Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1889-04-25
COULDN'T STAND PROSPERITY /.

"A MINER who Made and Lust Million
Donars In six Months.
sonora, Taolumne county. GAL, was at
one time the livelies st and richest mining
camp in the golden state. Gold was
found in the very streets. and the sup
ply seemed inexhsustlble. For the last
few years, however. Sonora has been on
the down grade. A few mines are
worked in the vicinity, but the .own
Itself is about as dead as door nail.
One OF the beat knoun characters OF
the town, and who may be seen any day
leaning up against some post aud gazing
into apaee ss il he had no further use for
| the scenes about him, is Frenchman
by the name OF Dnvoll.
Duvoll lis ABOUT Sc years old, aud IS a
| very fair specimen of the "bugted miner"
| type so prevalent ann ong the mining dis
triots of the Pacific slope. No one would
suppose by locking at him that only o
few years since he counted his gold by
the hundreds OF thousands. yet such Is
really the Gaze.
Davoll sprang into wealth and proml-
uence in the fall and winter OF 1884 95.
He made in those few months something
like 81 $4,000 To day he hasn't cent
to his name. It happened this way:
| About four miles from Sonora some
men were sinking prospect shaft when
they struck rich pocket yielding
some $4,000 or more in gold. They
"drifted" about after that in hope oi
finding more, but concluded finally tha,
there was no more in il.
| Duvoli had been prospecting around
and working in the mines and had saved
about $400. He had heard of this poo
ket and thinking it good "spec" of.
fered the men his $400 for their claim
which offer they jumped at, thinking
Duvoll crazy to want to work the CLAIM
any further
Iney didn's seem to "phase' Duvol
any, for be went to work. Steadily de-
after day for about month he wielde
his pick and shovel at the bottom OF tb
shaft until (the ground he was work n.
in was soft, decomposed quar,zJ IL
found narrow thread of quartz show
ing considerable quantity of ire. gold
That night Duvoll procured SOM
, heavy timbers and some lumber ant
built cabin tvsr the shaft A nephe,
of his was called to his assistance ant
one of them was always at the cabll
after that for period of six months.
That marrow streak OF quartz soon be
gsn 10 widen and the gold became
more plentiful, until an ore chamber
was reached containing perhaps the
greatest amount of gold ia o given spac,
that ever was discovered.
The gold wes taken out in bucketfuls
At every stroke of the pick great chunki
of quartz tibet were almost solid messe
of gold would be loosened- end this wal
kept up until they had taken oui alto,
gsther some 5000 pounds, which yielded
upward OF ST. 900 .000.
\ This sort OF thing, OF course, could
not last alwaye. aud 30 when the find :
petered out Duvoll and his nephew wen
down to San Francisco to invest thei
money and enjoy themselves. Th,
nephew had, believe, tenth interes
IN the pocket.
A million dollars wasn't enough TO
Duvoll, and in order to Increase his pill,
he took @ "hyer" at stock speculation
He took several 'th hyers." in fact. and 8,
did the nephew. In about sixty day
the nephew was "bussed" and Duvoll'
Hpile" had been diminished to abon
100000.
| Duvoll's next step was TO invest ebou
$3.50 600 in dwelling property on Haigh
street, Sar Francisco. he then returned
to Sonora. After several disnstrou
mining specnlations he was induced Il
go into big irrigation scheme whiol
almost broke him aud compelled him I,
mortgage his San Francisco property.
/ After number OF other ventures th'
Height street property went by th
II board, and Duyoli, without even hi
original $400, found himself skirmish
ing about Sonora for job at SO day
New York Herald.