The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-11-18
LIFE OF THE PRoSPECToR.
Hot Al Romance. But it Has a Fas-
cination Hard to Resist.
butte Inter-Mountain1

clnatlon Hard to Resist
Butte Inter Mountain.)
The life Of the prospector for mineral
in its native state is not one continual
round OF pleasure at all stages Of the
game. but even when the disagreeabIe
features crop out there is something
fascinating about it.
The old-timers in Montana, some Of
whom are now well fixed financially.
were just as happy and content with
the woI when they We're wondering
whence the meal of bad bacon and
beans u me as they are at pres
ent, witt the pick of the land before
them
Some of them would not object to a
return to the old days, if everything in
their life could be returned with them,
but they object to going back handi-
capped by the load of years they have
acquired since the time they used wood
ashes to salt their scanty supply of
mule meat and chewed the proverbial
rag between meals, because there was
nothing else to chew.
The pTCSpectOr is a peculiar person
AS a rule he is visionary, but always
game. He viii venture into places in
which no other man would think Of
going, without bidding his relatives and
friends goodbye forever, and never
give the dangers Of the trip any con-
| sideratlon whatever.
All he wants is some grub" a gun.
prospecting outfit and "a means Of
transporting the load.
Hope of striking something big en-
/ ables him to overcome all obstacles and
bear the rigOrs Of the elements without
/ so much as a muTmur
He win run the gauntlet of savages.
/ cross mountains buried far beneath
/ the snow, or tow a boat hundreds Of
/ miles up stream if he thinks there is
| gold in paying quantities at the other
/ end Of the march.
/ The experience of George Cormack
/ and the other members of the party
/ that made the first discovery of gold
near Dawson, Alaska, is an evidence
/ of what q real pro-pectOr viii DO if oc-
1 casiOn demands
/ Believing there was gold in the in
terror of Alaska, COrmack and his par
/ ~ penetrated to the region in which
/ Dawson now lies, q country not only
/ bitter cold in winter and exceedingly
/ warm in summer, but thousands of
miles from civilization.
After months of patient toll and
/ harcships the party struck gold. and
/ the world knows the rest. It is easy
to go into a country like that when
one knows what is there, but it re-
qulres nerve 10 do it with nothing Gin
sight
The history OF the beginning of all
mining stampedes is pretty much the
same as that Of the KIOndike, with the
exception that the original discoverers
hardly took the chances the Alaska
men did.
Those who first penetrated the Black
{ Hills in South Dakota took many
chances with Sioux Indians. but be-
yond that the balance was easy as COM
pared with the undertaking of Cor
mack and his party
But there was gold in those Indian
circled mountains 200 miles from the
closest railroad point, and neither In
dian nor anything else could keep the
prOspectOr out Of them.
Prospecting in a district like the one
IN which Butte is situated is easy. as
compared with some other sections.
but 1t Is not near so fascinating as a
new country.
A real pTospector likes to 90 into a
place where ne has reason to believe
no other white man has ever been. He
believes his chances in a new district
are better for finding something, and
he is usually right.
With his outfit OF picks, pans, show
els, firearms and grub. he bids farewell
TO the hollow cosIventionalities Of what
he considers fast decomposing civil
ization and strikes out for a new field
with heart as light as a bride on her
( wedding day and hopes as high as
hopes usually 60.
On the way he may fall into an ice
Geld stream few times and have TO
sleep in his wet clothing or he NAV
meet with a confederation OF other dis
asters that would make the ordinary
man hump himself and back-peddle on
the trail, but he OvercOmes them and
keeps right on going until he gets
/ there.
It IS an even money bet that if some
one could convince some of Montana s
prcspectors that gold existed in pay
ing quantities at the north pole there
would soon be something doing around
the pole.