Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1910-06-03
CHAPTER !.
CQPYnNHT

piHss ana sturdy aSpenS along lne
| steep upward slope of certain wild
canyon in the Nevada Sierras.
| Five hundred feet below the dry
| floor of the gulch. which here widened
| to narrow valley, was filled from
| wall to wall with motley huddle of
rough cabins, jig-saw cottages. a
| glaring red-brick opera house, hotel,
and bank all in one, and a pair OF
| clapboarded, whitewashed churches.
Upon the sultry and drowsy air OF
summer afternoon there arose the
! confused hum and the hoarse murmur
of strenuous industry, above which.
like the footsteps of the animated
| stone STATUE in Don JUAN" the in
sistent note of the busy stamps" at
| week night and day, three shifts" in
| each "a hours, dominated all other
sounds.
This was the little mining town of
Meleen, named in honor of its found
er, who was likewise the discoverer.
manipulation, and chief owner of the
rich Peacock lode, which gave employ
ment to 800 men and netted over
million a year for its stockholders.
Rough and ready, ignorant ana
shrewd, was old Andrew Meleen.
| Originally a Welsh miner in Cardiff
and later in the Pennsylvania coal
fields, he by turns had been volunteer
! soldier, pioneer, prospector. and final
| ly many times a millionaire, after
weary years of fortune-chasing up and
down the gold and silver country of
the great west.
| For the crude affairs of this typical
raw western camp, with its bizarre adj
mixture of civilization and savagery,
we have only passing interest in
| that it is the starting point of the
story in hand Our present and most
viyidly human concern is with the
creator of all this industry and po-
tential wealth-and he lay a-dying.
Far up the eastern hillside COM
handing the town, whence one could
almost fancy he was looking over the
next divide to where the flaming sun
was setting amid cloudy pillows in
the wide Pacific miles beyond, on
sort of bench or plateau an acre in
extent, stood a curious and rambling
wooden structure, in triple part log
cabin, hunting ranch. and modern
country house.
This unique huddle of divers styles
| of pioneer architecture really repre-
seltted as many different periods in
| the fortunes of its eccentric owner.
| The rough, Embarked logs of the orig
| inal single-roomed cabin which
| formed a prominent wing or angle
marked the poor prospector stage;
then. with more prosperous times,
| came an addition framed by wander
| ing Yankee carpenter and sheathed
| with boards of red wood, now beauti-
fully weathered to rich mahogany
hue; finally, as if to mark the ultimate
rise to afluence of the occupant,
two-story structure had been added,
| shingled as to walls and roof, while
| upon three sides a covered veranda
wide enough for a fashionable cotillon,
approached by generous steps and a
peaked porch, gave comfortable as
surance of cool shade and constant
breeze shifting with the sun.
Around and above porch and cabin
there clambered festoons of grape
vines and wild creepers, the dark
green leaves lending deeper tinge to
the background of cedar and redwood
posts and walls.
From this eyrie the old man who
was it's chief occupant could easily
toss a lump Of his own shining ore
on the roofs of the little town be-
meath: viewed by day, the smoke of
it's furnaces went winding away in
long spirals and ribbons of vapor; at
night. the spurts OF colored fame
from the chimneys of retort house
and smelter lit up the opposite sides
of the canyon in ftful flashes OF
murky red. or paled to an orange glow
under the wan light of the moon.
The solitary dweller on the hillside
never wearied of the changing pic
ture II was his; he had called into
! haing the town and its throbbing in
dustries. he loved it with the pas
sionate warming love OF wifeless
and childless old man. COR him the
cities of the coast-Los Angeles or
San Francisco, Portland or Seattle
possessed few charms. They only
served to bank his constantly increas-
ing millions The rough little town,
with its amazing monthly output OF
gold and silver and copper, stood to
him IN place of wife and child; the
oueer old ranch overlooking it all
was his real home-his pride, his pas
sion. his delight.
And now the time was come when
he must leave it all and go hence, for
ANDY Meleen was dying, and chiefly
of that most incurable of diseases, old
age while his vast wealth must de-
scend to an heir whom he had never
seen.
Upon a curious contrivance of do
mestic devising, half bedstead. half re-
clining chair, set upon casters so that
It could readily be wheeled indoors
and ont lay the old millionaire. Each
uvalong day, from sunrise to sunset,