The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-07-21
The Specter Gold of
"The Hoodoo District
Odd Tale of Vanishing Ledge; Pros
pectors Past and Present

FURNISHED up his rifle and sighed for
the soltudes. Then further taxing his
credit or trading some kind of animal
for grub, cartridges and whisky he
would swear many oaths to strike it
rich or else call down imprecations up
On hts soul.
Between times he was an optimist and
hopeful Of rich results. But as each
| successive spot was tried and found
wanting ne would swear furiously and
drink moro whisky. He kept repeating
the process. alternating between hope
and disappointment, hard work and
profanity.
How He Finished
Late in the fall, when the leaves were
brown and sere and the peaks were SOL
emnly waiting for the snow, and the
winds went wailing through the blasted
forests like the lament Of lost and wan
dering souls, / have known him to sit
up and curse by the hour-prospects,
money. grub and whisky-all were gone.
Then back to the farm he would 90 and
be lectured all winter by his wife. 1t
was her firm belief that his proper
sphere was farminr and that in time
ance. He had ideas of his own upon
this subject, however, SO he drank
more whisky and whispered to himself.
Hardships and Heroism.
That our hero was familiar with hard
ships lot one instance attest: In the
early SOS he had come from Oregon to
what Is known us "the Palouse coun-
try" By hard work he had saved up
considerable money for this move. On
his way, however, he stopped too long
IN Walla .Walla,, and there, by the dire
results Of a poker game. he was rem
dered, penniless;; The bitterness of that
occasion never left him, The only rem
nant of fortune he saved from that
poker game was pair Of long-legged
gum boots. Arriving in the Palouse
country he worked in harvest All
through the blazing heat Of GUNNER,
while stacking straw. etc, he had to
wear those boots. He could not even
afford to cut the tops off Of the boots,
for he wanted them to placer mine with
In the winter.
He saved tho boots all right and as
periods Of triumph. That very winter
came the great stampede to the Occur
'Alene placers, and nLucky George, :"
as he was called afterwards, cleaned
from them ten Thousand dollars in
cleaning bullion. He had been ambi.
tious to be train robber or successful
tradesman, but now he determined to
stay with the mines.
The Golden Dream.
After investing much In whisky and
other luxuries and necessities, he put
most Of his money in land. Els luck
continued. He was not devoutly reli-
gious, but one night he had O dream
NJ MI n
was rich, lie Soon sank q hole on it to
bedrock and got SAT. Then he hurriedly
rode 100 miles on horseback, found the
man that owned the ground, and traded
him tho horse for ninety days. option
to test the premises. During the ninety
days he hired forty men, put on ditch,
took out $1,000, and gave the ground
back to the original owner. However,
he did not take quite all of the pay
his own conscience he left "spot. -
But while the owner was meditating
vengeance another man finished the
"spot' and took out $1,000. This act
so aroused tho bitterness Of our hero
that ever afterwards he branded that
man as "dishonest.
"The Devils Dream
Years went on and many prospects
"petered out" "money was hard to
get" and whisky was scarce, but
Lucky George" still roamed the hills.
1t was late In the summer Of 1898
that he and the writer were prospecting
in the "Hoodoo district" at the head
Of the Palouse river in northern idaho.
One day, upon high mountain, we
found some float that was nhame with
gold. For days we dug into the red,
corroded earth and took out ore that
pannod yellow streak. But finally it
proved to be "only slide' and our
fair hopes dwindled. For days and days
we hunted for that ledge. Then in the