Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-03-16
The PROSPECTOR
and HIS BURRO

pectors,' said the prospector to his
burro. 1.-The rowing prospector and
the hermit p%rospector. The former
is sometimes styled the desert rat
and this is the class TO which you and
/ belong.
The rowing p~rospector has his lit
tie kit Of tools. a small tent and .
scanty store of provisions, and h
roves from district to district, from
camp to camp; he is here n day
and there the other, and he has no
fixed ~habitation. He goes as the
spirit moves him., and he is hap
piest when he is alone in some nae
cessible place where he is in no dam
ser of meeting a human being for
several months at a time. The row
ing rat will prospect a little, sleep
a great deal, smoke for hours, spend
a good deal of time at his meals and
put in the rest of his time hunting
for his burro. Distance always lends
enchantment to his view, and for him
the pot of gold is nearly always to be
found hanging TO the end of a rain
bow just over the hill. The rowing
prospector never develops a prspect
he is content with finding it. Once
in a while he makes a sale, but more
often he is content with working out
the richest of the surface deposits.
with gouging out the best to be found
in ~crevices and seams. Sometimes
he will make a good living with his
mortar and pestle. Oftimes a little
rich placer diggings will make him
feel as rich as a Vanderbilt and, once
in a while, he will go to the trouble
of building a small arastra with
which he will mill the high grade
ore gophered from his new found
prospect. He really could make a
fortune If he possessed the energy of
a mouse: but. what's the use? He
has all that he wants: all that he can
use; life is one pleasant dream to
him, he has no serious cares and
there is no fear that he will become
a lunatic because of business cares.
t He is in a class by himself, and when
he goes to town he wants to paint it
5 red. His head may be swelled after
ward, but it is not the swell head of
: the bloated millionaire and the sim
4 plicity of camp life will soon put him
on his feet again.
The hermit %prospector is also a
/. creature of solitude, and would not
S suit you. Old Long Ears. as he does
not are for the society of wen a
burro. The hermit wanders afal
e from civilization, finds a rich pros
$ pect, neal a spring or mountain
stream, and takes up his abode there
He builds for himself a rude shacl
OF stone. logs of drift wood, contrivei
to put in a bunk anu crude fireplace
+ he has a partner-not of the louC
S and b%oisterous kind. but a silent MAJ
who is given to meditation anC
smoking. The little mine is worked
in a primitive manner Follow you
ore is the order of the day, and tn,
mine is gouged, Quilted, and the work
ings are crooked and as twisted a
IS the trail of a snake. If the propert.
is productive of free milling gold,
little plant of some kind is built a
some convenient point. 1t may con
r, sist of nothing more than a small
stamp suspended at one end of
n spring-pole and worked by hand, o
lr a rough arastra., BY such means tn
lie camp is easily supplied with tn
lie ne-cessaries of life; and they are few
lie consisting of rough clothing, a fe,
IN picks and shovels. bacon and ham.
* sack or two Of -four, coffee, a littl
ly dried fruit. sugar and molasses. TIL
IN hermit works when the spirit move
IN him. and it hardly yer o hir
Mt to strenuous labor or exertion. Shout
r a buyer happen along it is dificu.
ty to get him 10 fix a price on h
to property. He would be lost withor
his camp, and does not care fc
It. wealth. And so he stays in his s,
n clusion year after year, always e.
IL tending the glad hand to chance vi
DO itors. but prefrring solitude and ii
RS communion of his own thoughts. H
S. does not give as many wealth pr
o. ducers to the world as does the 'ro'
". ing prospector, the desert rat an
F. he is not as well known; but he h;
sr- a world all his own and Thorough
10 enjoys it.
It. II want to tell you continued Il
M prospector, that | do not enjoy Il
Ib- life of the hermit. and | can 81
re- that you would much rather be
ed desert rat When you raise yol
ms melodious voice in thanksgiving
las finding an extra choice bit of sag
is brush for your morning meal. "
he would drive the hermit to distra
ate ton, Now | enjoy you disjoint,