Wadsworth semi-weekly dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1901-04-02
MINING LOCATIONS.

MINING LOCATIONS.
IN the report Of the committee on
mines and mining. U. S. Senate, the
following verses appear to express the
sentiments Of those opposed to 'hog'
l%ocators. The verses are entitled The
Lamenvof the Old Sour Dough"
I've ~trudged, and I've starry, d, and I've frozen
All over this white, barren land
Where the sea stretches straight, white. and
silent,
Where the timberless white mountains stand
From the white peaks thai CLEAN in the moon
light,
Like a garment that graces a soul.
To the last white sweep of the prairies.
Where the black shadows brood round the
Pole.
Nov, pray dou't presume from this prelude
That a flame of poetical fire
Is TO burst from my brain like ii beacon.
For I've only been tuning my Tyre
To the low, sad voice of a singer
Who's inspired to sing you some facts
About the Improvements in stalking
And the men who mine with an ax.)
I've panned from Peru to Point Barrow,
But never located a claim
Till I'd fully persuaded my conscience
That pay dirt pervaded the same:
And this is the source of my sorrow,
AS you will be forced to agree,
When you learn how relentless Misfortune
Has dumped all her tailings on me.
I worked with my pardner all summer
Crosscuttiug a cussed cold creek,
Which we never once thought of locating
Unless we located the streak;
And when, at the close of the season,
We discovered the creek was a fake.
We also discovered the region
Had nothing left in it to stake.
We traversed the toe-twisting tundra.
Where reindeer root round for their feed,
And the hungry Laplanders who herd them
Devour them befoie they can breed,
Here II seemed that good claims might be plenty
And we thought we would stake one perhaps:
But we found to our grief that the gulches
Were staked in the name of the Lapps.
A hundred long leagues to the northward,
Ger the untrodden, sun-burnised snow,
VIC SlTuBBleu, uull Olluu ana nail 1am1Sneu,
To the sea where the staunch whalers go.
We found there broad beaches of ruby
And mountains with plaoers and leads;
But all save the sky was preempted
By saltwater sailors and Swedes.
Then we climbed tho cold creeks near a mission.
That is run by the agents of God,
Who trade Bibles and prayer-books to heather
For ivory sealskins and cod.
At last we were sure we had struck it,
But alas for our hope of reward
The landscape from seabeach to skyline
Was staked In the name of the Lord!
We're too slow for the new breed of miners,
Embracing all classes of men,
Who locate by power of attorney
And prospect their claims with a pen;
Who do all their fine work through agents
And loaf around town with the sports,
On Intimate terms with the lawyers,
On similar terms with the courts.
We're scared to submission and silence
BY the men the Government sends
To force us to keep law and order,
While they keep claims for their friends,
And collect in an indirect manner
An exceedingly burdeusome tax
Assumed for a time by the traders,
And then transferred to our backs.
w. had some hard knocks on the Klondike
From the Cub-lion's unpadded paws,
And suffered some shocks from high license
And other immutable laws;
But they robbed us by regular schedule,
So we knew just what to expect,
While at Nome we're scheduled to struggle
Until we're financially wrecked.
I'm sick OF the scream Of the Eagle
And laws of dishonest design,
And I'm going in quest of a country
Where IA miner can locate a mine:
So when I have rustled an outfit
These places will know me no more,
For I'll try my luck with the Russians
On, tho hIonIr Cihaninn uho.a