The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-12-23

time and labor went, is not often seen.
Most mining corporations want the
money first and promise the mine after
ward. 1 promised the mine first and
tried to be content with the possibility
of money afterward. Being hard
pressed, however, for certain very
necessary equipments, l took some
assessments out in trade. In this
manner 1 secured o gun, a
saddle, bride aud some flour
and bacon; also the mare. This
mare l found in possession of a man on
Walkers River. That is, the man was
on Walkers River, but the mare, at
the time l acquired the right and title
to her use for six months in considera-
ton of the mans enrolment as share
holder, was being ranched" at Coop
er's, in Stanislaus County, nearly 100
miles distant. / footed it back to the
mare by easy stages, still discovering,
prospecting and plastering the country
with notices as l went. She was re-
liable animal, but slow, very slow. l
could rarely get her off a walk, and
often on long trips found it easier to
get off and walk myself. Yet she was
intelligent and companionable. She
seemed to have q mournful sort Of SYM
pathy for me, and sometimes as we
were camped out together she would
suspend nibbling the grass and stand
motionless. regarding me with an ex-
preston in which curiosity and won
derment seemed tinged with senti-
ment of sadness at the inevitable ruin
and disappointment which she even then
probably saw in store for the Inevitable.
/ secured also dog. He joined me,
as he wished an owner. 4 believe that
every dog feels keenly the disgrace of
owning no proprietor or master.
PRE-EMPrING BY WHOLESALE.
So long as the summer lasted the In
evitable Company enjoyed life wander
ing amid the Upper Sierras. So long
as there were funds to buy provisions
for fortnight, the company felt quite
independent and happy. Every night
gave q new location and every morning
the sun rose over different landscape.
Sometimes it was high on the mountain
tops, sometimes sunken in valleys deep
ly cut in the mountain ridges. Some of
these valleys were SO picturesque that
I "pre .empted'' and added them to the
already bloated prospects of my COM
pany. That they were buried from ten
to twenty feet deep in snow seven
months out of the twelve was a fact
uOt cOHSlutE. L ulu uOt WISH " COu-
slider it. NY Constitution and Bylaws
required that l should make a monthly
report of progress, condition and dis
covery to the President of the company.
In these reports when new mines were
wanting 1 supplied the deficiency with
land. / took up large tracts of noun
tains in the name Of the company, DEEM
ing that if l did not discover mineral in
them some one else might, in which
case the land would in some way
prove advantageous to u.s. l secured
also sites for water power, ferries and
ditch heads. In The foothills of Stanis-
laus had copper and coal mines The
coal or Ignite is certainly there, and
quite as good as some that is burned on
the German railways. Further up in
Tuolumne ! had quartz and copper
veins; higher up still, where the scrub
oak gave out and the stately sugar-pine
took its place, my pronunciamentos
claimed deposits of auriferous gravel or
cement. Higher up still on the Neva-
da crest the company owned mines of
lead and silver. My field of operations
was over a hundred miles in length by
thirty in width, and the company in the
zenith of its prospects owned some
thirty locations scattered over this ter
ritory, from Knights Ferry on the STAN
islaus to Bridgeport, Mono County, and
from Coultersyille to Pine Log Cross
ing. Yet at this very time the travel
ing treasury seldom contained over
seven dollars, and the stock seemed
very fearful of approaching anywhere
near par.
A MAGNIFICENT SCHEME.
The scheme was a bold one, and
would have made the fortune of every
shareholder had they given it hearty
pecuniary support. argued that the
discovery by others of a single valuable
claim, near any of our own locations,
would of course enhance its value. and
that the more mines claimed, land pre-
empted and water-ferry privileges Sc
cured, and town sites laid out, the
greater the chance of a streak of luck
striking some part of our enterprise.
Nor did l allow my area of possibilities
to be cramped by the boundaries of Cal
ifornia- painted to go further and
locate possessions for the Inevitable in
distant, unexplored territories. and
have now no doubt that had not Provi-
dence interfered and sat on me to keep
me down, that nv scalp might long
since have dried and cured in front of
some Apache wigwam. And l contend
to this day that my scheme was not one
purely visionary as to its probabilities.
1 am certain that some of the company s
possessions and privileges were located
near the now flourishing city of
Bodie. Bodie was known in 1864,
but its auriferous cream had not come
to the surface. do not mention the
lack of pecuniary support in any
spirit of censoriousness or blame toward
the members of the Inevitable. They
are all old and valued friends. All then
were carrying vast burdens of assess
ments. Other than mine, each was in
terested in from six to a dozen claims.
1t was five dollars here and five dollars
keep the drills going. Everything was
ing developed. They were laying their
money down in this hole or that, hop
ing that some one would win. They
were able to attend copper meeting
per day, and the last ceremony at the
close was that of putting their hands in
their pockets and putting something on
the assessment collection plate. At
every shaft they expected to " "strike it
next week, certain" A square inch of
copper ore found in the rock would i'm
pei their hopes rocket-like upward.
Men, gray in hair, wisdom and expert
ence, said these were sure things, and
that the certain road to success for a
young man was to take to the hills and
hunt mineral. 1t was bully" time,
but all the money taken out came out OF
other pockets than those in the rocks.
HUMoR OF THE CONSTITUTION.
The fun Of the Constitution and By
Laws of the Inevitable lay in the care
full and elaborate provisions l made
therein against any peculation or
rascality on my. part, when there was
SO little to peculate. Its provisions
tied me hand and foot. The monthly
reports obliged me to account for each
days service and where served. felt