The herald., 1893-05-31
WAITING FOR THE BOOM.
A Specimen Experience of a Northwes
ern Land Holder.

A Specimen Experience of Northwest
ern Land Holder.
Buried beyond the world in the depths
OF the pine forests of Northern Washing.
ton state, Jack H. waits for the boom
which is to bring him wife and fortune.
Eight years ago Jack, in partnership
with his father, had an income OF about
$4,000 year, derived from the profits oi
the largest oysters beds in England.
Two winters of terrible cold placed the
business in liquidation, and father and
son were practically ruined. There was
enough left for one, barely sufficient for
two, 30 the young man, with few hun
dred pounds in his pocket, turned his
back on old England and struck out for
the west. He could probably have
earned comfortable living in his old
| home, but that was not enough, for at
the time OF his failure he was engaged to
be married to girl he absolutely wor-
shipped. gE.~s2sa
If his sweetheart had been poor
Jack would probably have married
her then and there, but unfortunately
in this case she was rich, and Jack
being somewhat Quixotic in his notions
of honor, told her that he loved her too
much to ask her to marry ruined
man, and saying good bye set out to
make another fortune. AS is usual in
such cases it was some time before he
settled down to anything definite, and
by the time he did, his few hundreds
had entirely disappeared.
Just about this time, there was
some talk Of valuable mines be-
ing discovered in certain part
of Washington, then a territory.
The talk never amounted probably to
much more than a few remarks dropped
by party of prospectors, but Jacks
mind was fred and he determined to
stand or fall by the chance. So few
weeks sew him the proprietor OF 160
acres OF forest under the shadow OF one
Of the pine-covered foothills of the great
Olympic mountainss
The outlook when he got there
was certainly not promising. He
WAS situated in the depths of the
forest about 15 miles from the little
colony OF two hundred and odd men and
women who lived on the wages of the
men in the mines in the winter,
and in the , summer principally
upon the generosity of the one solitary
storekeeper. There were undoubtedly
mines, some OF them perhaps OF value,
but they were entirely undeveloped, be-
ing worked only in desultory fashion,
on account of the absence of the neces-
sary facilities for shipping the ore. The
nearest mine was at least 80 miles from
the nearest railway, and situated on the
slope of an almost inaccessible hill,
where in the winter time the snow lay
20 and more feet deep, keeping prison.
ers for the whole winter the few miners
who, like Jack. had staked their all on
the chance OF the railroad reaching
them.
Jack, however, was not discouraged.
The land, he argued, will be worth a
fortune when the road does build, and
build 1t must; and he would fix in his
mind the proper site for the depot and
smelter he saw already built in his
imagination.
For some time things went on all
right. The work was hard, but Jack
cleared little patch among the giant
pines and built himself log shanty,
where he lived on bacon and biscuits OF
his own baking and potatoes which were
jaf- hia own raising. But even bacon
costs money, and while he was improv-
ing bis rancho his small stock Of money
was coming to an end. Something had
to be done, and there was only the one
That winter Jack applied to the FORE
man of the only mine then running, OBJ
tanned employment and, locking the
door of his forest home, started out with
a dozen other men for the mountains.
Next year, and for the succeeding ak
years the same thing happened. Every
winter the mine was worked he made
a little money, which he spent
on his ranch during the
hot summers, when he worked
like a galley slave, for he told himself
that every dollar spent on improve
ments meant 30 much the more for his
property when the boom should come,
and he would be 80 much the nearer
home and sweetheart.
Something must be done next year he
thinks; occasional rumors tell of parties
of surveyors met with in the vicinity,
and 80 it goes on. II he only knew it he
is further off his goal than he was seven
years ago, but unhappily he doesn't
know, and he has been there 30 long
that his very existence depends upon
the realization Of his hopes, and so he
still waits.
An Indian Murderer Lynched.
NTuo.e M Nav Q0-T az