Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1895-12-21
THEIR pet story up In Eldorado
County In TINT coucoruiuU ttoa1a


County Is that concerning Heads
- Peters. He was the Joke Of oil
the old mining country up there for SO
long That now that he Inns gone the
tale OF his adventures is told to every
stranger that enters one Of the old
cabins. Sam Newton told It to me.
After we had dlncd on bacon and hot
biscuit, and had helped him clear
up the mess and put the cabin to rights
and we were sitting on the sawlog just
outside the door. Sam said suddenly:
YES, it's n great place for consump-
tives and people with asthma. Good
many Of them stop over to Auburn"
told him there WINS nothing the mat.
ter with my lungs. Mt which he seemed
distressed. ms II could not therefore
profit by tho fine mir and general sal
ubrity Of the mountains.
ut minds me Of Heads Peters," said
Newton.
1t was about ten years ago. late one
night. when Sans dog reused him by
barking violently. and he was hailed
oy . voice outside tho cabin. He lit
~ osso uuhlitteu tue VTuVelcIs
"You never see such fellow" New.
ton said. "He looked like new doll
In the city that's fell of q delivery.
wagon and been run over In the mud"
He was one Of the Pcterscs Of Lin.
eolnshirc. They don't know much
about the Pcterscs Of Lincolnshire up
IN FL Dorado County, but the why the
young man told II and the number of
times he repeated It the Peterses Of
Lincolnshire must be q great race In.
deed. This particular Peters was not
great In body. He WINS small and his
lungs were weak. That was what
brought him to California. He came
with a secretary and n valet and $780,.
600. For a little while he WINS social
Hon around Los Angeles and San Ber-
nardino. But being lion wcaricd him
somewhat. His secretary left him
down there and disappeared for a time.
When he met him again the secretary
was the social lion. He had taken his
savings and gone into the hills. There
hs went to work for sheepman who
had Q moderate dock that graxcd on
the hills Of Kern and Ventura counties
and cost him nothing for pasturagc.
The secretary did not get any salary
because the shcepman had no money.
but promised to pay as soon as lie sold
his hock. A bucking bronchO aud no.
bic load Of whisky prevented this con-
summation by landing the secrctary's
employer Mt the bottom Of a rocky
gulch as dead as an abandoned claim.
DO the secretary took the sheep In pay.
ment Of arrears Of salary and became
. sheepman on his own account. Nut
ton went up, the small flock became a
large dock and within five years the
secretary was mutton magnate. And
be was worth half million dollars
when Peters saw him again.
Peters was Of q mathematical turn
Of mind and easily figured that II his
secretary with few pounds Of capital
could become semi.millionnire In Ave
years, gentleman with $4,000 to In.
vest ought to become a multi. million.
aire In the same period. 30 Peters
went into the sheep business ON large
scale. and when the i've years were
sons he not only had . smaller dock
than no began with, but bis fortune
had gone In hundred ways.
Ills uncle. the head Of the Lincoln.
shire Peterses. remembered bis nephew
- the extent Of . couple Of hundred
pounds year. and on that Heads
Peters shone In tourist and society cir.
elss In the foothill country. The En-.
glishman was interested In natives. and
b used to cit on the vcranda after tho
ladies had retired and listen to the talk
Of the miners and cowmcn Of the do.
parted glories Of the wonderful gulches
from which 20 many fortunes In shin.
ing gold dust had been washed.
One Of these tales absolutely fasci-
mated Petcrs. II was the story Of the
Demijohn mine at the foot Of six.bit
Hill-the Dcmijohn mine, whose col.
lapse was the convulsion that ended
the then fading glories Of the Mammoth
Bar camp.
'There's more money In Demijohn."
the miners used to tell him, than ever
come out OF the Rattlesnake. the Big
Bottle. the Grubstake and the King all
put together"
II Peters had been Western man he
would have known better than to have
put faith In old miners stories. There
10 not . placer district that hasn't Its
Demij0hn mine. with fabulous millions
In It. waiting to be turned up.
might a. well tell now the story Of
the Oemij0hn mine. It was back In
10 that the Demijohn was hrst ex-
plotted. The miners had washed the
Sulches all about It. but the Hinty
quarts on the little rise bafIied them.
They knew there was gold there, but It
was only gold that great smount Of
capital could get out. They pecked at
Il and blasted at It some. and aban-
doned II, and relocated 1t. and pecked
ct It and abandoned It again until It
was counted sure shot that the man
who sought to wrest the treasure from
the Demijohn would so belly.up before
be saw the CLEANS of the gold.
This was the state of affairs when
Curly Cal Wright struck the Mammoth
Bar camp. Curly was a promoter. He
had washed In the gulches with the
Arsonauts. and knew a. much about q
rocker or an arastra % any Of them.
And they all had great faith In Curly.
He came this time with surveyor and
an assayer and the rest OF the outfit
that the old miners respected, a. practi.
cal men always do the people with OK.
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