The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-17
LUCK IN MINING.


takes and Lost Opportunities
Hill City. s. D., corr. of the PhiIadel-
phia Times: An old LeadviIle mining
man who passed through the great sill
yer carbonate boom of 1881 and is
now In the Black Hills, anticipating a
similar wave of mining investment
and wealth production, tells a number
OF INTERESTING stories of his experiences
in Colorado
The biggest mistake 1 ever made ;,
SAID the genial. white-hairedF racon-
teur. was In refusing to purchase a.
nalr interest In little fiat-iron shaped
piece OF ground lying near the famous
Little Pittsburg, the great sand car
ponate deposit. which first made Ia
Dor rich and famous. The claim was
the merest fraction, it's longest side
measuring only As feet. When the own
er offered me a half interest for s125
1 almost laughed at him. 1 wasn't UP
TO fractions, you see-wanted a whole
claim or nothing. The prospector was
nara up and he finally sold out OF Ia
Dor Tor next to nothing The three
day senator from Colorado got s125. 900
out OF this little batch of sand and
gravel That man Tabor never took
hoid OF anything in Leadville that did
not pay. III l had bought the ground
the chances are ten to one that /
should never have found the rich
chamber of carbonates 1t contained
because the shaft sunk in Prospecting
would have been kept closely timber
ed. As 1t was. the carelessness of one
or the men led to the discovery. The
drift under this little triangle, as in
most of the claims, was made up of
gravel, clay and tale. This tale rock
would stand in the walls of a shaft
Tor several feet without timbering IL
carefully handled. Well, when the
miners IN had reached depth of about
40 feet and had left the walls to stand
or fall in for 10 or ~ feet, one of the
party. while clearing up the work of
umpering. struck his pick too vigor-
ously into one side of the chaft and a
great slab OF tale loosened by moisture
slid down with a thud, revealing one
OF the richest deposits of carbonates
ever discovered about Leadville. If
THIS chance stroke had not shown the
ore IL Is more than probable that Ia
Dor would have sunk a couple of hun
dred feet without finding anything In
the ordinary affairs of life luck ia n |
myth. but in mining 1t often proves a |
positive factor.
That was not my only mischance /
at Leadville. / did some geographical /
mining when / first went there In the |
fan of 1873. Richie had taken Tabor's
quarter OF beef. bacon flour and gro
cerles-Tabor kept little grocery then
ana grub-staked miners. He had gone
up into the hills some months before
He found the Pittsburg and 1 was one
Of the early arrivals, while the boom
was gaining impetus. Little was
known of the nature of the formation
Us geology problematical then. though
The glacial deposit theory has since
then been generally accepted. / reas-
oned that a boat-shaped piece of
ground surrounded by such rich claims
Is the Pittsburg, ChrysoIite, vulture |
ana other producers ought to catch the
beds OF argentiferous sand somewhere
ina so bought an interest in undevel-
'ped ground purely because OF its To-
alton. The venture proved disas-
rous. / sunk shafts on all parts of
ne ground. one to depth of $50 feet,
Vithout securing more than promising |
loat Three beds of what might be !
ermed silver placer were capped with
ron carbonates; they laid just below
he rim rock on the terraces of Cali
ornia Gulch. and this iron rock was
egarded as an almost certain indica-
lon. One day we came upon some
roken masses OF this Gaping float
nj began TO feel rich. We laughed at
n offer of $4,000. considered il In
ne nature of an insult. The next day
re were through the float and never
aw sign of IL again These alterna- ,
IONS OF hope and dependency. a nor :
lal state of mind in speculative min :
lg. are. 1 suppose, responsible for the
Guidance of my gray hairs
The most beaten. disappointed ana ] r
lsgusted lot of people ever In Colo
ado were 1 believe. the partners in
le Law property. when the Levi c.
eiter interest secured possession of y
lie mine and gathered up something s