The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-07-04
"JUMPING CLAIMS.
The Rough Humor of the Colorado Min
and their Odd Nomenclature.

The Rough Humor of the Colorado Miners
and their Odd Nomenclature.
A Colorado correspondent of Harper's 8
Magazine gives us peep into the hu-
NOR Of the miners of the section from
which he writes-a humor which is as
undeveloped as some of their mines, but
which is very effective nevertheless. he
says:
In the new mining county of San Juan,
in the southwestern portion of Colorado,
many curiosities of humor and eccen-
tricity are to be met with OH every hand.
A most fruitful source of oddity are the
location stakes. BY the laws of the
United States in Colorado, discoverer
of lode is entitled to 1,500 feet on the
vein, and 300 across, to each location,
and must, within sixty days after dis
covery, expose the vein to ten feet below
it's surface. This is called his assessment,
and if not completed within the speci-
fed period, renders the lode liable to
Humping" or passing into the possess
sion of others. Sometimes, however,
unless the lode be very rich, if man is
engaged in working down his assessment
when the sixty days expire, his property
is rarely jumped, few days OF grace be-
ing allowed by the miners.
A case of this kind occurred short
time ago. The period had all but
passed, and the shaft yet lacked some
three feet Of the required depth but
the owner each evening upon quitting
work left his tools MS token that he was
endeavoring to finish his assessment.
There was another, however, intent on
jumping the lode, and on the last day of
the sixty, as he passed by, the owner
having gone home, he wrote upon the
spade at the bottom of the shaft:
"Spades are not trumps in this game,
my boy" The next day the would-be
Jumper returned to relocate, but find
ing beneath his notice of the preceding
day: "No, but clubs are, changed his
mind.
Another man, in tramping about,
found that one of his mines had been
jumped. He took out his pencil and
wrote beneath the new location : "This
lode has mineral in it, my six-shooter
has lead if you take one, you will have
to take the other ; so make your choice. "
Still another individual wrote on the
stake of one of his jumped leads: "I'l
play you game of seven-up as to- oFho
holds this location" The jumper saw
the notice, and came down to the cabin
of the former owner. The game was
played, and the jumper lost.
Sometimes these notices are couched
in verse: "Don't Jump this lead, or I'll
make you bleed" is one. Another,
"I'n bust your head, or shoot you dead,
if you ever Jump this lead" But the
most elaborate poetical mining couplet
I have ever seen is:
I've staked this claim
In my own true name,
And intend to work it too;
And warning give
To all that live
They'll get into stew
II ever they dare
TO jump my share,
And my name is
JOHN CoNBLEw.
A "jumper" came, and, after relo-
eating, added:
We've heard ducks talk,
And seen them walk,
But we don't give room;
So stop your jaw,
For NJ oses law,
In al its bloom,
Will make your lot
A leaden shot,
And send you up the fume.
That settled it.
The nomenclature, too, is highly origi-
nal. We have mine called the "Grub-
Stake" another is "Hard to Beat. !"
There are others with such names as
"Pay Rock" Cooper Pot" "Crack-
er," -" Hoosier, Tar Heel, y" Hunkey.
dory," "Sold Boy" "Last Trump, I"
"The Ragged Millionaire" etc. Then
there are the "Big Maria, " Smashing
Jennie" "Jolly Polly" "Hunkey
Lucy" "Jilting Helen" and "Heart-
less En-"