River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-05-24
NINE Sailing.
Processes for the Deception of I'M
wary Capitalists.
an Oid Trick and How II Is Played
The Cumming: Shoemaker Who Out
uitted IIimseIC-The Magic
Bottles.

Hotties.
To catch = bind. says tho Tfoverb.
put some SALT on lis i-l,. To catch a
victim. saws the mining shark. put
some salt on mine. ! do not know
whether the verb sal" in this sense.
has been n yes incorporated in any
dictionary. but when il is Sc will be de
fined something in siH= way: salt: To
stuccO worthless p9in" with high
grade ore for the purpose u inducing
some old gentleman from down East
20 invest lis kopccks therein To
write the history Of mining without
The history Of sailing might not be
Hamlet with Hamlet left out. but il
would De ri least Hlm!ct with Ophelia
without the melancholy
dame. l. is rs Old As rascality. The
mines If Australia have been sailed
repeatedly. and on one occasion high
colonial official narrowly escaped
prison for completely; n gold mine in
Africa was saiteI. few years ago.
and solI for E2l0)l; the ''Ari-
IONA diamond fields" We're moth
iug butt salt. with uncut stones
bought ia Amsterdam. and here in
Colorado the thing was reduced to
fine art years ago However. il Is not
the purpose Of this brief chronicle 10
trace sailing from Lots wife on, but
rather To give 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 rcsorted
t. when the decline begins 10 send
them away.
In 1875. ut the height Of The silver
mining craze this State. German
shoemaker lived on the cmincnce sub
scqueutiy known Is Carbonate hill
lie was lazy aud 50 fond Of whisky
that the ncighbors sail he didn't get
drunk. but occasionally got sober.
Tor months the great silver fever
pulsed around him without disturbing
his Cquauimity. Hc would sit in the
door uf his shop shoe under his lap
strap, and listlcssly watch the endless
stream Of pack trains. the hurrying
procession Of excited men, the yell
low stage coach dashiug skin
hand up the hill. and all
the indcscribabls ami intermin-
able hustle Of the hour. Shaft-hOUses
sprauw up all around him but hc pail
uo attention 10 them. At last one day
lie surprised every body by laying
down hi- pipe, going ont into his
back ward. and digging a hole In
few day, he was out Of sight, and
kept on digging In a month hc was
down thirty feet. and then lac sudden
denly rushed 10 an ass1ycr' Office with
a handful of ore that made peoples
ewes stick out. Il was the richest kind
Of carbonate, heavy with virgin sill
YER
Tho hole was examined and a big
vein of Il was found in the bottom.
Then the great question was how To
get the property away from the shoe
maker ON the easiest possible terms.
He did not seem 10 understand the
value If his discovery. and when a
syndicate was formed and offered him
=. sd lac accepted at once.
That night was murder ont. The
Cobblcr went on big spree. and
boastcI All over the camp that he had
bought whcclbarrow full Of ore from
the Chrysolitc mime and sailed his
prospect hole. which hal nothing in il
more valuable than mud. But before
this confession reached the purchasers
they hal sunk the shaft four feet
deeper ami cut right into huge body
Of real caUbpnates that threw the
Chrv stuff in the shade If il
hadn't boon for the Dutchman's story
thcv would never have known the
mine was saltcd n All. When the
shoemaker heard Of the discovery he
sworc that H. hal been rabb,d. Near
Is million dollars in ore was taken
ont # tina; mine.
In the sam, year. or the succeeding
one. "a very singular thing occurred
near DcadwooL new camp hal
sprung up oH the verge Of precipi-
tous cIim nearly 600 feet high. and
overlooking one Of those rude basins
known IN Western vernaCular as
parks" One day some miners. ca
inc their dinner. saw q man down in
the park. diminished and forc-short-
encd so that he looked like a little
doll Presently he raised y GUN to his
shoulder. smoke driftcd from the
muzzle. and moment later the faint
echo Of a rrporI reached their ears.
lie must have missed that bird. said
the miners. and went ON eating ihcir
dinner
a few days aftcrwarJ a ragged
stranger came Ia the camp and went
Il work. One morning be said: Boys.
believe there is an on cropping 81 gold
on the face Of that elf" \ man was
let down and came zap y pale - death.
with a chunk Of quartz in his hand all
specklcJ AMI faxed with the precious
metal The location of 1t prccluded
any thought of sailing. and the camp
went Wild 1t went if any thing. a
Iitle wilder when il WAS found that
the stranger had already stakel of the
best claims. 4 mining claim. theoret-
icallv, may extend down 10 tho center
Of the earth. and hi,. Of course. cut
through the spot where the quartz was
found The same day he was offered
and accepted good many thousand
dollars for the property.
Il was subsequently discovered that
the ragged stranger and the man with
n gun were Identical H had filed
down y twcuty-dollar gold piece,
LOADED 4 gun with the dust. and fred
into the face Of the cIIn This man
hal been n dcsertcr from the United
States Army. Ills name escapes me.
Sailing with chloride Of gold so
called. was the invention Of Cali
fornia man and practieed 10y him 1t
the hydraulic mines in the northern
Part If that State. l will leave some
chemist to state wha; the powerful re-
solvent was that held gold suspended
in infinitely small particles. but such
m agent he did discover and used with
success. Hydraulic mining Is done BY
means Of very long sluicc or trough
With Stats nailed croSswise along The
bottom As muddy water. with which
the rich earth has been miXcl. Is
passed through this sIuice. quicksilver
In the 0uvlr5 Il ffra zlqfS aftracfs the