The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-12
"THE LITTLE JESSIE. :"
An Interesting Story of This Fam
Gus Gold Producer.

Eyes, sir, the venerable Judge
Griffin of Lynx Creek and other old
'65ers told me 1 was wasting my time
| in prospecting over in the Chaparrel
country at the very time l had struck
it rich in The Little Jessie said John
L. Jones, the other day in converse
ton with several mining men who
were anxious to know the early his
tory Of this famous producer.
The country just spoken of had been,
I in the SOS and '70's. well known for
the wonderful quantity of placer gold
which had been washed out of the pay
dirt in the gulches, says the Prescott
correspondent Of the Republican of
Phoenix, Arizona. Dozens of the
pectors believed that there was a rich
quartz vein near to the placers and
spent months searching for il, but
failed, and at length pronounced the
country barren.
Mr. Jones. broke as the result of
mining company's failure, decided to
make his fortune in the hills east Of
Prescott. For weeks he walked and
broke rock by day and dreamed of I'M
told wealth by night. AT length his
perseverance was rewarded: mis- eyes
one day showed him the ledge glitter
ing with wealth.
He had no money and little grub
VI CItull- Tie kileW ne HdQ SlIuCk IL
rich, and to work he went with a will
and sunk shaft a few feet in depth
and took out several tons of fine ore
which he brought to town on his bur-
ros, and taking it to the sampler at
Prescott had his heart gladdened by
receiving several hundred dollars per
ton. This put him on his feet and
brought joy to his wife and children.
probably the only ones who had con-
IN no foit in
You have heard the expression: 1T
paid from the ground roots" Usually
/ this is a figure of speech, but in the
case of The Little Jessie it was liter
ally true. Every foot of work for the
first 300 feet paid for itself and left
handsome surplus, which was at once
invested in mill machinery. Soon a
five-stamp mill was pounding out the
precious gold and plating $40.
Ask Frank Wright. president of the
Prescott Electric Light company,
about the Jessie. He will tell you that
shortly after the discovery of the mine
he drifted to Prescott in search of work
at his trade as a carpenter. He had
$500 in his pocket, all he had in the
world. The second day he was in town
en- old Colorado friend met him and
said: Frank, 1 have an option for a
lease on 800 feet of The Little Jes-
SIZE she's sure to be a daisy: but I'm
broke. Can't even buy flour. much less
powder and fuse and such like. Have
you got any money!" Frank said ::
only about $780, Well said his
miner friend, go halves with me and
you'll never reCret it" So Frank de-
termined he might as well make the
flyer and go broke or win a fortune.
They loaded up, and in less than three
years, on the loan paying a royalty of
% per cent, he cleared up and put in
the bank-well, it wouldn't be fair to
tell-but you can judge, as he bought
out the electric light plant in Prescott
and invested in all the modern i'm
provements Cor it. He married a
charming Kansas girl. and owns a
splendid residence in Los Angeles. And
Frank has been "a lucky mark" ever
since
Time and again the mines of Yava-
pal county have been turned down
with the charge, they won't go down.
Let us see if this is true. The Jessie
has a perpendicular depth of nearly
600 feet. The Congress shaft has bur
rowed LOO feet into the bowels of
the earth; Crowned King has sunk
500 feet: McCabe mine, 400 feet; Hen
rietta, 800 feet, and still in good ore
and dozen other properties one might
mention have demonstrated that our
mineral-bearing veins are strong and
powerful and rich.
Speaking of the Jessie reminds me
that after leaving the 4O0-foot level in
the main shaft. Jones sunk so feet
on a stringer no wider than a knife
blade. 1t takes bulldog tenacity and
unlimited confidence TO make a success
of mining. Then in came four feet of
ore, and it has continued ever since