Show THE prospector AND HIS BURRO R 6 ff cc it is surprising to me said the prospector to his burro how careless some I 1 prospectors are w when hen it comes to the proper location of mining claims and the scant attention they pay to the putting up of monuments and corner stakes or stones the law is very plain and explicit as aa to the character and amount of location work required and yet it is amazing how little attention is paid to important details by the average claim locator the life of a prospector is a hard one at the best no one not acquainted with life in the mountains in the canyons and on the hill sides can imagine the hardships the toil and discomforts comforts dis endured by this type of pioneers by the average finders of bonanzas in and yet in a majority of cases they fail to take ordinary business precautions in protecting themselves in any discoveries they may make after weeks or months of research lonely days employed in following up the float on the mountainside in tracing veins and ledges and many nights encamped in the solitude of the canyon the prospector perchance finds something that looks good to him it may be that the find possesses no intrinsic value it may be the making of a great producer but in any event he proceeds with its location with the same slack and imperfect manner that characterizes the rank and file of the prospectors fraternity it is quite probable that he will make his location monument so small that no one can hardly see it his end centers and corners will consist of nothing more than two or three stones piled together while his descriptions and distances will be so vague or incorrect that the validity of the location is impaired from the start it is is more than likely that he will never think of making more than one location whereas if the discovery is a valuable one he should make half a dozen or more for protection at least then too if state work is to be done within a certain time as is the case in in nevada any makeshift answers his pur pose and in nine cases out of ten he will not record his location notices notice s I 1 in district dg and county within the time specified his every action being seemingly based 13 on oil the ti e premises that he is a law unto hi himself and 1 that if any trouble should arise a liberal liberally y interpreted interpreted code will protect his interests inhere t s and make good his delinquencies if his find has the earmarks of a bonan za it is not long before his section win will k be thronged thron ged with fortune hunters investors and other prospectors and while he is sleeping 8 on his rights they are busy in makin making locations all around him this his own holdings holding are invaded and if any flaw is found in III his procedure if the state work is insufficient fUci ell if the location notice is incorrect in de scrip eions or is not in compliance with the he law his claim is jumped and the prospector is in binl I 1 evolved in litigation the first jump out of bf the box the spring and the mill sitO that the prospector should have taken and located is secured by others and the only desirable site for a townsite town site is pounced upon by the keen newcomer new comer in a word wor dithe i the prospector after all of his hard work and toil who might have corralled almost everything in sight when he made his first discovery soon finds i himself the smallest fish in the puddle and with trouble an on his hands and all owing to his carelessness shiftlessness and lack of foresight 1 I want to tell you old long ears continued the prospector the man who goes out into the mountains ns on a prospecting expedition tion these days should have something more to back him up than a knowledge of rocks and formations and besides mining experience peri ence he should possess possess a goodly stock of legal lore pluck and determination in the past it has been rarely the case that the man who discovers a bonanza is the one who profits by his find in almost every poorhouse in the country may be found men today who were the original discoverers of most of the ahe great mines of the age the average prospector after he has made a valuable dincov discovery ery should have a guardian appointed for him to see that his rights are protected left to himself it is generally the case that he gets only a few thousand if anything out of his discovery and the probabilities are that within six months h he will be out in the hills again on a prospecting expedition without a dollar to hs name and all of hi his possessions curtailed to his slender stock of provisions and supplies his gold pan pick and shovel roll of bedding and his burro you may say that advise is cheap and postmortem post mortem explanations a drug 11 the market and I 1 admit that it must seem so 60 aware r to you and especially when you are of my present condition but it giffis me a 2 j feeling of solemn pleasure to acknowledge my failures tibne to one who has been as faithful faight to me as you have been together we have found a number of prospects that aro are 1101 no producing and dividend paying mines the other fellow has them today and I 1 have only t you and all because I 1 was so iso utterly careless sand and shiftless that I 1 failed to take care of my I 1 own down when I 1 had it and here I 1 am out after another bonanza which when found will probably go the way of the others unless a kind providence shall steer against me some man who will act as my mentor and guardian guardia n for it is i hard for an old man to shake off longe long e established stab 11 shed habits and methods |