Gilpin observer., 1910-02-10
THE PRosPEcToR
AND HIS BURRO.
(Salt Lake Mining Review.)


you remind me of the tenderfoot with
a little money in his pocket who
starts in to break a faro bank or put
the grand kibo on the roulette wheel.
To start in he will buy few chips
at the card table, which are raked
in by the dealer without any seeming
effort, or fuss and feathers. Next
he tries the wheel, makes small
winning, and then loses few dollars.
Then he gives his attention to craps,
and winds up at the bar with all his
money gone, and finally goes out to
earn few more dollars with which
to try his fortune again. His nerve
was good you say? That may be true.
and yet his judgment was poor; for.
even in gambling, one should stick
to one thing until he makes a stake
or loses what he has. And this makes
me think of the regular prospector
who fits from camp to camp like a
bee gathers honey, while the pros
pector generally accumulates nothing
more than experience and an assort-
, ment of old clothes which do not i'm
, prove at all with age.
THE trouble with the prospector,"
continued the prospector, "is that
he Is afflicted with the wanderlust
fever. He may find a good thing.
and yet he will hardly stay with it
! long enough to prove it up and pro-
fit by his discoveries. A sensible min
! ing man of my acquaintance often
said that 1T is more important to de-
velop known ore than it is to scour
the country over in an effort to make
new discoveries and think his po-
sition was right, for it Is often the
case that new discoveries after be-
ing worked in a desultory way, are
abandoned even when success seem3
certain, in order to hike out for new
fields for new excitements; and thus
the promising ground, so laboriously
secured, is neglected, and very often
fails to materialiZe into anything
more than a prospect; whereas, If
properly developed, it might easily
have been transformed into a produc-
ing and paying mine. But this is
usually the way with the prospector,
and although he has the making Of
a bonanza at home, the fields look
greener beyond, the sky more rosy.
and a halo Of romance enshrouds the
distant mountains; and SO he keeps
on, like the Wandering Jew, until old
age finds him hermit in some rough
shack in the mountain passes, when,
had he stuck to one or two of the
good things he had found in the past,
he might, In his declining years, have
money in the bank and a good home
to go to.
You say you want an illustration;
that your curiosity is aroused, and
also that you are from Missouri
Well, seeing that we have had hard
days jaunt since we started out from
Podunk Springs this morning, l don't
care If tell you of little incident
coming to my notice wherein pros
pector gave up fortune because
he could not stay in one spot for
more than six months at time. This
man l speak Of discovered the famous
! White Swan mine out in Oregon. This
was grass root bonanza, and was
a cracker-jack in the bargain. After
its discovery he took another pros
/ pector in with him, because he did
not like to work alone. The two took
out ten or fifteen thousand dollars.
! ;,
decided that small milling plant
was needed. To put in the mill they
took in two or three more men, and
for awhile the output was more than
a thousand day. But, the discoverer
of the property began to tire of re-
naming In one section so long. He
wanted to get further into the hills
he wanted to trail the canons and
mountain ranges with a pack burro
or two along with him. and SO he
sold out for a song, and lit out for
the unknown. The mine would have
been big dividend-payer until this
day but for the fact that 1t fell into
the hands Of fake promoter who.
bilked the public. ran the property
into debt, and finally, an unusual oc-
currence, landed himself In the pen.
itentiary. But the finder of the mine.
Did he succeed, you ask? None, what
ever, for l saw him less than six
months ago, in one of the desert min
ing camps, and he was ragged and
dirty, penniless and hungry, and glad
to borrow six bits from me for a
meal and a drink of whisky.
IA II want to tell YOU, Old Long