Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-03-08
JUMPING A CLAIM.

talnS," SAID JOhn OanOer5cus al Olu pEOS-
pector who has his headquarters at Ell
Paso, bat who makes several incursions
into the mining districts cvery year.
"Half of them believe III ghosts, nine
out of ten in signs, and about al of
them In luck. My own experience has
changed my views IN good many partic
uIars, and, for one thing, it has made me
a firm believer in special proyidences. 1t
didn't come about gradually, but through
as marvellous escape from an awful death
as believe ever falls 10 men.
at happened up in the Mimbres noun
tains four years ago this summer. The
Mimbres lie IN New Mexico, down below
old Fort Iule Rora, and they must be full
of gold somewhere, because the beds of
the creeks that find their way down the
sides are SO rich in placer diggings that
you can't pull up a sage brush around
there without seeing bright specks among
the roots. had pet theory then that
if you followed the creeks up high enough
and look close enough you would find
tremendous deposit of gold in decompos-
ed quartz. | thought, you see, that lit
tie of it had washed off the surface in the
course of time and formed those places.
What wanted TO find was the mother
mine.
81 talked the thing up 30 Charley
Burke, another prOspectOr and friend
of mine, until he agreed to put up half
the outfit and join me IN the search. We
got couple of burros, the Necessary
tools, and started early in the spring.
Tho ooantry about the Nimbres is about
as wild and desolate as any on earth, and
it was a trip that nothing but faith and
enthusiasm would prompt man to
attempt. It was one succession of gOr-
GEES, gulches and activities, all strewn
with granite powders from the size of a
mans hand to a four story block, and
often we were obliged TO leave the water
course we were following and make de-
tours that took days at a time.
''The creek we followed was almost dry,
and we stopped frequently looking for
placers. We found no very rich ones,
but everywhere there was gold. Some
times there would be lots of it in the bot
tom of the tin cup after we had taken a
drink, and sometimes-here is curious
thing-it would be floating on the sur
face. will let some one who is better
posted in science than 1 tell why gold
now and then floats, but l only know that
little flakes of it do, and q lot of it is lost
in sluice mining that way. As long as we
found placers we knew that the main
deposit was a head, We pushed along,
tired enough but confident. At last we
came to a spot where the sand was barren
for several days journey, and then we
bagan to prospect the country all around.
Tc make a long story short, we struck a
ledge one morning with outcroppings
that cIumbled under my pick and showed
quartz all streaked with yellow threads.
"Charley, yelled out, ell afre at once,
we have struck it!'
'SBut before we sunk shaft we found
something else that sent our hearts to our
mouths. 1t was an old shaft, back lit
tie ways, and on claim, properly staked
out and covering that very ledge. There
was notification, according to law, on
one OF the posts, that Peter Sumner and
Joseph KIautzy had taken possession and
had doue the legal assessment work. ]
sat right down and collapsed, but Charley
went over to the shaft and came back to
tell me that it did not cover half the
amount necessary, under the law, to hold
the property fer year. We measured
it, and, sure enough, it was only down
about half the required distance, so we
took possession of the property, named
it The Treasury and went to work.
''We built ourselves a rough shanty,
rugged up a windlass and began to sink.
In few days we were into a formation
rich enough to make mans head swim
and getting better as we went down. We
were both SO excited that we begruGged
the time to sleep and eat, and we neither
OF us medit6ted for an instant giving the
claim up to any body, assessment work or
no assessment work. What had become
of the two men was mystery. They had
left no trace except the notification board
and shaft, and it gave me the creeps now
and then to think that they might be
dead. But We were not in a frame of
mind to let sentim ent interfere with bust
ness.
II suppose we had been there for d
couple of weeks when provisions began
to run short. We didn't want to botk leave
the claim at once, so it was finally ar
ranged that Charley go down to the creek
to camp about fifty miles away and
bring a supply. He took both burros
and started off. / calculated it would
take him week to make the trip, and
time hung heavy on my hands. l tried
to work little on the shaft. The for
nation was very hard, aud we had rugged
up sort Of cross bar ladder. 1 would go
down this, fll the bucket, climb to the
surface and pull it up.
AT about noon of the second day after
be lett / was startled at what | thought
was man crossing little gulch half a
mile away. l only had view of it be-
tween two rocks, and, whatever it was,
passed so quickly that 1 was not sure.
However, waited for a couple of hours.
and then, seeing nothing further. con-
Guided / was mistaken, and 1 want down
into the shaft. I filed the bucket with
very heavy ore. climbed up and had it
about half raised when a man came walk.
ing up the creek bed toward me. Then /
knew that was right before.
He was an ugly looking customer. big
and brawny, with nat, scandinavian
face, and carried Winchester on his
arm. had a little stick that l slipped
into the windlass handle near the axle to
keep it from turning backward, and leav
Ing the bucket just where it was, suspend
ed half way up, started toward the cabin
TO get my arms. He covered me with his
repeating rifle, and ordered me to halt.
What are you doing on my claim?' he
SAID.
i reckon you can see,' I replied, put
ting as good face on it as 1 possibly
could.
"'You mean you've jumped it, YOU
cursed theft
emo. I don't. There wasn't enough
work on it to hold it, and it was as much
mine as anybody's.'