Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-04-29
WESTERN PROSECUTORS.
Patience and Perseverance Demanded q
Those Who Search for Gold.

and to follow it a man must have pa
tience and perseverance, and endure
many hardships. He is generally on
the move. going from one camp to an
other. adopting any vacant camp he
may be fortunate enough to find, or hur-
ridly constructing his temporary dwell
ing-place of the simplest kind from ma
terial most convenient One end of .
cabin is almost always monopolized by
q huge mud fireplace and chimney. On
the side is door, and opposite a win
dow. the latter generally consisting of
square hole provided with a wooden
slide. A swell prospector sometimes
has half-window, with some of the
panes actually unbroken. The possess
or of such luxury generally moves it
about with him and adapts it to various
structures. In one corner of the cabin
there is bunk, generally constructed
of poles, sometimes of boards; the other
furniture usually consists of a table, a
stool or cracker-box, few tin plates,
pans, etc. The prospector is seldom
sat home," except in severe weather,
and then his most comforting solace
must be either a roaring fire in the big
chimney, his pipe, an almanac, or his
hopes of striking it rich on the morrow.
According to theory, a good quartz
prospectOr should be also an assayer.
He should know in what formations of
earth or rock to expect ore, and then be
q b1o fo foS< II co;ont;6o,lIx, nv, fro opI
acid assays. It's reasonable to suppose
that such man would be most success
full, but it appears that it is not thus.
Any old prospector will tell you that
scientific fellers never find any thing.
They can't see into the ground. and it
is where you find it, not where it ought
to be, according to theories. Some
greenhorn, tenderfoot, or migrant al
ways finds the bonanzas." l have
observed this to be frequently the case.
Many quartz prOspectors, after find
ing a ledge, select fragments from va
riOus parts of the rock, and, after pull
verizing it in hand-mortar, wash the
result in horn or saucer, and if no free
gold is obtained it is considered worth
less. Ore containing sulphurets. silver,
lead, tellurium, etc., has of course to be
practically tested by fire or acid assays.
The pocket-hunter is comparatively
newcomer in the country, and only
made his appearance during the last
year and a half. He, too, is a pros
pector, but he despises quartz. He pros
poets for gold only, and does not desire
to find little of it in huge masses of
flinty rock. He expects to dig hole in
the earth the size of barrel and take
therefrom fortune in the pure article.
His hopes are neither grOundless nor
without precedent. A number of pock-
cts and seam deposits have been found,
some containing few ounces and 9TH
ers thousands of dollars. was shown
a hole yard square from which $1,000
was recently taken q was also shown
the mint's receipt for the dusty The
deposit was found within a foot of the
surface on hillside. These pocket de-
posts are found in various formations,
and scientific fellows don't succeed
we'll in locating them, either. They
are usually found in decOmposed quartz,
in clay seams and sometimes in wash
gravel. The mode of prospecting for
pockets is simple, but it, too. requires
hard work and faith. The pocket-hunter
selects section where extensive placer
mining has been done and where the
yield was rich. He conjectures that the
gold came from some where, and he
follows the gulches up stream as far as
they have been worked, and there takes
pans of dirt from the surface and hill
sides. If he obtains ''color," or speck
of gold, from the surface it is a fine
prospect, and he follows the trace care
fully, taking the next painful of dirt to
be washed from higher ground, and so
on until the prospect fails; then he digs
for the deposit. Occasionally it is there.
Indications are often found where
weeks of panning fail to locate from
whence they have been washed or
and again. pockets are found
by mere accident that have thrown no
trace to the surface. A good prospect
may be obtained from every spot on a
and yet nothing be found be-
meath the surface.
A pocket-hunter will carry and wash
dirt for days without obtaining color.
When he obtains speck of gold, how
ever, and if it is the rough, unwashed
pocket metal, his chance is fair of find
ing "a deposit-perhaps fortune. The
winter season is the most favorable for |
prospecting in this manner, IS every |
gulch then contains sufficient water for |
panning, while during the summer the
prospector must either follow water
courses or carry dirt long distances to
springs or streams and there pan it.
There are those who frequently find
pockets, and, even though the deposits
are large. they find them often enough |
to prosper moderately well in the un-
certain occupation, and appear cheer
full confident and always possessed of
little money. l am inclined to think,
however, that, considering the number
engaged, the fortunate ones are few.
and for the amount of labor performed
[ am forced to believe that both pros
pectors and pocket-hunters are scantily
San Francisco Chronicle.
Dakota Interest.
II suppose Eastern capital has done
a great deal for this country" said q
20 N noEDfo coftlor