Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-04-05
"PRosECTlNG" OUT WEST.
The wild Lives of the Ledge Hunters
Who Trace the FIo&ts" and "stake
the Claims i'm the Sierra Neyadas.

1ntN are lilt pIOSptCtOIoi INC hlCh WIN
find the mines; who, with patience
which is admirable and a ShrewdnesS of
induction that would yield them far
higher returns iii almost any other oc-
cupatiOn, trace out the float" locate
the ledge, and do the first work
Necessary to reveal the hidden wealth.
The name applied to shem Is derived
from prospects" rs the groupings or
that part of the ledge which appears on
the surface, are called. The prOspectors
are a curious class in many respects,
having as little thought of the morrow
as sailors, abandoning themselves when
i'm funds to the widest forms Of dlsslpa-
ton and excess, and when their SpreeS
are over, working rs hard rs it is posi-
bic for men to work. There are eXcep-
tons to this, of course; but the average
proSpCctOr, in these few words, has
been pretty fairly described. One
sometimes makes large amounts OF
money when by chance he gets a fair
price for one of his claims; but rs rule
the money goes rs quickly as it comes.
The pennies condition that follows
does not startle him for as he would
say himself, he has "bin thar atore."
,fhe has money enough to pay for a
grub stake" he buys one; II not, al
ways providing that he has the reputa-
ton of being man who understands
his business, he has but little trouble III
persuading some stOrekcepertO advance
him one, taking in return an agreement
on the part of the prOSpector To pu5 MN
sin the pot" This being TRANSLATED
means that the prOSpectOr shall assign
one-half OF whatever he may find to the
stOrekeepcr. The arrangement IS one
which works exceedingly well lot the
storckecper, because the grub stake.
i rarely worth more than 80, anu ms
| share in Il mine which, II II Is worm
anything at all, is worth tive or SIN
| thousand dollars. Many of the store
! keepers i'm the mining regions trace
| their fortunes tn "grllbSta&cS' advanced
I 10 pruSpeCturs tout Of luck the
| eupnCnistic method of describing {
man who has literally thrown away
! every cent ne had.
The grub stake" whether bought 10y
| the prospcctor or contributed by mt
/ silent partner in the enterprise, Is al
| most always the same. One or two side'
! ofhaCun, bag of beans, sack OF hour
| some coffee or tea anda little salt an'
! Surar. with tobacco of course. TheN'
! the prospector packs upon his "burro' w.
/ the Spanish or Mexican name Tor
| iar;ass and with them some ammu
milton, an iron pot ofthe kind commonly
called a Dutch Oven," Il frying pan
his blankets, pick and shovel, SOM
! simple chemicals, 4 horn spoon, q
nm clipse cut from one sid
| of a horn is called, anu
| sometimes Il small pestlc and mortar
Having packed the "burro" he start
out. Before leaving tOwn-all mlnin!
/ villages are called towns, even whei
. there arc but two hOuSeS-hOwcNer, III
important ceremony has to be gon
through with: This is the presentation
| by the s!Orekceper of bottle OF whlSkey
I theoretically supposed to be for Use II
case of snake bites and always Spoken
of by both stOrckeeper and prOSpecLo
. with the utmost gravity from TINS sIailu
noint. As matter Of fact, the snake
tfthev wish their bites cured, have to ID
somewhat in hurry for the whlskey
gone within twenty-four hours. nav
ing cured his snake bites hyantlcipatlou
the proSpeCtOr starts on his lonely tramp
Ifthe "burrO" is young he has t. be lei
but If he has been prospecting before II
will follow his owner with something o
the fidelity of dog. In starting on
the two are leaving civilization Tor any
where from one month to four Durln
that time they will travel over hill
! cross deserts, climb down into valleys
the man always hunting for ledg
| which may contain ore. The life
solitary in the extreme and one full
haulShipS and hard work, yet the me
who once get into it find it posseesSe
some strange fascination, for they rarel
! leave il for anything else.
The actual work OF di>cDveringa lcdg
NAV be described briefly. Suppose TN
proSpectur has fDund some Stone Il
which lac discovers ore. From Ion
eXperiencr he recognizes an ore OF COL
or Silver rs easily ~ Il man recognize
the face ola friend in the street. HaN
ing found piece of. stone containln
ore, the first thing he has to do Is
discover where il comes from. Rock
that is found away from 4 ledge
called float" and hunting for the lelg
is called tracing the float In Ordt
10 do this he must reason out how 1t 81
To where he found it. There are Sevcrs
WAYS i'm which float can be carrie
away from the ledge. 1t may have bee
moved 10y stream or 4 cloud brush,
a. sudden and very violent floods 1
narrow cauOnS are called; or, If tn
ledge be- on 4 hill, it may have slmp,
rolled down. The prespector know
that in whatever way it came TO tn
place where he found it, the iiOat Wa
not moved up hill, and his search therl
fore is always in the direction of hiGhe
ground. He makes his camp wher
grass for the "burro," wool and waite
are abundant, andsbcginS operations. :
IfEc sees, rs he often does, that tn
piece of float he has broken open is on
OF many, and that there Is, from wher
he is standing, line Of stones extend
ing up hiil-SOmetimeS IN the form OF;
fnurg.e lriangl,-hiS work IS easy IL
the extreme. He knows that all he ha
Il TO TO find the ledge Is simply TO wall
UP hill tOwhere it Is. But If he find
his pieces Of float ut the mouth of littl,
canon, up that canon he goes, carefully
examining the watson each side. Some
times prospector will find ledge il
two or three hours, but it sometime;
happens that he has To spend months
/ i'm the search before he is Succe SSful
This he willingly does if the piece o
float was unusually rich. In fact
! instances of men working two and
| three years in their search have not
| been lacking in the history of the West
! and in some cases the discovery at last
has more than paid them for their time
Whatever periods taken in the actual
finding of the ledge, the work, when it
is found, is always the same. The
first thing is the examination of the
vein to ascertain what kind of ore it con
tains, together with its probable value.
To do this, the prospeetOr take a small
piece of the ore and, selecting smooth
stone, proceeds to pulverize tby pound.
ing it with hammer or another stone
He works away at this until he has goi
! the rock as fine as flour, using toward