Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-08-10
NINE Sailing.
Processes for the Deception OF Un-
wary Capt alists.
An Ola Trick. and How II IL Played
The Cunning shoemaker who oat-
wittsd Hinas.if--rhe Magic
Bottles.

Dotue1s
To catch bird, says the prosern
put same salt on iis tail To catch
victim, says the mining shark put
some salt on a mine. do not know
whether The vcrb salt" In this sense.
has been as yet Incorporated in any
dictionary, but when IL Is il viii be de-
Hnesi something In this way: Salt; To
stucco a worthless mine with high
grade ore for the purpose Of inducing
some old gentleman from down East
10 Invest his kopeoks therein" To
write the history OF mining without
the history Of sailing might not be
Hamlet with Hamlet left out but 1t
would be a, least II inlet with Ophelia
omitted without tie melancholy
dame. I is ~ old Ms raseality. The
mines Of Australia have been sailed
repeatedly, a cn one occasion a high
colonial official narrowly escaped
prison for connplielty; n gold mine In
Africa wss sslied. few years ago.
and sold for f2) 900; the Arr
roma diamond fields" were moth
ing but q salt. with uncut stones
bought In Amsterdam. and here in
Colorado the thing WAS reduced 10
fine art years ago. However. l, Is not
the purpose Of this brief chronicle TO
trace sailing from Lots wife on, but
rather 10 give fsw curious instances
which have come under the writer,
observation Ii may be taken for
granted in general way. that sailing
Is the first thiag thought Of when a
bonn draws Investors 10 new min
ing camp and the last thing resorted
60 when the decline begins 10 send
them away
j. 1878 at the height Of the silver
mining ar re 10 this State. n German
shoemaker lived on the eminence sub
seqaently known as Carbonate hill
H. wss 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
bis equanimity. He would sit In the
door Of bis shop shoe under his lap
strap. and llstiessiy watch the endless
stream Of pack trains, the hurrying
procession Of excited men. the yell
low stage coach dashing skin
hand up the hill. and all
the Undesirable and intermin-
able hustle Of tbs hour. Shaft-houses
spraug up all around him, but he pail
no attention 10 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 oni Of sight, and
kept on digging. In month no was
down thirty feet and then he sudden
denly rushed to an assayer' Office with
handful OF ore that made people S
Of carbonate, heavy with virgin sill
yer
The hole was examined and big
vein Of il was found In tho 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 ~ understand the
value Of his discovery. and when a
syndicate wss formed and offered him
" 500 lac accepted at once.
That night was murder out The
eobblcr went on big spree. and
boassel all over tha camp that he had
bought = wheelbarrow full of ore from
the Chrysolite mine and sailed his
prospect hole. which had nothing In it
moro valuable than mud. But before
ibis confession reached the purchasers
they had sunk the shaft four feet
deeper and cut right into q huge bod y
of real carbon aios that threw the
Chrysolite stuff In the shade. II II
hahn 1 been for the Dn,chman'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 rubb d. Near
" million dollars in ore was taken
out II that mine.
II the same year. or the succeeding
one. very singular thing occurred
near Dsadwood. A new camp had
sprung up Oh the verge of preoIpi.
toas elf nearly 600 feet high. and
overlooking one OF those rude basin,
known IN Western yernacular a,
parks" Que day some miners. eat
Ing their dinner. saw man down il
the park. diminished and fore-short
ened So that he looked like u it'll,
doll Presently he raised gun 10 hi
shoulder. smoke drified from tn,
muzzle. and moment later The fain
echo Of n report reached their eur :
H must have missed that bird" sal,
the miuers. and went on eating thail
dinner.
A few days afterward a rage,
stranger came to the camp and wen
to work. One morning he said: Boys
Ibelicve there Is an GU cropping of gol
Oh the face Of that cliff" A man wa
let down and came up as pale rs death
with chunk of quartz in his hand al
speckled and faxed with the preciou
metal. The location of 1t preclude,
any thought of sailing. and the cam
went wild. 1t went II any thing.
little wilder when it was found tina
the stranger had already staked off tn
best claims. A mining claim. theorei
ically. may extend down to the cente
OF the earth. and his. OF course. Gu