Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1896-03-21

had fairly good claim; nothing OF the
bonanza in it's nature, just . good.
honest. ounce-and-a-half or two-ounce
proposition that beat day wages by
shade only There is one thing about
Farncomb Hill-that Is, Its uncertain
~. You never know what the next
wallop with the pick or the next snot
with a cartridge win uncover. South
er was down in the hole and was on
the wlndlass hosting the buckets ne
filled with ore. We had soft thing,
SO far as labor was concerned, ana
could almost shovel the ore up. IL was
a soft tale, a cross beteen chalk anu
putty. got a bucket at last-aiong
about . in the afternoon THAT weigneo
like a ton. l could scarcely lit u. L
dumped il. and almost dropped dead.
The ore was so rich in gold could see
il shine. | examined the bucket ana
found little strings of wire gold hang
ing to it, Jim had struck one Oh those
celebrated Farncomb freaks, ana ~
was so dark down there that ne had
not noticed the alteration in the char-
acter of the stuff he was sending up
Do you recall that fine-twisted gold
wire exhibited at the worlds fair /!
Much of that was what Souther and !
took out of that shaft. | called 10 jim
to stand from under, for l aimed TO
come down and see him while. l
broke the news to him, and then We
began to figure out how we stood. As
nearly as we could decide, we had a
pocket or chamber of this stun extend
ing into the side of the shaft about
eight feet. We could reach In and get
out handfu.ls of fine-spun gold that
looked like ii came from under a red
+, headed girls hat. But We couldn't
stand in the shaft and admire 1t all
day. There was at least $4,000 worth
of the stuff. The metal that was not
free could easily be separated from
the rest of the ore. 1t was enclosed In
deeomposed quartz and required moth
ing but rubbing between the fingers 10
get IT, We decided to raise 1t all that
night-that is unless Ii turned out a
bigger find than we thought. We fig-
ured ii best not TO go about beating the
drum to advertise our strike. but hoist
the ore and do our talking later.
.'Jlm stayed in the mine and | went
back to the winch Then my tempta-
ton came To me. There was good,
big piece Of money there for one man,
and just half as much each for two.
have read somwehere that every man
has his price: IL you keep on bidding
you can reach him sure at some spot
Since that day | have shuddered tc
think how cheap I am. A measly SIS,
coo in ore came near getting me. II
all came to me as IL ID were printed In
big letters and held before my face.
could call to Jim and get him out oi
the drift into the bottom Of the shaft
and let go the windiass. There woult
not be a kick left In a man who haC
been smashed on the head with n sew
enty-fve-pound bucket with 20t
pounds Of ore in IL. after fifty-foo
fall.
''The first time I called 1 couldn'
raise my voice over whisper. IL re
minded me of the time I had the pneu
mOnia. my first year I'm the mountains
and Jim nursed me out Of II. FL,
walked twenty miles over the hills n
a snow storm to get medicine for me
and it's the surest thing in the world
wouldn't have been hosting pure golt
out of Farncomb Hill shaft II jim
Souther hadn't sat up with me day ant
night for week four years before
thought of all this while was Timber
ing mp my voice for the second try a
u
What Is IL. Billy he boilers back
I could see his candle flicker as
looked down the shaft, ready to let q
the winch, when I had him place,
right. What's eating Of you nowY h
keeps on We Amt got any time 70
merrymaking or visiting IL we get thi
spending money OUT to-day he says
Make yor talk quick, Bill
II had to try three times again BIZ
fore | could make noise. Shake
bush. says Jim, IL you can't speak
Il want You to come up and wor
the winch" I yells back I don't Xix
to be so far away from the stuff
".All rightv he boIlers up, If 20
prefer II. hut You know you can
, stand Ii down here as well as I ear
, and I'm some afraid you'll get tn
. worst Of it,
$50 Jim came mp and took hl
place. When I was going down III
shaft he says.
g .You look like Won bad seen tfpa