Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-09-18

IL HUH lid oyolCIll,
The miner has faithful friend in a
little animal they call Burro; called
by Mark Twain a "Demascus street
carr and dubbed by one of your re-
cent Western correspondents "Bu-
reau." From what 1 can learn of
this animal, he must be lineal de-
cendant of Balim's historical saddle
animal, and strongly allied to the
weapon that Sampson slew the Philis-
tines with. From the earliest authen-
tic history we have of him, he has
been imposed upon. / only wonder
that they don't frequently speak out,
as did their ancient sire, on account
of the cruelty perpetrated upon them.
A miner will take one of them and
strap an old wood-horse (such as we
use with buck saw on his back and
call it pack saddle, then he will
strap dry-goods box that will hold
two or three bushels, on one side of
the beast, and fill it with canned
goods and cooking utinsils, then per-
haps on the other sidea keg of beer
or something stronger, and then on
top sack of flour, tent cloth, poles,
blankets, &C., and last of all, tie an old
frying pan on in a conspicuous place,
then they are ready to start to the
mining camp prospecting, perhaps
- or Is miles away. Thebeast takes
the lead and the miner follows with
sharp stick to guide him along, and
by the time they reach theirjourney's
end, the hair is pretty well worn off
the on sides of the burro, and he is
ready to be carried to the upholsters.
But not SO, they usually turn him out
and let "time heal his sorrow" and
he, dog like, will Craze around the
camp eating the mountain cactus and
such like food until another trip has
to be made.
There is another species of the bor-
no in this country that 1 must speak
of in this connection. Heis common
ly known here as the "muming
agent" and the female book agent Is
not a circumstance to him. This
spouting geyser of mining informa-
ton will hunt you up at your hotel
on your arrival in Denver, and in his
usual friendly manner finds out
where you are from, and how long
you have been ailing, and assures
you that this climate will cure you,
and in short, manifests quite an inter
est in your welfare. He will drop in
to see you every day until he finally
hits upon his pet theme, mining
and picture to you Montezuma hills
of gold and silver, and mildly sug
gest that you ought to have mine tC
look after to direct your mind (ant
money too) from yourself, and thai
if you would be kind enough to cal
in at No. so and so, while up town
next day, that he will be pleased t.
show you some maps of quite mum
Der of valuable mines he is interest
ed in and has for sale, and that al
they need is little capital spent il
developing them and they will b,
fine producers. They use ever,
means they can to induce people t.
buy these holes in the ground, ant
those who fall Il prey to these bur
roes usually compare their experienc,
as follows: mine, miner, minus.
1t is no uncommon occurrence her,
to see men, 60 or 70 years old, follow
ing burro with his camping para
phernalia across these mountains. /
you interview one of these venerable
,, fossils he will doubtless tell you he i
out prospecting, and that he has beer
mining for 80 or 40 years, and ha
several rich prospects, and only need
capital to develop them, although hi
confidently expects to "strike i
big" before he dies.
"Hope springs immortal in the human
breast,
Man never is, but is always is to b.
best"
1t is true men have made and ar,
daily making fortunes here in thu
) mining business, but it seems more
luck than good judgement that leads
them on to fortune. A tenderfoot il
} Just as apt to make "a hit" as the old
est miner in the State.
Cold weather has made its appear
ance among us here, and over-coat
and fires are in demand.
l have gained considerable il
strength since came out here, bu
do not weigh as much as did whel
l left home and have completely los
!, NV voice. | will have to hunt