The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-09-28

man Nno bao eholu he would not
sell.
Then IL was represented TO him that
by certain simple business reforms he
might himself make his mine pay
more largely. A. the ore taken from
il was carried down the bill on mules.
Why not build little railroad for the
purpose. which could be operated at
much less expense, But what would
those do who nov make their living
by driving the mulesY' asked Pedro.
The simple business scheme is re-
fused. Wastefuless continues. The
owners employee draw immense sal
aries, and how much they steal be.
sides does not appear. except in the
opulent manner In which they live.
VIII the mine always stand this
waste, this drain win there not
come day when the vein will run
out? And them Wen. then the sill
yer king and those who are sucking
his wealth viii collapse
Among them ali there is one who
foresees such result Pedro's wife
had drudged as Q pg9n until the mine
was opened She remembered that
part of her life and had no desire to
return to it. WHY not from this river
of wealth on which they were floating
turn aside somethirg TO support them
in case the fountain should dry upf
And so she did iastead Of putting
away a few copper coins at a time as
her fatherin-law had done with which
TO buy his rock. she took $1,000 bills
and hid them. For years she stored
away these bills. No one knew that
they were being hidden, no one knew
their hiding place. Tie waste, the ex-
travagance. the money sucking by EN-
ployees, relations, dependents contin-
ued, but every now and again the for
mer peon woman hid away a thousand
dollar bill.
True enough, what Sonora Alvarado
foresaw at last came about. The
earth taken out of the mine became
less rich. Instead OF producing $4,000
day 1t produced but a few hundred
dollars to the ton. 81 1t was worth
must be paid TO those who carried 1t
from the mine into the valley and for
getting the silver out Of It. Pedro had
seen his fortune loom up almost in a
night; now he saw It sinking rapidly
away. Then to crown his loss water
appeared In his mine.
Water is the great danger, the great
trouble when II comes, in mining. Tun-
nels must be built, expensive pumps
must be put In, either one or both.
Pedro had but one business idea in
his head. That was to hold on to his
property. But now even that idea had
ceased to be practicable. His mine
was no longer valuable unless worked
on business principles, and Pedro was
not business man.
Since there had been nothing put
away, so there was nothing when the
end came. The man who had given
away and wasted millions now found
himself unable to give or waste any
longer. 1t was the old story of the
fairy who had raised palaces and 9th
er luxuries for the pauper, by mutter-
ing another incantatlon caused them
TO vanish.
Then Sonora Alvarado, who had
been tucking away thousand dollar
bills very conveniently, died. In dis
tributing her effects maid who had
been long while In her service was
asked If there was anything that had
belonged to her mistress she would
like to have. She said there was an
old quilt the sonora had always used
which 1t would crafty her TO possess.
The beloved woman had slept under
1t for many years and would never let
1t go out of her own keeping. Surely
this would be a treasured souvenir.
But Pedro demonstrated against the
faithful servitor having nothing but
an old quilt much worn and not over
clean. He urged the maid to name
something of greater value She, how
ever, clung to the quilt and would not
be comforted without this article so
lHAliuulely uSSocldlcu WIN uei HIS
tress.
Now, Pedro was aware that his wife
had not sympathIzed with him In his
extravaganza; indeed, she had repeat
edly warned him that he would come
to grief by 1t. Knowing this he won
dered If the good woman had not put
something away for rainy day. The
eagerness Of the maid to possess the
quilt caused him to suspect that some
thing might be hiddeh in II. Instead
Of giving 1t he began to rip it. Out
came a thousand dollar bill. Ripping
on he found another, and so, as Pedro
had grown fabulously rich overnight In
finding silver under rock, he now
gained q fortune In an old quilt. He
took out 800 thousand dollar bills
quite enough to soOthe him for the
running out of his mine and to enable
him to live handsomely for the rest of
his days.
Pedro Alvarado Yielding to the inev
table turned over his mine to others
Some Americans are the new owners
and are working ii on modern princi-
pies. Meanwhile the owner lives on
the income of the 800 one e-thousand
dollar bills that were successfully saw
ed up by his more farseeing wife In
the old quilt through a long term of
years.
There is an unexplained feature in
this story that, appealing as 1t does to
the curiosity, is the most important
part of it. Why did the senior Alva-
rado put all the little money he had
In the rock that covered the mine,
and why did he pledge his son under
oath not to sell it, The only possible
solution seems to be that some Span
iards years ago prospeeted In the re-
gion and from the trend of veins of
silver found suspected that the top
Of the hill in question contained the
same metal. This may have been
known to the Indians and been hand