Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-08-31
MINE Sailing.
Processes for the Deception of I'M
wary Capt. alists.
An Old Trick, and How 1t Is Played
The Cunning Shoemaker Who Out
witted Himself-The Magic
Bottles.

Wltteu dtmselt-The Magic
Bottles.
To catch bird. says the pro|erp.
put some salt on its tail. To catch a
victim, says the mining shark. put
some salt on mine. do not know
whether the verb salt" in this sense.
has been rs yet incorporated in any
dictionary, but when 1t is it will be de-
fined something in this way: salt: To
stucco worthless mine with high
grade ore for the purpose of inducing
some old gentleman from down East
to invest his kopecks therein" To
write the history of mining without
the history of sailing might not be
Hamlet with Hamlet left out. but it
would be at least H inlet with Ophelia
without the melancholy
dame. l is as old as rascality. The
mines of Australia have been sailed
repeatedly, d on one occasion n high
colonial official narrowly escaped
prison for completely; a gold mine in
Africa was sailed. n few years ago,
and sold for f2) 900; the "Ari-
IONA diamond fields were moth
ing but salt, with uncut stones
bought in Amsterdam, and here in
Colorado the thing was reduced to a
fine art years ago However, it is not
the purpose of this brief chronicle to
trace sailing from Lots wife on, but
rather to give a few curious instances
which have come under the writer's
observation. 1t may be taken for
granted in general way. that sailing
is the first thing thought of when a
boom draws investors to new min
ing camp. and the last thing resorted
to when the decline begins TO send
them away.
In 1878 at the height of the silver
mining craze in this State, a German
shoemaker lived on the eminence sub
sequently known as Carbonate hill
He was lazy and so fond of whisky
that the neighbors said he didn't get
drunk. but occasionally got sober.
For months the great silver fever
pulsed around him without disturbing
his equanimity. He would sit In the
door of his shop. shoe under his lap
strap, and listlessly watch the endless
stream of pack trains. the hurrying
procession of excited men, the yell
low stage coach dashing skim
hand up the hill. and all
the indescribable and intermin-
able hustle of the hour Shaft-houses
sprang up all around him. but he pail
no attention to them. At last one day
he surprised every body by laying
down his pipe. going out into his
back yard. and digging hole. In
few days he was out of sight, and
kept on digging. In a month he was
down thirty feet, and then he sudden
denly rushed to an assayer' office with
a handful of ore that made peoples
eyes stick out. 1t was the richest kind
of carbonate. heavy with virgin sill
yer.
The hole was examined and a big
vein of it was found in the bottom.
Then the great question was how to
get the property away from the shoe
m' ker on the easiest possible terms.
He did not seem to understand the
value OF his discovery. and when a
syndicate was formed and offered him
~. 500 he accepted at once.
That night was murder out The
cobbler went on a big spree, and
boosted all over the camp that he had
bought wheelbarrow full of ore from
The Chrysolite mine and sailed his
prospect hole, which had nothing in it
more valuable than mud. But before
this confession reached the purchasers
they had sunk the shaft four feet
deeper and cut right into huge body
of real carbonates that threw the
Chrysolite stuff in the shade. If 1t
hadn't been for the Dutchman's Story
they would never have known the |
mine was sailed at all. When the |
shoemaker heard of the discovery he |
swore that he had been robbed Near
ly a million dollars in ore was taken
out Of that mine.
In the same year, or the succeeding
one. very singular thing occurred
near Deadwood. A new camp had
sprung up on the verge of a precipi-
tous cliff, nearly 600 feet high, and
overlooking one of those rude basins
known IN Western vernacular as
parks" One day some miners, eat
ing their dinner, saw man down in
the park, diminished and fore-short-
ened so that he looked like a little
doll Presently he raised gun to his
sh oulder. smoke drifted from the
and a moment later The faint
echo of a report reached their ears
HE must have missed that Bird" said
the miners, and went on eating their
dinner
A few days afterward a ragged
stranger came to the camp and went
to work One morning he said: Boys,
believe there is an on cropping OF gold
on the face of that elf A man was