The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1906-09-26
| When You Get The
| Mother Lode Fever


unearth treasures, and you get IN that
frenzy mat makes you work with
superhuman strength and endurance,
But II You have heard or read some
whore that those deposits OF precious
metals In the streams and all Others
that are located similarly have been
washed down from up there In the
hills that story Will echo In your ears
while you work. and az night Il would
be the subject Of your dreams Then
you'd have the mother lode fever
That Is, you'd have II unless you
were an uncommonly we'll educated
minor or ono endowed with a rare
quantity Of good sense. or one OF those
lazy beggars that think It's true that
everything comes TO him who'll wait.
In many ways the theory OF the
mother lode seems plausible. Even
the scientists haven't decided for sure
that there's nothing ia Il. II IL sug.
gested that the gold discovered In the
streams. as 80 much OF Il was IN Call.
fornia and the Klondike. comes from
the mountains. and lodged there by
commissions OF nature In bygono days.
The theory OF the mother lode IL that
In those commissions great Quantities
OF gold were deposited In the mountain
ranges and that what the average
miner finds Is that part that has been
washed down by the water Sounds
plausible enough. doesn't ~
zone who has set his mind on reach.
ing the great fountain head OF the
stream OF gold Is thoroughly convinced
that somewhere back In the noun.
tains. where the mining explorations
have not yet been made. lies the great
deposit To be sure. be might pick
and wash here In the stream and
gather together enough to give him
a fair competence for life: but why
potter about with the small things
when there. Just above. lies wealth
that would make OF him a modern
Midas?
Ever hear OF Lem Hollister7 I
first met Lem In California. and found
him hot on the trail OF the mother lode
so he thought Placer mining was
not very profitable then-it had been
played out | didn't know much about
the mother lode theory then: nobody
lid. ! guess. for Il was something new.
Lem had picked up the theory some.
where. and he was sure Il would pay
him In the end.
He was a secretive cuss. Lem was
He'd work at placer mining for quite
a spell. never saying anything TO us.
but always seeming 10 be thinking a
lot When he'd gathered up a little
pile he'd sell out his mine. whether
he'd worked II out or not. and away
ned go up In the mountains. alone
He seemed to think he could discover
the mother lode without assistance;
he didn't want TO have TO divvy with
any one. or course. he never found II.
When his stake was gone he'd come
back and dig in again to make an
other.
Next time | saw Lem was AZ Nome.
was one Of the first ones to go there
from the state. but Lem was there
ahead OF me. We staked claims in the
same locality. and Lem worked faith.
fully, and did well.
You'll soon have enough laid by 10
make you independent said 10 him
Yes. I'm dom fairly well. consid-
erin he said.
"'You don't think you'll find the
center lode up here. do you? asked.
mot If keep diggin' away here
he replied somewhat sourly. | thought.
wondered then If he still chung to
his crazy idea. but didn't say any
more. A few days later he disap-
peared. | felt pretty certain as to
where he'd gone. I'd heard other talk
ing Of finding the mother lode In the
Klondike
zone day. several months later,
met HOLSTER in Dawson. His first
expedition had failed; he had returned,
made another stake. and was going
out again. His recent experiences had
told on him; he didn't look At for an
other Journey into those unknown re-
gions.
Lem told him, don't you be a
fool now. You're getting on fairly well
here, and you ought to be satisfied
Fairly WE'LL! he sneered.
"'Better than lots of the boys
argued. What you've got doesn't look
big here, but down in the states 1t will
You won't have to work any more If
you live to be $50 II you keep on at
placer and hang onto your findings
Its too slow and too hard, he re-
piled. I might as well be working on
the section. I've looked into this
mother lode matter carefully, and my
other searches have taught me a lot.
I'd be a fool to give up now. Why,
I'm on the point of finding 1t. That's
straight
81 might as well have argued with
the wind. He never came back.
II got pretty much interested in the
mother lode theory myself, but never
got the idea into my head that
could find it. Not l. I'd seen too many
Of its victims"