The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-11
DOES GOLD GROwt
Some Veteran Miners Who Pretend
to Believe That 1t Does

They were all weather-beaten trail
blazers who had led the march Of
civilization into the mountains, and az
they toasted their shins by the big
stove in Lou Picketts hotel bar at Mel
rose, their conversation wandered from
the recent election and the departed
Slories of other days to the latest dis
cover1es in science. John Helehan had
just finished reading from a mining
journal about Prof. Emmons' discovery
Of the method of transmitting silver
into gold, says the Butte Inter Noun
tain.
L think Emmons is a humbug." said
old Judge Lonely, a California argon-
aut THE old alcbemists, you know.
tried that, but they might as we'll have
tried to make an apple seed. Nature
holds the germ and all the scientists
who initiate her can do is to quicken
its growth
I've heard of gold growing" re-
marked VIII Robbins.
SO have /, said the Judge, "but you
have never seen it grow, have you?
/ don't believe all the yarns these ex-
perts spin, anyhow"
Boys" spoke up John Treanor. per-
haps | have got some queer old notions
slowed away under this diggin hat of
mine, but for thirty years, man and
boy, I've been q prOSpector and 1 have
been doin' some thinking. And 1 tell
you now that / believe gold does grow.
Twenty ago l struck the Locust and
sunk a shaft. 1t was silver ore, and
after diggin' for awhile 1 gave up in
disgust. Then 1 wandered over the
other side of the range and located
the Banner, copper mine now in pos
session Of the Anaconda company. I
moseyed around for awhile, and eight
years ago | went back to my old love-
the Locust. Hang me if ] could be-
leve my eyes, boys. when 1 found the
prettiest ledge of gold ore right where
the silver ledge was. 1t was pretty as
a picture, and I kept right on diggin,'
and have been diggin in that hole ever
since. 1t seemed to me that in places
where the water struck it it grew
richer. I 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 few years"
Blame me If I don't think Hank
Stebbins does the same thing" said
Jack Flice. Hank lives up In Soap
Gulch, and has claim he calls the
Belcher. He discovered It thirty years
ago when Wash Stapleton was making
bullets In his lead mine to kill Indians
with. 1t is a funny formation for that
part of the country 1t is a reef of
sand lying between the lime formation
that borders on the Melrose valley
and the stratif1ed gneiss formation that
runs from the point to the base OF
Red mountain. Thirty years ago Hank
discovered that there were globules
Of silver in the sand and located II.
but there wasn't enough mineral to
pay, and he abandoned 1t. Ten years
ago he went back to the old mine and
began turning over the sand. He be-
gan to find chunks of gold instead Of
silver He has a good thing now.
He mines it like the MeXicans used to
mine 1t years ago. He cuts stairs in
the sand and takes the rock up III 4
candle box and sorts it over. Now all
he has to do when he wants to mako
a stake is to go down to the sand pile
and wiggle a crowbar around for a
few minutes. when up comes a piece
of shining gold. Several capitalists
have attempted to get hold. n tho
mine, and one of Heinze's agen : made
him a good offer for 1t, but Hank
won't sell, for he is sure he -sas 4
fortune If the gold keeps on growing"