Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-07-04
pUvoLL.s LUCKY STRIKE.

DuvolL's LUCKY STRIKE.
He aeee md Lest . lanliea Dealass yyIsA.
sonora. Tuolumne County. Gel, WAS
ct one time the hveliest and richest
mining camp in the Golden State.
Gold was found in the very streets and
the supply seemed inexhaustibls. For
the past few years, however. Sonora
mas been on the down grade A few
mines are worked in the vicinity. but
the town itself IL about as dead q Q
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. as If he had no
farther use for the scenes about him,
Is Frenchman by the name of Duvoll
Duvoll is about ffty-six years old
and is 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 few
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
1884-5. He made in those few months
something like 1850. 900. 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 beer prospecting around
and working in the mines, and had
saved about $500. He had heard of
this pocket. and thinking it a good
''spec." offered the men his 800 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 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 cabin over the shaft. A nephew
of his was called to his assistance. and
one 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. AID this was kept up until
they had taken out altogether some
5000 pounds. which yielded upward
of 81, ZOO. 900.
This sort of thing. of course, could
not last always, and so when the
''find" petered out Duvoll and his
nephew went down to San Francisco
to invest their money and enjoy them
selves. The nephew had. l believe, a
tenth interest in the pocket.
A million dollars wasn't enough for
Duvoll, and in order to increase his
pile he took ''flier" at stock specu-
lation. He took several "fiers." in
fact, and so did the nephew. In about
sixty days the nephew was "busted."
and Duvoll's ''pile" had been dimin-
ished to about 100000.
Duvoll's next step was to invest
about $3.50. 900 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 big
irrigation 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 $500. found himself Skin
about Sonora for a job at So