Bisbee daily review., 1908-06-28
sE|LIL SELLING SALT TED MINES;
 MANY GULL|B[E ARE FOUND.
How Worthless Claims are Made to Appear Valuable to Prospective Buyers, Though Recently Men With Money Have Become More Wary. Manner in Which Two
 Chinamen Struck ii Rich.

in the development of the mining districts of the west there has been always a good supply of suckers, and the sale of salted mines has been the result says the St. Louis Globe Dem ocrat. That there is "a sucked born 'every minute" is recognized by the mining shark, and it is probable that in the new mining camps of Nevada the sale Of salted prospects goes mer rily on.
 For those to whom the term is nes | it may be said that "salting" Is the process of making worthless mine. or prospect, appear valuable to the prospective buyer.
 In the early days of the California placer mines, when the gravel was washed in the open and the product was virgin gold, mine salting was in its glory.
 One of the most successful methods | of salting a placer mine was the l broadcast method. Tn carrying out 1 this scheme the owner or his agent comes to the mine in the small hours | of the night and sows everal thou sand dollars worth of gold dust in the | gravel he expects To wash the next l | seeing things with his own eyes, and when he sees a cleanup of several thousand dollars every day for a week or two he is convinced and the dca | Is made. It will take him just two | days to find out that ne has brel s- R. | ed, aud that the daily clean up was l practically all the gold there is ip tae claim. In the meantime the former owner has had plenty Of time to make good getaway to pastures new. | The shotgun method of saIting a placer mine is the fayorite method of writers of mining stories. It is not in use at present, and it is likely that | it's use has been greatly oyerrated | However, there was one case in which l 1t was used with good results to all parties concerned.
 Two Englishmen were working a placer mine in California. They had l washed the gravel until they could get no more gold. and were preparing ! to abandon their claim, when they heard of two Chinamen who were looking for a mine. They saw the Chinamen, and arranged to go out and look at the mine. They did not have time to return to the mine. so decided on a novel plan of salting. 1 They had killed a rattIesnake the evening before and had thrown it into the cut. They loaded a shotgun with gold dust and when they went out to the mine one of the Englishmen kept a little ahead of the others. When he arrived at the cut fle let out q war whoop and fired both barrels into the snake, filling the gravel with gold dust. The scheme worked to perfec- ition.
 The Chinamen were suspicious and linsisted on taking their own samples. They took samples in several places. banned the gravel and were very
 much pleased vita the result They offered the Englishmen $500 for 1t, and after little haggling the deal
 was closed.
 The Chinamen went to work the
 next day, and their months work net ted them about $25,OO0 Another days work and the Englisimen lwouid have struck it!
 But even the sucker becomes wise
 in time. Buyers now insist on talk ing their own samples. They insist
 )n drill holes and blasting out the lore and picking their samples out of
 the ore they have mined themselves, But in spite of all these precautions lthey are often salted.
 Sometimes the face and sides of the drift are drilled with a fine drill, icalled a needle drill. The holes thus made are flied with a mixture of lquartz sand, gold and plaster of paris. When the prospective buyer comes Ialong he is allowed to have his own
 way about sampling the mine, and gets the salted sample.
 | Another seductive method which
 was used in the Cripple Creek district lis the tin can method. Tn this the sucker drills the holes and takes his town samples from rock he bad mined Iwith his own hand-but. alasi only to be salted. The innocent lo"Hng tin
 can picked up on the dump and used Ito water the soles while drilling has
 been generously ''doped7 with chloride lof gold by the seller.
 1 One of the crudest, cases of salt ling was psrpetrated by an old negro lon two United States senators and a
 banker These men had all had min ling experience, but they thought the negro too ignorant to salt them. l One day a negro appeared at the bank and asked to see the owner. He
 was asked his business. and produced Ian assay certificate showing an assay
 Of several hundred ounces per ton sl-
 yer. He was ushered into the back room and a messenger dispatched to
 the assay office to verify the certid-
 cate It was found 10 be correct. so
 the negro was held while the three capitalists had a consultation. Ii
 was decided that one Of them go
 out with the negro and sample the prospect.
 The negro was held until next day
 when he went out with the senator and sampled the mine. The samples assayed even better than the first Jones. The negro wanted s10.000 for the mine. but they brought in a-lot
 of gold coin and stacked it up in front
 of him. and it looked SO big that he
 took it- There was SS,O0O in gold in
 the pile.
 He explained afterward that he
 salted the samples with chloride of
 silver. It was in the hotel at tue
 mining camp. It was late at night
 and he and the senator were the only
 ones in the office. The senator weat
 out for few minutes. and while he