The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-15

Wealth in Those Days-Hank Nor
gan's Experienoe-Sitting on a Gold
Mine-Chris Keys Lost Mountain.
From the Denver Sun.
Mr.. n G. Creole, who has just been
visiting his partner, Banker Moffat, in
this city, is one of our famous men. He
is something over so, and quite as modest
as in the days when he was willing TO
prospect on grub stake and had not yet
given his name to town, nor suddenly
leaped into the possession of millions.
Creede's appearance here alwsys starts
stories of the days when he was hard hit,
and now, after twenty years of persistent
effort, he seemed further from success
than when he started.
Creede's success was being discussed in
clubroom where ! was present on St.
Patrick's evening, and one of the num-
ber a man who has made and lost a half
dozen fortunes, and who, though now
down on his luck, expects to make another
and hold on to it, said: in most bust
ness, energy, pluck and brains count for
everything, but in mining it is all dumb
luck"
dumb" was not the word he used, but
1t sounded like lit. The others FASTENED
to agree with this, and cases innumerable
were cited of men who, with no more
brains than the law allows, had actually
Numbered into wealth.
There was Hank Morgan. Why, ten
years ago he was dead broke over in Lead
Vile He had Just come from California,
most of the way on foot and the rest of
the distance in freight cars, and he knew
no more about the country in which he
found himself than hog does about the
topography of the other side of the moon.
But Hank had cheek and an oily tongue :;
that's how he got Tim Foley to grub
stake him. Hank told me afterward that
he expected to go into the hills and stay
as long as the provender held out.
'Well, gentlemen, Hank Morgan blum
dered into the mountains, not knowing
where he was going and not caring a
blank either. When over in the Gunnison
q foothills he stumbled on hole where
some one had been at work before AS
that was as good place to stop as any,
he cleaned out the hole, went down a
little deeper, not more'n foot, and by
the jumping lingo! he struck it! He came
back, located his claim, and sold within a
month for 100000 Will any man have
the brazen audacity to tell me that was
the result of forethought or brains2 No,
gentlemen, 1t was pure, unauthorized
luck, and Hank Morgan himself when he
got to wearing a gold cable for a watch
chain and driving pair of the fastest
horses in the mountains, was man enough
to acknowledge it."
Having had no experience in prospect
ing, asked what the modus operandi
was, and this information was volun-
tered:
WHAT PROSPECTING IS.
Every spring hundreds of prospectors
along the Rockies and Sierras plunge into
the wilderness to search for gold or sill
yer. The well-to-do-that is, the men
who can purchase their own outfit-lay in
supplies for few months, and have a
"a mule or horse to carry their camplng and
prospecting outfit, consisting of bag of
flour, some bacon, coffee and sugar. A
pick, spade and pan are fastened to the
d pack, and the prospector usually carries
Ratchet at his belt and a rifle on his
shoulder.
A majority Of the prospectors are GRUB
staked"-that is, some merchant or man
with means furnishes them with supplies,
the conditions being that, in the event of
success, the angel" TO use a theatrical
term, divides with them. These men
Keep clear of the beaten trails, and they
know more in the aggregate about the
geography of the North American CONT
nent than all the engineer outfits com
bned. All suffer; many of them die;
more of them, and often the best and the
brightest, persistently fail, and the few,
through dumb luck, strike it rich.
But 1t is much like a blind man shooting
at target after he has been told the di-
fectlon The chances are he will miss
81 Out II he makes bulls eye, only a fool
would attribute it to his craftsmanship.
They say" said another ''that about
every ten years there is business panic
IN The east, but I've been out here leetle
over thirty years, and / know for a fact
mat every ten years there is a mining
craze-som new outcrop of diggings has
Fl oeeh discovered, and there is a rush and
boom. In 1S49 the world was running
10 California. In 1859 the country was
crazy over Pixies Peak. In 1869 the silver
discoveries of Virginia City were making
mlllioniares by the score. In 1879 came
Ihe Leadyille rush, and it was a dandy.
IN 1889 the CGur d'Alene country was
opened up, and so it goes on.
But while the discovery of mines is
largely matter of chance and the man
agement of them Is to often a swindle and
gamble, where it is followed honestly
and persistently as a business enterprise
itls sure to pay in the end. Why right
mere IN Denver there are more men worth
SoOO,OOO than in any city in the country
except New York and Philadelphia and
hihe-tenths of them made their money out
OF mining And, let me say, the wealth
Is by no means all discovered yet; we
nave only skinned the surface"
Otners at once became reminiscent, and
without exception, all were disciples of
the doctrine of luck.
IT'S ALL CHANCE.
Why" continued another, "there was
old Cruise. He went to Montana when it
was bowling wilderness, in 1868, with
scalp-seekiug Sioux on every hand. For
twenty years he plodded and starved and
lived the life of hermit in a shadowy
eeion near where Butte City now stands.
Why, he got so poor that he couldn't get
credit for a sack of -four, but he had
uumb faith that there was gold in the
earth nearby, and he hung on. He be-
HeVed there was money in his claim, and
utter time he got others to believe the
same; and so there came a day when he
Soid out part Of his interest to an Eng
I'sh syndicate for about S2,000,OO0. He is
d Wireless, childless old man, who does not
know what TO do with his money
y es, ~ Joined in a third party, when
9id Capt. Suffer built his saw-mill in the
SIERRA foothills he had no dream of gold
lAl one day it was found in the mill race,
%al California within a year became an
III Dorado. A year after the Custer mas
sacre IN tue Big Horn country, during
uoon halt, a cavalry officer sat down 10
rest on knoll Of soft clay; near by was
~ Ibid gf.f ltfaHl Ia