The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-06-12

Farrar had succeeded in driving out the
Sheep-eaters and had again opened the
country to prospectors. On this day an
Indian scout walked into his tent and
handed him piece Of rock, which, in the
picturesque language of the mining camp.
was "plastered'' with gold. Farrar was
dazzled with visions of immediate wealth.
and hid the rock, but not before it was
seen by some of his soldiers. The Lieu
tenant was never able to try his luck In
the wilderness, but his men carried the
story back to their posts, and it spread
like prairie fire throughout the North
west. Thousands az once began a new
search for the Indian Gold"
An old prospectOr. White, succeeded in
breaking through the wilderness some 20
years ago and ran into the gold at Thun-
der Mountain, but brought ont with his
little bag of dust bad case of frozen
hands aid feet, which laid him up for
two years. Before he got back. forest
fire had swept away all traces of the
spot, so that he could not again locate it.
Some time after this. the Caswell boys
happened to find evidences of gold at Big
Creek, and this led to the boom of the
Thunder Mountain gold fields. The Cas-
wells. by the way, had characteristic
streak of prospectors' hard luck. They
got plenty of gold. but they had n big
fortune in their fingers and did not know
1T. They had borrowed money. or had
been ''grub-staked," and were in need of
money. Col. Dewey bonded all their
Thunder Mountain claims at that time.
with an agreement to purchase at the end
of two years for 100000. One day on
one of their claims n piece of enormously
rich rock was found. The CaswAns ND
to this time had been sluicing. or merely
washing the surface. thinking all the gold
was on top. This piece of rock showed
that the richest deposit was in the lodges
and in the hard volcanic mud The three
boys worked for 100 hours at the spot
where the rock was found. and got out a
wad of dust worth $1,000. They had to
sell all their claims for 100000: but if
they had found this gold sooner they
would not have sold this single claim for
Sl2l.0OO. They sold a small claim later
for 81 100000.
MARTINIQUE MAY BE A GOLD MINE.
My theory is that Thunder Mountain
was spOuting volcano quite recently.
The great mud eruption similar to that
in Martinique. flowed from the side and
covered the slopes. The greatest one of
these flows is now known as the Golden
Reef, and is of great thickness and 200
to 300 feet wide. 1t breaks off at the
canyon where it was precipitated into
the grIches 1000 feet below. All of this
ne from So to 81 600 ton. The mud
can be quarried and crushed easily, and
a few feet below the surface it is soft
enough to be excavated with pick 1t
seems quite probable that Mont Pelee in
Martinique is burying the cities and peo-
pie of that island under q stratum Of
mud that may some day prove an Edo
RADIO.
This talk about gold fields sounds big,
but it is hard to talk about Thunder
Mountain region without talking big. 1
have said enough, however, to indicate
that it is not poor mans country. There
is plenty of gold there. and lots of it will
be taken out, but it will be got, not by
poor men who go there without means
and machinery, but by those who are
able to locate or buy desirable claims and
carry into the wilderness. at great cost
and trouble, proper machinery to work
the ore.
There will soon be formed at Thunder
Mountain mining camp, composed, as
are all other mining camps of the world,
at the start, of desperate characters. The
life will be strenuous" and hazardous,
In addition, food will be scarce and costly
if it can be had at all. 1t will be almost
impossible to take into that bowling will
derness, by pack-trains or otherwise,
enough supplies to feed the prospectOrs
who will rush in there this Summer
From the nearest points on the railway,
it means a terribly rough journey over
mountain trails of at least five days in
the best weather. The terrors of this
trip may be imagined from the fact that
the mail carriers, selected for their tough
ness and iron resolution, are unable fire.
GUently to get out of the region with mail