Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-11-13
FOR THE MOTHER LODE. :
Many a Prospector has Gone
to His Death Seeking 1t.
THE SEARCH FOR GOLD
The Theory Seems a Plausible One
Lem HOLSTERS Lifelong Search
From California TO the kiondike
Victim to Its Fascination at
Last

Zone of the points on which many
Of the most level-headed and expert
enced of gold miners have weak
ness" said a man who had seen the
gold-hunting game in all its strenu-
BUSINESS In California. South Africa,
and the Klondike, 'ls the search for
the mother lode. as It is called. 1t is
search. which, II successful. would
mean unlimited wealth for the lucky
finder. There is something IN geology
| and more In dim historical traditions
90 lead men into such search, but its
results 80 far have been loss of money,
health and life. Yet when a miner
gets the mother lode fever he is apt
to continue the search until death.
and generally death in some tragic
form puts a permanent end to his
wanderings and struggles.
THE theory of the mother lode
seems a plausible one in many ways,
and even scientific research has not
been able to decide definitely as to its
truth or falsity. In California, the
Klondike and most other gold districts
the first finds of the precious metal
are made in the rivers and streams
which run down from some adjacent
mountain range. II is known, OF
course. that this gold comes from the
mountains and that 1t was placed
there by great commissions of nature
In former geological periods.
"One OF the most persistent advo-
Il.
end victim to the fascination of the
search for II, was old Lem HOLSTER
whom | first met in California just
about the time when the placer mining
game was beginning to fall off in pro-
fits. / don't know where he picked up
the theory. for in those days It was a
comparatively new one. But he GER
tainly had It in the most malignant
form. He would work at placer min
ing until he had made a fair stake.
Then he would sell out his claim. re-
CARELESS whether II had been worked
out or not. And then he would mys-
teriously disappear. With most Of
that old crowd of miners it would have
been a safe wager that they were in
San Francisco spending their stake in
the many ways open to a man with
goodly accumulation of the precious
metal With Lem HOLSTER 1t was
different The hunt for the mother
lode was to him what designations OF
various sorts and kinds were to the
rest of the boys. He might be gone
weeks or months. according to how
long his stake held out. In the end
he would return to placer mining.
broke, no nearer the object Of his
search than he had been at first. but
with his hopes of finding the great
source of all California gold sin I'M
dimmed.
when the rush for the Klondike
came Lem was among the pioneers. l
met him at Cape Nome lie had
made a good thing of placer mining
there, was gathering in good amount
of gold from his daily washings and
there was no reason why he should
not in a short time put by enough
TO keep him comfortably to the end
of his days But he never even
dreamed or thought of such a sane
proceeding. He was more eager to
search for the great central lode
than he had been in the days Of Cali
fornia placer mining. And he wasn't
the only one with that idea. In Cali
fornia he had been almost alone
among the miners in his belief in the
existence of a mother lode, or at least
In the belief that the search for 1t was
q practical matter. But there were
lots of men that held the same belief
In that early Klondike crowd.
"But the search for the mother lode
In the freezing Klondike is a different
proposition and n much more tragic
one than a similar search in Califor-
MIA. Many an old miner was lured
by 1t into the more desolate and dan
gerous recesses of the northern ranges
and persisted from exhaustion or cold
or hunger. The Klondike is full Of
tragedies of that sort. and the death
of old Lem HOLSTER was only one of
many.
1.-THE last time l saw Lem was in
Dawson City. He had sold his claim,
and with the money from the sale and
the gold dust he had accumulated had
bought an outfit. He was just on the
point of starting out again on the
search which had filed his dreams
and Slapped his energies for so many
years. | tried to dissuade him. and
pointed out the terrible risks he was
running, for the short summer season
was almost at an end OF course, |
simply wasted my words. He had
searched for the mother lode for
years, he said. and now he was on the
point of finding 1t. lie pointed out
the reasons why the great lode would
exist in the Klondike rather than in
the California ranges which he had
wasted so much time in exploring. He
was confident that this search would
be a short one. If it was not. he could
take care Of himself even through a
Klondike winter. l hated to see him
go to what | felt sure would he his
death. S'nally he promised me that
ii would be the last trip of the kind
he would undertake. II was his last
trip. for he never returned. The
mother lode had claimed another vic
tim.-E. ]. w.