Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-12-30


Armour to examine some fuller's earth
properties in Deadwood. When Roth
orwell finished the work which took
him to Deadwood he was induced by the
younger Hardin to visit Two-Bit Gulcn.
Rotherwell knew something about
mining, and, having met old man Har-
din, became convinced that the man
was honest and was not crazy, or. II ne
was, young Hardin, who had the faith
in the Guleh that his father had, was
not only not crazy, but was an unusual
" level-headed man. Rotherwe1 ex-
amined the surface indications which
old Jim Hardin pointed out to him,
and was favorably impressed by them.
Then, too, he believed in the Hardins.
and the upshot of it all was that he
promised to see what could be done
about raising some money for the old
man in Chicago.
This was no easy task. Chicago men
with money were not exchanging 1t for
an old Black Hills miners gold bricks,
even if he had been able to impress
Rotherwell with his honesty and sim
certify. Finally Rotherwell succeeded
in interesting young Chicago man by
the name of Delaney. Delaney had
plenty of money, most of which he had
made himself, and he was highly
esteemed by many of Chicago's best
known business men. Delaney visited
Two-Bit Gulch with a mining expert,
who was favorably impressed with what
he saw. With the experts report De
laney returned to Chicago and told
some of his friends that he was going
to invest some money in mining proper
ties in Two-Bit Gulch. Philip d. Ar
mour, L. z. Letter and two or three
other Chicago millionaires consented
to put in as much as Delaney, which
was not so much but that each one of
the men could afford to lose it if Two
Bit gave back nothing.
Young Hardin was sent for to come
to Chicago and was told what Delaney
had done. The son of the old miner
could hardly believe his ears. The only
thing he seemed to realize was the fab
ulous fortune that was all but within
his fathers grasp. The possibility that
no gold might be found never occurred
to him for moment. This impressed
itself upon those who had consented to
invest some money in the scheme and
they resolved to go ahead, come what
might.
That was in the early part of the pres
emit year. Soon after that the machinery
necessary to carry on quartz mining
was ordered and shipped to Two-Bit.
When the first machinery arrived old
man Hardin nearly did go crazy with
joy. That for which he had waited and
worked and stuck to the Gulch all
through the years was about to become
fact instead of an old mans dream.
When the machinery was all on the
spot, the question to be determined
was where the first shaft should be
sunk. Old Jim knew, he said, exactly
where to begin, but before he would
tell he wanted to have look at every
man who was to engage in the work.
When asked what that was for, he said:
I've stood guard over this property
for 20 years. Men have come and gone,
but I've stayed on, and now that some
things going to happen, I want to
know that everybody around here is on
the square. / can tell the men want
as soon as see them"
Accordingly all the miners and all
the bosses had to be inspected by Old
Jim. All but two passed uster, and
they had been employed to superintend
parts of the work. The old man would
not have them under any consider
alton, and two others of his own
selection were substituted. The wis
dom of his judgment may have been
proved by the fact that one of these
cast-offs is now in a western peniten-
tiary serving term for robbery.
When the mining crew was finally Sc
lected Old Man Hardin indicated the
place where the work was to be begun
and the first shaft was sunk on April Is,
1897. Some one recalled that work had
been begun on the thirteenth of the
month and remarked that Jim Hardin's
usual luck would follow the develop
ment of the mine. To this Hardin's only
reply was:
There never was d fine field of corn
that crews didn't croak over. Never
mind the day of the month. Two-Bit
will prove that there's luck in the thir-
teen yet"
Two months later, on June Is, "pea
nut" rock was struck and the first pos
tive indication of ore was found. On
September Is the following dispatch
was sent by James ID. Hardin, Jr., to
Mr.. Delaney in Chicago:
''Rich ore struck. Assay, 81 to ton.
Vein now more than 20 feet thick"
On October 13 samples of the ore
faLen from the mine were sent tn Tor
rey & Eaton, assayers and metallur-
gists, of Sterling, N. j., whose New
York office is at "A Cortlandt street.
Two days later they sent back the re-
suit of their assay, as follows:
Sample of ore marked No. pyrites,
contains 1.50 ounces of gold, which as
sayed $31 per ton. Of silver there was
trace"
Two-Bit Gulch is no longer despised
by the miners of the Black Hills. Two
of those who left their claims there
years ago for others are no richer to-
day than they were then. The man who
stuck there is a millionaire now, and
his holdings could not be purchased
for love or money. He has already paid
back those who advanced him the mon
ey to develop his properties, and
Lucky Thirteen as the mine is
called, is yielding up its wealth to make
easy the last years of old Jim Hardin's
journey down the slope.-N. Y. Sun.
Troy Weight No GOOD.
The highest grade of negro In the
private car porter. 1t was such a ne
-, ,,nrDo ord with yoanu Tna v,o-