Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-12-26
JOSIAH THE CLAIM=JUMPER ;
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oil the Shasta hills. He was new to
any hills, and, Of course, he was
new to the mines. He was new to ev-
erything western, and new to almost
everything not relating directly or indi-
rectly to the swamp lands of the Mis-
sissippi, where boys grow SO fast into
human saplings that by the time they
are Stubbly of chin their legs are long
enough for them to stride away, or to
the locomotion of a st. Louis street
car. Godbolt had been a conductor
on street car until that eventful day
when his car collided while he was en-
gagged in helping small girl with her
basket, and he was discharged. He
had had wages due him sufficient to
pay his fare to California, which seem
ed the place most distant from the
scene of his yielding to a weakness.
Hither he had come in q hurry. But
Josiah knew, or, to be precise, he cal
lowed" that he wanted a copper mine.
AS he had no snug fortune with which
to buy one, his recourse was to dis
cover a new ledge and plaster his no.
sidelights upon the trail along which
Tate led Josiah to Pete Barclay.
Barclay was enderfoot-nearly
twenty years before Josiah was born.
Four decades he had spent in getting
into such close and fOrtune-hunting
communion with the ''likely spots Of
the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast
Range, that he had really become a
part of the mountains. He was so
gray and weathered, and so perfectly
attuned to the surroundings, that he
could squat among the little powders
Oh a Shasta hillside and a jack-rabbit
might hop over and scratch it's back
against a corner of him without noting
the difference. Fortune had not al
ways been mean to him, and if he was
forever at the ebb it was mainly be-
cause, like all chronic prospectors, he
knew a good deal more about hunting
for mineral than about using it after
he found it. Once, at Cherokee, he
took out nuggets as large as buzzards'
eggs; at Oak Bar he piped down
bank which washed ten thousand dol
lars In ten days, and week later, in
a gambling house-but that is not this
story.
Josiah Godbolt, tired Of mucking at
the Iron Mountain, and resolved to
make a find for himself, drew his sti-
pend and went to Redding. Pete Bar
clay, driven away from the high alti-
tudeS of Coffee Creek by the flying
snow, was in town with the price Of
four weeks living used out Of his shall
low dust-sack when he met Josiah in
the Blue Goose resort. you're fresh
enough from nowhere to have some
greenhorn luck with you," commented
Barclay. You're long enough ON the
belt to teach me how to find copper
mlne," was Josiah's theory. And SO
the partnership was formed.
Barclay did know of a copper pros
pect which seemed large enough to
meet the ideas of the young Missou-
rian, to say nothing of his own hopes,
now modified by experience. He knew
where a streak as of half worn Off red
paint ran through q ravine and over
shot of the great Balaklala. This red
gossan meant more than all iron crop
ping, of that he was certain. On the
Fourth of July, when every miner Of
the section had gone to Redding for
the celebration, he had improved the
unmatched opportunity to pick into the
vein where the hill sloughed away, and
ne had found copper sulphurets. The
obstacle which prevented Barclay from
taking up the two claims which the
red streak crossed was that they al
ready bore the location notices Of Hen
~ Flatfoot, half-breed, drunkard and
fighter. The half-breed had been keen
enough to see that there was value
there, but too lazy to get down to it,
or even to do his assessment work, re-
uuired by law Pete Barclay had wait
ed his opportunity. In another night
the year would expire, and with it the
location notices of the half-breed. The
first man upon the spot after the hour
OF midnight could relocate those two
valuable claims. The surest way was
for man to be on each of the claims
exactly at twelve O'Clock to tear down
FlatfOots notices and post new ones Of
their own. This was what Pete Bar
clay had in mind in taking a partner.
An old miner and young one drop
ped from the caboose Of the afternoon
freight train at Copley, and slung down
their packs while they went in to pat
ronize the bar, which constituted half
the town. The older miner was care
fui to explain to the dispenser of re-
freshments and the loungers in the
place that he and his companion were
going to the Balaklala to work. "See-
ing you've got jobs, it amt worth
mentioning" said the proprietor, "but
EDjun Flatfoot who's a-gambling in