Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1903-08-20
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AMOuntain F.;
Episode
By EARNEST M'GAFFEY

q BY EARNEST M'GAFFEY (
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Copyright. lsas BY Daily Story Pub. co.,
T.'ARADAY looked out from his little
cabin on the hillside and saw the
sun rising over the foothills and bath
ing with a mellow glow the scrubby
pines and bleak outlines Of the Colo
RADIO canyon. Rocks, timber and lone
illness had been his portion for two
years, and he was beginning to feel
FESTIVE. He had taken the chance OF
coming westasa relief from the drudge
of office work in New York, and now,
after two years with the Midas Gold
Mining company, he had begun to sigh
for Broadway and the ''skyscrapers''
again, the whirl of life in the streets,
the sight of laughing faces and we'll
dressed men and women, the dash and
60 of the great city of his boyhood.
He wondered what Margaret Floyd
was thinking of that bright Septem-
Der morning. He had been a mere
clerk in the New York house, but his
irreproachable ancestry, founded on
the exploits of a thriving fur trader
and trapper, had given him entree even
into the charmed circle where the
Floyd's moved, and he had danced and
flirted and sighed with many damsel
whose furthest thought was beyond
and above the idea of taking seriously
any attentions of "Bud"- Faraday, as
his intimates called him. But as he was
young, good-looking, something of
musician, and gifted with an abun-
dance of that quality known as
"nerve," he made his way we'll wher-
ever he went. Ambitious enough to
know that negotiating in downtown
office was a slow mode of preferment,
he had eagerly accepted the oppor-
tunity of striking out for the noun
tains and "roughing it," with the high
thoughts of youth to build for him
the A]naschar visions of hope.
He had gone without word to Miss
Floyd, and without even note to tell
her of his destination. He would
"stand pat" he said to himself, and
not bore anyone about his new venture.
Sympathy he did not want, but only
chance to rise.
And this morning, with the magnifi-
cert towering vastness of the Rockies
piercing the clouds, with the rare air
of that great elevation filing his
lungs, he had for moment rather
yeafned for what was not to be, for
the old languid life of the streets and
drawing-rooms. But the mood passed
as quickly as it had come, and Faraday
stretched his athletic figure and hur-
ried his preparations for breakfast.
The Midas Mining company operated
the gold>feld by means of water. Hy-
draulic mining was the technical term.
Huge hose which sent out stream of
water with terrific force washed down
the gold-bearing sidehills into sluices,
where the gold separated from the
earth and rocks by reason of it's spe-
cific gravity, and was caught in rifles
or partial distractions placed in the
sluices. The power of one of these
engines Of liquid might was simply
tremendous. After the timber had
been cut away and removed from
slope or hillside the great tubes would
be turned on to the earth and rocks.
and mountains would melt away like
snow before the sun.
The 'Giants" was the name the
miners had for the Two most formiGa-
bic streams. These would sluice away
the hillsides like woman cuttinr
bread, and roar like the thunder which
beloved up and down the path of such
a volume of water. At 20 feet away it
would cut a man in two like piece of
cheese. At 100 feet distance it would
crush him into a jelly. At 200 feet it
would toss him against the ground.
bruised and unconscious, done to death
most likely, and if escaping death, ia
vored almost as by miracle. The en-
tire outfit of the Midas Gold Mining
company had most wholesome re-
spect for the Giants"
A shout from "Big Harry" greeted
Faraday as he emerged from the cabin
and started for the office.
"When are the bosses com:ng?" was
his cry.
what bosses ~ queried Faraday.
"Why, the eastern bunch" was "Eie
Harry's" response.
II hadn't heard of anything" said
Faraday.
WELL" said Harry, "the foreman's
got letter for Won A. 4b. of4;o. A.
letter was handed Faraday, and, open
ing it. he learned that H. B. Floyd, the
president of the company, and some of
the other officers of the company were
coming to Colorado at once to look over
the mine. He was glad of it, as the
mine was prospecting, and his own
work was we'll ahead in every respect.
lie had superintended the cutting of
large quantities of timber for new
sluices, and cleared away much land