The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1901-1901, 1901-04-15
HELP THE PRosPEcTOR.

VI MOutaua owe more imam 10 tnOSs
Industrial probers into the mysterie.
Of nature known as mining prospec
tors.
1t is worthy to note that all the
great mines in this state were discov
ered-not by the capitalists who ma,
have developed them. but by hardy
self-sacrificing prospectors.
AS the mining districts and minera
discoveries OF the past must be &C
credited to these tireless searchers at
ter the treasures locked in the EN-
brace of nature, so must those of the
future depend upon the same diamonds
in the rough to bring polish to Their
hidden arcades of wealth.
Is a state like Montana, says the
Helena Herald, so largely dependent
upon it's mineral wealth, the prospe.:.
tor should be encouraged in every Il.
climate way within the purview OF
the law-making power.
Unfortunately the cheap thinkers who
often find their way into our legis.
lative halls know little of mining and
less of the common rules of equity
and fair-play, with the result that in
legislation the prospector usually gets
the worst of it.
Every session of the legislature is
characterized by changes in the laws
relating to the location of missing
claims, more or less embarrassing to
the prospector in the prosecution of
his plans.
The late legislature was no excep-
ton to the rule, several nonsensical
and wholly unjustifiable changes hav-
ing been brought about wholly by
Senator Geiger of Flathead, whose
influence against the interests of the
prospectors seems to have been effec-
tive.
For some years there have been a
marked tendency on the part of legis-
latOrs to restrict the privileges and
opportunities of the pioneers in the
mining industry more or less oner-
GUS and unjust.
The Geiger law is no innovation in
this respect, nor is it as vicious as
some of it's predecessors, but it illus
trates the general tendency to make
the locating of mining claims more
difficult and technical.
Further progress in this direction
will soon destroy the prospector as an
original creation of the mining states,
and convert him into the hired man,
of the corporation that is looking for
virgin mineral wealth.
The constant dream of the unbos-
omed millions that lie beneath his
pick makes the prospector the genius
he may be in the search for mineral
wealth and to curb his possibilities
and convert him into mental, would
be to rob the state of his best am
billions and his powers.
Place the prospector on a salary and
he lacks the incentive which the hope
of finding a great mine always holds
out to his natural appetite for wealth.
The prospector may live and die a
poor man, but he dares the greatest
dangers and endures innumerable
hardships all along the line, with
faith in the focusing of his lucky
star over chute of valuable ore.
1t may we'll be doubted whether the
professional prospector as an earn
est and devoted searcher for minerals,
can be kept in the field when shackled
in his possibilities as to the owner
ship of claims.
But like the pioneer who clears the
forest for the farmer and moves on.
the prospector is a frontiersman who
discovers mineral wealth but seldom
exploits it or develops a mine.
He may be of small value to himself
but he is Of inestimable worth to the
state, for the laps Of luxury that lie
as inherent possibilities in his luck