Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1908-06-11


age with nothing to cause him alarm.
Many of the Early Prospectors Select.
ed the Names of Wives or Sweet
hearts, Which Stand Now as Remind
ers of Romances of Byeone Days.
Behind the names of many of the
mining claims and mines of every min
ing district in the west there lies
wealth of romance and history, both
pathetic and ludcrous. The Black
Hills furnish as many and as good ex-
amples of the peculiar circumstances
under which many claims are named
as any locality in the country.
One of the best known mines in the
southern hills is the Holy Terror. Back
in the early days this claim was 10
Gated by an old miner who had work
ed some years without success. The
claim was a hard one to work. When
the man went home in the evening
after locating his claim his wife asked
him what he named it. He smiled and
told her, For you, my DEAR" and her
further inquiry drew forth the fact
that he had called it Holy Terror. An
other man once named his claim Gen
tie Annie for his wife, while still a
third perpetuated the memory of his
wife, who was noted clubwoman, by
naming his claim Silent Julia.
The hills are dotted with the names
of claims recalling romances of bygone
days. Many young, ambitious man
c .e here when the mining boom OF
the eighties was at It's height, lured
with hope of a fortune, and all that re-
mains to tell the tale is the name of
Katie W. or Mabel +. or Lulu j. Many
q sweetheart or wife in the faraway
east was honored in the naming of a
claim that its owner hoped would prove
a bonanza. Some few made good Wit
ness the Annie Fraction and the Josie,
both of which We're named for the
eastern wives of their owners. They
are in the Bald mountain district and
have produced thousands of dollars for
the locators
In the Galena district there is a
small abandoned claim known as the
Widow, with which there goes story
Years ago youth named Hanley ap-
peared from somewhere with a few
thousand and with zeal commenced to
sink his money in q hole in the ground
in the hope of q vast fortune. Back
in the old home a little widow waited
~, In 20 hn cni
was sure to come and the wedding
day that would celebrate it. 1t took
but a short time for the youths small
savings to dwindle away with his in
experience, and. chagrined and dis
heartened, he put a bullet through his
brain on the site of his blasted hopes
One prospector who worked diligent
~ on claim which was staked by an
outsider and had difficulty in even get
ting his living expenses secured his re
Venge by naming his claim Old Per
simmon
Men of patriotic turn of mind have
chosen names of those famous In his
tory. as Washington, Lincoln, etc
Each of the presidents has been re
membered, famous generals, all of the
states, seafaring heroes and heroes OF
the Philippines, as Dewey and Fun
ston Indian names by the score are
found. as Hiawatha, Minnekahta and
Nanoma Those of sporting proclivi
ties chose race horses, as Nancy Hanks
Salvador, Maud S., Red Wilkes, Joe
Patchen. Favorite authors have beer
remem bered, as Longfellow. Burns an(
Dickens. One student named his
group Ailtiades, Mark Anthony. Attila
and Cleopatra.
One man of a pessimistic vein chose
What's Left and Some Left. The aver
age business man in naming claims
will choose a simple name and use {
series Of numbers, as, for instance
Thomas No. ], Thomas No. 2, etc. Ont
| man favored his wife by calling hi!
claim Red Headed Woman. Two ad
joining claims are known as On Tim,
and Late.
Al cdd case was known In the name
of the Hoodlebug claim, which was 10
Gated hy German and an Irishmal
and intended by the former to be caile(
Heidelberg. When the Irishman reach
ed town to record the location he ha(
forgotten his partners selection of ,
name and said it was something lik,
Hoodlebug, which. for convenience
was the name recorded.
The Prodisal Son lived up to IT
name by bankrupting It's locator, VIII
returned to Iowa at the behest of tn
father who had put up the funds TO
the venture. Among the names tina
doubtless conceal stories never know
are Old Whiskers, She Devil, Cracl
Brain and Crank.