The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-09-14
BETTER THAN A MINE.

S;aOd FortWme of u Californian who Acct
d~"saliy Found - sPanish Grant.
Did you ever stop tn think what u
mighty sight of splits there is one way an
another i'm this old skin game of life?"
asked the old California Landlord at Bid
well Bar. "Things is different i'm Cali
fornia from what they used to bc Ina the
early days.. Now it's jest dog eat dog. III
a man raks.s up "a stake of ~ few undrc
dollars ny good hard knocks an puts IL i'm
"a hank. the chances IL four tn one that
the cashier skils tn Canada with il aforc
six weeks, an IL ~ man invests i'm land an
settles down to live decent an rs,spsct-
able. he amt there hut u short time till
sonc one comes .alonR with au old Span
ish grant title. dated away hack. and hists
him oT Of the land he's paid his good
money for. The ain't nothiu' certain amy
more for n man tn put his coin into. l
once knowcd n man up here in the hills
who owned n rich placer mine an had
sicll "a slis;rtist of folks that he wot,ld't pan
out only jest what gold he wanted to use
from one day tn the next because lac al
lowed that there wasn't no safe place to
keep il. an ! reckon he was about light.
"But spcakin' of Spanish grants, 1
s'posc they've stirred up more onplcas-
antness iu this country than anything.
These Spanish grants ar, big pa'ce'ls al
land which the Mexican government had
sold ar given away afors. California was
bought by the Quilted States. of course
our government didn't know nothing
about these grants, which had mostly
lns.n deserted by the owners. au' at course
sold the land over again to settlers:
Then when the settlers improved the land
S Sn,a %, ,sc s IL yai' sisi. bo sns ~, asi am' c T.i,Sa
the ranch. They generally has u lawsuit.
hut the courts always decides for the fell
Ter which holds tine first title of course.
III knowssI one case "a couple of years
ago where I thought the first owner was
Justified in reclaimin' his property, hut l
reckon the landowners i'm Suttcr county
thought "a cyclone had struck 'em: IL
came about this way, Old John Coveo
aud n Teller named haskins came out
They went i'm cahoDts an bought up
am old Spanish grant in Suttcr county,
which Sn wa. i'"' |, x An, sheer S,% S'" a": s esa
Things run along all right for about three
years an they made some money. Iheis
ever KNOWN i'm the state am their stock
died of by the hundreds for want of feed.
II busted 'cm fiat: Jest about that time
rush for the digain's. That's how come
to know him. We mined togcther up ON
the Y"ha rivsrawas partner Tor over TWO '%..
placer diggin's, but lost IL all i'm fiumin'
the river. expcctin' tn take out ~ million
no more of C.oveo till about the fall of
40, when he got caught in II cave in u
hume am WAS killed. He left ~ wiidcr
f s"mi,o shn sra nas s Fire bo "! o." %nn .%s Was
Charlie. am he growcd up with the town
to the bar an went to practicin'. but
somehow he didn't seem :" do real first,
rassm%ns too s,.r h 6si sasncr. w%" wa. the
honestest man l most ever saw. But
he managed tn scrape along an pan out
swim of the town. Then he fell in love
with the daughter of old Montgomery.
who owned the Golden Gate hank there.
mule could kick down hill -bu the old
man was dead agin the match, cause liz.
allowed the young Teller was poor an
didn't have mo- prospects OF strikin' IA rich
fittings run along that way for some
time, am, Charlie an, the girl who was !,
a-breakin' their hearts,. Finally one day
when Charlie was lookin' over son,c old
iinds the deed to IA h~alf-intersst in the Rio
BOnito grant. He asked his mother about
il, hut. laws! w~omanlike, she didn't know
one or not. The deed called for am nndi-
vidcd half of about 2O.OoO acres OF the hest
wh;..h {" , S.'t Town To "f Mar .Min,% WAS a"i Sai Sn
''Charlic put i'm about "a month diggin'
up old county records an at last found out
that his father hadn't sold "a cents worth
OF his interest in the grant: The young
Teller then set about maxim out legal pa:
peers claimin' a. half interest in all the land
from Frisco to help him. an when h. got
the papers ready, which took a month, he
was so poor that he had tn borrow the
money tn file 'cm in court. Then he
swoopcd down on to- them fcllcrs like IA
hawk. comIncncin' with the town prop
erty. The first man he tackled owned u
couple of vacant lots. am when hc looked
at the papers an saw that the young fell
Ter had the drop on him hc planked
out SJO without IA kick then an
other one hands over S1,2OO. This
give Charlie a workin' capital an lac went
Tor others rougli-shod an gathered EN- in
right an left, I reckon lots of 'cIn felt
like hangin' him. But he never cinched
"a poor man. When lac found one what
couldn't ante up lac passed ont an let linn
take the pot. When the y~otiugstcr como
to tackle the ranchcrs. he expected Tiers.
would bc trouble an lawsuits over the biz.
So he picked ont the richest cuss on the
grant. cNpCstin' to make "A test case OF II.
but when the Teller come in with his law
yer an lookcd over the papers. Inc seed
which way the cat was goin' To jump an
PUNCHED mp his check for S22,OJO. After
that il was just like findin' money.
1.-The young Teller was n Good remplar.
which was the only thing | had agin him
-hidH't believe in tile sUllin' OF good
whisky-an' the first thing lac done after
gcttin' considerable coin was to go an
lease "A hall for twenty years an trim IL up
elegant an give il To the lodge. II seemed
like "a mighty foolish thing to do, hut most
everybody lowed il was IA good act.
"By that time tho young Teller had
more money than IN horse could pull. an
~u~.. at<. nl...- R,..a ~ lx.- GAl1I