The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-09
sIIeHrrD II " nUsrF GA rEnxs
Ehsot or = ChanEo In the wh,.Eey on tire ne
velopUent Of = Prenininr Cnni Riald.

Veiopuaent or = ProusisipE Ceai yield.
Two rusty canteens," said the cx.boomer
rom oregon, arc responsible for tho fact that
1 am not now receiving q good income from the
saie OF the Coos Bay coal which has become 30
popular In San Francisco in tho last few years.
When first moved onto the ranch near Drain
1 employed q surveyor to go over my boundary
lines and set up stone monuments at my cor
ners and section line Intersections. He was .
Sman, why, dark.skinned individual, who
neither smoked nor drank nor swore, and wac
proressedly truthful; but his experiences had
beer so varied and remarkable that for some
time l found many OF his stories pretty hard TO
believe. L kept coming on unexpected verih-
Cartons OF his yarns. however, so that in tho
course OF time 1 gave him my fullest confidence
ana When no came to mo during the second
year or my, residence on tho ranch and said he
knew OF a deposit OF what he thought was pretty
koou coal, 1 Immediately decided to inyesti-
gate 1t.
Il secured the services Of n coal expert from
ley, who had quito a fund Of general scientinc
knowleuKe, a friend from Boston and myself
formed rS,nnis the party OF i've that started out at
veyor = coal neposit., II was the latter end OF
me INC rainy season, and the roads were in a very
horses from my own stable and were travelling
with very littlo dunnage. In fact tho chief
which we had filed two old army ~cnnteens in
order to be protected against the cold, drizzling
Coal OF an Interior quality had been mined
then; and considerable prospecting for bctter
TO conduct our examination rather secretly.
we rode on an old and almost abandoned
River eight times on fiat-bottomed scows with
mo-, n09ring d ropes at each end leading to blocks
across the river as'"f The BOAT boats s' we're operated By
Tightening the moorinB at the forward end and
loosening the other. when the current, acting
on the %slanting side of the scow, would drive 1t
forward slowly.
Everything went finely. the first day Of the
trip, and in spite Of the bad going and the mis-
cradle Oregon mist, the entire party continued in
excellent spirits, but the next morning some of
us noticed a queer taste to the whiskcy. At the
next ferry. wo procured n tumbler from the ferry
keeper, and examined some OF the stuff through
a maRnifying. glass that Charley always car.
dark colored particles which had a bitter taste,
and when, rubbed between the fingers were
was that 1t might be the deliberate work OF the
surveyor. who was the only temperance man
fal. .n Wh Rs6'i ! knew S"s had Satni not OF BEEN see S ts@per san with.
as l carried it myself. disclosed the fact that it
was also in the same alarming condition.
Our journey from there on assumed a differ
emit aspect. Charley. who had been dashing
ahead, with the mar from Boston and picking
out sheltered spots at which to halt a mo
ment and take a drink, now rode dcjectedly
from Portland n9Ia d stopped top diIhdiss.fhraes au emu trips o of the
road TO examine the outcroppings, over which
he had been 80 enthusiastic, and closed up
the rear without a glance to either side. The
surveyor was tho only ono in whom no change
stories he was telling, and at length. he too,
stopped talking. The whiskey grew worse and
worse. until we all decided IL was too bad even
to smell. and Charley, determined to know what
up against a big boulder by the roadside, and
then, taking up the end Of an Oregon grape
root, rode Off with it q few feet. Then he
backed his horse into the vine trailing behind
him till he kicked. One Of the animals lunges
tore open the canteen, which we saw to be nearly
eaten through with iron rust.
I'VE arrived at our destination In the middle
of the afternoon, and made n cursory examina-
ton of the outcrop, and were, with the eX-
ception of the surveyor, unanimous in condemn.
Ing it as unpromising. We left. after gather.
that night, did not burn very well, and left a
large percentage, of ash. and in the morning
we started for home, leaving the surveyor,
who lived not far away, disappointed but not
convinced that his lind was as valueless as we
pronounced 1t. Two years later he succeeded
in getting the location examined again, and ii is
now the centre Of the new Coos Bay coal re-.
Rion."