The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-11-24
LUCK AND A IN MINING
MARY E. stiekney n Sunset Magazine.)

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the sinews of war in the first place.
Next. a little %coterie of strangers came
into camp one by one, each with some
p.auslple pretext for his being there,
until one day, the whole great Poca-
hontas-H Humboldt property was suh-
denly jumped by this company of new
adventurers.
! Never had Rosita known, and never
may she know again, such wild excite
ment as now prevailed. The commun-
ity to a man was on the side of the
ousted owners and determined to see
them righted at any cost. An inJunc-
ton was issued, but the sheriff who
went to serve the papers was fred upon
by the desperate crowd holding the
shaft-house, when the citizens should
cred arms and grimly marched up the
hill. The reign of terror lasted for
DAYS. ending in an all-night battle in
which one of the owns men was
wounded. This so enraged the COM
munity that a more determined charge
was made in the morning, resulting In
complete rout for the usurpers. One of
the leaders was shot, while the others
were marched out of camp and warned
never to return.
Peace was restored, but a blight
seemed to have fallen upon the Poca-
hontas-Humboldt. For years the great
property, which had developed so much
of bitterness and ~bloodshed, was left
alone like a thing accursed. Only with
in a comparatively short time has cap
ital found courage once more to invade
the old water-washed slopes, while the
mine, once more Sin pay, seems to
have entered upon a new era of pros
perity, which, unlike that troubled
boom,time of it's youth, holds promise
for others besides the lawyers.
Another great property of this re-
gion which only "just happened so
to speak, was found by Edmund c.
IBassick, a broker-down adventurer, who
had drifted into Rosita from nobody
knew where. He said of himself that
he had wandered over most of the IN
habited earth before this time, making
and losing a fortune in Australian min
ing ventures. However tnat may have
been, he evinced little interest in min
ing now, his occupation for the most
part lounging about the saloons of the
camp, while his wife took in washing,
and, perhaps, like the lady of Brete
Harte's poem, "took on when no one
was nigh"
But in passing spurts of energy Bas-
sick would cut and peddle a little wood;
and wandering over the hills in these
labors, he CHANGED upon a curious de-
post of pebbles, which he found him
self cycling with increased interest each
time he passed. 1t was unlike any min
eral he had ever seen, but it finally oc-
Cured to him to sink a prospect hole
there and see what lay beneath, only to
discover what appeared to be an end
less accumulation of the same dark
coated pebbles. There appeared to be
nothing of value there, but Bassick's
curiosity was aroused and he deter
mined that he would at least find out
what it was. The assayer to whom he
brought his sack of specimens laughed
in his face, but Bassick persisted, final
ly agreeing to give a load of wood in
payment for an assay. 1t was the last
wood that he ever cut-the coating of
those pebbles turning out to be a form
of tellurium that was almost pure gold.
A few sacks of the ore sent to the
Black Hawk smelter brought back a
check for $4,000. The first carload
shipment returned 100000.
The Bassicks were rich, so rich that
they hardly knew what to do with their
money. 1t is told that the mother and
daughter found their pleasure in gowns
and Jewels as had never been seen in
Rosita before that day, trailing rich
silks and satins over the bare floor of
their rude log cabin, cooking and scrub
bling in all their fnery, always exult-
antly conscious that when the things
were spoiled they had only to throw
them away and buy more. And Bas-
sick, who was vindictive, amused him
self by starting a grocery store where
he sold goods below cost in grim at
tempt to ruin an unfortunate merchant
who had happened to refuse him credit
for a sack of -four a few days before
his great strike was made.
In two years the mine paid over
$350,000. The ore was so rich, that to
prevent stealing, the miners were COM