Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1902-01-04

Our picture represents a party of
sightseers inspecting the first shale
gold mine. 1t was discovered by "Gin-
eral' ArtZ and is located on Page
creek about one mile south of the
Smoky Hill river in Trego county.
Tile equipment of the 'mine" was
quite primitive. An ordinary wind
lass was provided for hosting the
tore" and a sheet suspended to shield
the man at the wheel, who furnished
the ''power," from the hot rays of the
sun. 1t also served to ventilate the
mine in some degree by turning the
gentle Kansas Zephyrs in a downward
direction. The track on the dump
was made of two-by-fours and the car
riage was constructed of the remains
of an old-fashioned threshing machine
straw carrier. Some of the party
dubbed it the ''pay car"
The mine was ''worl<ed out" quite
while ago and there are some people
of a suspicious nature WIN intimate
that the investors were given the
same treatment. AS the pay streak
(shalel is equally good and plentiful
for miles up and down the river the
original mine has been abandoned and
more active operations transferred 80
the Ellis county field which is more
easy of access from the railroad. Wa
Keeney was the first point OF supply.
but its place was taken Ivy Brownell
on the Missouri Pacific, and later by
Ellis and Hays City on the Union Pa
cifc.
1t was in December OF 1895 that Il
party of men located on Page creek
with an assortment of ropes, tents
and timbers and began digging Il hole
in the shale near Il bluff which is more
PERCEPTIONS and higher Chan the pict-
ure makes it appear Rumor said they
were digging il we'll preparatory TO
starting cattle camp, and the ma
tives laughed at the idea OF their
sswitching' any water out of that
shale. Later it was said that they
were prospecting for coal and 1T was
learned that eX-Adjutant General
A. A. Artz with his vast mining ex-
perience, acquired in Colorado, was
the chief promoter ana director of
operations. BY August of 1896 they
had reached depth of 10 feet in
shale, good shale. all the way down.
The coal notion was given up long
since, but the s'Gineral' had develop
ed goodly per cents, each of zinc, sill
yer and gold, in succession, according
to the richness of the dirt, the depth
of the hole and the state of the COM
pany's treasury
To break the tedious monotony of
shale mining the ''ginerar' began to
mix a little socially, being chosen by
general consent as floor manager and
director of, at least. one function
{ which he attended. He also took a
hand in politics, holding public meet
ings and pouring fourth upon the
ssseven great conspiracies- with zeal
Gus vehemence and violence to his
veracity. He was well taken by a
class which, unfortunately for the
Republican party of Trego county.
was altogether too numerous during
the campaign of that year.
Considerable interesting political
history is connected with this first
shale mining venture. Trego is usu-
ally a close county, the parties diyid-
ing honors and offices. but at the cleo
ton of 1896 some of the fusion candi-
dates were elected by about 100 ma
jority out of a total of $50 votes. Only
two Republicans escaped, barely alive,
and they were apparently beaten by
6w0 majority EACH These were the
candidates for commissioner OF the
First district and superintendent of
schools 1t was claimed by the Re
publicans that several Illegal votes
had been cast by the over-zealous and
enthusiastic fusionists. and according
5 ly two contest cases were started and
for time more or less excitement
prevailed Several votes had been
challenged. Among these was the
vote n General Artz and the vote