Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1898-09-28
Wa7her Lake Bulletin.
Official Papsg of Esmeralda County
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2s 1898
THE prospector is hero. His

THE prospector is a hero. HIS
name is not chronicled in the com
munity, nor is it immortalized in po-
etry. nor does it adorn the realms OF
fiction or fancy. He is plain, God
fearing, brave man. His heart is
buoyant with hope and his faith is lin
itless. He undergoes hardships as
severe as the heroes of valley forge
suffered. He is frequently called up
on for tasks requiring bravery OF as
high aa order as was required to take
Little Round Top at Gettysburg Dis
ease and hunger, as severe as the
heroes of Cuba suffered, assail him,
but patiently and uneomplainingy
he suffers. His palace is a dug-out
in some ravine. Health gives vigor
to his appetite, and bacon and coffee
are his principal luxuries. He tramps
YEARLY oyer mountains, across val
leys, through torrents, climbs prec-
ipices and faces death as calmly as
the heroes of San Juan faced it in
Cuba. Every rock is geological
revelation, and the glitter of gold1or
silver fill his nights with oysian
dreams. He scratches about in the
mountain and his feeble efforts to lay
bare Comstock or Klondilse. whose
magic wealth adorns cities, beauties
palaces, clothes queens in diamonds
aad creates the essence of fin de seice
luxury while the prospector tolls on
in want and poverty. He is o pio-
neer who deserves but never realizes,
who hopes, but never enjoys. The
Comstock, the Base Range, Austin,
Butte City, Tombstone, Deadwood,
Bodie--all are his creations. The
palaces of San Francisco, the sky
scrapers of New York and the prince
ly estates of Europe are the magnl-
fcent results of his energies and
toll. He creates the opportunities
that others enjoy The fruitions of
his own work he never lives TO enjoy
Noble creation Of Gods own work,
he gives, IN his generosity and open
heartedness, his all and suffers in his
want. Nevada owes her present
name to the prospector and the un-
yelling of her future depends upon
his tireless energy in searching out
of natures hidden storehouses the
mineral riches of earth. No monu-
ments mark his last resting place,
no soft hand of love, no gentle touch
of sympathy ease his dying hours.
Those for whom he has created OPP
portunity die in palaces, while his
spirit more often iekes its flight
among the pines of the mountain,
or amid the sage of the PLAINS, the
wind singing his requiem and West
ern sunset kissing his wrinkled and
careworn face, He dies as he lives,
buoyant, believing his last ledge is
the fortune he seeks, the last shaft
or tunnel the pathway to his long
sought-for riches.
Among mankind he is the rarest
of men, unused to the cunning of
chicanery or the roguery of deceit.
His white locks are his badge of dig
nifty, his wrinkled hands the ensign
of his nobility. He is as great fac
tor in modern civilization as the war
rier who adds new domain and per-
picking problems of government, or
the statesmen who devise some new
scheme of government, or the finau-
ciers who controls the finances of the
world. Scaling the mountain top
with pick in one hand and the rich
specimen of some newly discovered
nine in the other his head barred to
the soft winds and his face resplend-
ent with hope, he is as commanding
figure in history as Webster in the
Senate, combating Hayne, as Grant
taking Lees sword at Richmond, as
Dewey completing the destruction Of
the Spanish at Manila or Mckinley
negotiating peace in Washington.
His is heroism without glory, toll
without reward, hunger without re-
lief, life without success and death
without victory bringing at last the
sweet peace of rest and the glory Of
the hereafter, for history seldom
sinrs nraises of this Westnrn nm