The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-24

the moths flew into his movers wagon
ana were captured, and each one was
found to be loaded with pearls. Then he
started out on prospecting tour, keep
ing a close watch for white moths and
gradually tracing them to their lair. This
was matter of some days, and meantime
Mrs. Jordan acc dentally stumbled upon
the pearl and was equally reucent in re-
gard to her find as was her husband
concerning his.
But the old man had fallen upon the
haunts Of his winged treasure bearers.
though he did not at once find the solution
of the mystery that had puzzled and de
tanned him. 1t was evidently the bed Of
an ancient stream and between the walls
that had confined its waters and formed a
Deduutul canon on the plains the sand
Ddrs sun retained the position ana shape
they took before the waters receded CEN
turtles ago. Beyond question this canon in
the central valley. whose serDentine
course led toward the mountains. had been
followed by the last Vestige Of the vast
inland sea, across whose bosom fioated the
lcehergs of which, scrapping across the
submerged crests or the gOld-Dearing
mountains extending from Behring sea to
Pat1gon-a's sOuthernmest point, tore from
the mother lodas nuggets of gold and
dropped them i'm the valleys. and thus
created the placer mines of to-day. The sea
subsided and rivers formed TO be exhaust
ed in turn i'm their long journey across the
valley bounded by the Rockies and the
cliffs Of the Missouri Then the plains be-
came the Great American desert. traV
ersed by such shallow streams as the
kansas. the distance between which was
so great that when the white
man made his advent in the
was to him veritable desert.
and the journey from one watering place
10 another hazardous and often fatal But
before all these changes the bed of the sea
was the home of all sorts of marine crea-
lures, including the same species of oys-
ters which made the Banks of Ceylon and
the CHINA sea the depository of pearls for
Whlch princes and pOtentates struggled
ana with which they filled their treasur- es
and decorated their crowns and their con-
cuDlneS. But the American Indian was a
dluerent sort of being from the luxury low
ing oriental, and neither gold nor pearls
tempted his avarice And so these pearl
banks in the trace of the placer-making
plac.ers remained undsturbed through All
the centuries.
For. according to the story of old Peter
JORDAN, the sandbars in the old river bed
between the chalk cliffs in Western KAN
Sas, We're the home of the pearl OYSTER
ana are to-day not sand-bars, but banks
OF pearl so nearly free from common earth
ana gravel, that, to quote his own Ian
guage, he could load a fiat car with
these treasures a S fast as he could shovel
them in. and the deepr he went the larger
would become the pearls" He knows, he
says that in the spot where his discovery
was mace the reef extends for three miles
How much further he did not investigate
ne saw wealth enough in sight to make
MIN richer than the Caliph of Bagdad
or the All kund of Swat, the ROthschilds
OF any or the American mUlti-mllionaires
But now that he has ascertained upon
undisputed authority that these pearls are
the genuine article, and undiminished in
value by the lapse of centuries. he is go
ing to. get load and lay the foundation
Tor fortune that will enable him to live
comfortably during his declining wears
aIter which he may sell out his river of
pearls to a syndicate. His coat of arms.
should he be ennobled by some European
sovereign will be decorated by the white
noun, whose death opened up to him the
pathway to royal riches. But Peter Jor-
dan IS a modest, unassuming American
sovereign, who cares little for titles or dis
tncuons not earned by his own efforts
His chief pride lies in his unblemished rem
utation for truthfulness and honesty. and
ms reputation leaves no peradventure Of
d uGupt as 10 the existence of the white
moth and the bed of pearls