The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-11-09

ILLUSTRATIONS By DEAp3oRNhfIym

., he decided: and HIS quick Imagination
| sketched EIdorado Creek. from mouth
| 10 source. and from mountain Lop &c
mountain top. In the hands OF one ca
pable Management Even steam-thaw-
Ing. as yet untried, but bound TO come.
he saw would be a makeshift. What
| should be done was TO hydraulic the
valley sides and benches, and then. OF
the creek bottom, 10 use gold-dredges.
There was the very chance for another
big killing. He had wondered just
what was precisely the reason for the
Guggenhammers and the big English
concerns sending In their high salaried
experts. That Was their scheme. That
was why they had approached him for
the sale OF worked-out claims and tail
ings. They were content to lot the
small mine-owners gopher out what
they could, for there would DO mil
lions In the leavings.
And. gazing down on the smoky In
ferno OF crude effort. Daylight outlined
tbs new game he would play. a game
In which the Quggenhammers and the
rest would have to reckon with him
But along with the delight In the new
conception came a WEAKNESS. He was
tired Of the long Arctic years, and he
was curious about the Outsids-the
great world of which he had heard
other men talk and of which he was
as ignorant as a child. There were
games out there to play. It was :.
larger table, and there was no reason
why he with his millions should not
sit In and take hand. So 1t was,
that afternoon on Skookum Hill, that
he resolved to play this last best Klon-
dixie hand and pull for the Outside. It
took time, however. He put trusted
agents to work on the heels of great
experts, and on the creeks where they
began to buy he likewise bought.
Wherever they tried to corner
worked-out creek. they found him
standing In the way, owning blocks of
claims or artfully scattered claims
that put all'their plans to naught.
Followed wars, truces, compromises.
victories. and defeats, BY 1898. sixty
thousand men were on the Klondike.
and all their fortunes and affairs
rocked back and forth and were at.
fected by the battles Daylight fought.
And more and more the taste for the
larger game urged In Daylight's mouth.
Here he was already locked in crap
pies with the great Guggenhammers,
and winning. flercely winning. Pos
sibly the severest struggle was waDsd
on Oph1r. the veriest OF moose-pas-
lures, whose low-grade dirt was valu-
able only because of its vastness. The
ownership Of block OF seven claims
in the heart of 1t gave Daylight his
grip. and they could not come to terms.
The Guggenhammer experts conclud-
ed that 1t was too big for him to
handle, and when they gave him an
ultimatum to that effect he accepted
and bought them out. The plan was
his own, but he sent down to the
States for competent engineers to car
ry it out. In the Rinkabilly water
shed, eighty miles away, he built his |
reservoir, and for eighty miles the |
huge wooden conduit carried the wa
ter across country to Ophir. Esti- |
mated at three millions, the reservoir
and conduit cost nearer four. Nor
did he stop with this. Electric power
plants were installed. and his work
ings were lighted as well as run by
Other sourdoughs, who
had struck 1t rich in excess OF all
their dreams, shook their heads gloom
lily. warned him that he would 20
broke. and declined to invest In SO ex-