The daily morning Alaskan., 1903-11-14
Toe L0GF
 Wagon Train
fOrginaLl

NAAAaNNNANaA
 One spring day in 1888 a caravan toiIed up the side of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the road from Maryvilla to washoe City. A trapper saw tho caravan and shook his head omlnously. Two days later Indian hunters saw it After that it was seen by DO man, or 1T any man saw it he did not live to tell Of t. Searching parties were sent out which followed the trail into the heart Of the mountains, but all finally lost it
 Mary Depne was a baby when her father organized and went with this expedition. AS the years passed and nothing was ever heard of Roger Deane Mary's mother came to consider him dead and married again. Other chil dren were born. Mary grew to woman. hood and went out from her home made unpleasant to her by her step father and her half brothers and sis ters. Roger Deane's estate had been administered upon under the lntcstate law. and the stepfather and his chll dren managed to get an there was of it After they had used it-and there were many mouths to dll-Mary saw that they were anxious to get rid of her. It was then that she went to work to earr a living. Those who knew her father said. 'what a pity that be didn't leave a win bequeathing to Mary her full share of his properyw
 One morning a hunter In the noun talns. becoming separated from his companions. sat down on a rock to rest. On the one hand was a narrow trail. on the other a sudden rise It occurred to the man that the face of the country was not as nature made it. The position of the powders, the small ulze of the trees on the rise compared with those on either side Of 1t, the con aguratlon of the slopes, all told him that there had been some change with in perhaps a century. Climbing higher be turned and looked again. Then be saw that the ground beneath him had been a valley. Turning, be cast his eye to a point 2.OOO feet above. A noun tain side was wanting He saw it aL At some time there had been a land slide, breaking the continuity of the valley.
 Gradually the rains had undermined the mountain side tll millions of tons of earth and rock hung poised, waiting for some disturbance to shake them loose and send them pouring down into the valley. Perhaps it would be a clap of thunder. a mighty wind. Per haps it would be some sllghter cause the tread of a wild animal the crack of a rifle. the shout of man What ever the cause. once the delicate bal ance was destroyed the great mass tot tered and fell with a roar of thou sand cannon.
 The man descended to the trail at the point where it began to mount the avalanche of earth Kneeling at a spring to drink. he saw something brown protruding from the wet earth. It was not a branch. It was something made with hands. He seized lt and found it cold. It was iron. Pulling t out. he saw a gun barrel from which the stock had been routed. In Che hole from which he took it was horse shoe He tried to take it out but found that it was fixed to a horses foot Then hls party came up, and, digging, they found the skeletons of a horse and a man and the ironwork Of a wagon.
 
 Mary Deane had come in from her work tired and, throwing herself on a lounge. was resting and thinking John Herrlck wanted her to marry him. She loved him, but John had lit- tie or nothing on which to support family. and Mary, who was level head ed. foresaw only accumulated burdens in becoming his wife. Martin Hughes an unculmred storekeeper, who had a competency, also wanted her, and she was now deliberadng whether to ac cept the continued evil of poverty and work too hard for her delicate phy sique or a husband she would rather live without.
 "John Herrick wants to see you said the woman with whom she board ed. He's ln the slttin' room"
 What could John have to say t0 her that led him to call at that hour: A week before she had told him that their marriage would be folly. Never theless she went downstairs to see him.
 Mary" be said CT wish you had married me before this. Now it h impossible"
 "Why more SO than beforeT
 Because you are rich and ] am poor"
 "I rich? John. have you gone dattr
 "I said you are rich, and it is true.'
 "Of what do my riches cOnsisty'
 "Of the Gold Hll, originally named the Mary Deane mine"
 John took from bis pocket a yellow folded naDpr and handed it to her It