Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-03

Of John Parsons-that a rich COMPANY
which had expended more than one
hundred thousand dollars in erecting
water fumes and sluices for washing
down the hills and gathering gold,
would cease operations just because
few thousand acres of vineyard and
grain lands would be destroyed, and
the homes of hundred poor men
made desolate.
And yet John Parsons saw nothing
foolish in the thought On the contrary
he felt momentarily certain that when
he should show Mr.. Jobbers how the
stones and earth washed down would
be carried through the sluice into the
gorge, and from there into the creek,
filling up its bed and causing it to seek
| new channels: that with the first great
flood the sand and gravel would be
carried over the whole valley, and set
Ting as the water receded, render abso-
lutely valueless thousands and thou
sands of acres of fine agricultural lands
worth more to future generations than
all the gold in the mountains; land now
covered with vineyards and orchards
and the cottages of honest people, who
had made every dollar they possessed
W hdIA NOlh-SuIt4h. HS LHOugHt-
when they know this, these men will
not refuse to cease their work of
destruction and leave the settlers in
peace. Surely. these men who are al
ready rich and can provide their fami-
lies with every luxury, will not deprive
others of their homes in order to pile
up heaps of gold that can add nothing
to their own comfort.
ha fo
not possible that they can be so heart
less as that. They have not considered
the damage it viii do to the ranchmen
and their families or they would never
have gone on with the work." and he
began to blame himself that he had
not sooner called their attention to the
fact, and so have saved these generous
| men who were to suffer the loss of so
much wealth rather than wrong others,
and to devise means for raising at least
a portion of it among his neighbors,
who would thus have escaped the
| threatened destruction.
1t could be arranged, he thought,
and no one suffer very greatly. He
would give five hundred or even a
thousand dollars himself. 1t was only
Just that he should. since he had al
! lowed the company to go to such heavy
expenditures without calling their at
tention to the damage that would be
done. and doubtless many others would
do as much. Yes, it could all be ar
| ranged easily, and his home would be
saved after all.
All this passed through John Par
sons brain in q moment as he turned
to follow Mr.. Jobbers.
| He did not reason it out. 1t came as
an inspiration. In an instant the
whole situation, the degree of response
bility of each interested party. and the
requirements of justice, stood out as
clearly as the clouds, when illumined
| by the hghtnings. stand out against
+ the blackness of earth and sky at mid
night.
Yet when he found himself in the
Office of the company, and had been
| introduced to the representative of the
| New York stockholders, he did not feel
quite so certain that they would see it
/ in the same Fight in which he saw it; or
that the inspiration which had come to
| him had reached their minds also
| Somehow that look of self-sufficiency
and air of assured prosperity brought
back the clouds and made all dark
again.
| And so, slowly and brokenly at first,
and then rapidly, and with native elo-
quence that his ungrammatical words
could not hide. he poured out the story
of his hopes aud fears, mingled with a
bit of his past history; the wrongs he
| had suffered. he and his, and of his
willingness to give largely to help re-
/ imburse the company for their expendi-
lures, if they would stop the supply of
water and so remove the danger which
| threatened his home.
| When he began speaking. Mr.. Job
! bers turned towards him with a look of
surprise upon his red face that speedily
turned to one of incredulity, and both
gave place to contempt, and when John
Parsons ceased speaking the English
man turned to his partner.
well, Hi never" he said, speaking
each word separately and with empha-
| sis. ''Hif e isn't a-haskin' of us to
give up our henterprise and let the gold
remain in the ills, where it is no use to
hanybody, just because the earth that
composes 'em may be washed down
upon is blarsted DIT of ranch"
Mr.. Jobbers' partner smiled. At
least the muscles of his face drew back
from the mouth slightly. He evidently
pitied the ignorance of a man who
could make such a request, and who
now sat with his arm thrown about his
boy, Johnny having crept to his side
while he had been speaking.
.'You evidently fail to comprehend
the situation. Mr.. Parsons" he said.
What would your ranch be worth if
you could not sell its products9
Gold" he continued, lis the world 5
medium of exchange, and gold must be
had in order to carry on business. All
trade and commerce would cease if the
supply of gold did not keep pace with
the increased power of the production
of the people. You yourself could not
exchange your grapes and other fruits
for wearing apparel-the comforts and
necessities of life-if it were not for the
/ gold which is coined into money.
1--WE do not know" he went on.
why the gold was placed in such fine
particles as to require that the hills be
washed down in order to obtain it, but
undoubtedly it was for some wise pur-
pose: and in bringing it forth we are
doing great thing for civilization, and
for the common people as well as the
rich; so you see you are acting very
selfishly as well as foolishly in suggest
ing such thing as stopping work on
the mines"
And to all this John Parsons could
answer not word.
He felt that his opponents reasoning
was fallacious, even blasphemous. That
it certainly could not be necessary; that
God could not have intended it to be
necessary, that the very means of exist
ence. the soil, which is the origin of all