greater frequency when there is an abundance of both than is the case when there is a long drought or when a brown and bare winter gets on the nerves of every living thing still it takes gold and silver to buy the barl barley i ey after the rancher has coaxed it from the field to the sack and this money metal must come from the mines which at one time in their history must pass through the hands of the prospector who discovering strong surface cropping or evidence disclosed toy by or swiftly flowing torrent of the existence of mineral below makes his location and starts in in the development of what may in the future prove to be a big and profitable mine and this reminds me of a valuable discovery made by me in hooligan gulch come unto thirty years ago and believe me it was a lulu in the nude with no need whatever for any extra adornment at the time I 1 speak of I 1 had been snowed in at my claim in the upper regions of the lost fork and it was with pleasure that I 1 noted the gradual disappearance pe arance of the snowbanks snow banks for my supply of provisions was getting perilously low while your mother was confining her diet to wandering breezes coming through the chinks of her stall and an occasional allowance composed of tree bark and twigs from juniper bushes and she was as anxious as I 1 was to get down to the hospitable folk in the valley and so one morning bright and early we started out with the hope and expectation of getting down into the canyon by noon for we must pursue a zigzag zig za zag course in order to finally attain a lower elevation but the snow began to soften and our progress necessarily was somewhat slow as a consequence and so it was just about noon when we stopped to rest under the shadow of a tall and towering cliff back of which a bare mountain rose steeply to a heights of a thousand feet or more and the slope of the mountain was buried under a great mass of the beautiful we were both exhausted and inclined to take a short rest after our somewhat abbreviated repast and I 1 was drawing hard on my old cob and your mother was silently repeating verses from tennyson to herself when all at once we were overwhelmed and terrified by a noise and a shock that seemed to come from nowhere and which from all indications covered everything and clothed the earth in darkness at least it seemed dark to me and must have affected my burro in the same manner for she was as dazed as I 1 was when a second slide for we had been overwhelmed by an avalanche swept the burden of snow from above us and lef left t us marooned between two 6 great channels that had been cut cut out on either side of the cliff or the precipice which had divided the slide and so afforded us an asylum of protection for it was only the outer edges of the running snow that had covered us it seemed to me that we were in a serious predicament with no chance of getting out of our critical position for two or three days at least and I 1 thought starvation was making faces at us through a periscope it was while in this frame of mind that I 1 began making an investigation of our surroundings and was most agreeably surprised when at one side of the path of the avalanche I 1 found what at first appeared to be a pile of drift wood but which upon closer investigation proved to be the wreck of a claim owners cabin which had been swept down the mountainside to my point of vantage I 1 was overjoyed at the discovery for I 1 knew that fuel was at hand and I 1 was almost overcome wa with th delight when in tearing away the debris I 1 found two hams a a sack of flour and a box containing sugar salt pepper etc while in another sack I 1 found about fifty pounds of barley the discovery of which set your mother to singing up in high G and so for the next few days we were as comfortable and happy as two june bugs out on a spree and we felt that nothing could ever worry us again and while we feasted and slept I 1 took an occasional cas ional walk to the seeming limitations of our environment and was much surprised on the seventh day of our captivity to find that the avalanche on the south side of the cliff had ploughed sloughed hed out the surface of the ground to a depth of ten feet disclosing a ledge of quartz over four feet in width that was fairly glittering with gold and so you can easily see how in our seeming misfortunes comet mes we find the great blessings we fail to corral on the open trail or are able to coax to eat out of our hands for the uncovering of the gold bearing ledge by the resulted in my being able to claim ownership to a bonanza that was already halter broke and that would stand without hitching hitchin As soon as I 1 was able to begin exploitation work in the spring I 1 helped the claim own er up on the mountainside to rebuild his cabin and restock re stock his larder and when a little later a man came along and offered me a war bride price for my new made mine I 1 took up with his proposition and was able to add a handsome sum to my cash balance in the bank in the little camp down near the mouth of canyon 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector a is a thing to regard with respect and fear as it surges down your way and also a thing to be thankful for if it makes a curve around you in its course and at the same time throws gold eagles into your lap as it thunders down into the canyon and there you are and then some |