The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-03-25
THE PRosPECToR.
A Familiar Character OF the Mining Re.
giOns of the West.

Familiar Character of the Mining Re.
gions of the West.
mountains is the prospector. He is not an
attractive specimen to look at has generally
long hair, unkempt beard, tough clothes
and heavy walk. You know him when
you see him. You cannot miss him for he
is self-ostracised from civilization and bears
his brand. During the winter he works at
whatever he can get to grubstake himself in
the spring. Then he starts off to wander,
pick in hand, over the lonely mountain
peaks and valleys. On rare occasions he
comes to town, and then, to repay himself for
the punishment, he only stops when he has
blown in his last cent on whiskey and
the entertainments of the dance halls. But
his pocket is rarely very deep and he is
soon off again. II he be one of the richer
sort, he has little jack or donkey to carry
his old tent his blankets and his grub. II
he has no jack his outfit goes ON his own
back. Arriving at his chosen country, he
pitches camp and then begins slow and
careful examination of every rock to be
seen. He tolls up oil the creek beds, creeps
up the most inaccessible crags and heights,
narrowly cycling on the way every outcrop
of rock or strata. This continues for weeks
and months and sometimes for seasons, and
often without result. One day, however,
he finds a piece of float" rock, that has
broken away from vein Of mineral exposed
somewhere above. Carefully he follows up
his indications step by step, perhaps to dis
cover a richly promising lead. If the latter,
Ill wild with excitement and with the CLEAN.
ing Eldorado that has borne him up all
through just ahead, he labors early and
late, and lucky man if he has really struck
it rich. But there is another class of pros
pector whose mode of life is very different.
He has generally much smaller knowledge
of rocks than the other. He goes to dis
triet known to be rich in mineral, hangs
around till he finds strip of ground not
already located, puts up his stake and re-
cords his claim. He builds a cabin near by
and begins to run o tunnel. If he has any
money he hires man to help him, if he has
none he burrows gopher-hole into the hill
alone. As the days and years go by and
his hole stretches further in, so his conf
dence, nay, his certainly, that another ten
or twenty feet will give him mineral, in
creases. AS the years pass on he knows
that he can't have much further to go, and
at each fresh foot he expects the hoped fol-
find which, ignis tatuus like, lies Just ahead.
But all his time is not spent in this way
He often comes to town, and with lean
and hungry look is ever on the watch for a
man who will put up for an interest and
give him means to do more work. As he is
generally modest in requirements, the man
is easily found-the work is done, he has
had his living for so long, and the beloved
tunnel is SO much further in. Now and
then he finds in the crevices enough rich
ore to give him an assay running, perhaps,
into the thousands. Then his hopes fly up
and he fiourishes his certificate to capture
fresh victim. :" He hasn't got body yet
but it is there. He is on a feeder to the
vein, and he hasn't been five years ct min.
ing without knowing what he is talking
about" &c. In this way driftings of many
hundred feet are often made into the very
bowels of the hills, and on rare occasions
he strikes il. So it goes until some day he
takes too much whiskey and is himself
"blown in" or has quarrel with brother
prospector who happened to be quicker
With a revolver than he-and they are al.
ways quarrelling, always jumping each
others claims and fighting about it. Accord
ing to law, at least hundred dollars worth
of work each year must be done on claim
to hold it. II not done, anyone is free to
relocate. These gentlemen have always
half-a-dozen or more claims on hand which
they are willing to sell in whole or in part
for few dollars. And in this way they
manage to keep in pocket money. They
never do the work till the very last moment,
hoping to sell and thus save themselves the
trouble. The consequence is that as De-
cember draws to close there is always o
stir, and on New Years eve many a man
may be seen stealing along on snowshoes
with a lantern under his coat, to be ready
on the turn of the clock, to plant his stake
on the coveted claim. II the adversary hap
pens along at the same time, woe be to one
Of them.