Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-10-15
VOL. LXVH.
FORTUNE CAME KNOCKING.
The Prisoners Story of a Mining Engineer in
= - Old Montana

as III QlQ Inlne, FCEldlhSu -ln0 SiiSA'
as he deftly extracted live coal from
the campfire, lit his pipe and settled
himself back on a heap of pine boughs,
with his back against big log de-
stinet as a back log for the aif-night
fire later on, while the rest of the crew
settled themselves in comfortable po-
sitions and prepared to listen.
We, had started the captain, which
was rare event, for he was a taciturn
Z: man, and had the Indian way of rare
~ speaking, except to give direction
or answer question, and thel il the
briefest manner possible.
Supper was over, the fried fish, bac-
: on and bread and coffee had been dis
posed Of. and the last man having
spread his blankets, the younger OF us
were having a quiet laugh at one of
the chainmen,.. who declared that, he
had the night before gone to the little
stream which ran down the mountain,
a few yards from our camp, for pail
Of water about l o'clock and found
. the stream, .dry,-y at in the morn
ling when We. started, to get breakfast
it was rushing Own the mountain side
as noisily as it had the night before
when he turned in. ALL the old gags
of 'why don't you wake up before you
go. for-water!!"", what brand do you
'drinki"- where did you get it.! do
you have those spells often!". etc., had
been sprung when the chief spoke as
above quoted.
He continued: "The way 1 made my
pile was by aid of just such stream
as Jim says this one outside is, though
there will be plenty of water in it to-
night, judging from the sound of that
storm outside, and a wet day tomor-
row, that will not let us move about
much, so if you care to listen, I'll give
you the story:
"It was at the close of 1868, when
most of you youngsters were in short
pants and l had just completed my
survey of the territory of Montana and
was thinking of pulling stakes and
pushing on to wilder and more un-
settled country. For thought it was
getting rather thick when they had
four post Offices in the state, and there
was nearly 60 at that time, besides
there was more than a dozen lawyers
In the territory, and knew that there
: was trouble for all the rest of us from
then on. I am here, yet know, but
then, there are few places now COW
cred by the old Stars and Stripes but
are more thickly populated, and l
fought too long under the flag to
change to new one. The Indians
were pretty thick and rather nasty
.-that-ffs;;i nrd--while le- --conld gen aEans Y
get along with them. being called iSll-
yer that Runs by them On account OF
the flask of mercury carried at times
for the artificial horizon, some OF
which [ presented the chiefs and medi-
cine men, to be used as a prize when
they were very sick. The results con-
vinced them that / was very big medl-
cine myself, and as l say, could gen
orally get along with them, but the
safe rule with an Indian is never to
trust them this side of the happy hunt
ing grounds, and by the way, the same
rule may apply to most white men.
had moved in close to Helena and oc-
cupied myself with the small matters
OF mining claim lines and locating
:1ii,I sites for the miners, making my
headquarters in Sioux Gulch with the
Horton boys, old friends Of mine, who
had found, in tie long run, that ranch.
ing in that country was fully as profit
able as mining.
'.One day 1 was accosted by three
Germans, who had mine a few miles
up the. gulch,- called the Wild Horse
Mine They were in great troubie5 for
banking on the continued widening of
the pay streak, they had invested the
best portion of their money in ma
chinery and had almost completed
tunnel in The side of the m ountain, to
tap the mine at point some hundred
fleet deeper than, the shaft already
sunk, when the mine gave promise
of living up to its name, by suddenly:
turning from a vertical vein to one
OF 80 degrees downward and inward,
thus rendering a :;4O0-foot tunnel al
;.,uost useless, Sadly they. abandoned
the idea of connecting tunnel to tap
the vein and commenced to- follow
alongZthe new direction, with the vein.
constantly widening and giving.prom&
Use of richer ore and more abundant
metal day after day, until the chances
seemed to justify the expenditure for
machinery that had just been made.
But a few days before they had start
ed up the new steam drills, feeling
very proud, as they contrasted the
rapid strokes of the drill, which both
lightened their labor and enabled them
to excavate with fully 10 times the
speed of the old hand drills, when sud
denly one of the drills struck a stream
OF water, which shot into the mine and
made things lively until they could
get it plugged, which was done after
few minutes delay.
,"VerJ soon they struck water again
and again, until: at last it seemed as if
they could not stick a drill hole irtc
any of the rock about them without
finding water, which is the last thing
any miner wants to see in a mine.
Well, they got pump after vas.
deal of trouble, for pumps were few
and far between in this country in
those days. and let the water sin
through one or two holes and tried to
control it. 1t did not seem to succeed
at first, but after two days they sud
denly got control of it and in a few
hours the water ceased to flow and
they put in blast in few holes and
blew out "a section of rock and then
fed FOR their lives. for in two minutes
after the blast was fired the water was
six feet deep in the mine and rising
fast. Tools, drills, pump and every
thing else was abandoned and in a
short time under water, which rose
until it was 10 feet deep, and after
three days drcpped to six feet, and