The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-03-15
OLD DAMS STORY.

OLD DAMS STORY.
A Nexsa. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in u
Blinding snowssorm.
Prom the san Francisco Call.
"sOld Dam was an character.
No one knew his true name. He would
not divulge il to even his most intimate
friends. His signature to whatever IL
ehanced tn he, note, bond, deed or letter,
wns invaribly Old DAM Under that
name he served one year as mining
recorder of Red Cedar mining district and
there are to-day filed within the archives OF
the secretary of the interior M Washington
city abstracts and certificates bearing the
signature .Old DAM He was once n candi-
date for Justice of the peace, but II young
and rising lawyer defeated him ON the
ground that Old Dam was not his true
name, and therercre all ms lrd,c,ai ACTS
WINS equally uncertain aud obscure. and
he was equally as reticent about IT,. He
Maine or he hoop hole and pumpkin
Of Indiana. He was cosmopolitan In his
manners and Language and I'm the recital
earnest ~ and sincere manner which forced
upon the listener the belief that, like
Washington, he could not tell n lie.
in Utah al a lonely spring widely sep
aratcd by miles of desert from any other
habitation where he was engaged I'm herd
rcpcilcI the appcilation Of cowboy" and
claimed, like Gnrth, TO be only q co'nmon
~,cowher1,' not to Cedric, the Saxon, but
iains prospecting, my outfit consisting of
Two mules, one packed with blankets,
grub and tools, and the other I rode. One
spring, where ! found Old Dam reclining
in the shade OF his cabin. l asked Of him
thc privilege of watering my caravan
from the spring and resting a while i'm tho
shade before crossing to the opposite
range. This was readily granted. and
s sssn sm ! prfssn ,.S.,c rr" %,,n i + .%%E G,"S xo os
cemented. and odd Dam became very
communicative.
asked him II Inc had ever eneasei in
mining. .Ycs,' he replied, .oncc i'm
Coutani. Myself and partner, Joe, went
cred. We were very lucky, and i'm less
rood, clean gold dust, but IL did ms no
deal more, but winter was approaching
and as there was no grub I'm the camp we
had to get out. So we put our gold dust
loading il ON three caytise horses and hav-
ing one each to rid we struck out for
ssThc second day out n fearful snow.
storm struck us. The wind blew at the
rate of q thousand miles a minute, and the
snowflakSs were =. big a. . bsd.prsad.
and we realized that we were lost and
wandered aimlessly in the binding storm.
S sSsss i oe w anS n, we had Sse fi,s h 20 fEes1e iio sns
of gold dust stepped between two fallen
logs and broke n leg, and we made camp,
ing and attempted to build q fire. But it
was no use. IL was impossible to start n
fire in that whirling,. twisting, driving
afternoon and night we huddled around
the dead horse i'm the vain endeavort to keep
warm with the scanty blankets we had.
The next morning the storm broke away
to some extent. hut Joe's feet and legs
we're frozen as stiff and solid as ~icicles.
would have given half of our gold dust to
as there was no use to lament, we had to
make the best of il and try and get out II
We could. ! got the horses together and
packed them the best l could. l tied poor
frozen Joe on to his saddle horse by means
of straps or bands torn from our blankets.
One hundre pounds OF gold dust we had
10 leave. AZ our horses could not pack il
through the deep SNOW. All day long we
struggled and toilcd i'm the binding storm
,nd drifting snow. As night approached
icnt than ever. was i'm advanc of the
,rain; Joe was bringing up IN rear.
what was best to do. and what do you
think I discovered. Why, Joe was dead!
As dead, cold and stiff as a crowbar. A
80 hard and stiff that he still maintained
the upright position ON his horse in which
ha 1 placed and tied him i'm the morning.
his saddle, and laid his icy form by the
roots of "a tree. The snow by this time
1as coming down thicker and faster han
ever. Our horses punched themselves up
together, and i'm less than an hour were
completely buried i'm the snow. and
would have shared he same fate had I
not mn the snow down and kept OH
top. All night long ] kept up this con.
slant tramp. tramp. 1 tell you
through Georgia. The next morning Il
cleared up.but the.snow was 10 feet deep. ]
realized that IL would he impossible to get
my horses out of that sea OF SNOW, and ]
would be i'm big luck II I got myself out
So ! dug down to where the horses were
buried and succeeded in cutting open one
Of the sacks of gold dust and took out q
few and put il in my shot pouch
also got a small piece Of bacon and some
crackers. With these l started to find
my way out. After two weeks of inccs
SAINT toll and struggles I reached n small
settlement more dead than alive. The
people were good 20 me, and I soon recov
cred strength sufficient to travel, and
made my way down to the whcrs
j took a sailing vessel for Frisco. and
from there came to Utah, where you now
sec me-
".Old DAM having rcfllled his pipe, be
gan to puff away. In answer to a ques
ton OF mine he replied:
"'NO: i never went back to find oui
gold dust, or to see whether poor Joe had