Evening star., 1901-03-19
WHAT A TAME RAT DID.
Caused a Man in the Nome District to
Lose $6O,OOO.

From the New Orleans Times Democrat.
"A NANCY tame rat, with no tail and only
one eye, caused me to lose fortune in the
Nome district in $780, said ]. E. Nolan,
a contractor and machinery man of Louis
Vile, chatting with some friends in the
Grunewald lobby the other night That's
no joke or fairy tale he went on, ''but
the honest truth: and, what's more.
wasn't the only victim. To my certain
knowledge at least a dozen half crazy
miners were looking for that rats gore at
one and the same time, and I was never
able to understand how the brute escaped
But I'll tell you the story which is a pretty
good illustration. by the way. of how fate
often turns on trif1es. l went out to Nome
In the spring of '99 with dry placer ma
chine which I was cocksure was going to
make the fortune of four or Ave OF us who
had bought the patent. Briefly explained,
1t was intended to separate the fine gold
from pay dirt without the use of water,
and I fully expected to take out a small
hogshead of the yellow stun on some Of
the dry creek bottoms, where washing by
pan was impossible. When I finally got
on the ground, however, the counfounded
thing wouldn't work. There were a lot Of
practical difficulties that couldn't be fore
seen elsewhere, and after unkering with
II for over month and spending nearly
every dollar I had finally gave 1t up in
despair and kicked 1t into an abandoned
shaft. That failure made me desperate
and I Joined a party Of prospectors who
were going to try some Of the interior wa
ter courses in a direction that hadn't been
explored. 1t was then about the middle of
July-the best part of the year up there
and we pushed about forty miles inland
northeast of Nome into what is now known
as the Bella creek district. Things didn't
look very promising in the neighborhood
but after we had washed few shovelfuls
OF dirt along the banks of little stream
we found such good COLOR as they call
the minute specks Of free gold left in the
bottom of the pan. that we decided to camp
right there and stake out claims for ali
hands. There was only one tapeline in
the crowd. and that belonged tc an eccen-
trio Norwegian named Pete Anderson, who
had acquired the reputation Of being crazy
by packing around a tame rat in his coat
pocket. It was the same rat I have al
ready mentioned, and less attractive
beast never laid eyes on; but perhaps 1
am prejudiced. To return to the story:
Every man Is allowed a seventy-five-foot
frontage under the mining laws, end we
measured OF the claims. side by eide, In
what seemed to be the choicest location,
afterward giving them out by lot. drew
No 1S. Anderson, the crazy Norwegian.
drew No. 10.
Everybody went to work Mt once" con-
tinued Mr.. Nolan, 'and for two of three
weeks there was just enough gold found
to keep the boys from stampedtng. Things
were In that shape when the camp MAS
thrown into wild excitement one morning
by the appearance OF ah Official surveyor,
who coolly announced that all our boun-
daries were wrong. and he proposed to re-
measure the whole frontage from end to
end and throw 1t open to relocation Every
claim here II exactly two and q half feet