Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-08-05


on Red Mountain. Yet a few more
shots, and he would have reached ore
that would have placed all that wealth
can buy within his reach.
For more than a generation Red
Mountain lay undlsturbed. Wild ami
mails alone wandered over the lofty
mass of diorite. The grizzly and noun
tain lion owned it by turns; blacktail
skulked in the forests at its base; big
horn skipped over its crest; the white
goat OF the north chewed the scanty
llchens on its SCARED sides. But the
treasure that lay In its bowels rested
secure under the protecting "iron-hat."
Yet through all those long years a man
was grow ing up In the distant east
who had been selected by fate as the
inheritor Of the treasure hidden in the
great Red Mountain.
Born in Suffolk county, New York
state,E. s. Topping was by turns sailor,
miner, hunter, prospector, Indian fight
er, and scout. Topping saw western
life in all It's aspects, until finally he
drifted to West Kootenay. Soon, al
though an alien, he found himself re-
ccrder and constable-in fact, "the
government" Of that lonely region
Prospectors were then beginning to
stray into southern British Columbia
from Idaho and Montana, and such
human driftwood formed the bulk Of
Toppings subjects. They were little
rough, OF course, but bad men" were
scarce, and the few that did wander
into West Koctenay invariably showed
the most profound respect for the old
Indian fighter, and took the first OPP
portunity to remove themselves from
his Jurisdiction. 1t is leaven Of just
such men as he that made life possible
in the mining regious Of the west;
without them rapine and murder
would have stalked unchecked from
the Missouri to the coast.
Topping had now found a quiet an
chorage after his adventurous youth.
and seemed likely to pass his later days
as many other mountain men had done.
in an uneventful fashion. When man
IS fond OF the wilderness and finds him
self beside waters teeming with fish.
and prairies alive with fowl. and where
vension may be had for the pressing
of trigger, he Is likely to be too con-
tented to make any very strenuous
efforts to change his lot.
But that was six years ago. Read.
and let me tell you how Topping fares
today.
One evening in the fall OF 1890 he
was startled by violent rapping on
The split cedar door of his cabin. He
lifted the latch and Joe Bourgeois and
his "pard" Morris stumbled into the
little shanty, and dumped the bags Of
ore samples they had been laden with
on the rough floor. Dead beat and half
frozen, they were yet full of enthusi-
asm over a wonderful body of sulphide
re which their trial shoots had dis
closed at the bottom of an old trial
shaft high on the TANKS of Red Noun
ain. They had staked out five claims,
they said, and would give one to Top
ping If he would pay the recorders
fees on the lot. This he agreed to do.
and in due course became the owner
IF what seemed the poorest prospect.
It is now the famous lie Roi mine. One
II the locations is the War Eagle, and
another the Center Star, each valua-
lie property but inferior to the lie Roi.
from that day Trail Creek, Topping's
bode. began to be famous.
Events move fast in the west. Top
ming was almost alone at Trail in 1890
ebay there are hotels, stores. a smelt-
r, railroad station, and steamboat
wharfs, while perched on the shoulder
+ the ountain near the lie Roi has
sprung up the busting town of Ross
and, numbering already 10000, and in
"reasing in population at the rate Of
1000 a year.
Topping OF course sold out long ago
He need worry himself no more abou
ways and means, but can buy all the
Winchesters. boats, and pack animals
he may desire, and still have an ample
Income ieft-and what more can a
frontiersman and old Indian fighter
ask? The veteran is a great favorite
With his fellow citizens.
And the nameless wanderer who
sunk the shallow pit in the iron hat
Jack in the fifties? What grudge had
he blind goddess against him? A shot
IT two more and he might have beer
rich and famous. But the big air com
pressors do not pant and groan in his
service; thousand feet below the sun
light men are toiling, but not for him
the dump sparKles with fifty dollar ore
but the proceeds will not be credited
70 his account. What is writ Is writ
and in the Book of Destiny there is no
turning back to correct errors-but If
the bare, bleached bones on the aka
u desert could again be clothed with
flesh and revisit Red Mountain, they
would weep to see how near the pion-
eer of SO came to finding his Eel Dor
ado.