The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-06
Cwashineton Post.)

HE man from California, the man
from Idaho. and the man from
TeXas-mighty prosperous appear
ing middle aged men, the three of
them, as they held down three of the
deep leather IoIling chairs IN that snug
oasis of the hotel Iobby-feII to dis
cussing spendthrifts and their relative
gameness when they found themselves
all in
Said the man from Idaho:
The most cheerful and philosophical
mopey burner I ever met was old Mike
Okeefe, of Nampa. Mike struck it
rich up in the Occur d'AIene country
seven different times. and on each Of
these seven occasions he chucked away
within a month at most the tens OF
thousands of dollars that the various
buy-up syndicates gave him for his
claims
But the glory of Mike was that he
always stood pat to the situation, box
tawed, four-square, and with nary a
whimper i'm him when he reached the
bottom OF his stacks.
Mike struck ledge of rock in the
summer OF 'S3-this was his sixth find
that he got $50 900 spot cash for a
week after he happened upon it. Mike
was a fool to have given it up at any
figure. for it has since PANIED out
millions. But Mike hadn't had a whizz
down III Spokane for nearly a year, and
his skin was cracking. He couldn't
stand il any longer.
He took the syndicate managers
draft for the $50 600, and, still in his red
flannel shirt and spattered boots, he
kited off for Spokane to whistle it in.
Mike was a griZzied man of SIS who
had been tinkering with a prospector's
hammer most of his life, and you'd
have thought that his years and years
of keen hardship would have damned
some sense into his fool head. AS a
matter of fact he was a quiet, level
headed sort of man when he was broke
and up against it, with his pick and
grub stake; but when he got hold of a
wad of the ochre papers he was a
nedicine-making Shoshone and no mis-
take.
Mike blew in from 81, 900 to $1,000 a
day on this Spokane vortex Just as he
had done before with the bank rolls he
had got for his other pay-stuff strikes.
i could generally figure out to a day
when Mike was due back to the hill
country from Spokane. 1t depended on
the size of the bundle he carried away
with him. The basis of calculation
that 1 employed was that it took an
average Of about s., 500 a day for him
to buy rum and trimmings for the
town OF Spokane.
About three weeks after Mike had
left the Occur d'Alene country on this
sixth excursion to Spokane I started
toward some holes in the ground that
my boys were digging in the foothills.
L hadn't driven more than five
miles over the rough, bowlder-strewn
road before came upon a man in a red
flannel shirt, with a -four sack Of grub |
slung at the end of pick he shouldered |
trudging on at a good clip
The man was Mike O'Keefe
Il drew up behind Mike. but when I |
got alongside Of him he didn't turn his |
head my way, although he sure heard |
the noise of the wagon could hear
Mike alternately mutteTing and
whistling to himself I felt sorry for |
the blamed old. idiotic ronugh-neck and /
pulled up
Want ride, Mike?' I inquired Of !
him.
Ride. is it?' said Mike. bres kim |
OFF his whistling and recognizing me |
with nod Not givin'. We short |
answer. but not by damned sight do |
want to ride. Finished my ridin' down |
spokane way Now, damme, I'm goin' |
to walk
And he took up his tru6ge again.
Hoof it, We fathead.' I heard him /
muttering to himself. Go on and wear |
yr fool feet off a-hoofin' it. Amt We |
mad y'r fun, blast We, and amt y'r head \
bigger nor a dogs yet? What more
aye want. and what kick have We got I
2 comoin' y lOcoed COYOTE? evan |
now. and hump it up lively!' and ne I
piodded on. with all of the cheerful
ness in life.
L couldn't induce him to get into the
wagon, although he was bound for tho
same place 1 was going. He wouldn't |
even take drink out Of my flask
badly as he needed one. Mike was
used 70 taking his medicine like this
and he had an instructive hatred for a
wilmer.
Just seven months later he strucl1
It again, got another bale of money ana
ala the thing all over again. Then his
sister. level-headed Irish woman
turned up. and to give Mike a change
or scene she started him of for the
gold country down In Arizona. She
went along with him. When Mike lift
upon the pay rock down there she saw
that he hung onto his claims. and when |
he died five or six years later, he left |
several hundred thousand dollars ia his
sister and her children
observed the man from California.
Ihere'S n heap Of difference ba- |
tween these dust blowers. As gen
eral rule. the spen6thrift who has made
MS own money never -degenerates into |
a WhimpeFins, repentant prodieaI after
his little whirl is over and he avyakes |
some fine morning to find himself broke
and up against it, On the other hand
many of the chaps who tumuItuousIv |
Diow In great sums of money that they
never turned hand over to earn, but |