The Red Cloud chief., 1889-06-07

DUvoLL.s LUCKY STRIKE.
He NaAs anA Less q MInisa Dealars with
In SIX Aootha.
Sonora. Tuolumne County. Cal, Was
1t one time the liveliest and richest
mining camp in tho Golden State.
Gold was found in the very streets and
the supply seemed inexhaustible. For
the past few years, however. Sonora
has been on the down grade. A few
mines are worked in the vicinity. but
the town itself is about q dead - .
door nail
One Of the best known characters Of
the town. and who may be seen any
day leaning up against some post and
gazing into space. a If he had no
farther use for the scenes about him,
Is a Frenchman by the name Of Duvoll.
Duvou is about ffty-six years old
and is a very fair specimen of the
''busted MINER type SO prevalent
among the mining districts of the
Pacific slope. No one would suppose
by looking at him that only a tew
years since he counted his gold by the
hundreds OF thousands, yet such is
really the case.
Duvoll sprang into wealth and
prominence in the fall and winter Of
1SS4-5. He made in those few months
something like 81. $50. 600. To-day he
has not a cent to his name. 1t hap
pened this way:
About four miles from Sonora some
men were sinking a prospect shaft
when they struck a rich pocket"
yielding some $50. 900 or more in gold.
They ''drifted" about after that in the
hope Of finding more. but concluded
finally that there was no more in it
Duvoll had been prospecting around
and working in the mines, and had
saved about 800. He had heard Of
this pocket. and thinking it a good
''spec." offered the men his $4OO for
their claim. which offer they jumped
at. thinking Duvoll crazy to want to
work the claim any further.
This didn't seem to phase" Duvoll
any. for he went to work steadily. and
day after day for about a month he
welded his pick and shovel at the
bottom of the shaft, until (the ground
he was working in was a soft. decom-
posed quartz) he found a narrow
thread of quartz showing a consider
able quantity of free gold.
That night Duvoll procured some
heavy timbers and some lumber and
built a cabin ove the shaft. A nephew
of his was called to his assistance. and
n Of them was always at the cabin
after that for a period Of six months.
That narrow streak Of quartz soon
began to widen and the gold became
more plentiful. until an ore chamber
was reached. containing perhaps the
greatest amount Of gold in q given
space that ever was discovered.
The gold was taken out in the
bucketfuls At every stroke of the
pick great chunks of quartz that were
almost solid masses of gold would be
loosened. and this was kept up until
they had taken out altogether some
9 GOO pounds. which yielded upward
of 81. 900. 600.
This sort Of thing. of course. could
not last always. and so when the
find" petered put Duvoil and his
nephew went down to San Francisco
to invest their money and enjoy them
selves. The nephew had. I believe. a
tenth interest in the pocket
A million dollars wasn't enough for
Duvoll, and in order to increase his
pile he took a ''fier" at stock specu-
He took several ''Hiers." in
fact. and 50 did the nephew. In about
sixty days the nephew was ''busted."
and Duvoll's ''pile' had been dimin-
ished to about $SO0. 0OO.
Duvou's next step was to invest
about $50. 600 in dwelling property
on Haight street, San Francisco.
He then returned to Sonora. After
several disastrous mining specula-
lions. he was induced to 60 into a big
scheme which almost broke
him and compelled him to mortgage
his San Francisco property.
After a number of other ventures
the Haight street property went by
the board. and DuvOll. without even
his original $400. found himself Skin
mishing about Sonora for q job at s. a
~ " Ho.al