Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1897-04-21
A LUCK.
Az the Result of a Joke He Locates
q Rich Gold Mine.
While Looking for work He IL Directed
to an Unpromising Ledge which
Soon Becomes the Ceater
of Attraction.

Considerable excitement has existed
for some time at Sundance, S. D., over a
recent rich gold discovery at Bald
mountains, in the Black Hills, near hat
place. The story of the finding OF the
mines, from which the discoverer has
already taken enough ore to make him
immensely rich, reads i k a fairy tale,
and is as follows:
One day not long ago a man ap-
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, w~hereupon
he asked to be directed to good pros
pecting ground. He stated hat he was
not a miner and knew nothing about
such work. The men directed him to
a large ledge of limestone about IA
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 . hammer.
After working about the place all day
he sacked his samples and started of 10
Deadwood, where he had the ore as
sayed. The assayer was the most
aSIOn1S0eu man III lPtduNoou, AoI ouC
ore run up to 5000 to the tor
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 i'm the new field
ave been out but little more han n
month, and il is estimated that n for
tune a day has been the average. 1t has
been a poor mans bonanza, the mineral
appearing on the surface, and the as
says of the quartz aiken from the sur
face and sent to the smelters run up
from $50 to 500 a ton, with frequent fis-
sures- producing rs high as $500 a ton.
Ragged Top has been passed over time
and again by men who came to Dead
wood for n speculation. 1t is i'm 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 a 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 a ton
II 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 int
the new field.-Milwaukee Wisconsin.