The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-11

The Western Mining World in its
last issue contained an interesting ac-
count of the success that has attended
the efforts of a woman gold miner
Miss Jennie Hilton, who has achieved
fame throughout the southwest on &C
count of her aptness in the mining bus
mess. inasmuch as she is an experience
ed prospector, assayer and metallur-
gist, and who, now that she has sue
ceeded in selling a gold mine for
good, round sum in cash, viii soon try
her fortunes in Alaska, leaving for the
Yukon on one of the first steamers for
& syndicate that is backed by ample
means.
Seven years ago Miss Hilton taught
a country school at Los Angeles, Cal.
Today she is worth $s5,000-all made in
mining" In 1880 she went TO Phoenix,
Ariz., where she began her career as
miner, and it was not long before she
became so proficient in her studies in
assaying and metallurgy that she in
duced her brother and an old bachelor
uncle to give up their occupations, and,
with the little money they mad laid
away for the proverbial rainy day, to
join in her long-cOntinued seeking of
gold among the mountains or out on
the burning sands of Arizona
Almost every day in the year parties
of mining prospectors and miners start
with a grubstake from Phoenix for the
mountains and foothills. but the sight
of trim little Miss Hilton, dressed in
short wooden skirts, heavy shoes and
an immense sunbonpet, trudging along
at the side of her big brother and un-
Gle, each accompanied by laden jack
ass. was a sight that has remained dis
tinct amid the hundreds of similar
scenes in the memory of the spectator.
No one believed for a moment that
the party would continue prospecting
for more than a few weeks. From the
first day Miss Hilton
WAS JEALOUS IN HER WORK.
She waited some weeks to try the life
and to be sure she was not rash; then
she wrote to the school trustees at
Spadra resigning her place, drew some
of her savings from bank in Los An
geles and became full-fiedged pros
pector.
When the cooler autumnal weather
came, her brother and uncle prospected
over the mountains. The next winter
the school teacher prospector and her
companions went to Globe, Ariz. 1t
was at that time the most notorious
community in the territory. Hundreds
of hard characters-men who robbed,
assassinated. shot and stabbed-had
rushed there. But that did not deter
Miss Hilton. There were but two 9TH
er women in Globe that winter. She
saws that she was treated with kind
ness, and on many occasions the court
esy shown her in, a rude way by the
queer old characters. who had lived on
the borders for q generation, was al
most touching. No Oath5 were uttered
Intentionally in her presence; no man
ever raised glass of whisky to his
lips if he knew she was present.
When the warm months OF spring
and summer returned. Miss Hilton and
her brother and uncle started out
again. They travelled through the San
Rita mountains. and found little or
nothing in the way of ores that were
considered worth locating as claims.
They went northward to Prescott, and
for several months searched the noun
tains there. They passed month in
searching through Georgonia canyon.
In the winter Miss Hilton opened an
Office for assaying in Prescott. and did
a fair business. Her method of max
ing assays was liked, and the miners
had confidence in her statements of the
values of ores
She was asked TO remain in Pres
colt. but when spring opened her en-
thusiasm for prospecting was renewed
by the news her brother sent her that
he had found over in the FIaraua Hala
region the best looking auriferous rock !
in the whole territory. Miss Hilton
had closed her assay Office. and was
on her way across the country to Har- |
qua Hala with her uncle and accom-
panied by the usual complement of
iackass5s and camp outfit The Harqua |
Hala mining region was the most pros !
porous IL the southwest at that par
ticular time. The mines lay in dark red I
quartz 20 miles east of the Colorado |
ill., = ~aft
Yuma. Once there. Miss Hilton |
set about studying the lay of the |
land It was strange condition of |
affairs in rock Only a few prOspectors |
would get the secret Of the gold de- !
posts from surface Indicators. For |
weeks the young woman miner and her ]
brother tramped from morning till |
evening over the Harqua Hala rocks /
and desert wastes. Several mining /
claims were located, and then followed |
weeks of labor. patient watchfulness /
and consideration as TO what claim |
was worth opening. Nearly all the old |
and experienced miners quit the torrid |
and dry region, believing there could |
never be another profitable mine found |
there. Miss Hilton was convinced. |
however. that the ledge in which she |
had located a claim was neither
A SHALLOW POCKET NOR a VEIN,
which would soon pinch out. Her bro |
Their disagreed with her, and went with |
a small army OF discouraged miners to |
q cooler climate.
It is a long story how the young /
woman miner and her uncle stayed |
with their location, how both drilled /
and blasted in the rock, how they la
bored day after day for several months |
in opening THAR vein of ore. how they
suffered amid privatioas and under a |
fearful sun. how they pounded gold
bearing rock TO dust in an iron NOR
tar, and got the gold out by tricks with
so as TO have something TO
sell while they developed their prop
erty.
At last a shaft was down 90 feet, and
several other small openings were
made. Then. while the uncle remained
at the mine. Miss Hilton went forth
to sell the property. She carried a grip
sack well filled with specimens. and
head full of practical facts about her
mine. She went all over San Francisco
with a miners directory in her hand
seeking out possible buyers and show
ing specimens from her mine. A score
Of times she thought she had a pros
pective buyer. but there was no sale
She was told on every side that it was
useless for any one to attempt to sell
a mine so little developed. Among the |
mining people she was known as the
girl miner. From San Francisco Miss
Hilton went TO Salt Lake. There. with
the knowledge born of experience in
gan to seize on a dozen Of. the more
likely buyers of a gold mine. Her
of the intricacies of mining
was surprising. In a week she had in
terested two miners from St. Louis in
her property. They went down to Los