Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-04-07

ed; otherwise there prob
I'M ably would have been no
ze8a Mariposa War, to pass
XXI Sl@f down in district legend,
G2 even though it escaped
the light Of school his
tories. But there was war, as any
man In Mariposa will testify.
Bill Thompson stood six feet three
In his stocking feet, and wasn't given
to much conversation. He owned
Number Four on Mariposa. had good
ground, and worked It well. Jim Tip
ton owned Number Two on the same
creek, but didn't work It, save for as
sessment, because he had another
good piece Of ground across the low
divide, on 0oldpan, where he held
forth. They were about the same age,
and neither of them had any bad
habits-that Is. so far as any one in
the camp ever knew. Maybe this was
one reason why they weren't well
known. A man has to have some bad
habits in order to be what IL gener.
ally called popular"
The war was caused by two women,
q bulldog, and claim. The claim
was Number Three, on Mariposa,
which stood between their stake
lines. and had once been owned and
worked by Old Bill Banks. Old Bill
had q good piece Of ground, water
right, and hydraulic plant. Being q
man who preferred telling about what
he was going to do In preference to
showing what he had done, he got
Just about that far and quit. He died.
His heirs put Number Three in the
hands Of an eastern agent, who has
since changed his home address, and
perhaps his name. Anyhow. it's GER
tainty he never came West, where
several Of the boys wanted to meet
him and give him a reception. He
knew the kind of reception It would
be. and wasn't anxious.
One noon when the sun was shin
ing. in the summertime, and dust was
on the sssils, the stage from Burdick
came rafting along and dumped out
a woman together with several boxes
and bundles, and she wasn't the kind
the camp knew. She didn't look as IL
she cared for dancing. She talked
for a minute with the proprietor Of
the Palace Hotel. which really wasn't
a palace, and he called Bill Thomp-
son over from where he had been
throwing supplies ON the back Of a
mountain blackboard he always had
when gNtffun an outfit
"Bill." he said, this is Miss Es-
merelda Brown. She's bought Num-
Der Three. on Mariposa. and is goin'
to be q neighbor OF yours. Can't you
give her a lift up the gulch?"
Bill wasn't much Of ladies' man,
abe put out her hand and gave him
one of those smiles that a woman
never learns until she is at least
thirty years old, and from that min.
ute she owned both Bill and the buck
board.
They drove away out through the
shacks and tents and over the river
nat into the canon. and she talked
and Bill said "Sho," or DO TELL" or
anything else In the way of converse
ton that seemed polite and interest
ing; and before they had driven two
miles he learned that she had sunk all
her money in buying Number Three,
had read In the Weekly Woman's Ad-
visor. published at Page Center. Iowa.
of how women made the best miners
in the world, and SO had come West
to make her fortune. She was willing
to stay till she made 1t, even IL it
did take a couple Of months. Bill
thought probably It would take that
long. anyway. He didn't tell her he
had been mining for twenty years,
and hadn't made 1t yet.
They drove away past the fats. and
up where the timber grows big. and
fine. stately, and the farther they
drove the more confidential she got
and the mere certain Bill was that
she had quite . little to learn about
the West. lie tried to picture her In
rubber boots holding the nozzle Of Q
giant, but somehow 1t didn't seem to
work. Bill didn't have much faith In
the weekly Woman's Advisor, At
least. not Is much a. she had.
Finally. whom the sun was setting
and they swung round bend to this
cabin IN Number Three, standing
tAsrs with fts door closed and almost
surFsanded ~ big tamaracks, ahe
seemed HEtlo awed by tho lonesome.
aess e Il. and the only comforting
thin9 10 could offer was that his
sah1n vas lust sup the guleh little
fHFth@r.s Then she reciprocated By
Inviting him to come back down for
dinner. and ne. being polite. accepted.
Besides. he was hungry.
When she first came up on the big
bank above the cut and watched Bill
swinging the nose Of the hydraulic to-
ward the face, or shifting the muck
or bedrock at the bottom, 1t seemed
vory fine. The swirling of the water
and the ease with which he handled
It appealed to her, as she sat down in
q ciump OF wild daisies. but 1t grad
ually became borne in upon her that
It wasn't exactly woman's work, al
though the editor of the Advisor, in
= soui1nspiring editorial. had eoun-
seled her readers to Take their true
places in the world" She recalled.