Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-04-25
| AN OLD FIRE BOX

ing Mexlcan Central tram Voc a..
me where the following story wos
a by successful Arizona business
n. 'iiie'S
IN 1865 said he, 81 was engineer
q nrelnan, too, for the people who
Ps operating mine away up in tho
9oilon mountains, above Florence
iona. They called it the Twin Me-
", from two Handicapped hills on
slope OF which one of the mines woo
ted. '-io' was
mere was no railroad then. brt
mad hauled a four-stamp mill and
er up there with mules and Voc
ng to crush some pretty good quartz
silver. '''i '"
! was twenty years old, fresh from
va and could find nothing better TO
)than to put grease wood under the
ner OF this corporation and trv to
axe steam from it. In fact, | was ex-
ecteo TO help cut the grease-wood. nm
creek above the mill, and risk NV
alp every day; for hostile Apaches
ere roaming about, and every man of
Kept his gun handy, night and day.
The mine had lost six or seven mon
these Indians. 1t was unsafe TO stir
bout without strong convoy of troops
trontlersmen. The expenses of work
g were excessive on that account. 50
lat, although there was ore in the l. ad
le NINE did not pay, and was aban-
oned after eighteen months.
About six weeks before word came
stop work, L made little discovery
he hillside up to the north of the mill
aeds was OF a hard kind of reddish loan
r gravel, packed hard, with here and
lere the ragged points of lodges pro-
'udlng through it; while, scattered
yer the whole hillside up to the north
'ere punches of cactus and occasionally
thorn bush. You all know how those
,rlzona hillocks look. And amongst
ne cactas and thorn bushes were doz
ms OF ant-hills, each about the size and
rape of bushel basket turned bottom
p, though some were much larger.
i was out here one day, not more
han a hundred and fifty yards from
he mill and had sat down beside a bush
o look around and rest a bit, when l
appened to notice little clear, yellow
sh stone IN one of these ant-hills, into
which had thrust the stock of my gun.
81 picked up the stone for it looked
ather pretty, [ thought, and examined
t. | had no idea what it was then, but
thought it was beautiful object, and
ancied that it might have some value.
t was about the size of small plum
tone and shown with a twany kind of
,rilliancy.
81 had dim recollection of seeing
UGH a stone in brooch worn by
7ealthy lady whom | had once or twice
net in Iowa, but | had no great faith
hat this stone had any value. How
yer poked over the ant-hill and found
mother, and then found two others of
.fr size in another ant-hill close by.
here were also bits of pale blue stone,
7hich | afterward learned were tur-
uoises
Apparently the ants had worked these
tones upward from the ground beneath,
/ may be from a considerable depth, for
he whole slope was honeycombed by
heir tunnels and passages. They had
,rought out carloads OF dirt and gravel.
Il did not show the stones or say any
hing about them to the other men at
he mill, partly because l had some
title hope that they might be valuable
md partly because l did not like to be
aughed at for my ignorance.
"But l kept them in my pocket, and
.fter the mine was abandoned and we
lad all gone to Tucson / showed one of
he stones to an old German jeweler,
who used to keep shop on the corner
here beyond the barracks, and asked
,im how much he would give me for it.
He examined it long while and tried
q find out what thought it was, where
got it, and so on. But | laughed and
Kept still.
cat last he made an offer of three dol
airs for it. | knew then that the stone
,ad some real value, and, putting 1t In
nv pocket, | went to another shop. In
act | offered it in several places, and an
,rmv officer. a captain, told me later IN
he dav that the stone was topaz. The
,aptain was of the opinion that so fine
opaz was worth from thirty to fifty dol
AIRS in New York city. Two months
afterwards | sold two OF the stones Tor
twenty-five dollars apiece in Santa re-
nd then resolved to go back to the
nine and examine the ants nests
az considered the plan for some
weeks At first l thought of taking
,arty with me, but decided to go alone
,lthough the presence of the hostile
nacbes in the mountains made pros
,actinr on extremely dangerous pro-
From the Top knot mine, where l
inally QUILTED for my start the uis ;,
ance was about forty miles. l made II
n two nights travel, with thirty pounds
weight Of ham and bareback on my
,ack. I carried a coarse sleve' navy
pistol and Sharps rife.
.sThe people on the Top-knot thougn'
hat was starting on general pc
-: trim and they made bets OF