The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1876-02-09
THE HISTORY OF A DIAMOND.

covered and abandoned.
A diamond is something of which
we would all be posed, especially the
ace of diamonds, when diamonds is the
trump.
In the month of August, 1861, soon
after silver bearing rock was discov
cred at Humboldt City, Unionvlle and
Star City, in this county; and when
the subject of highway to the Pacific
was first discussed in the American
Congress, a party of some forty i'm
migrants. oarse- voiced, sunburnt and
weary, camped near
A TRADING POST AT tAssEN's MEADOWS
On the banks of the lazy, willow
fringed Humboldt. Here it was decided
to divide the train, and leave the very
poor and crippled animals behind, and
for this purpose four young men-Jim
Bird. Charley Greenwood, John Thomp-
kins and John Harmon, were detailed.
On the following morning the main
caravan started on their way to Call
fornia--the land of their dreams. The
remaining four loitered about the trad
ing post, where they heard of the fabU-
lous richness Of the newly discovered
mines in the mountains some twelve
miles eff, and thither they concluded
to 60. Picks and shovels were pro-
cured and away they went
ON A PROSPECTING TOUR.
They found groupings and sunk
shaft, or rather hole. some ten feet
deep. The rock seemed different at
the top from anything they had ever
Gem across in Illinoi or Ipjiani, but
they could not tell silver ore from
country rock. They remained there
for two weeks, when their provisions
began to run out, and so they decided
to return to the MEADOWS, get their
horses and follow their comrades gone
before. They played game Of old
"sledge," to see who should pack the
grub for the first two miles; and,
that decided, Jim Bird said, 1--WE
might as well tack up notice on the
claim" so he wrote notice in regular
form, with the name " Pilgrim Mine i"
at the top, on the ace of diamonds,
that card having the largest vacant
space, and leaving the remainder of the
pack on the ground. our young, inexper-
fenced quartette left the mountains,
as they thought. forever.
An old Indian came along and found
the cards. which are SO indispensable
in the Indian makeup. nor did he
spare the ace of diamonds which was
nailed to the lid of candle box. The
four adventurous youths reached the
Golden State. and from there
THEIR PATHS LAY IN DIFFERENT pIRKc-
TIoNs,
Jim Bird started back to the States
by the Isthmus. aud was caught by a
shark while bathing at Acapulco; John
Thompkins went to the then wilds of
Colorado; Charley Greenwood died of
fever in the Sacramento Valley; and
John Harmon. through the influence
of his friends. was attached to the
American legation at Pekin. China
In the mainline the mountains about
Unionvills were being prospected; rich
ore was found; the Pilgrim claim was
relocated, found to pay handsomely.
which warranted the building of
large and expensive mill; the value of
the property rose into the millions; the
old Indian died. aud among his
effects was found that precious jewel,
THR ACE OF DIAMONDS.
This established tho fact of a prior To-
cation; "Old Buckskin," the trader,
recognized the names Of the original
locators-.
Dear reader, l had anticipated writ
ing good story, based upon incidents
TINT occurred in the good old days Of
bacon and beans and whisky strait in
Humboldt county, but you see what
predicament I've got into; A lawsuit