White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1911-04-02
STORY Of STRIKE
BY TENDERFEET
HOW FOUR EAsTERNERs
STRICKEN WITH THE FEVER
OF WANDERIIST FOUND
BONANZA IN A NEVADA CAMP.

There were four Of Us In the party
Tom Lloyd, George Hastings. Peter
Thompson, and myself, Walter Jones.
commonly called Walt" for short;
all young and husky. and with only
one lazy man in the bunch. W. were
all tenderfeet; that IS, we had not
been west long, and u homes were
in Philadelphia, New York, Roches-
ter, and Scranton. The four Of US
had been stricken with the fever of
wanderlust, and met at a booming
mining camp In Nevada, where. as
chance would have It,, we all roomed
together, as accommodations We're
limited; and we were fortunate TO be
able 10 get a roof over our heads,
even If we all had to bunk in one
room. When we first reached the
camp we thought the whole bunch
on the street had gone b%ughouse. as
every man was running up and down
the street. stopping IA minute TO say
something to the first one he met, or
they would gather In punches, way
ing their arms and hollering like
maniacs. Then someone would take
something out OF his pocket, show IL
to the crowd. when the bunch would
scatter and rush out into the hills,
all in one direction, however. Later
we learned that a new strike had
been made and the stampede was for
the purpose Of making locations on
the extensions of the discovery, or in
its near neighborhood.
The first week we wandered
around picking up what mining lore
we could and much OF the time we
had our pockets full Of rock; most
of which, of course, was valueless,
Dr. s%prinkled with pyrites of iron
which, In our innocence, we took to
be gold. We learned a few things,
however and founn that the most
useful tools a prospector could pos
sess were pick and shovel. which
we Immediately purchased. We also
invested In a wheelbarrow, and two
big canteens. We had a little money
between us, and ultimately decided
to combine into a syndicate and start
out on a prospecting trip, after which
we purchased "A tent and a few cook
ing utensils together with a few pro-
visions. In proving around the
camp | had run across a good natur-
ed miner who showed me how 10
handle powder and fuse. This call
ed for the buying Of powder and
fuse. drill steel and one or two four
pound hammers. When our outfit
was complete we were at a loss where
10 go, as the whole region looked
alike" to US. Finally. We approach
ed a ma who had been pointed out
TO us as a big mining magnate, who
had become a millionare from moth
ing but a "shoe-string," so it was
said (although We knew nothing
about "shoe-strings' in connection
with mining operations, and ponder
ed deeply upon the meaning of the
term and asked his advice on the
subject. He looked very grave, al
though a smile seemed to be strug-
Cling at the of his mouth,
and he asked us many questions re-
garding our experience and what we
hoped TO accomplish. Finally he
said: See those twin buttes about
five miles to the west? Well, just
below, about half a mile this side of
them. there is a saddle In the hills
where | should judge there should
be good prospecting ground.
So we hired a team, for the trivial