Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-07-19
The CLAM WAS sALrsn.



''- 1t the Mine Was Rich. INT 7.
Didn't Show Color.
For ways that are dark md tr;cL.
enat are vain. remarked an old Cali
iornla prospector tn me the other s;av
cpImiend me to the average mining
sharp. These fellows are 10 be found
mTanging around every mining canir.
lney all have rich claims located
somewhere IN the hills, and when q
sehdefioot puts in an appearance he 4
Their particular meat. = :.
4 was q tenderfoot once mvse,f
you see, SO know. Shall / feli IN,
now ! was taken in7 Well. alone in
me fall OF rs, ! think it was / met a
clap IN San Francisco who represent
60 % me that he had rich mine down
IN San BernaIdino county which 10
Misned 70 sell for cash. / had q few
thousand dollars at the time, and. II
tne man 2 story was true, / saw q good
cchance to realize q fortune On q small
investment.
VI course must look at the prop-
erty myself, said /. This was agreed
70, and It was further agreed and M
derstood that If the mine was as ron
resented Twas to pay S., 900 cash on
the spot and take possession of tha
property. | knew little about quartz
and concluded TO trust "a nv own
judgment rather than send an expert
to the grounds.
Inc iedge was represented as being
WE'VE 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. Twas shown several snec;.
mems OF rock which | .panned ont
myself, with results that were no less
gratifying than astonishing.
We'll, to make long story short
we were soon on the grounds. It was
a dlfhcult place to get at, but this was
nothlng II 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 shaft some sixty feet deem
and a few cross cuts at the fifty foot
level. -
II saw that the ledge was a wide
one, but somehow didn't like the
looks Of the rock and SO expressed nv
self. Just prospect some of Il and
see, said one OF the men, which sug-
gestlon l proceeded to follow. After
carefully selecting several pieces of
rock from different parts of the vein l
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.
line 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 panned the stuff down as fine as
l could string OF gold dust remaining
showed that ] 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 | tell you that took
possession of the properly and paid for
it then and there.
"A ten stamp mill could be started
at once,l concluded, and Immediately
started for San Francisco to make the
necessary arrangements. OF course
took a large sack of the rock along
with me.
On arriving at San Francisco ! in
vlted 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
|, a twelve foot ledge, down sixty
feet on it and $40 ton rock and only
s., 600 for it. Why. it's worth $3.50, goo
at least
"A friend of mine present, a mining
engineer, who had been pounding
away at some of the rock while | was
talking, said at this juncture that he
had seen worse rock than that, but
not much.
w hat do you meant asked.
Meant 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
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
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 | was mad.
bundled off for The mine that very
afternoon. When | arrived there the
place was deserted. l tried some of
.he same rock l had prospected before,
out there was no string of gold dust
his time.
Il knew had been swindled. But
lowl That is what puzzled me. l was
out $4,000 in cash, but don't believe
hat this bothered me near as much as
he fact that had been taken in, and
lad no conception of how it was done.
did | ever find it out2 Oh, yes.
This is the way it was worked. One
If the men who stood over me dropped
4 pinch of gold dust into the mortar
every time made prospect.
Knowing this you can see for your
elf how easy it was to deceive me as
o the character of the rock. New
York Herald.