Show THE prospector AND ITS HIS BURRO f this is the age of stampedes in nevada said the prospector to his burro but for my part I 1 will take some of the old camps in mine I 1 am getting too old to jump out of my bed at night to join in a wild rush to some isolated spot merely because some prospector has arrived late in camp with the report that he had found a piece of float that looked good to him and as for you you are not built for fast travel and your inclinations are not that way you are a regular camp bird and nothing in the world would excite you so that you would strike out into a trot I 1 remember the last mining rush in which I 1 participated and it will be my last ten years ago agg I 1 was in the southern part of the sagebrush state andaas and was engaged in the development of a fine looking prospect on which a deal was pending when word reached me one afternoon that two italians had made a strike twenty miles west of me in a saddle near the top of a high mountain range everyone in our camp became greatly excited and hasty preparations were made for departure for the new eldorado I 1 happened to have a pony with me and just before dark I 1 started out accompanied by about a dozen others some were on horseback some were afoot and one was mounted on a burro on my pony I 1 kept up near the head of the procession which soon became stretched out for a mile or two we encountered all kinds of obstacles at one time I 1 became involved in a blind canyon and was an hour in finding my way out there were no paths or trails and it was almost pitch dark about two in the morning in e I 1 arrived pt at my destination and was the first on the ground I 1 found the two italians asleep in their blankets and routed them out they seemed surprised at my coming but I 1 wasted no words with them only asking where their claims laid they tried to show me and by the light of a candle I 1 wrote out my notice and pinned it to an old mahogany tree soon after two more treasure seekers arrived and these also stuck up notices by dawn all of the party were on the ground with the exception of the man with ith the burrow and he never did put in an appearance As soon as it was light enough we began to look over the new district and found that ten notices of location had been posted on the ground where I 1 had in the darkness first made my location this might have resulted in serious consequences had it not been for tha fact that careful investigation proved to us all that the ground was valueless for mining purposes the italians were woodchoppers and had found a little seam of iron pyrites in the rock which led to the circulation of the report that they had discovered a mine that was fabulously rich in gold about ten we were all hungry and thirsty the italians nad had but little water in camp as they were far from any stream or spring and what little they used was brought in on the back of a burro what we suffered that day no one can tell and by the time we were back to our camp we were nearly dead from exhaustion and thirst what about the man with the burro you ask well thatis that is the only pleasing part of my story at first the burro would not budge finally he was induced to move along at a snails pace and when five miles milea out he go a step further its owner then gave up the chase and camped where he was for the night in the morning he began to look around him and found that his obstinate beast had baulked baulkey at the base of some huge quartz droppings crop pings around which there was float galore picking up some of this he found that it was gold bear bearing ng and he soon found a pay streak in the ledge that was fally faily studded with native gold he made a group of six claims on the ledge and when we returned to camp we found him panning some of the quartz that he had mortared and there was a streak of gold around the bottom of the pan that was six inches long this mine has since become famous and is now in the hands of new york and london capitalists it made a fortune for the man with the burro 1 I want to tell you old long ears said the prospector that this experience taught me a lesson and now 1 I am confining 0 my prospecting to the near vicinity of old but famous camps in the environments ot which one is almost sure to pick up something good that has been overlooked by others who had hurriedly departed to get into some new district where big finds were reported an old district of note is never too old to come to the front with new bonanzas to prove which statement just see what tommy watkins of osceola run onto while prospecting on the outer edge of this ancient but great gold camp he found the black horse a splendid prospect others attracted by his discovery located the san pedro now a prolific producer of gold and prospectors taking up the scent as it 1 t were have since found silver creek all of which are in the osceola belt and these new camps are only in their beginning as new and rich finds are likely to become so numerous that it will be difficult to keep track of them 1 I want to impress upon you the fact that any old camp that was once good is still good look at ely cherry creek co mongo colongo co hunter taylor ward hamilton newark Shell bourne siegel and others of the old camps of eastern nevada these have all produced their millions in their day some of these have been almost abandoned for years but now their intrinsic value and worth are again attracting the attention of mining men prospectors and capitalists and I 1 would much rather take my chances in prospecting around these districts than I 1 would to join in the rush to some of the alleged new gold finds in almost unknown sections of the west if you find something good stick to it where there is one good mine others will be found it is safer to stay with an old camp and much more comfortable for the prospector and his burro |