The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-18
Pueblo (Col.) correspondent In New York
49, Press -

The coy Goddess Of Fortune plays queer
FRANKS with mankind. After having
frowned severely and most unkindly on
John G. Bowerman, of Gunnison, for so
years. she suddenly has shown him face
Wreathed in smiles and is heaping treas
ures at his feet. And Bowerman raised
from poverty to affluence in little more
than day, is plodding along in the same
old way wearing the. same old clothes
and the same good natured smile and
maintaining the same familiar footing,
with his cronies Of the hardluck period
Bowerlnan is the man who made the big
strike few weeks ago in the Box Canyon
district. near Pitkin, He is an Old time
prospector,, and has had rather more than
his share of hard luck. He: has hoofed 1t
from one mining camp to another all over
the state Of Colorado. and prospected in
Utah, Wyoming and Montana. In Lead
Vile, Creole and Cripple Creek men on
al sides Of him made" moderate fortunes,
while he succeeded only in exhausting his
grub stakes. 1t wasn't because he didn't
know, for his knowledge Of mining and
minerals IS extensive and practical; it
wasn't because he didn't try, for he
worked harder and longer and more de-
terminedly than his neighbours it was just
i'll luck
personally BoWerman was popular. He
was known to be honest and untiring, and
for a time he found no difficulty In getting
a grub stake. Grub stalking a prospector
Is equipping him with food and tools and
necessary supplies for a season in the
hills, and the reward of the man who sup
plies the stake Is that he is located i'm
or made 4 part owner in any and all
claims which the prospector may discover
on that trip. If the claims turn OUT. well.
If any one Of them yields returns, the,
man who supplies the grub stakes gets a
rnf i'm IN, 7, {S 1--WE D,,k
grub stalking is always a gamble If the
prospector is lucky he has plenty of
friends; II he Is unlucky his associates are
apt to become snperstitious and to re-
fuse to back his play on the ground that
he has picked UP a hoodoo. So the time
came when Bowerman had trouble to get
backing for his prospecting trips, but 1t
did not come until he had become fixed
for life in his career and when it was too
late for him to turn his hand to anything
else.
Meantime he had married, and in the
years that followed children came pretty
regularly. He has now two boys and two
girls. Mrs. Bowerman was born to be
prospector's wife She accepted her full
share Of the hard luck uncomplainingly
and made new friends for her husband
when the old ones became convinced that
his string had played out''-=-in-1 other
words, that he was hopelessly hoodooed
On. one of his recent expeditions Mrs
Bowerman remained behind in Pueblo
and took in washing to support herself
and the children. She labored so hard and
managed so well that on his return empty
handed she had another grub stake ready
Tor him. And 1t was the grub stake pro-
vided by Mrs .Bowerman that brought him
to the turn in his long lane.
When the SHOWS went off the ground
this spring Bowerman shouldered his pack
and turned his face toward Pitkin and the
Box Canyon district hitherto unknown to
fame. The town of Pitkin is on the
branch of the Colorado & Southern railway
which runs southwesterly from Denver
to Buena Vista and Baldwin. It Is twenty
seven miles east Of Gunnison and It's
southwest of Denver Not far to the
east, across the Sangre de Cristo range, is
the Cripple Creek district Leadville lies
at an equal distance to the north. Pit
kin consequently was I'm line as the
miners say, to develop into good district;
but the big strike which causes a STAN
pede to new diggings had yet to be made
Bowerman made it. He went to it al
most directly. Heading for the Box Can
yon district, he brought up against reef.
or outeropping, of aurifercus quartz and
threw down his pack. He had discovered
the mine which he has since named the
Independent Right at the grass roots he
found quartz In place that was speckled
all over with gold. He ran his lines drove
his stakes and took up extensions on the
lead, and as part owners of these extern
sions he named men who had previously
grub staked him. In this way Fire Chief
e. O. Ringer and Stephen Dunn. train dis
patcher of the Denver & Rio Grande rail-
way in Pueblo, came to be interested with
Bowerman.
The quartz Bowerman grubbed out at
the grass roots was of a richness that
would have driven some men mad with
joy. Bowerman was moved by It, he ad-.
mits, but he Is not demonstrative, and
just what his feelings were can only be
guessed. since he does not care to de-
scribe them. But after recording his
claims he loaded himself down with the
finest specimens he could find and started
for home to get his wife and children
Those specimens assayed s35 to the pound
of rock and gave capital enough and credit
enough to Bowerman to move his family |
without delay.