, 1890-03-07
THE CLAIM WAS sALTED.
The Rock Mt the Mine Wa Rich, But 1t
Didn't Show a Color.


For ways hat are dark and tricks
that are vain, remarked an old Cali
fornia prospector to me the other day,
commend me TO the average mining
sharp. These fellows are to be found
hanging around every mining camp.
They all have rich claims located
somewhere in the hills, and when a
tenderfoot puts in an appearance he is
their particular meat.
Il was a tenderfoot once myself,
you see, so l know. Shall 1 tell you
how l was taken in7 Well, along in
the fall of rs, / think it was, l met q
chap in San Francisco who represent
ed TO me that he had rich mine down
in San B~ernardino county which he
wished to sell for cash. l had a few
thousand dollars at the time, and, if
the mans story was true, l saw a good
chance to realize a fortune on n small
investment.
"'Of course / must look at the prop
erty myself, said l. This was agreed
to, and it was further agreed and I'M
derstood hat if the mine was as rep
resented l was to pay IS, 900 cash on
the spot and take possession of the
property. / knew n little about quartz,
and concluded to trust to my own
judgment rather than send an expert
to the grounds.
The ledge was represented as being
twelve feet thick, with n rich pay
streak some four feet in thickness that
would pay over $40 per ton. The
whole ledge l was told was good for
over $50. | was shown several speci-
mems of rock which l 'panned out
myself, with results that were no less
gratifying than astonishing.
well, to make n long story short,
we were soon on the grounds. 1t was
a difficult place TO get at, but this was
nothing if the mine was all right. On
my arrival l found two men at work
with an arastra. l was shown the re-
suit of a days working, and became
more excited than ever. About the
only work that had been done on the
mine was a shaft some sixty feet deep
and q few cross cuts at the fifty foot
level.
Il saw hat the ledge was a wide
one, but somehow l didn't like the
looks of the rock and SO expressed my
self. Just prospect some of it and
see, said one of the men, which sug-
gestion l proceeded to follow. After
carefully selecting several pieces of
rock from different parts of the vein /
pounded them up in a mortar which |
had brought with me and then care
fully panned out the pulp, using a
large horn spoon for the purpose.
THE men stood leaning over me
during this operation, apparently as
much interested as l was. Very soon
the color began to show, and when l
had PANIED the stuff down as fine as
/ could a string of gold dust remaining
showed that l had been handling some
very rich rock. l tried this a number
of times, with the same result more or
less each time. You will not be sur
prised then when l tell you that l took
possession of the property and paid for
it then and there.
"a ten stamp mill could be started
at once,I concluded, and Immediately
started for San Francisco to make the
necessary arrangements. OF course /
took a large sack of the rock along
with me.
ION arriving at San Francisco l in
vited a number of my friends to in
spect my new purchase-at least to
prospect the rock, as | had done, and
see for themselves. Just think said
l, "a twelve foot ledge, down sixty
feet on it and $40 a ton rock and only
$50 for it. Why, it's worth $3.50, 900
at least
"a friend of mino present, a mining
engineer, who had been pounding
away at some of the rock while l was
talking, said at this juncture that he
had seen worse rock than that, but
not much.
What do you mean2 l asked.
Mean2' said he, why, just what
| say. Your mine, if all the rock in
it is like this, isn't worth fifty cents
This staggered me, of course, but l
thought he must be mistaken, and
prospected some of it myself and
couldn't find a color. Soon we were
all pounding away at it, but nary a
color could be found. / then had the
rock assayed and was somewhat as
founded at discovering that "a trace
was all the gold the rock contained.
We'll, you can just bet l was mad.
| bundled off for the mine that very
afternoon. When / arrived there the
place was deserted. L tried some of
the same rock had p~rospected before,
but there was no string of gold dust
this time.
Il knew l had been swindled. But
howl That is what puzzled me. / was
out SIS, 600 in cash, but Idon't believe
that this bothered me near as much as
the fact that l had been taken in, and
had no conception of how it was done.
Did l even find it out2 Oh, yes.
This is the way it was worked. One
OF h men who stood over me dropped
a pinch of gold dust into the mortar
every time l made a a prospect.
"knowlng this you al see for your
sell how easy it was to deceive me as
TO the character of the rock New
York Herald.