Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-03-26


palmiest days, while the rush for loca-
lions and town lots bids fair to con-
tinue until every available foot OF land
Is secured and worked. That the craze
for gold Is founded on reason, however,
is not to be denied. Unlike other dis
coveries, the mines in the Ragged Top
country require only small outlay OF
capital and then that can be had by
shipping few tons of rock to the
smelter and turning it into gold. The
rich finds at Ragged Top were purely
accidental. In the early days the pros
pectors in their search for gold con-
fined their explorations chiefly to the
idea that gold existed in the potsdam
and carboniferous formations OF which
the Ragged Top finds are composed
The story of the first find of gold in
the Ragged Top district is told to every
newcomer. A party Of prospectors
passing through on their way to the
Terry gold camp picked up few pieces
of the limestone formation near the
mouth of an old shaft that had been
abandoned years before and thinking
there might be a few grains of gold in
the workings they ventured dollar to
have the stuff assayed. The result
startled them. The assayer told the
men that the rock which they had
brought h m was worth 5000 a ton.
They at once returned to the place and
staked off their claims and after gath
ering up all the loose rocks lying near
them they shipped them to a smelter
and secured several thousand dollars.
In the meantime some of the miners,
who had located the ground previous to
the find, had become disheartened, and
an old Jew happening along one day a
proposition was made to him to sell
him one of the claims for an even 500.
Like others of his race the Jew was
crafty, and realizing that the property
was worth more than the amount
asked, he nevertheless would not accede
to their terms. After considerable hag-
Cling, however, he bought the claim for
five suits of clothes worth $50. When
the value of the property became
known he commenced shipping the ore
and sold $4,000 worth of the rocks,
afterwards disposing of his claim for
$4,000.
1t lis not every day that luck strikes
young man as it did William Dacy.
Like all of the early settlers in Ne
hraska he held down claim in Box
Butte county, living the life common
to bachelorhood in a sod shanty. This
was eleven or twelve years ago. He
always managed to earn good living,
holding himself free and independent
to come and go and do as he pleased.
During the last year or two he has de-
voted his time to prospecting in the
Black Hills. Places which old miners
and prospectors passed over with con-
tempt he camped at and staked his
fortune. He struck it, and struck it
rich. The Burlington railway COM
pany, prompt in recognizing the value
of his discovery, established a station
near Ragged Top, and to-day his find
is exciting as great boom as any gold
field yet discovered in the west. Will
liam has sold out an interest for $4,000,
just enough to keep himself in funds
while prospecting his claims. Two
months ago all was quiet in the valley
where to-day thousand souls push
and struggle in an endeavor to gain
choice locations or buy an option on
one. There are three town sites now
laid out and plated, adjoining one an