The Elk Mountain pilot., 1880-09-16
IENDEREEET MINERS.
The number Of rich lodes that Ii

The number Of rich lodes that lie
uncovered IN this camp are untold.
TIE entire country for miles around is
staked off and held by ten-foot assess
ment holes. A few of these claims
have yielded pay rock from the sur
face, and in such cases the property
has changed hands and is now being
worked by capital. In no instance
where mine has been located on a
fair looking lead and a shaft sunk a
reasonable depth, has it failed to show
rich mineral. But the prospectors
who own leads in this vicinity. and
who are confident that pay mineral
underlIes them, are not able to sink
anything more than tenfoot shaft.
This we all know, and cannot censure
the prospector because he allows his
claim to remain undeveloped. But
he is to blame, in many instances, for
not allowing Others to devs'1- it, and
especially is this the case If Nc pros
pectcr be a tendcrioot. They value
their claims to highly and frighten off
capital, whereas if reasonable sum
were asked, the claim would be pur-
chased, development made and ma
chinery put upon it, thus proving to
the outside world our mineral wealth,
as well as giving new impetus to
business here and enhancing the value
of mining property and real estate.
The tender-foot prospector, having
only few short months ago sat by
the fire side in the old farm house Of
the east, smoking his pipe, and while
reading the fabulous stories of Colo
RADIOS transcendent wealth and trans
Ggurative powers, dreams that he,
too, has only to sell off his farm and
90 west to become millionaire I'M
mediatcly after landing in Colorado
and placing pick IN the ground.
The exquisite dry goods clerk also has
this dream as he leans over the coun-
ter with scissors and calico in hand
and says, "yawd Or hawf yawd p
The smoky blacksmith, as he plies the
bellows to his forge, has sllvery Wis
ions, too, and he at last closes shop
and goes west.
These tenderieet, with their igno-
rance of mining life. mineral, etc., at
once procure cheap edition Of Col4-
rado mining laws and learn how 70
stake 81 claim. and Dc Z assssss'ne} IS S'a +
work. This is as much IS they wa4t
to know. and with this knowledge
and wagon load of stakes, they
follow up the pioneer miner stalking
the entire country, mineral or no
mineral. BY chance they occasional
ly strike pay streak, and this news
reaching the east incltes Others to
leave comfortable homes to come west
and undergo hardships and privations
with the vain delusion of striking it
rich.
These prospectors sink their assess
ment holes regardless of formation or
indication, and although they can
but get from a trace to ten ounces, if
you should want to buy their claim
they would ask from $1,000 to $500,
600 for it. As the assessment work is
done and the claim surveyed and re-
corded, you cannot relocate it for
year, or buy it on account of high
price. Thus the claim remains idle
for a year, and if perchaace the ten
lierioot is able to do the second years
assessment work, it remains idle for two
years ard SO it runs until it is sold
or It's time expires and is relocated by
some one who knows something about
mining Or has money to hire expert
enced men. $50
This is why camp never amounts
to much the first two or three years.
inexperienced men must give way to
experience. Many disguised tender
feet are now leaving Ruby Camp for
the gold excitement, the carbonate
boom and kerber creek hurEk, and
it is hoped they'll never return. We
want capitalists, not dead broke ten
derfeet who think when they get
ten foot hole in the ground in good
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