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Show Classic Tales Told of Early Silver Reef Mining Camp Days (From the Files of the Utah Writers' Project, WPA) Classic are the tales of blood and thunder from early western mining min-ing camps, and few camps were more famous, or should we say, "infamous", than the boom town of Silver Reef and Frisco in southern south-ern Utah. Among the more colorful color-ful tales for which these towns are famous, is the story of a "body remover", a stalwart hired in Frisco to follow a two-gun sheriff around and harvest the daily drop of corpses as the officer offi-cer discharged his duty also his gun. Classic too, are the tales of gambling, for when bigger and better gamblers are produced they will come from the mining industry. in-dustry. According to the recollections of John T. Beatty, early pioneer resident of Toquerville, a favorite gambling past-time at Silver Reef took the form of shooting matches. Mr. Beatty claims that the miners there were particularly poor shots, but were quick to boast their prowess and to demonstrate. Mr. Beatty, who hauled wood to the camp for several years, hit upon a plan whereby he took with him a crate of pigeons, selling to the miners for twenty-five cents a pair. The idea was that they should release the pigeons and then try to pot them on the wing. Mr. Beatty records that the sharpshooters invariably missed, and that the pigeons, with true homing instinct, would beat him home. Next week he would crate them up again and re-sell them to the same marksman. A pigeon would last indefinitely this way, and the profits were steady. Another shooting trick which Mr. Beatty witnessed at the camp, consisted in a chicken's head being be-ing stuck through a hole in a log, with marksman who could draw first blood, rewarded with the chicken and the money wagered. wag-ered. ' |