Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-04-15
TAEFTS OF RICH ORE IN EARLY
DAYS.

Tie temptation to steal rich ore seems
a hard one for the average miner to re-
slSt remarked one of the best known
superintendents in Utah. man who had
grown gray in the service. and had faced
danger in many forms while dclVng for
hidden treasures. Several years ago.
he continued, when the Mammoth and
Eureka Hill mines in Tntic were yield
ing ores very ich iii god and silver, it
was not an uncommon thing for small
store keepers, peddlers and other out
side:s to mass considerable wealth by
purchasing stolen ore, or acting as a
fence for its sale.
sometimes whole sacks of the precious
stuff would be carried off in spite of the
utmost vigilance, and secreted in some
secluded spot until the thief or his con-
felerates could find an opportunity to
take ii to the smelters.
AT the time of which | speak there was
a IaWless element down there that would
hardy stop at any refine for money. The
loss to the mining companies was so So
ri us that they finally succeeded in secur-
ing the arrest and conviction of the
TO dest OF the operators, who were sent
to the penitentiary for the crimes.
ONE OF THE TRICKS.
Il remember one instance where a mine
70 eman had given instructions for the
CAREFUL sorting of particularly rich
streak OF geld rock, the mere appearance
Of Wnich was We'll calculated to excite the
cupidity of a saint The foreman passed
tn. ough the stope where the men were
at work, and his eye caught sight of a
piece Of rich ore in a pile of waste He
stopped to pick it up, and the light from
his candle revealed sever al others He
was not slow in realizing that the men
had sevreted several tho asanl dollars
worth of this valuable rock in a small
pile of waste. having evidently planned
wholesale robbery. OF course they were
discharged, but as there was no evidence
that they had stolen any of it, the COM
pany could do nothing with them.
Upon another occasion, when the
Mammoth Mining company was hauling
its product to the railroad at point
about three miles from the mine, a boy,
tie son of the freight contractor, ac-
cilentaly stumbled upon pile OF ore in
the sage brush near the railroad track
while huntin. He reported his find to
his father who in turn appraised the
SUPERINTENDENT Of it. A watch was posted
w
several nights, armed with a shotgun.
Finally the cold became so intense that
for one night the embargo was raised
During that night the ore was removed
and no trace of it was ever found.
CAR OF ORE DISAPPEARS.
Al another time it was said that an
entire carload of ore, valued at $l5 900
mysteriously disappeared. Near the
roadway between Mammoth and Silver
City is an excavation of considerable ex-
tent made by one of the managers of the
Mammoth in the vain search for some
valuable rock that wos known to have
been stolen. Gold and silver specimens
were carried out in dinner buckets or
secreted in the clothing of the miners,
ana for one gold specimen of unusual
richness ana beauty more than $500 is
sail In have been paid by a man in this
city.
Al h" Eureka-Hill mine rich depos-
Is of ho"r silver were right on the
a.i h thieves would slip up
To- &c las at night and loosen a
IL c.Ink which Ead been spotted In