The San Francisco call., 1895-11-03

glories of the wonderful gulches from
which so many fortunes in shining gold
dust had been washed.
One OF these tales absolutely fascinated
Peters. 1t was the story of the Demijohn
mine at the foot of Six-bit HiIl-the Demi-
john mine, whose collapse was the convuI-
sion that ended the then fading glories of
the Mammoth Bar camp.
There's more money in Demijohn," old
miners used to tell him, 'than ever come
out of the Rattlesnake, the Big Bottle. the
Grubstake and the King all put together"
If Peters had been a Western man he
would have known better than to have put
faith in old miners stories. There is not
a placer district that hasn't its Demijohn
mine, with fabulous millions in it, waiting
to be turned up. More millions than have
ever been taken out of the hills have been
sunk in Demiiohns of various sections in
the search for the great treasure. But
Peters was from England, and, naturally,
knew more than anybody. 1t never oc-
CURED to him to ask why, if these tales
were true, the men whose business it was
to mine did not corral the great treasures
of the Demijohn at the foot of Six-bit
Hill. If he had asked them, he would
have heard statistical account of tons of
obdurate cement, rebellious quartz and
lost lodes.
l might as well tell now the story of the
Demijohn mine. 1t was back in 80 that
the Demiiohn was first exploited.
The miners had washed the gulches all
about it, but the f1inty quartz on the little
rise baff1ed them. They knew there was
gold there, but it was only gold that a great
amount of capital could get out. They
pecked at it and blasted at it some, and
abandoned it, and relocated it, and pecked
at it and abandoned It again until it was
counted a sure shot that the man who
sought to wrest the treasure from the
Demijohn would go belly-up before he 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 other
Argonauts, and knew as much about a
rocker or an arastra as any of them. And
they all had great faith in Curly. He came
this time with a surveyor and an assayer
and the rest of the outfit that the old
miners respected, as practical men always
do the people with expert technical knowl-
edge of their business. Curly relocated the
Demiiohn. He took in all the other aban-
doned claims that adioined it, and then
announced in Mammoth Bar camp that
company had been organized in the City
that was going to turn the Demiiohn in
side out.
For short while there were great times
at Mammoth Bar. A road was cut tn ere
from Georgetown, and the big freight
teams crowded the road, bringing in ma
chinery and lumber for hosting works
and mills. Curly Cal was superintende ent.
And pretty soon the steam whistles
startled the deer in the hills. and the
American River was boiling apd raging at
the dump of waste rock that was interfer-
ing with its peaceful course.
This was all after the bars had been
worked out. There was no longer a dollar
to the pan in the bottom, and the miners
were glad to take S5 a day that was offered
for men who could handle pick or drill.
Gradually the Demijohn absorbed all the
working population of the neigh hborhood
The stamps chewed up the hard quartz
and the slulces swept the powdery mud
away into the river. Everybody waited
for the first cleanup at the end of the
month. The cleanup was made. The re-
suits were forwarded to the company in
San Francisco. The amount of the clean
up was not told, but the rumor passed
around the town that within thirty days
the Demijohn had paid it's owners $780,
600. 1t hadn't, but the story went
anyhow.
The works went laundering away on
the second months run. Nothing had
been said about payday yet, but it was
understood in town that the companv was
only waiting TO realize on the bullion they
got from the mill to satisfy the payrolls.
1t did not make much difference, because
Mammoth Bar camp was proud of its
Demijohn, and the saloon men and store.
keepers supplied all demands and were
content to wait until the men got their paw
for a settlement of accounts. If anybody
grumbled he was looked upon as a traitor
to the camp-a man Who would embarrass
the great enterprise that had again brought
prosperity to Mammoth Bar.
There was another cleanup at the mill.
another shipment to San Francisco, and a
rumor that the second months run had
been so successful that the company pro-
posed to buy up all the claims for mile
around and increase its operations enor
mously. There was also rumor that on
the 5th payday would come, and every
miner ran in debt little further at the
saloons and the stores in anticipation of
the two months pay which would soon be
his. m 4
On the 4th a messenger on horseback
came to the mine, and Curly Cal conferred
with him in the inner Office. The miners
winked knowingly. Three hundred dol
lars apiece for 500 men was whole lot of
money, and it was obvious that such
fortune should be brought into the wild
country with all due precautions. Late at
night Curly Cal and the messenger rode
away together.
In the morning the foreman went to the
Office for orders. There was no one there
to give him orders. and no message as to