Bisbee daily review., 1910-08-03
THE PPOSPECTOP AND
 HIS BURPO

This mine we have been looking st." said the prospeceor to his burro. seems to be in good physical con dition, with plenty of fine ore in sight. Of course know 1t is an old producer, but it presents such an at tractive appearance that the aver. age man would readily incline to the belief that it Is good for diyi- dends for many years to come. It profitably for some time yet. Or, 1t may not last year for all its good looks; and because of this question of doubt it does not appeal to me in the least; none whatever; and would prefer to take my chances with a young and husky prospect; an un- developed property that is chuck full of vitality and promise. With such a proposition one has some show to make a killing. I see that you are surprised and place great deal of emphasis upon the fact that this old mine has paid over ss.0o0.000 in dividends; which sounds very we'll But yau aust rem smber that these eight -1ili,ons are gone. and that the miaa. whatever it's present ralue. ia worth eight million less than when It was a virgin proposition. and, in all probability. has but few millions left, if any. This looks odd to you. know. and it Is probably true that you have never thought of the matter fn this light before; but, the thing is as easy as that two and two makes four; or that five from eight leaves three, so that you can see that if this old mine originally contained but ten millions in ore values and profits, that when eight of the ten had been taken out only two million remains; and this Is why I am going to shy off and try a trail that has not been travelled so often. for, of this grand old producer. only the shell remains.
 NO. this Is not shell game as you might imagine. and no one who has not been a regular visitor to a mining camp would imagine such a thing; and it is easy co see that you are more familiar with the roulette wheel and the faro table than you are with the intricacies of the mining game I also notice that you have ta- ken considerable interest in the John son-Jerries fight, which occurred a few days ago at Reno, and that you are perplexed because Jeffries lost so easily to Johnson. For. you try to explain, Jeffries was in the pink of condition, while Johnson was an un- known quantity.
 This impression of yours con tinued the prospector, affords a fine illustration of the description l am giving you of this old mine Jef- fries went into the ring a favorite. He had been a winning proposition and a money maker in the past, and was therefore believed to be all right. But, while age had not made its i'm print upon him that was visible to the naked eye. it was found that when he stepped 1p before the young and vigorous black that all of his stamina, his staying qualities, had been long ago expended. and that he was as much lacking in fighting abil- ity and his old time knockout blow as an old time mine is Of pay ore that has been gutted and pushed to the limit for a number of years; and this is why will not take an in- terest in this old dividend payer we have been talking about. for only the semblance of its former greatness re mains.
 T see that you are interested in this discussion, although it may be that you are paying more attention to what l am saying about Jeffries than what l have told you about the old mine Anyway l will tell you my experience with an old producer To-
 cated in one of the mining camps in
 the state This mine, in it's early
 history. had been very productive of
 high-grade ore, and this was probably
 the reason the owner allowed 1t to