The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-08-02
The Nevada GoldfieIds.

poppy -
Goldfields. 1t was a Bret Harte town
for a while, but the old flavor is going
now. There are telegraph lines, young
lady typists with side combs, and fresh
drummers. The town actually hires a
press agent, much after the name of
a circus. 1t is just on the verge of
having a railroad. 1t lies in the crater
of an old ~valcano amid painted hills
that flame with brilliant scarlets, vio-
let grays, ash of roses, and azure blues.
There are two stories about the gold
there; one is told of the disgruntled pros
pector who found nothing but roulette
tables, the other is the version of the
press agent and the mining promoter;
neither is overballasted with truth.
The real truth is not to be had. The
mines are all guarded from the public;
some of the ore dumps are surrounded
by big fences. AT present no ore to
speak of is being shipped out owing to
the p%rohibitive cost of shipping by
wagon. When the railroad comes in, it
will be to tell the wonderful story of
the Goldfields ore. AS the mines +
just starting, there are hundreds of
miners looking for work, and, not find
ing it, they rush on to the Bullfrog re-
gion. This is two days south of Gold
fields. These little towns, huddled in
the Nevada hills, three days ride from
the nearest railroad, are like an old
scene loft where the props for a frontier
drama have been slowed away. You
can't believe it is all real. The Bullfrog
is named after a ledge of vivid green
ore that crops out from a hillside in the
Amargosa Valley of Southern Nevada,
overlooking teh desert.
1t was discovered last summer by a
miner named Shortly Harris, in whom
no romance fingered. That ledge might
have suggested to Shorty the sea at
dawn, or the lure of the Lorelei, or
something equally frivolous. But to
Shorty that green looked like the back
of a big bullfrog. So it will be Bullfrog
to the end of the chapter. 1t is hard
on the future aristocracy of Bullfrog.
Beatty lies in a mountain pass
| SPioNi SN bSiOSo al bIOdu HleSd. V1SIl
hunt stray burros in canyons of wild
picturesqueness. 1t is a rag town all
canvass; about every third town is a
saloon, after the II of border
town. Hotels are long canva tents cut
into rooms that quake and shiver in the
wind. Amiable bands of burros mean
der through the streets and lick the
labels off tin ans in the back yards
AT night, high-tenor burros hee-haw
across the starlit canyons to basso pro-
fundo burros until the night is hideous.
F~reighters come crawling in, covered
with dust from the desert. Twice a
week the big four-house stage whips in
from civilization with the mail. On the
bench in front of the tent post-ofice is
the symposium of Bullfrog. Beneath
every khaki coat is a pocket full of
specimen. Every man believes in the
bottom of his heart that he knows the
location of the mystical lost Bryfogel
mine, the ore of which grows $40 richer
with every telling.
Bryfogel was an old Dutchman.-
Back in the sixties he left Oregon with
two hot-blooded young Southerners on
a long circuitous route to join the Con-
federate army. On the way they came
across a ledge of fabulous richness
somewhere in Nevada. The two young
Southerners would not stSp, but Bryfo-
gels patriotism dwindled. He took
samples of the ore to Austin, Nevada,
and got partners to GO back with him
to work the mine. They were followed
by a mob of prospectors shadowing
them for their secret. Bryfogel lost his
way. The mine was never found. The
party from Austin were disposed to
hang him, but finally relented. He
would not go back with them, so they
Abandoned him with what provisions
they could spare. He vowed never to
go back until he had found the mine.
One day while drinking at Stump
Springs, one hundred miles south of
Bullfrog, he was hit over the head by
a Piute Indian. When he was brought
back to life all recollection of the mine
had been wiped out of his memory. All
the fools in the Southwest who are not
hunting for the lost Peg Line mine are
hunting for the lost Bryfogel mine.
They claim now that it was in the Bull
frog district. Harry G. Carr, in Col
lier, for July 90, 1905.
What's the secret of happy, vigorous
health? Simply keeping the bowels,
the stomach, the liver and kidnnvs
strong and active. Burdock Blood Bit
tiers does it.
AT Valdosta, Ga, j. G. Rawlings and
two sons, Milton and Jesse Rawlings,
were sentenced to be hanged Sept. 15,
for the murder of Willie and Fannie
Bell Carter, two young children Of w.
l.. Carter, a few weeks ago.
Major j. G.. Hemphill, the distin-
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