The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-02-25
THE LUCK OF A TENDERFOOT.
The Victim of a Joke Stumbles Upon
Great Wealth.


Considerable excitement has existed
! for some time at Sundance, S. d., over 4
recent rich gold discovery at Bald
| mountains, in the Black Hills, near that
place. The story of the finding of the
mines, from which the discoverer has
already taken enough ore to make him
immensely rich, reads like fairy tale,
and is as follows:
One day not long ago a man APP
| preached a party of miners at Bald
mountain and stated that he was look
| ing for work. The men told him they
had nothing for him to do, whereupon
he asked to be directed to good pros
pecting ground. He stated that he was
not miner and knew nothing about
such work The men directed him to
| large ledge of limestone about ~
miles south, and said there was a good
place. Heproceeded to the place pointed
out at once. where he selected a number
| of samples of the rock by breaking
| them off the ledge with a hammer.
| After working about the place all day
| he sacked his samples and started off to
! Deadwood, where he had the ore as
sayed. The assayer was the most
astonished man in Deadwood, for the
ore run up to $500 to the ton.
The tenderfoot did not say a word,
but returned to Bald mountain and To-
Gated the whole country and began
shipping powders from the top of the
ground, which have made him indepen-
IDENTIFY rich. The people who at first
were inclined to laugh at the man from
the east, as he is called, are now taking
up claims, and the greatest excitement
exists.
The word was quickly passed that all
the drift was full of gold, and two new
| towns have already sprung up in the
| camp. There was a crazy run of pros
pectors, and surveys have now been
made as far west as Bear Gulch and Mig
ger Hill, Is miles away. The diggers
who first broke ground in the new field
have been out but little more than a
month, and it is estimated that a for
! tune a day has been the average. 1t has
! been poor mans bonanza, the mineral
| appearing on the surface, and the as
| says of the quartz taken from the sur
| face and sent to the smelters run up
from $50 to 800 a ton, with frequent fis-
sures producing as high as $500 a ton.
| Ragged Top has been passed over time
| and again by men who came to Dead
wood for a speculation. 1t is in the re-
! gion close to the town, which has not
been considered productive of mineral
wealth, but candid miners are predict
ing that the golden glory of Cripple
| Creek is to be equaled, if not dimmed,
by Ragged Top. Gold fever which has
| been here for two years is now raging
! epidemic. Balmoral and Nerve City are
so excited that day and night are all the
same. Bankers and business men of
Deadwood and neighboring cities are
| daily investigating and bonding new
| discoveries. The streets are full of
| strangers, who come for day and then
disappear down the gulch or across the
cliffs. 1t is the revival of the spirit of
40.
The Dacy mine, the leading discovery
| to date, is near the summit of Ragged
| Top. The engineer who started the
work dug ten feet under the surface.
The ore secured there assays $50 ton.
1t is the talk of the town that the vein
is pronounced practically without linn
| it. There are Others" and the decisive
news about the Dacy has made Dead
wood as of old. The whole section is
filled with stories of fabulous wealth,
and there are assays to prove that many
of the claims are not beyond the eXpec-
tations of those who have rushed into
the new field.-Milwaukee Wisconsin.