Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-10-03

| were an Item Lumber ranks almost
/ with precious metal on the desert. But
| then there was heGchance of getting
some return in gate receipts. Local
1 interest might be aroused when the
4 people reaiiZe what u tremendous
benefit would be derived by getting
| prominently dotted and starred on the
! map. Their remote. far-aWay etcwn,
locked in II dip of the pitiless desert,
would leap into the type life of the
l great dulles. Myriad FARMERS would
read of the mines, OF the treasure MD
\ in the mountains and buried under the
Won of toll and thrift, after the gold
nature had secreted. Millions of towns
| people dover numerals than nliliions
have droppcl out OF southern Nevada
yerpacl,,nT would read and be tempt,
! ed; q, Niagara of subscriptions would
| pour in. HuHzah! a new mine could
| be Incorporated every hour. Spread
| the glittering paragraphs before thN
| world and leave the rest to us. w Q
! will butter their parsnips for them
ana serve them with gilt sauce.
And 1t came to pass that the great
| champion battle-the only finish fight,
| in decade--was arranged Tor. non nor,
| the scribcs of the desert sharpenea
! their quilts. Ten thousand sporting cdl-9
tors We're wiring for copy Ihey got
it. colored with every pigment IN ths
LITERARY prisln-garnish tints preferred.
They got random fact now and then
and a library of fiction. Paragrapr1
| about how many eggs the coiored pug-
lsilist ate for breakfast would be fol-
/! lowed by an account of how the Puf-
| pie Fiddle was down to, the 100 foot
,tlevel where the ore was so rich that
/, free gold could be dug out with "a a
| shovel by the hundredweight. ot
| course the }.distinguished.' prize-hghters
/ were taken down into the mines and
quoted in rapturous phrase. They
| bought mining stocks with the abandon
l5of Il mad Maharajah. seemingly nav
ing the wealth of the Indies to draw
upon in making these investments
| They had seen teeming grottoes of gold:
one inspired correspondent wrote that
Cans had welded Il pick In one of the
deep drifts of a mine. dislodging
block OF ore that contained ms weight
in gold. He actually did look down a
dark hole and inquired how deep It was
He declined an Invitation to descend IN
the iron bucket.
SO it ran on until the day of the
great battle approached. Arriving n
Goldfield, i expected to find the people
fairly roclueting with excitement over
the probationary advertised event. On
the train that switched into the desert
from the main line of the Southern
Pacific at Reno was surprised to find 3
many Nevndans who had not even
heard there was going TO be an historic
engagement between two notorious
warriors of the pi.ize-rtng. was
amazed, upon reaching Tonopah, TO md
thatathe prize-nght was not even 4
topic of corner gossip. AS an actual
fact met half a dozen leading citi-
5zens'' who confessed to woeful lgnor-
ance They did not know whether
Cans or Nelson was the black fighter:
at the Montezuma club In Goldheid
random comment concerning the condl-
ton of the two spugiliSts was complete
ly drowned In the babel of gossip ABOUT
gold and mine. re
Even the toilers in the mines We're
notiFthrilled over the prospect o. the
La bor-day fistic carnival, as the local
paper grandiloquently3 referred to the
bruising match. Day and night you
would find gold burrowers gathered In
the Palace, the Three Wheels or the
Columbia, silent and intent on the cir
Scumvolutions of the little ivory ball.
Indeed it is true that they went to
the fight and paid handsomely for the
privilege; SO did the gamblers, the
5shopllecpers, and the even more hum
Div employed Men, women. and chill
&tlretl--wee tots. In fluffy frocks ana
tiny patent Heather slippers and silk
socks, babes i'll arms--Here gathered
about the raised platform that was sooli
blotched with great crimson stains.
The little ones went because they could
not be left at home; the women out of
5cruiosity; the men for the reason that
the 4O-odd gumblinghouses We're closed
for the first time in their existence,
Never for an hour, day or night, sab
bath or holiday, had the games been
suspended before. The mines are work
ed in three eight-hour shifts, and there
is always one relay to draw patrons
from, but on this eventful day the
mines. as we'll as the gambling-hells,
were subjected to matinee of rest by
common consent. The gamblers were
not bit keen about the prize fight.
They considered it their civic duty to
shut down and make a brave showing
In the uncovered, arena, where the des-
ert sun beat down with binding and
scorching blaze. Then the principal
hells are controlled by the wlld-catters.
These desert folk sat under the grill
Ing rays for almost five hours while
descendant OF Ham and a young Dane
with the features of cave-man pound
ed each other with all the viciousnass
of troglodytes. 'sporadfcally there was
enthusiasm Of :Ha exalted sort you
see at the rinsslde twisting the fea-
lures of civilized men into the masks
of aboriginal lorefolll. But II was con-
& fined to small coterie of5viaitors from
San Francisco-several train-loads OF
what the fight experts" solemnly label
sports. The police records have many
of them classified under different cate
gories.
The Nevadans did not cut loose with
walywhoops. Five Piute Indians who
had ridden down on mules from the
Walker Lake reservation collapsed in |
sl,lmber or their bench at an early
stage of tie combat. There were sew
eral shouts of disgust at the foul tao
tics employed by the white man IN
his reckless effort to overcome the SUI
perior science of his black opponent.
for in open strife they love fair play in
the alkali country. Beyond these de-
sultory expressions of Interest there
was practically no spontaneous out
burst of feeling.
Twilight descended with a headlong
dip of the sun before the excrusiating
ordeal was concluded with a cruelty
foul blow of the white man. A shout
of Indignation and .disaproval greeted
the climax, and the crowd melted away
silently in the shadows that thickened
into dusk. Within an hour all the
'nhenls" were going again, the shop
Keepers had returned to their counters,
and the miners to their drills. The
| great Cans Nelson battle had, for this
dercrt community, as completely
| passed into the dim reaches of MEM
Dry as would street fight.
So huge a success was this advertis-
| ing venture tfor the prize-f1ght had ac-
| tually paid for ITSELF that other min
| Ing camps seized upon the scheme as
a brilliant plan for self-exploitation.
They, too would get on the map and 4
reap a golden harvest of investment