Evening star., 1896-12-15
DOES GOLD GROW.
Some Veteran Miners Who Pretend a.
Believe That II DOcs

Some Veteran Miners Who Pretend to
Believe That 1t Docs.
From the Butte Inter-Mountain
They were all weather beaten trail blaz.
ers who had led the march of civilization
into the mountains, and as they toasted
their shins by the big stove in Lon Pickett S
motel bar at Melrose their conversation
wandered from the recent election and the
departed glories of other days to the latest
discoveries in science. john Helehan had
just finished reading from a mining journal
ABOUT Prof. Emmons' discovery of the
method Of transmitting silver into gold
Il think Emmons is humbug," said old
Judge Longly, California argonaut The
Old alchemists, you know, tried that, but
they might as well have tried to make an
apple seed. Nature holds the germ, and
all the scientists who initiate her can do
Is to quicken it's growth"
I've heard tell of gold growing" re-
marked Will Robbins
80 have L. said the Judge, but you
have never seen it grow, have you? 1 DONE
believe all the yarns these experts spin.
anyhow"
Boys, spoke up John Treanor, per
haps | have got some queer old notions
slowed away under this diggin' hat of
mns but for thirty years, man and boy,
I've been prospector, and l have been
doin some thinking. And 1 tell you now
that 1 believe gold does grow. Twenty
years ago l struck the Locust and sank
a.shaft. 1t was silver ore. and after diggin'
for while 1 gave 1t up in disgust Then
l wandered over to the other side of the
range and located the Banner. copper
mine now In the possession of the Ana
conda Company. l moseyed around for
while, and eight years ago 1 went back
to my old love. the Locust. Hang me If 1
could believe my eyes, boys. when found
the prettiest ledge of gold ore right where
the silver ledge was. 1t was as pretty as a
picture, and l kept right on diggin', and
have been diggfn' in that hole ever since
1t seemed to me that in the places where
the water struck 1t, 1t grew richer. l run
In three tunnels at the bottom. but found
the gold was not yet ripe, SO / just closed
up the tunnels and let them rest for a few
years.
Blame me II don't think Hank Steb-
bins does the same thing" said Jack Flice
Hank lives up In Soap Gulch, and has a
claim he calls the Belcher. He discovered
was making bullets in his lead mine to kill
Indians with. 1t is In funny formation
for that part OF the country. 1t is In a
reef of sand lying between the lime forma-
the stratified gneiss formation that runs
from that point to the base of Red noun
tain. Thirty years ago Hank discovered
that there were globules of silver in the
SdHu dHu ioCdtcu Oul lueTe WASH I
enough mineral to pay. and he abandoned
Ii. Ten years ago he went back to the old
| mine and began turning over the sand. He
began to find chunks of gold instead Of
silver. He has good thing of it now. He
mines it like the Mexicans used to mine It
years ago. He cuts stairs in the sand and
takes the rock up in a candle box and sorts
1t over. Now all he has got 10 do when he
wants to make q stake is to go down 10
the sand pile and wiggle crowbar around
for few minutes when up comes a piece
of shining gold Several capitalists have
| ATTEMPTED TO get hold of the mine, and
L one of Heinze's agents made him q good
offer for it. but Hank won't sell, for ne
on growing