Show THE prospector AND BURRO X 4 0 the other day said the veteran prospector to his burro 1 I was examine the ruins of an old mine up in the cliffs yonder and I 1 found the remains of an old pick and shovel the handles had nearly succumbed to the ravages of time and the iron was almost easten away with rust I 1 found also the remains of an old whim the parts of which had been fastened together with rawhide A little distance from the mouth of the old shaft shaf t is what is left lef t of an old and an old fireplace in the rocks and an old stone wall indicate the abiding place of the men who once delved in theses these old hills for the treasure vaults of nature in looking at what is left of this old camp the veil of the past seem to be raised for me to the tenderfoot this discovery would seem to take ong back to prehistoric times and yet it is not more than twenty five or thirty years ago since these hills were full of life and since these old mines were actively operated on a primitive scale to be sure and yet with profit profit did I 1 say why if these old mines were new discoveries of today the mining world would be going wild over them for the ore had to be extremely rich in order to overcome the excessive expense attached to that day and age and yet leave a nice balance for the owner mining is not as serious a business ln in this the year 1906 as it was a quarter of a century ago in those days in coming comin ginto into this region the miner and prospector was compelled to be absent from his home for a year or two at a time he was a thousand miles from nowhere and yet he was cheerful hopeful and fairly successful all of his supplies and provisions had to bo be brought into the country by means of pack animals and nothing but the most common necessaries essaw of life were used and yet greater bonanzas were found in those days than the present time can boast of twenty five years ago I 1 was mining in ia nevada in a section of country tributary to the colorado river all of our supplies came from san francisco being shipped by boat around lower california through the gulf of california and up the colorado river to our landing place the goods and supplies were taken into the interior on the backs of mules and burros and my but the cost was great then too our high grade ores which we could not mill on the ground silver lead ores and rebellious gold ores going from to to the ton were packed down to the landing and shipped to frisco and sometimes to wales it would take months to make the trip as they were all sailing vessels in those days and it took a long while to get a letter from froin home telling that the baby had cut two teeth that mamie was now having steady company or that death had called some loved member of the family many experiments would be made in those days in order to reduce transportation and shipping expenses I 1 remember one man who had a great body of lead carbonate ores who thought he would try to reduce bulk and weight by smelting smelling sm elting this man after infinite toil and labor succeeded in building a small furnace using charcoal for fuel the experiment was a failure for the proper fluxes were not used or were not obtainable and more than half of the values went into the slag the resulting matte carried 50 per cent lead and 1235 ounces in silver to the ton the slag went beni 30 per cent lead and 1520 ounces in silver this slag since the railroads came into the country has been hauled away and was a bonanza to the finder and pieces of it are still to be found scattered around the old dump the perfidy of certain senators resulting in the of silver in 1873 caused a suspension of silver mining and these old time producers were indefinitely closed down or abandoned abondo ned and many of them have since been forgotten and still these mines contained a world of metallic wealth and the time will come when they will be resurrected rehabilitated and take rank with the new discoveries of the day as rich and profitable mines the old gold mines too have been worked to only a shallow depth and give promise of great things in the future 1 I want to tell you old long ears continued the prospector this day and age offers great things in the mining line and any man or set of men who do not make a stake in mining under present conditions should go to hay shoveling or hop picking with the system that now accompanies mining the experience and that can be so easily applied the reduced cost in mining and milling operations the improvement in mining machinery mac hnery the many ample economical and effective methods of ore treatment the reduction in freight and transportation trans potation charges and the widespread interest that is being t taken aken in the mining industry is all in favor of mining of the present day compared with the difficulties encountered the ignorance and the makeshifts of the indus try of twenty or thirty years ago and if we do not strike it rich this year I 1 will set myself down as a good for nothing and a man whose feet do not mate |