Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-08-27
sALTING A NINE
How IA Fortune " as Mi-.eda p-o.
pfet Hole that Didn't Pan ont
LeadYIIIe Col. Chronicle.

tAck on me II tell YOU for ii was a
| dnrn mean trick and no mistake. b1t
don't know as You'll blame me wher
| tel You the facts He was ricl and
/, like many poor prospector what,
worked and worked and never gifts any
ahead | seed my title clear TO cool
forty thousand, and just took the bull
| by the horns and said "gee-up!"
Tim gave another chuckle as he
thought over the past, and finally com
menced
Me and my partner had been pros
! pectin on the head waters Of the Ar
kansas and Just made III Our minds
we'd strike it or bust. Everybody else
around Us was gettin rich hand Over
list, and thar was no particular reason
why We shouldn't, we thought. Lead.
vile was just rising into notorietv and
every inch q ground for miles around
had been staked out in claims, so that
when Bill and me-Bill was my part
ner-tinallv came to the conclusion
that we'd 90 To mimi, too, thar wao
To room for us anywhere except to do
the next best thing and strike the Ar
kansas. We dug an incline into a hill,
and ut the end of week we'd run
hole eleven feet deep. The indications
We're Just tlp-top, and when we packed
our burner on Saturday afternoon, our
pockets filled with specimens that beat
anything the Robert f. Lee ever turn
cd out all hollow for looks. We was lust
about the two happieet mortals that
ever went to IN assay shop,
well, the assay PANIED out eleven
ounces, which was sort Of damper OH
our feelinS, of course. but concludirl'
that by neNt Saturday we'd run it IN to
fifty or Il hundred, we went back to our
claim and pitched in again for all twas
out. Next Saturday we went back to
town to have another assay made, and
It was eleven ounces again.
We felt mad when the assaver told
us made up our minds he was no good
ON earth at his trade, and Sunday we
pegged back to our claim, determined
to go to man what understood his
business next time we wanted an ASSAY
made
'Wedid try another the followiu Sat
ulday but II was ito use. 1t was 'leyen
ounces just the same.
we kept working away like good
fellows two weeks more and had cot
the hole all Of sixty feet into the Hill,
when We left for town and lust let the
burned prospect hole go to thunder.
"Leyen ounces was no showing Mt all,
and ruther than work another week
with never any better indications de.
veloplng, we just made up our minds
to starve to death, for in the end it
was all the same anyhow.
Asusual | stopped in ut hotel Sun.
day afternoon, and while looking over
the papers in the readin' room heard
two men talkin' together back Of me
about mines, and how one O. them
would like to get hold Of a good payin
lode for some eastern capitalists
Il don't know what gave me the idea
but il came all Of suddin like; and
tiNm' the man face on my mind pass
cd out Of the room and took walk up
Fryer hill TO think the matter over.
What | had concluded to do VA,
this: Salt the mine take the fellow w
to il and sell it to him, make or break.
Il made bee line for the Little
Chief mine and filled my pockets with
ore, taking Just as much as | could lug
of. The ore looked for all the world
like the ore of our mine. and arriving
there ut once set to work sticking
pieces into crcvices an patch.
in up the walls of the tunnel until the
hole looked like for all the world like
the best payin' lead in the state Thea
returned.
Next morning | returned early to
the hotel and introduced myself TO MI.
Ritters. Told him had struck il rich
and would sell out for $4,000. | finally
induced him To visit the mine
lie set to work Sprcadin ncwspa
peron theground and began to pick
whore told him He folded ii carefully
up, and We rode back to town. where
We had an assay made. Ii gave POO
ounces, which set them wild with de-
light.
Prom that moment You never seed
Il fellow stick so close TO another as Bit
tiers did to me- He was afraid I'd sell
the mine to somebody else before he
could get chance to buy it, and he be-
gan to watch every step [ took. Moth
ing would do but | had to 90 to his
room with him and drink and eat the
best there was in the hotel Then he
began to make propositions, offering
me $4,000
i told him | couldn't think Of Tux
ing les than 10000 half q that "a
Bill and $4,000 to 70 to me- but lie
urged - hard that finally said Ia seo
Bill and find ont what he thought 81 Il.
so Bill was called, and. being post
ed he thought rs how perhaps we'd
better take it, fit was Il cash transaction
les said |. If lisa cash sale guess
ed, too, we'd take it, .....
"Bitters said of course it was cash.
and right then and there he pulled ont
his wallet and fixed up the papers,
which Bill and signed with the IN
derstanding that the money was to be
paid over the next day, and everything
Strengthened up.
The next day CAME and a, | walked
into the hotel seed Bittcr- sitting
thar waiting for me
A was about u 70 where lie sat
one fellow spoke iii out Of the crowd
loud enough for everyone ~ hear