Show V HO GREAT tINES MINES ERE O Luck Nerve Booze and Burros Burro Play Parts in History of Big Finds 1 COMSTOCK'S BLUFF GOOD GOOt Told Discoverers He Owned t. t Everything and Received Large Interest t With the possible exception of Mar lu lucky lcy find In tho race race of oC Suti Sut Sut- i iShall'S f mill which started the the rush o or most fa 3 Ir foi ell ty to California the of oC American gold discoveries wa l that of or the Comstock lo lode e. e Yet years yc saw Nc lI Nevada a. a tin the J i before Comstock ever evet pan the cradle the long torn and tin the box had extracted tens of milt mil mH- t lions from tho sands of the Vasho Washoe placers of oC crumbs that hoc had J dropped from the table of or Dives J al at the foot of ot Mt It Davidson ldson Ever j miner In the district I J tho difficulty duo to a a heavy bluish black substance that rc- rc I fused to be washed away awny with the JJ sand and gravel No 1 one ne knew kneY what It was but the felt sure It was not gold and old was the only thing they thc wanted w Probably it caused more profanity than anything ever found In Ina a a mining camp Yet Vet it il was sulphide of silver worth moro more t than an per pel ton ion I 1 cm third In gold and the the- rest In silver and n o el every miner In tho Washoe dl diggings s Ignorantly throw threw away four times LImes the tho wealth that his misdirected labor yield yielded ed cd anys S the Mining Reporter Prom From Where here It Then the Grosh brothers carne came upon the the- scene The They hailed from Maine people Je arc born asking questions They cIL didn't know what the black blaek stuff was wn either hut but they took the trouble to find out and of oC nil all the tens oCI of oC I thousands of ot seasoned sea on d anti and unseasoned the two young men from Maine lIne were the only ones one who l. knew w what the they were doing doing They Thoy did not proclaim their knowledge in every er saloon and dance hall in tn the dl district but set to work to I l out where the sulphide of oC silver t v 1 from rom Their quest was successful ty The located locatell the great mother lode that j I set the financial world was al destined to 3 agor disorganize the worlds world's moneY mone- mone Y Stats Stats' system m create scores of oC mulU- mulU millionaires mU and instigate the tho crime of 73 One of them started for tor iii-i iii to enlist the aid of capitalists The if pUt pUt-cr stayed to watch the mine Then the thc jade j Fortune played them a a. scurvy tr trick t. t The first roze to d death ath nn cv pas passes bt th S' S Sierras rr s. s Tho rhe Idrovo l a rust rusty pick into his foot and died of or blood poisoning Had JI the Xer l Next e came Pat and Pete With the proverbial pro h hk k of n fools and they struck a phenomenal phe phe- streak of oC pay dirt that lay laya a i tt a n golden Solden blanket over the spot In Ini i I which the main shaft of oC the Virginia f mine was destined to to be sunk As y they busied themselves washing out the precious particles blind luck drove c nr ll Comstock that way lie was a lank cadaverous untutored and unwashed un- un wm washed hed Canadian Possessed of or neither f honor brains nor Industry he v ns as yet r gifted with a nerve so monumental that it overtopped the highest peak of the Sierras Seeing the glint clint of color col r In the rocker he lie dismounted from Crom his pony and coolly Informed the that they were trespassing upon h his Is farm farmand and using water from his stream because because be be- cause forsooth he owned all the tho land thereabouts outs by b right ot or agricultural l location The over anxious discoverers promptly him a two thirds In Interest In- In terest In the greatest cr cry ever e made mallo In America Coma Coms ock's ks incomparable nerve thus gave his name to the famous mother Iod of or Nevada t Jam s l jl ney a n harmless but worthless worth worth- l less s dr drUnkard known In the tho camp as ns J oJ Old Virginia bestowed his sobriquet upon upon ono of or the famous bonanza mines as well as uron the city which h sprang into existence These and the pair whom Comstock had hoodwinked fared little better than the Grosh brothers Fluney drank himself Into the grave c went crazy an and committed ell suicide l OReilly dle died In an Insane asylum as- as l lum lU and l Lau did odd jobs In Inthe th the camp camJ for awhile and then drifted d of oC California where he died In a al aI I l house t Jug JUK Lc l to Plod x I Less Legs gruesome hat hafi been the fate of p later Nevada gold seekers of ot whom one of ot the most moat renowned Is Ge Humphrey tho locator o of the discovery discover claim at Manhattan He was v as 1 a cowpuncher cow cow- cowpuncher puncher and later a rancher n nC Reno i r o years cars ago he was seized by a 11 had bad t att aU ick of gold fever e er arid and hastened to ah for Cor treatment t. t During the thc last wed of or March 1 IMS ho Indulged In the tho not nat unaccustomed luxury of or rt glorious e. On the first day of oC April he hc re- re co fid co cd consciousness and sanity an and for Belmont some sixty miles a ato to the tho north to visit his ather and brother roth r taking a quart bottle of or min mint v t lI fin Joy for companionship on the wa wo The day was hot t bo road dusts ty and his throat dry Naturally he toyed Loyed with tho bot bottle lie and amI when noon came II 11 t i vai wn empty and he hevos was vos sl fJ y i lol Df c i t Gold t. t J So he dismounted picketed his pony f- f N. N I an and ia lay down In the shade of oC a h v oal by the tho wayside to rest The rayj raYf of or the sun fell across the sum um t. t h 11 ml mi of or the mountains when lf If wok f made ami-made haste to resume his journey Journe By the merest chance his eye fell Cell uP t a piece of rock that his ha dislodged during his slumber Picking I It up from force of habit he examined examine it closely He 11 could coul see no signs n. Ig-n. o value aluc but it seemed to him that 1 It exactly like 0 the rich ores o or TonopAh and Goldfield So ho he placed I It ItIn in his pocket and hastened on his wa Ho gave the piece of oC rock no thought for three months when h he Landed It to an cr Imagine hi surprise when hen told that It carried mor moru t than tran 1 1000 to the ton He Hc and his brothers st no J I In hurrying back to the tho place of oC hh his siesta where they experienced no dlf In finding the tho ledge from rom which the rock fragment had been boen brol broken cn I Il had been passed by thousands of or mIners mIn mIn- ranchers prospectors prospect ers punchers cow or ors tenderfeet and sol soldiers of fortuni but no one thought It worth looking In Into In- In to Then they went to work sacking the ore from tho cactus roots down Tile The first lr t carload shipped averaged J W per pcr ton and nn the Manhattan boom was IoS on Burro JI H H. H Most ro t famous of the mines of or Idaho Is the Bunker lUll Hill and Sullivan It the theCo Coeur Co ur Like tho etory of oC Manhattan Man Inn hattan the story of or Its discovery cr carried carried car car- ried no moral mor that would bear benr recital a Sunday school clasp N Kellogg was a prospector who had on be-on een b by Ed Cooper and C C. O. O Peck of oC Spokane One day Kellogg A went Into Pecks Peck's office with specimens of oC ore ho had obtained near the site of ot the thc present sent town of or Idaho Peck pronounced the ore worthless tho grubstake partnership dis Rol solved ve Soon afterward Kellogg tell fell In tn with Phil of Denver who I thought thouc-ht the ore was waB and Joined In Ina Ina a second exp expedition grubstaked b by Harry Brier and Jacob Goelz of Sp Spokane The pair soon chanced on n a burro buno which belonged to It was not much of ot ofa a burro even as burros go It would woul have been dear at 3 and Peck hall had turned It loo loose o to tora forage e for itself It was pressed In Into to service to carr carry the rub g-rub and outfit and dill did duty for thirty days dr The Bunker Hill and Sullivan properties were located and It was not long JonS' until they were demonstrated tc to f er co one of the greatest ore Ole bodies fn In America by b far the greatest that has ever been found In the Coeur d' d Suit Then someone told Peck that his worthless ld skate of oC a burro had hadeen een Jeen one o of the prospecting party and andic he ic brought suit for a share The rhe case caso was vas fought through nIl all the courts of attracting cad attention mcl nd Inspiring n new w Jokes by the hun hun- ired It was brought to an au end en by b a opinion delivered ered by Judge Gorman II Buck of the Supreme court or if which this is an excerpt ourt is 19 of oC the opinion that the Bunker r HIlI mine was discovered by Pecks Peck's Phil and anel N. N S. S Kel- Kel logg ogg As plaintiff owns the Jackass he heIs hes Is s entitled to a third one interest in the lunker Hill Hili claim and a n. third one In- In erest In the Sullivan claim The rhe prop prop- crUes in litigation atlon were cre then and d the decision of tho SJ Su- Su e court Javo cava l' l Peck ck ai al to In interests from which ho realized nore lnore than I At the time of his leath last Jul July he was counted ono one of ot the he citizens of ot Spokane California In the Pun The first strike In the dates back to the Pikes POlk or ok Just Dust slogan of or 60 when the whole empire within 3 miles o of the peak was cnown AS the Pikes Pike's Peak Peale region Two J i happened to Lo strike Twin lakes Inkes it at the same time the Stevens party part if of seven men and nd the Johnson party of Four fout men They all aU cached their flour ind provisions and then separated l' l ach party part agreed to notify tho other b by a pistol shot In case they thoy struck It The Johnson party parly entered what Is n kno as ns Iowa gulch gulch and the Stevens party part tried their thelt luck In the gulch at atthe atthe the left lett Tho Stevens party became hungry and in a n man named Slater started started start start- ed for tho cache In his absence Abe Abc AbeLee Lee h began to pan some somo w worthless lookIng look look- InS Ing dirt to kill ki time and one of his companions derisively called caled out Well W l. l what have you ou got 1 got got Cal Califor California COt nia rl right ht here In the pan he answered Ills Ils companions ran to be shown and found that he had bad made a phenomenal trUc strike Th The pistol shot signal brought the other patty party on the spot Slot claims were staked ec and a n. new mining district dis was born It I Ivas was vas called caled California Gulch In honor of ot Loes es e's remark and andin in sixty days das contained O people |