St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-11
KICKED INTOA FORTUNE.
A Cantankerous Mules Trick and
the Discovery of the Monday

the Discovery of the Monday
{ Mine.
/. San Francisco Examiner.
l Maj. Jones, the Lake Valley ON. Nd
mining expert, was talking about Tom
Powers to the grlll-room, contingent the
sother night. He said Powers was the
'luckiest man on earth, because he was
kicked into fortune.
"How did it happen? Old Sam. Toms
big brown mule. did the kicking, and
the Noonday mine was the fortune he
izicked him into. Any man without
Powers luck would have been kicked
into kingdom come instead of the rich
est diggings in the territories. He was
fraight!ng from Lake Valley to the
mining camps in the Black range, and
was lucky il he could keep at work. He
was about as clumsy as they make men,
and never made a trip without being
kicked, bitten or trodden on by his
team.
"One mule in the string. Old Sam. was
a regular devil: the brute knew that
Tom was afraid of him. and never
missed chance to bite or kick at him.
One day in the latter part of September.
1887, Tom started from Lake Valley
Will HCuf IOuNs bOhIu " OOlIH
Burke's camp. The distance was eighty
miles. and part of the way the road WAS
hardly more than trail along the side
of the mountains. Half dozen
good teamsters had refused the
contract, but Tom took it be-
cause the price offered was more
than double what he could obtain on
any other route. Bets were freely
made that the outfit would 20 over the
grade, but Tom succeeded i'll getting
over sixty miles of the road without a
single hitch. Then he was at the Hog
bag. narrow ridge along which the
road ran, and on each side was deep
canyon. At no place is the road more
than couple Of feet wider than wag-
on, and the grade is very heavy. Half
way across something started Old Sam,
and he began to kick for all he was
worth.
Tom whipped and swore, but Sam
only made his heels fly faster, and at
last managed to get outside the traces,
and then. as if satisfied with the fun he
had had. the brute lay down right in
the middle of the road, and defied Toms
every effort to get him up.
"a couple of MeXicans happened
along. and at TOMS invitation they took
ii Hdilus Vic VI GIlOlil RdGuCl0u q lOI VI
dry grass, and piled it close to the mules
hindquarterS, and set it on fire. 1t took
Sam about two seconds to change his
position and land his heels on Toms
stomace with force which sent him
over the edge of the road. and down the
bank.
He dropped twenty-five or thirty feet
down the side of the mountain.
Where did he land? Why, on the
ledge of MONDAY, of course. He had
sense enough to keep his discovery a
secret. and wrote to his brother in Den
aver to gather UP all the cash he could
ami get down to New Mexico as soon as
possible. The first thing we knew in
Lake Valley gang of men were at
/ work developing the mine. All the rock
taken out was sent to Cerrillos TO be
worked. and the deeper they go the
richer the ledge is.
1T paid handsomely from the start.
and the boys are now getting about
$4,000 month clear of expenses. The
first thing Tom did was to purchase
Old Sam. and the mule is now living a
! llife4ot ease, with big pastur.' to Craze
in and a good stable to sleep ih at
might -