Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1902-04-23
MOUNTAIN OF ONYX.
West Virginia Lad MakesLucky
> Strike

ian outdone in Real Lief-How it
Happened.
1t is not an uncommon thing to
hear of people bowling because they
put money in some visionary scheme
that had been recommended TO them
by friend and it Is not often you will
find men kicking themselves because
they fail to accept a wonderful OPP
portunity presented TO them by an
absolute stranger, but that is the case
with quite number of well known
MartiGs Ferry people and possibly
some in Wheeling and other places in
this vicinity says the Wheeling News.
1t was all so improbable when the
proposition was made TO them that
they SHE'D at the offer and they pat
ted themselves on the back for being
shrewd enough to refuse to be Tempt
ed by the fine story told by the pro-
moter. Now they see their mistake
and are sorry they did not invest every
penny they had in the world. It all
happened this way:
A young lawyer from out near Nor
gantown settled in a western country
it does not matter where, and his first
case was breach OF promise suit
against a prominent and wealthy
man. The case was won after bril-
liant effort and when the client called
to pay his bill the young attorney
with batted breath said $3.50, expect
ing to hear violent protest. Instead
the man told him he expected the bill
would be ten times that figure or
more. He told him his charges, were
too modest. The victory he said, was
worth more than $3.50 to him and he
proposed to do something else. Some
person had given him deed
for 300 acres OF land in Washington
some place near Tacoma.
He had never seen it and did not
know what it was worth, buff agree
able he would transfer it to the attor-
ney 10 addition to the fee. The Of
fer was accepted and the land accord
ingly was signed over to the attorney.
Some time afterward il may have
been year or several Of them, but
that is immaterial to the story, the
attorney took a trip TO the Pacific
coast and he decided while there to
visit his land. He was disguised to
find the 300 acres was practically the
top of mountain. However be de-
termined to inspect it thoroughly,
and Nwhile around over the rocky
heights he discovered what proved to
be splendid vein Of onyx Of very
fine quality. He secured specimens
of the stuff and when polished it turn
ed out TO be magnifcently tinted, in
fact far superior to the famous Mex
lean onyx, which had been the best
so far discovered. He carried on his
investigation far enough to show that
the deposits were almost inexhausti-
Bile. The engineering difficulties in
working quarries he saw were great
but securing an engineer to go over
the land with him, he was assured
that it would be possible to operate it
at big profit.
Then he came east to raise the
money to start the quarries and he
brought samples Of the onyx with
him. He found it was no easy task to
get men interested. They had been
bitten before and did not propose to
sink money in any such wildcat ven
lures. The moiority considered it a
gold brick scheme OF some kind. He
visited Martins Ferry among other
places and offered blocks Of stock at
Al cents for dollar shares to get the
money to begin quarring the precious
stuff. One of the very few In Mar
tins Ferry who had the nerve to invest
was Clarence Selby, a particular friend
of the promoter He believed every
thing his friend tod him and invest
ed a sum said TO be nearly $4,000 in
stock at Al cents per share. Today
that stock is worth more than nine
teen times what Mr.. Selby paid for it
and 1t is mounting steadily every
week.
The work Of quarrying has begun and
it is now certain the mountain is
almost solid onyx OF the finest grade.
In some places they have found the
vein to be more than sixty feet thick
They are taking out great onyx bould-
ers, some OF them weighing fifteen to
twenty tons.
Il All the onyx deposits ever discover
ed are as drop in the bucket to the
vast quantities that nature has stored
away In this lonely mountain SO far
\ removed from the highway of travel
as to be all but forgotten. 1t is es-
timated that there Is enough OF the
stuff in the mountain to supply the
whole world for years to come. The
stock in addition to increasing to
nearly twenty times its original value
is paying dividends OF one percent
per month.
The farther they proceed with the
work at the quarries the ficher be-
comes the deposits. 1t is for their
shortsightedness in falling to take
advantage of this opportunity that
the Martins Ferry people who refused
tn invest are now tearing their hair.
WASH waists from IS cts to So at
uircehmans