Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-06-27
HIS LAST PROSPECT.


about all. That is to say, be prospected
for the joy of the chase. He liked to find
lodges Of red brown rock, which became
pyrites after he had gone down a way
and then pure white quartz. He liked
to follow out the probable dip of the lead,
partly by experience, mostly by instinct
He liked to dig those rabbit burrows of
an experimental nature, running straight
down or straight in, called "prospectOrs
shafts" Thus he would get to know the
cross-secticn Of hill as you know the
anterior of the apple you have just cut IN
two Thus far Peter succeeded as we'll
as, even better than, the best. Then he
lost it all. He either sold out to parties
insolyent, or on sufficient security, or ille-
gally. He never seemed to learn how
Other men reaped where he had soWed,
while he moved on to plough up a new
and virgin country
The worst Of it was that Peter, in a
patient way, was trying to gain compe.
tency. Back in Vermont there was a
farm with more stones than even these
stony hills could show, and with less gold
in its harvests than even in Peters mega
tive gleaningS for here Peter at least
kept out of debt. But near the snake
fence stood a little peak-rOofed and clap
board house, with blinds of emerald
green. Over the house riOted Virginia
creepers. Near the ancient we'll swayed
IiIacs, broad and low. In the old-fash-
toned front yard was the chirp of crick-
cts and hordes of white butterflies with
spots of sulphur-yellow. The house was
empty and the yard overgrOwn; yet to
the vacant rooms of one or to the chOked-
out flowers of the other Peters gentle
thoughts ever swarmed, like hOming bees.
He saw it bathed in the sunshine Of pros
perity. In his vision the yard was or
DERBY, we'll kept; the house was populous
with the affection of loving hearts. For
in that Vermont country these many
year a girl had waited-growing older,
and quieter, and more resigned-fOr Pc
ter and the fortune he was to bring her
If Peter had had more self-assertion
he might have retained some of the prop
erty he had so patiently relinquished. If
Peter had had less faith he might have
been in more haste to return. And
somewhere the qualities of meekneSS and
faith are eXtolled above all else. So Pc
ter came into a gulch one afternoon,
when the birds were singing, all alone.
In his slow way he built a shack, made
himself comfortable and started in
First he made a general survey Of the
country. He went up every little gulch.
even to the shallow top of 1t filled with
loose stones; he followed out the skyline
of every ridge; he seized frequent oppor-
tunities of taking q long diagonal down
the slopes. In this he proceeded rapidly
but carefully. None of the broad indi-
cations escaped him. He noted accu-
dip of the country, the general direc
ton of the parallel lodges OF strata. the
numerous crOss-ledges and Irregularities
of structure. Then he carried with him
Il handpick, one end pointed, the other
forming Il blunt hammer, and 4 number
of canvas bags. From various places
near one another he knocked off chunks
of the rock, which he broke into fine
pieces and mixed thoroughly on an old
half-blanket. After that he raised the
opposite edges Of the blanket, about the
center, in such manner as to divide
the crushed rock into two equal parts.
One Of these parts he threw away. The
other he mixed again as carefully as the
first. BY repetition of the process he
at last obtained an average" which he
slowed in one Of the little canvas bags.
At the end Of the day he dumped an
average" into a heavy iron mortar over
which pestle was suspended from a
-Springy sapling. By alternately pulling
down and letting up on the sapling the
Bestle was made to crush the quartz
fragments into fine red and white sand.
This Peter poured and Scraped into
tiaring-sided iron pan, into which he let
q quantity Of water. He then Whirled
the pan in a peculiar manner, pausing to
rock it back and forth every few min
utes. Much of the sand thus flowed over
all gone he poured in some more. Thus
he panned the waste out, until at last
nothing was left in the angle but some
heavy black grains. These were the con-
centrates. BY deft rocking in one di-
rection they were made to string out in
a long, fan-shaped mass, at the apex of
which was the fine yellow gold-that is,
where there was any.
In this way Peter slowly got an idea
of the country. Some lodges which
seemed to him promising, and yet which
did not show free gold at the top, he
exploited still further. With a charge
or so of powder he penetrated a layec
below the surface. Or perhaps he spent
several hard months making an irregular
deep hole like a we'll, from which he
carried the debris in bags, climbing up Il
notched tree: Then he selected more
samples. This is hard work When he
had learned the country pretty borough
ly, Peter staked out his claims There
were four of these. Then he began
sinking" on all four. Working alone.
he could make about a foot OF progress
Il day. By winter he was far enough be-
low ground SO that he did not feel the
cold. Occasionally he would make
short cross-cut-that is, a tunnel across
the trend of the strata-to see how far It
was to the wall; sometimes he would
sdrift-that is, tunnel in the direction #
the strata-to see how the quality of the
1edu Htlu Oul all luiS lOOh tIsl ~. Us ca
the timbering and the trips for supplies
Men in the town called him Happy
Peter, because he was always humming a
quaint little song, and because his eyes
beamed with such steady, gentle kindli-
ness.
Time snps by rapidly in the hills. You
get up at daybreak. and cook breakfast;
you carry water up to your shaft; you
spend all the morning making little hole
III the rock with a drill at noon you
blast; in the afternoon you haul buck
setfuls of broken rock out with wind
lass. The night has come. You measure
the days by what you have accomplished,
and it is little You measure time by
your trips to camp, and they are few.
One morning Peter, in looking into his
little square mirror, caught sight of a
gray hair. He looked closer. There
were many Of them. With a sudden
great pang he realized that he was get
ting to be an old man. He took from the
table the miniature of q girl with great
gray eyes. He wondered if she was get
ting to be an old woman. At the thought
Happy Peter became another man. He
rode to town that very day-ovcr the
mountains, through the gorges mi
showed them what he had found. Then