Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-03-13
FORMER WATERFOWL
BOYS PROSPEROUS
LEFT HERE MANY YEARS AGO
FOR THE WEST,
First Located in the Territory. Now
State of WdShingtOn-Later
Drifted to Nevada Where They
Struck it RiCh-Inter-OCedn
Tells of Success.

lily Dy the name OF Grutt residing In
this city at the corner of First and
Jefferson streets. There were four
boys in the family, Gene, Emil, Fred
and Leo, who were full of life and
energy, always looking upon the
bright side of life and only seeing
encouragement when others saw fail
ure and when it was the darkest i'll
the opinion of nelghbors, it was the
brightest for them. After residing
here several years the family moved
west, locating in the territory, now
state of Washington. where land was
cheap. labor plentiful and wages good
and they prospered, but the boys be-
ing of an enterprising nature and anx-
ious to get rich quickly, turned their
attention to mining and after prospect
ing in Washington and Oregon drifted
to Nevada, where it appears they
have struck 1t rich and the outlook
for fortune for each of them exceed
ingly promising.
In the Sunday issue of the Chicago
Inter- Ocean there is long article on
the growth and development of Raw
hide, New, which sprung up in a
night and is now city OF 5000 lnhabi-
tants. The following excerpts from
the article will be of interest to those
who remember the Grutt boys:
A couple Of months or more ago a
bank was established in the camp.
All preparations had been completed,
and the day for throwing open its
doors came. On the morning of that
day shortly after 9 O'Clock, the Off
GERS and clerks of the institution were
in attendance, waiting for the first
customer to come in. Just at that
moment a piece of rock about as
large as mans fist came flying
through the window. At first it was
suppos I'd that the object had been
thrown by some viciously inclined in
divldual, but an investigation DIS
closed that it came from the Grutt
hill. 1t seems that on this hill, near
the surface, an immense boulder of
high grade had been uncovered.
There was but one way to secure the
values, that was to blow the thing to
pieces. One of the Grutt boys had
undertaken the task that morning,
and when the explosion came it not
only blew the rock to pieces, but dis
tributed these pieces all over the
camp. The one which went through
the bank window had a value of $53.
The bankers deducted from that
amount the price OF rhe Y lass and Gre
dited the Grutt boys with the balance.
This was the first deposit made with
the institution.
Eugene Grutt, owner of some of
the biggest properties OIL Grutt hill,
has the following to say concerning
its prospects,:
d" During the height of the Regent
excitement, about year ago, a man
by the name of Carson, who had ar
rived IN Regent too late to make any
locations in the immediate vicinity of
the camp of Regent went down the
road two or three miles to take look
ut the country. and he was so tavora-
bly, impressed by the surface showings
On hill near the roadside that he
located number of claims now known
as the Balloon group. The hill on
which Carson made his locations has
since become famous under the name
of Balloon hill, the heart and center
of the Rawhide district.
came into the new camp last
August, and Immediately purchased
an interest in eight claims lying on
the southern slope of Grutt hill and
tapping over on the northern slope OF
Balloon hill. Later on l bought the
interest of j. B. Davis in nine claims
located in the same vicinity, anC then
| bought half interest in the origi-
nal Rawhide claim situated between
Grutt hill and Balloon hill. Then
with my three brothers, Emil, Fred
and Leo, who had follow ed me into
the camp. bought lease on Balloon
hill, which we called Glutt Lease No.
l. This was in October. We opened
up some very rich ore iii this lease,
and after working it for short time
sold II to Guldfield people. 1t is now
known as the Kearns lease, and is
one of the richest pieces of ground in
the district. Kearns has sunk the
shaft to depth of ninety feet, and it
is all IN ore. The crosscut from the
bottom have opened up about fifty
feet of or. that will run between 500
and $50 ton, and there is a three
foot streak of shipping ore that will
average $3.50 ton.
't Then we opened up Grutt Lease
No. 2, situated on the Wild West
claim on Grutt hill. The shaft is
down fifty feet. The vein. which
Was five feet wide where we worked
on it, pitched out of the shaft at the
twenty -five foot point. We are now
prosecuting for the ledge, and should
strike it within few days. Up the
hill about $50 feet form No. 2 lease
is our No. 3 lease, in which we have