The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-04
LUCK OF GOLD HUNTERS.
WILLIAM Wits REWARD AFTER
LONG HARDSHIP&
Forty-threo Years of Searching for Fortune
ns n Prospector-Men to Whom Wealth
Has Come Quickly - Tenderfoet who
Succeed Where Experienced Men Fail.

Has Como quickly Tenderfeet Who
Succeed Where Experienced Men Fail.
POMONA. Cal. May 2o.-Aftcr forty-three
years OF hard labor In gold mines and at pros.
pecting for pay ore. William Witt has struck 1t
rich. To-day he Ia walking the streets OF Los
Angeles with the satisfactory knowledge that
he has $4,000 to his credit in n bank. and be-
sides has documents in his rockets calling for
four payments OF $500 each at intervals OF
ninety days. On May 10 he sold the Columbia
base ore mine Ia combination OF gold. silver.
lead and copper oresl. out III tho Providence
Mountains. on tho Mojavc desert. close to the
Nevada State line. to ". Z. Thompson and
George l.. Harms for S42
There is good deal more in the lorna. state
ment that William Witt has struck 1t rich than
the average reader may think. In these
words are summed up the result OF almost a
half century OF bitter privations. grim hard
ships. pitifu loneliness and discouragements
so severe that even a few OF them would trans
form an ordinary man into a misanthrope.
The life William Witt has led In the mining
regions OF tho West is 80 picturesque and so
typical Il the lives thousands Of old soldiers OF
fortune are leading. all the way from the
Klondike to Central America. that 1t is worth
telling somewhat In detail. Witt was born in
Hartford Conn. 50 years ago. He was OF
an adventurous disposition. ran away from
home on whaling ship out from Gloucester.
and went 10 the Soutn SeHB De1OTe ne was
II He remained sailor until he was
20 Then he became n lahorer in the quick
silver mines in Santa Clara county. Cal. 1t
was an easy change from the quicksilver prop
critics to gold mining in Nevada county, Cal.
when Witt was 25. Like all workers in the
mines he soon had the fever to go and find a
ledge OF pay ore for himself. and then to be-
come wealthy mining operator From the
spring OF 1865 till this season Witt has been
I,,zs So t.,LN
months each year. and has worked as laborer
N mines much OF the rest OF the time. until he
earned enough money to keep him in food and
clothing while he pursued his prospecting.
During these years he has located hundreds
of mining claims. About eight per cent. OF
them he has partly developed: the rest he has
abandoned without doing more than day or
two Of labor upon each or enough to assure
him that the showing OF gold ore there was too
small to warrant further effort. dozen or so
claims he has worked for weeks at n time. and
in developing several OF his located mines he
has spent months and all the money he could
scrape together. only to have the vein OF ore
suddenly peter out. leaving merely Il great
hole In the ground to show for all his labor and
expended capital. He has worked for 81. 30 and
So day in almost every mining camp between
Helena. Mon. and Sonora. Mexico. He has
never had n home and has never had more
than 5000 in cash at any one time In all
tn, years he has been seeking his fortune
in mining. During the greater part OF
these years his sole possessions have
been the tattered corduroy clothes on his
back. his sturdy burro. his camp outfit. con-
s!sting Of frying pans, kettles and buckets. and
his roll OF blankets and meagre assortment OF
mining implements While he has seen some
OF his comrades in prospecting find in all man
ner OF strange places lodges OF gold and silver
Ia, ~ la-o
from poverty to the possession OF independent
fortunes. he has still kept doSgedly at his own
dsheartening search for mine that might
some day bring him comfortable riches for the
rest of his life. Summer and winter as long
as grub lasted and he could endure the cold
and Ice OF the upper mountain sides In winter
and the hot win Is OF the deserts OF Arizona in
summer Witt has chased tho tickle goddess For
tune with never doubt OF his ultimate success.
He has clambered over mountain ridges. spent
weeks in scrutinizing the rock in cahons. e1-
citedly followed stampedes OF gold hungry men
to new gold and silver strikes and lived alone
in an Indian country, where no one but a
typical gold prospector would venture. He has
dwelt in a tent on mountain size alone with
his dog and burro. where no other human
being was seen for two and three months at a
time. He has often subssted solely on boiled
beans for two or three successive weeks. and
s''N
desert and hunger among the mountains. while
he remained steadfast in the faith that some
day he would stumble upon an outcroppng
ledge OF mineral which would lead to fortune.
Witt has tramped over the Rocky Mountains
from Butte. Mon. to Las Vegas. n. NJ. He has
searched many times over hundreds OF square
miles OF the Rocky Mountain region. For
seven years he mined. prospected and devel-
.%ped his claims In Colorado. Then he went to
New Mexico and prosecuted his mining and
searching for five years longer. He has
tramped up and down the Sierras from the
Fraser River in British Columbia to Guaymas
IN Mexico. Time and again no was sure he
had found nay ore. and he has spent countless
restless nights figuring on how much there
was OF the precious ore which was his at last
only to have his visions OF riches melt slowly
away when the assays revealed low grade
rock and only a little Of II. Twice he has
had his feet 80 frozen that it seem ed
improbable that he could avoid amputa-
ton. and he has lain for a month at
q time suffering with fevers He has missed
several large fortunes by curious freaks OF
luck. such as mining prospectors only seem tc
experience. He with Nat c. Creede in
southern Colorado for two years before the
latter ran upon the lodges that made him q
millionaire In six months. and but for the
fact that Witt wanted to go and prospect
New Mexico before the summer was ovel
he would have been with Creole wher
the Holy Moses was found He was all ovei
the locality where the Fortuna mines and thell
wonderful free milling gold ore were found In
1894, but while he fastened across the coun'
try to Barstow. Cal. in the vain hope OF selling
4 prospect there, other miners went quietly
into what is now Fortuna. and located every
thing In sight
IA w | a
II no class Of men but mining prospectors have
TO such marked degree. William Witt worked
in the Golden Cross mine ut Hedges Cal,
year ago last winter and spring. When warn
weather returned he had saved about $3.50
With that he bought new burro. laid in
supply OF beans. bacon. flour and cornmeal
and. gathering together his blankets. caml
outfit and tools. started out across the Colorado
desert to the north on still another prospect
ING tpur hiring tho he had Mann (