The Irish standard., 1895-01-26


every stream, creek, and river meandered
over sands Of gold; that the very noun.
talna were honey -combed with ores q
fabulous value, and that the Missouri
rolled over Ad Of sspphirss and q
precious stones. For thirty years Rolall q
and silver, md lead and copper, and
rubies, sapphires and ether precious
stones have been produced in this State
in fabulous quantities, and yet her vast
resources are merely touched, for in the
production otgold, copper, silver, and
precious stones.she still leads thu world.
Mesgher's fate focused theattention OF
irish Americans on Montana, and when
the story of it's boundlees wealth filtered
past the frontier, crowds of Irishmen
heard and believed and hastened to the
new Ell Dorado of the West.
Among these adventurers to the Far
West was Thomas Cruise. native OF
Drumlummon, in Ireland. He had
emigrated from Ireland young and pennl-
less, and followed his star Of destiny till
it led him to the mountains OF Montana.
In q eulch twenty five miles from Helena
be found traces of gold. Another
thought induced him to dig into the
mountain r the gold mine from which
those traces came. Winters and sum-
mers came and went, and still found
Tom Cruise burrow1ng and delving into
the bosom of the mountain. Heused up
his resources and his credit, and could
only obtain enough to live on by hiring
himself intermittingly to others. Thus
passed seven years, when all others, save
the woman that loved him, deemed that
the prospective gold mine had turned
poor Oruse's head. But Cruise, most
fortunately, was not in pursuit of Will
o'-the Wisp, but OF the goddess Of for
tune, for at the end Of seven years. toll
and hope he struck the vein of g lden
ore. Monte Christie did not brood more
tondly over the hidden treasure Of his
isle than did the lonely Irish exile Oyer
the boundless wealth he thus discovered
in the mountains of Montana. He called
it Drumlummon, but it is known in the
financial world as "The Montana"
Thomas Cruise realized $3,O0Q,O00
by the sale of the mine; and when he
had thus achieved wealth beyond his
widest creams he married the Irish
American girl who had never lost faith
in him. He is now president of bank
in Helena, where he is an honored and
highly respected citizen. As Mark
Twain would say, there are no frills upon
his shirt and no venom in his heart, and
Tommy Cruise, as his friends call him, ia
as modest and as kindly to-day, dwelling
in palatial home, with all his millions,
as in those boyhood days in Ireland
when be only dreamt Of fortune The
Drumlummon is still one of the richest
gold mines in the world. In ten years it
has paid over $5,000,00O in wages
and it has earned more than $500 GOO
for the stockholders. 1t never
looked better than it does at the present,
but through some stupidity or another it
has got entangled in law suit.
The Hon. Thomas G. Power is another
Irishman of whom our race may justly
be proud. Forty years ago, poor and un-
friended, he arrived in America. Chance
or fate led Him to Montana in the early
days Of the gold excitment. He drifted
from. one employment to another until
he managed to scrape a few hundred
dollars together. Then he opened q
store at one OF the mining camps, and
from this modest beginning his business
has grown, till now the firm of Thomas
G. Power has become the biggest
mercantile concern of Montans. Tact.
judgment, thrift, and perseverance have
enabled him to become multi-million-
are. He is the owner Of thousands of
broad acres of the finest land. He lives
here in palace that a mon arch might
envy, and his high character and his
exalted virtues have endeared him to the
people Of this Statas He has already
been Governor Of Montana, and is now
the representative Of this State in the
Senate Of the Great American Republic.
America has given this poor and un-
friended Irish immigrant wealth, fame,
honor, and chosen him to fill the very
highest Offices that q foreign born citizen
can hold. But he has never been chosen
Tor an Office or placed in any position
which he did not fill with credit and
honor. 500. @.,. d. j,
when Senator Power retired from the
Goyernorship Of Montana, on ito being
into the Union as 9 State. the
first Governor chosen BY universal SUIT
rage 70 succeed him, was the Hon. Joseph
Toole. Governor Toole's name is =
household word il Montana. He be-
longs to the third generation OF Irish
men, but he belonRs also e that class of
his race who have read the story sright,