Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1890-07-22
THE CLAIM WAS sAL1ep.
the Rock at the Mine Was Rich, But lt
Dian,I SHINY a Color.


!. the Rock at the Mine Was Rich, But It
Didn't Show Color
For ways that are dark and tricks
that are vain, remarked an Old Cali
fornia prospector 10 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 know Shall tell you
how | was taken in2 Well. along IN
the fall of &c. think It was, l met
chap IN san Francisco who represent
ed TO me that he had rich mine down
in san Bemardino county which lac
wished to sell for cash had few
thousand dollars at the time, and, If
the mans story was true, | saw a good
chance TO realize fortune on a small
investment
"Of course l must look at the prop
erty myself, said |. This was agreed
TO, and 1t was further agreed and un-
derstoOd that If the mine was as rep
resented was 10 pay s., 600 cash ON
the spot and take possession of the
property. / knew little about quartz.
and concluded to trust to my own
Judgment rather than send am expert
to the grounds.
The ledge was represented as being
twelve feet thick, with rich pay
streak some four feet in thickness that
would pay over $40 per ton. The
whole ledge | was told was good for
over $50. | was shown several speci-
mems u rock which | 'panned out
myself. with results that were no less
gratifying than astonishing,
well, to make a long story short
we were soon on the grounds. IL was
adiiiicult place to get at, but tins was
nothing If the mine was all right On
my arrival | found two men at work
with an arastra | 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 few cross cuts at the fifty foot
level
Il saw that the ledge was a wide
one, but somehow / didn't like the
self. Just prospect some of u and
see. said one Of the men. which sug
gestion | proceeded to follow. After
carefully selecting several pieces OF
rock from different parts Of the VEIN
pounded them up iu a mortar which
had brought with - and then care
fully panned out the pulp, using q
large horn spoon for the purpose.
The men stood leaning over m,
during tins operation, apparently as
much interested as / was. Very soor
the color began 10 show. and when
had pauned the stuff down as fine g.
lcould a string OF gold dust remaining
showed that had been handling som,
very rich rock ! tried thisa number
OF times, with the same result more oi
less each time. You viii not Do sur
prised then when l tell YOU That tooi
possession Of the property and paid fol
1t then and there
"A ten stamp mill could be started
at once, | concluded. and Immediately
started for San Francisco To make Oh,
necessary arrangements. OF course
took a large sack of the rock along
with me.
ION arriving at san Francisco / IN
vited a number of my friends to IN
spect my new purchase-at least {,
prospect the rock, as | had done. aut
see for themselves. Just think. sal,
|, "a twelve foot ledge, down sixtl
feet on il and $40 a ton rock and oull
= $1,000 for il Why. lis worth $3.50 0U
at least.
"A friend of mine present a minin.
engineer who had been rounding
away at some Of the rock while wa
talking, said at this juncture that Ia
had seen worse rock than that, bu
not much.
What do YOU meant laskcd.
Meanf said he, why. just wha
! say. Your mine. if all the rock il
II is like this, isn't worth fifty cents.
This staggered me. OF course, but
thought he must be mistaken, AM
prospected some of 1t myself an,
couldn't find a color. Soon we wer
all pounding away at it, but nary
color could be found | then had th
rock assayed and was somewhat a,
founded at discovering that tIac,
was all the gold the rock contained.
We'll, you can just bet | was mao
bundled off for the mine that yer
afternoon. When / arrived there tn
place was deserted | tried some q
the same rock l had prospected befor,
but there was no string Of gold dus
this time
Il knew | had been swindled. Blu
howl That is what puzzled me- | wa
out $50 in cash. but don't bcliev
that this bothered me near as much a
the fact that had been taken In. am
had no conception Of how 1t was don,
Did | ever hud il outl Oh, We.
This is the way it was worked On
Of the men who stood over me droppe
pinch Of gold dust into the mora
every time ! made "a a prospect
Knowing tins you can see for youi
self how easy 1t was To deceive me a
TO the character Of the rock. Ney
York Herald
Female Indifference.