| Show THE prospector AND HIS BURRO it beats all the difference there is in miners said the prospector to his burro in mining operations some men will work along and take no more interest in what they are doing than does an old plug of a horse hitched to a plow As a matter of fact some men employed in a mine have not much more intelligence than a brute and all of their labor is purely mechanical if they have any brains they keep the knowledge of its possession to themselves thein selves they do what they are told to and no more they belong to the society of the tick pick and shovel miner when engaged in mine development and operation they have no interest in the object and aims of the superintendent perin foreman or shift boss it makes no difference to them whether they are working in country rock or in ore and it is doubtful if they know the difference were the breast of the tunnel or the bottom of the shaft to break into a fine body of native gold ore they would not become bacome excited and if left to themselves would not even report a rich strike to the management they do their work mechanically and at the end of the shift herd off to the hash house like so many sheep or cattle for years they continue their labors they never make any advancement they never save any money and they never are of any use to their employers beyond the performance of a certain amount of labor that a jackass could do if it had hands and could talk to a limited extent this is the tick pick and shovel miner and his class constitutes a large portion of the force employed in mine operation 1 I see that you look down your nose a little continued the prospector and evidently think that I 1 am taking a fall out of you but do not take youil yourself self too seriously as aej I 1 do 40 not have your personality in mind every time that we have our talks you are dull looking and your now flo of ideas is not at all rapid and yet you stand ace high when compared to the tick pick and shovel miner in almost any mining publication one may pick up will willbe be found accounts of rich finds made by burros but no ona ever heard of a mine being found by one of these pick and shovel fellows and this is why I 1 never allowine allo allow wone one of them to accompany us when we go out on our regular prospecting expeditions there is another class however that cannot be kept down and we often find its members working sideby side by side with the pick and shovel miner this class has brains and a first mortgage on alm almost ost every position of trust honor and emolument within the be bestowal of the employer beginning in an humble capacity perhaps as a the young man with brains and who thinks makes haste to familiarize himself with every condition within his environments viron ments he knows that a horse can pull the car that he is pushing and he has no mind to be a a beast of burden all of his life As he grows stronger and shows an inclination to advance he is placed in the face of the drift with hammer and drill he knows that any man can drill a hole in the rock but he aims to do the work better than the pick and shovel miner and the ground breaks better and to more advantage at le under his intel intelligent manipulation while antwork at work he studies the formation he notes every break and seam and if he detects as he thinks a change in conditions a stain in the rock a slight indication of the existence of mineral he takes pains to call the attention of the shift boss or foreman to it in every manner and in every way possible he strives to make his services of more value to his employer than the mere manual labor he may perform when off shift he spends much of his time in study in the reading of technical works and in the perusal of mining journals he devotes considerable time to the study of geology metallurgy milling and ore reduction he is a student in fact and it is not long before he is advanced to a better position his time is too valuable to be employed in polishing the head of a drill and he is given the position of shift boss A little later he is foreman of the mine and knows where every ore shoot in the mine is located and thinks he knows where others are to be found within another year possibly he is superintendent of the mine if not he is offered a similar position with another company the management of which has had his eye on him for some borne time As time progresses this man attains to a position where lie he is looked upon as an authority in mining matters and in due time we find him holding the responsible position of general manager and he occupies a prominent place in mining circles and all because he is a thinker as well as a worker because he uses his brains as well as his hands 1 I want to tell you old long ears a 11 man is not a man merely because he has brute strength with intelligence he is on a level with a brute but with strength of body with strength of mind and with an ambition to make something of himself the young man who begins his career as a in a mine has just as good a chance to make something out of himself as if he had been born the son of a rockefeller the heir of a king you may think that I 1 am stretching the matter somewhat but if you are as wise as I 1 think you are you will note the difference between the pick and ana shovel miner and the man with brains the first time that you find the two together |
