New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-30
SALTING A GOLD NINE.
! HOW TO TURN A WORTHLESS CLAIM
INTO A BONANZA-TALES OF
A FORTY-NINER.


week In the far West some shrewd dealer by the
liberal use of salt unoads empty proposition
on the guileless tenderfoot.
Easy to detect you should think? Not a bit
OF it. An old hand at the game will salt mine
right under your eyes. and YOU never the wiser
Tell YOU how it is done you say? Well. you
must think 1 pretty crooked myself to know
the ways of the devious ones; but experience is
thorough teacher. you know.
well, there all sorts and kinds of Sailing;
of the neatest tricks is In the manner of salt
ing a mine where the test is by pan. Suppose, for
instance, comes to sell you gold claim.
He declares that his pay-dirt pans out $50 to the
pan whereabouts, and offers to take you right
to the claim and prove his statement. You
take him up. and out you go together. Your man
is openness itself He tells you 20 shovel up pan
of dirt from any place on the claim that you like,
and he will wash it out for you. What could be
fairer than that? No possible chance for fake.
you think OF not!
"All right. You shovel up your painful at ran
dom and hand it over to your to be washed.
You watch him with eagle eye. No chance
while you by for him to slip little dust from
his hand into the pan! You too keen for that,
Of course. In fact, as the moments speed by, and
the dirt and water swirl away the edge, you
begin to think what nice old boy he is anyway
nothing to conceal everything open and above
board His smile is truly benevolent as he pufs
away on his old pipe. or, rather. bites the stem
in the corner of his mouth for he is so in earnest
over the work that he has fairly let the pipe go
I
Look out! you say. your ashes are falling out
Oh, well, the tobacco is out anyway he says,
and goes steadily with the work you meanwhile
watching eagerly and GENEROUSLY for the shining
particles and dust to CLEAN from the black sand
at the bottom. All, there they are at last!
You draw a deep breath of relief and delight.
while the benevolent old looks up with
kindly smile and says shaking his head Wal, I
declare that shows up heap sight better even
than figured on. I'm sort of sorry l named that
price to you this ere claim. Looks like if
you had bonanza
but you gave your word you blurt out
impetuously. and you can't go back it
No, young Teller. that's right. I'll stick TO
what said. But gosh! l had idea she'd pan
out like this"
with trembling hands YOU scoop up the sand
and gold from the pan and dash away to the
sayer's office You can feel your hair turn gray
while he is weighing it
'Sixty-two dollars he announces.
"Whew. You almost drop in a dead faint with
delight. You'll have fortune a week at that
rate. This is indeed the country OF gold
You rush after the old and put the trans
fer papers through in jiTy, paying out every
dollar that you In the world for the claim.
You fun OF gratitude to the old who
stuck by his word Of honor, regardless OF loss.
You did know that in mining camps moral
standards high
but the next morning comes a change. After
couple OF hours OF back breaking panning out
you have practically nothing for your paius-a
Few dollars pCrhafiS-naTdly more thau ntty cents
pan a horrible suspicion enters your mind that
there is something wrong
why continue the suspense? The mining expert,
whom you summon in and whose reputation is
known for miles around. looks the ground,
and then asks YOU few questions about tho
former owner who sold you the claim. Positively
chance for Sailing" the testpan.' You assert
The expert mods assent. Was ne smoking he
asks
Let mo think You mcdtate-'Ah yes. smok-
ing an old clay pipe
Bowl upside down? asks tho expert pleasantly.
why yes. l guess It was in fact
81 know. interrupts the expert The pipe
out big bunch OF gold dust was mixed with the
ashes. and they all sifted from the bowl into the
pan
A sudden uEnt dawns upon your mind.
oh. just one Of tho old ways Of sailing
gold mine says the expert consoungly. 4 hope
he didn't hit you hard The claim isn't worth
shucks'
NO. not hard. you say slowly. and turn away
TO look for Job, for now job Is the only thing
between you and starvation.
Well" said Mr.. Forty miner, that's way
salt a gold mine. There are others! Suppose
you interesting yourself in mine where tuu-
nellinE is the method of getting out the precious
metal. Let see. it's nifty years ago that got
stuck In a proposition OF that kind. The anable
owner Of the mine who really didn't want to sell.
but felt that he must return East at my request
led promptly through the tunnellinss Of the
property Just beginning 70 he developed, couple
Of his in or the tunnels were ullluS
big bags with quartz and pay dirt that had
evIdently been mined out only a few hours be
fore.
Il felt that l was old hand at mining. and so
I walked up promptly to OF the bags that had
just filled and said: I want this taken
out for sampng.' The mouth Of the bag was
tightly sewn together. 1 knew that 1T could not
be tempered with.
The owner looked somewhat panied at my
abrupt methods, and | fairly gleeful over my
acutcness and promptness
well. to my delight, that bag assayed away
up-almost to the limit 1t rich had
ever been found in the camp. Within twenty four
hours the mine belonged to me- and. though it cost
me about all l had, walking air
But the atmosphere forms very thin sort Of
promenade and is likely to let you TALL through
suddenly. So it was win me. The mine was
suits, and then quit In disgust.
his brief comment, sailed the limit
But how" asked. lie looked at me pityingly
business ness OF course that chap had scattered a
handful gold dust in each OF those few bags.
He knew you'd pounce on one. and I'll bet he
could hardly keep from yelling when ne saw you
walk right into the trap
melancholy. even nrty years after. to recall the
| occasions when one has been tried and found
salti4s mine 5o vi, With 'ric blow pipe ism Isn't an qn
Of old California days. That method requires
considerable skill. Suppose a crooked owner OF
load He goes through the tunnels. carefully
all the knobs or chunks that project prominently
of a blower he forces fine gold dust into the cracks
and crevices OF these outcropping knobs Then he
This time the prospective buyer Is old hand
fooled me He doesn't intend to be taken in by
sailed bags of ore. He will do little actual min
hacks away at a few knobs of the hard quartz
that mbedded in the sides of the tunnel.
! wherever you want If those chunks don't assay