The Saint Paul globe., 1899-04-02

on ledge Of rocks. Some driftwood got
entangled with the legs of our leading
mules and came very near dumping US
all into the boiling and rushing current
of the river, which would inevitably
nave drowned the whole party; but we
reached our destination in safety. At
the Big Bend. which is now one of the
principal stations on the Central Pacific
raiiroad, we found a spacious piece of
bottom land, well supplied with grass
LOT our ANIMALS, and clump Of six
tau' stately cottonwood trees present
Ing an inviting place to camp. which we
accepted as our resting place
Inc next morning Rose mounted his
pony ana started for the lake, saying he
would return in couple of davs with the
chief. who would guide US to the mine
ana fortune. The government agent was
an OLD friend of mine. a California forty
miner, and most mpanfonable fellow:
the Mormons were excellent cooks. and
most efficient camp men; we had abun-
oaht camp supplies. Supplemented with
iihe hsh brought to us by the. Indians.
so we settled down for delightful rest
EVERY night the men would make a cheer
ful cracking fire of dry drift wood from
the river banks, hobble the mules and
iaii asleep for the night, leaving us to en-
JOY the soft summer air and brilliant
moonlight, while discussing our futura
plans when possessed of the boundIess
Weath that only awaited the coming of
Rose and the chief. Before retiring for
the night. which only meant lying down
on blanket we usually reclined each
against a tree, with a demijohn between
US, and by the time sleep overcame us.
the fortunes of Croesus, Astor and Van
derbilt combined were mere trifes com
pared with our anticipated wealth, for
were we not TO be soon endowed with the
magic touch of Midas
we reveled in our repose seasoned with
the exaltation of hope and the demi-
John, until about four days had elided
away, when even such delights began TO
pail, and became little 'monotonous and
sun no Rose and no Win-ne-Muc-ca
Ihe NTH, and even the sixth day passed
ana yet they came not, and we were
| driven to the conclusion that either Pose
had been victimized by the Piutes. or wa
| had been victimized by Rose. So nothing
was left for us but to pull up stakes and
| Wend our weary way back to Carson
Here we found Rose with the excuse that
Wfn-ne-Muc-ca had told him that he
| dared not give up the secret of the mine
| for fear his band would kill both Rose
and himself, and that, he had not dared
| to return to the camp for fear the Indians
would follow him and destroy us all
And SO ended our venture
We came ont of the enterprise wiser
and poorer men, to the amount of about
| 81, ,0GG. AS we had left town at midnight
| and returned at the same quiet hour. we
were able to keep our adventure to our
| selves, lind escape the ridicule of more
| experienced miners. many of whom, how
| ever, had passed through similar exper-
| fences under varying circumstances.
! 1 have never been able to fully satisfy
| myself whether Rose acted in good faith
or not. but as he had no hope of gain
outside of the mine. am inclined to be-
| lieve his story.
My next mining experience resulted
much the same way. Rich finds were re-
ported in the Walker river country, and
| a small syndicate of US outfitted a party
| Of old and experienced. miners to visit
| the locality and see what they could
pick up. They started in the usual mys-
| terious manner. at the dead Of night
and in about two weeks returned, and
brought to my office a gunny bag full OF
ore, which they left. and we appointed q
meeting the next night at O'Clock. wlaer
the town was supposed 70 b. asleep, e