Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1891-10-01
TAKING NO CHANCES.

There it lay. Right on the mountain
top. Nature had followed it out, as if
on purpose, space not more than fifty
feet square; and in it she had placed
gold in quantities that few men ever see
and fewer still possess.
Dull-colored yellow. 1t was lust as
Nature the great alchemist, had made it,
For centuries it had lain and glstened in
the burning sun, Furnished only by the
sand sweeping over it in windy revels.
1t had never known the darkness of long
years of boarding in strong boxes, nor
had it ever clung like the kisses of pas
sionate men TO the throat and arms and
breasts of women beautiful as the day
No mans blood had been shed for it, no
woman or child had eaten bread in sad
ness and tears because of it. Yet it was
gold.
Amid the sand and in the crevices of
the rocky lodges that made the apex of
the mountain novice might have passed
by it unheedingly. But when Jack
Swilling and his comrades saw it they
knew that they were rich.
Attracted by the discovery of rich
gold-diggings at Weaver, in the then re-
Gently organized territory of Arizona the
little party had left Tucson and travelled
northward until they had arrived at the
placers. On their arrival at the mines,
they found that already good many
thousands of dollars had been taken out
principally by Mexicans, and they had no
difficulty in locating ground that paid
them well. For nearly month they had
continued mining, meeting with no more
than usual success, until one of their
party, while hunting, had ascended one
of the surrounding mountains. On reach
ing the summit, he had paused for an in
stant to let his eye sweep the mesas and
mountains that stretched away for miles
on either side, and, while doing so, he
had discovered that the little basin in
which he stoodw almost paved with gold
Picking up few of the larger pieces,
he returned to camp and informed his
comrades of his discovery. The story
he told to his companions was one so in
credible that, had it not been for the
nuggets of gold which he had brought
with him, they would not have believed
him. Early the next morning the entire
party ascended the mountain, and what
they saw proved that the richness of the
find had not been exaggerated, but that
its true value had been, if anything,
underestimated.
Abandoning their old location, the
party encamped on their newly discovered
treasure-ground and began to gather its
riches. AT first every loose nugget was
carefully picked up and stored away;
after that the sand, which was found to
be heavy with fine gold, was gathered
together preparatory to washing" it
out with the waters of the stream below.
This done, they began with their bowie
knives ''to cut and gouge" out of the
crevices and cracks of the rock the gold
that they contained. Never did men
work so hard. The feverish hunger and
thirst for gold was upon them. As long
as the light of day lasted they continued
to wor k, Each day saw the pile of vir-
gin gold grow larger and larger until it
became impossible to conceal it.
The Mexicans who had been their
neighbors in the old diggings would come
into their camp and look with greedy
eyes at the Americans at work. AT first
they sought everywhere to discover an
other such pocket, but in vain. Outside
of the little piece of ground where the
first party had "struck ii" the mountain
side was as barren of gold as a macada-
nniZeu road lhen they ceased to pros
Pect, ana spent their time sulIenly watch
ing 'he takiiiS OUT Oh the riches IN which
'hey were 10 nave no snare
=, 10 'hom lhes sPo' was llke the vortex OF
'he n,aels'roiii' Every morning they
VIZ 'noie, s'"iuinS oii ihe sue ol ,he
claim' ana ourhg the long, hot
hours OF the day' they sat- re-
gardless OF the burning glare OF
the sun, watchlng' Watching, trem-
Dllhg with excitement when Il nugget
larger than the ordinary was taken out.
1t was only when dusk grew into dark
ness and the blue sky glistened with its
myriad OF stars that they returned to
their own camp, to toss restlessly through
the nj ght, fevcrishly anxious to see what
new riches the morrow would bring to los
Amerlcanos. The gold their own work
mad taken from the banks of the stream,
with which they were once so satisfied,
seemed so little and insignificant, when
compared with what their neighbors had
taken from the mountaln-top, that they
no longer thought or spoke OF it. Once
1t hau seemed 10 mem fortune now 1t
was hardly worth haVing'
DAY atter day the Americans worked,
watched by the Mexlcans. From dollars
me value OF their gold grew into hun
dreds ana then INTO thousands, They