The San Francisco call., 1896-01-02
Claims Protected From Jumpers
Until. the New Year Was
Fl. + F. Ushered In. i
TROUBLE. NOW AT AN END.
When Midnight. Came the Miners
Discharged Their Weapons in

. >
!: PINE, y IT, NEv.t. an. 1.-HappiIy for
Pine. Nut. Mining District all danger of
bloodshed ;ip:<this district. IS past and
morning. broke on the New Year clear and
balmy and not Is hostile shot was fired.
1t is a wcll-es tabished custom in Nevada
=for; IN en.:to Jump every valuable mining
claim that has a questionable title and
: is left unprotected. Yesterday alter
= NOON it looked as though there might be
ptentyo of work for the c 0roner. of Douglas,
and there was a time when he could have
sold his interests in. prospective fees for
::Iuund sum- All day. clain-owners had:
been .flocking in, and every wagonload con
:tained men armed to the teeth. Wirchest-
!. ers.. six-shooters and shotguns we're on
every side and soon after Sundown squads
. of men were on the respective claims.
standing bv their campfres and with their
guns. stacked within easy. reach. 1t soon
became apparent that the armed force of
men on each claim was intended more
To hold itthan with any idea of jumping
any one eIse's.
The first sign of trouble brewing was in
the morning, when some men work}ngon
p one Of the group of claims owned by.GeH-
eral Roberts of San Francisco, were or
dered- off by parties from Genoa, and were
given three hours to pack up their
tools In the afternoon General Rob
erts' men were re-enforced by armed
men from Carson, and continued their
work, and they also resumed work
" again this morning. There seemed to be
a chance for bloodshed at this point that
night. and soIie hot-headed men formed
"a posse at the Williams cabin TO clean
out the. cabin of the. men who had at
temptedto Jump Roberts claim before the
year was up" Better counsel prevailed,
and trouble was ayerted on the advice of
men who: knew that the moment shot
was tired II woIld be like throwing a torch
into powder mill. i.
There We're. some claims in the district
lying at the outer edge on which no assess
mept work: had been done that were
quietlytaken possession of and relocated
atmidnight by men first on the ground
7 here was no clash here, for when a party
OF locatcrs came upon claim about which
they foIjud a:haF dozen armed men, they
foInd iftchvenient to :push. on and avoid
any argument. There was no controversy
over t5e mines clustered about the Zirn,
Schultz, Bank of Nevada and Bank of Cali
fornia groups, as all assessment work had
been done.
;. Tie night was a perfect <nne-almost as
warm as summef-the full moon riding in
ting zenith and the sky cloudless. At a
little past midnight gun was fired on the
- Bank of California claim, and from ravine
and hill canie the answering bark of fire.
arms from ali oyer Pine Nut. For the
next five minutes there was general
fusil la1le: Of small arms and spits of flame
darted upward from every clump of pine
=. Then the echoes died AWAY. and every
3 weapon in the district bad heen dis
charged IN the air the signal that danger
lime had. passed and every man in the dis
.trict. was practically unarmed. During the
next hour grolips of men would pass each
other: in the little by-paths, and the
meeting would be emphasized by the dis
charging Of small arms and a cheery
r Happy New Year, would ring out.
Iateron the holders of claims were gath
cred about the flowing bowl in one an
others cabins, lunching upon brown beans
and bacon. :
Most of the. mines Will continue work
while the good weather lasts. for. the
assessment work has pahned out well in
gold, and the@prnspects OIL a lively camp in
spring are of the best. A syndicate of
Eastern capitalists will take hold. of the
Zirn-Schaltz group very shortly.