Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-01-09
Striking It Big.

SOME WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES OF THI
PRECIOUS METAL THAT DID NOT ESRIcT
THE FINDERS.
The DAY was hot at Frisco, Utah, ant
the three drank beer and talked. 1t ap
peared from their conversation that they
had all had more or less experience il
prospecting. One said;
''The biggest thing l ever struck wa:
once when me and Newt Boyden wa.
prospectin One day We felt the eartl
kinder tremblin' an saw smoke on the
top of mountain. We climbed up tt
the top-'twas a long pull When We go
all bilin' in the crater One place i'll the
crater was lower than t'other parts, an {
! cliff struck right down from this low
place-it went down bout 700 feet. The
earth KEEP tremblin' an stream 'bout
twenty feet wide by five deep run outer
the crater or gap, made clear jump Of
! 100 feet down"
''Water?" interrupted one OF the list
eners ''pooty hot, wasn't it p
Water? Twas quicksilver y
Quicksilver o.
You bet We went down to the foot oi
the fall. The stream of quicksilver from
the fall run few hundred yards an sunk
1t KEEP tremblin'"
"What made the tremblin ?"
The quicksilver strikin' below heavy,
YOU know Me an Newt both got sick
he sicker than me- He KEEP gittin' worse,
an died before | could get him TO camp.
| got to a camp an WAS sick for months
WAS salervated. Ny teeth all came out.
haint no teeth nor toe-nails nuther"
Why didn't you go back to the quick
liver? ~
" 'Fraid Of gettin' salervated agin.
Killed Newt, you know"
Number two said We'll, the richest
discov'rv | ever made was one time when
| was by myself | saw n bluff bout
three miles off it had queer look. l
went to 1t: twas more'n a thousand feet
high, an nearly every bit of it was solid
native silver. You could walk long and
look ut it for Il mile thout seem anything
but pure silver Some places silver had
oozed ont while the cliff was hot, an
made things like big icicles some of
them was hangin' down 800 feet long /
located bout three miles of the ledge, an
left
"ilow came you So poor ?" asked one.
well, III got back i'll days ride of
camp, an was packin' up one mornin'
after breakfast ; as ! come to the fryin
pan my mule had one him foot in it, an
tapped him on the leg to make him step
outen it, an he up and kicked me on the
head
But he didn't break Your head
"No; but | can't remember directions
since
The third one began Il was by N.Y.
self, too, when | struck it big. One day
| was rrospectin' through an open conn
try, an travelled on until after night, try
ing TO find water At last / rode over
ridge and noticed that my mules shoes
kept clinkin against somethin' ! had a
fine young mule. There was valley at
the bottom of the ridge, and water. |
went to sleep, an walked up when day
began to break, but rolled over an slep'
again. Next lime ] walked the sun was
up, but couldn't hold my eyes open until
tried long time, there was such n gilt
ter"
Mica. one of the party suggested.
Gold, sir, Gold everywherei I'd
thrown part of my blanket over chunk
TO make pillar the chunk was gold,
sclid gold. On t'other side of the valley
was mountains of gold risin' mp and gilt
term in the sunshine. One high noun
tain had snow on the top, but was gold up
to the snow. Fellers, that mountain look
ed like picter. I'd Just begun to think
my bacon eaten days was over when
three men came up to me, two young men
an one ole man. Judgin' from their ac-
tions-l couldn't understand their talk
the young fellers wanted to kill me, but
the old chap persuaded EN- not ter. They
all had gold buttons on their clothes an
heel-taps an tap-soles Of gold. The ole
man was smokin' n gold pipe with long
gold stem. They blindfolded me an led
me away. The narrator stopped and
seemed 10 be retrcspecting.
"WeIl, did they lead you far ." he WIS
asked
Seems to me | listened to the clink Of
them tap-soles an heels for ten thousand
miles"
WAS they long about t?'
when | laid down In that gold valley
that night, though say it myself. | was
young an good lookin' my beard was
black us n crow an hair thick as dogs,
but when they lef' me an got out of lear
in an | uncovered my eyes my beard
was gray"
''An' your head?"
Like it is now, not a hair on it. "
''What became of your fine young
mule?"
The ole man rode it on the trip till it
fell dead of ole age"