El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-11

LagerfeIt, consuming engineer of the
birmingham company, had a crew ,
miners sinking on the largest en- ~ ~
the camp. South of this was tne TN
vein of the Maggie u. ana tle = ~ ,
vein of the Rock Of ages, omheU ny
j. D. Gasherie, of Birmlng nam -.
Great plans were made 10 erect
plants on. these two properties as soon
as development JUSTIFIED II Hany u
the tenderfeet miners were uEdMlnS
plans for 10 stamp mills as, soon as
their prospect holes were 10 feet deep
Most of these didn't know now 10
sharpen a drill or pick nor to load and
Several accidents occurred from pre-
mature explosions. One tendertoot,
from Omaha, Neb., Ignored drills and
powder and Actually sank II foot
hole in solid granite in a week, using
nothing but picks and hammers He
wore a dozen picks clean down to the
eyes in the. operation, he had heard
white quartz vein and believing he had
found It, sunk this shaft all alone. His
quartz was sprinkled with fools gold
or yellow pyrites. He was six feet
three inches high and needed no lad
der nor windlass. Chagrined when
he found out how lean the ore was, he
swore to become a miner and hiked out
to Cripple Creek and has since become
one of the most expert miners in the
west and has made and lost half a
dozen fortunes. His name is J. Arnold
YaWger and he IS mining at Animas,
N NJ. John Freidenbloom, the grocer
and Charles Fruin, the carpenter, and
John McAfee, the rancher, sank a hole
speckied with yellow pyrites, the hole
being Il feet square. This was their
maiden effort and, so, soon depleted
their. purses. There were uaany sim
liar cases. Dodd brothers also did a
lot of work in Texas canyon and erect
ed a gold mill. which never turned out
much gold. Some of the richest veins
were the Ora and the Monarch. owned
by Pruitt and Pegleg Watson, near the
SuRol, which PANIED coarse gold alarm
ingly, and the Maggie G., which even
used to pan his rock to edify the ten
derfeet, and used to make the string
of gold go clear around the pan and
immortalized in ''Roughing It" BY
Mark Twain, as the sheriff of Carson, !
Nevada, who summoned an homogeneous
jury composed of Cinnamon, Mexicans
and indians to hear the famous land |
slide case
Parson Bruner, an expresident of the
university of Kansas, who lived in the !
FIT Bliss, followed the stampede and !
located a placer in a gulch and hauled |
water in galvanized tanks or water |
wagons, with which to do placer min |
ing
Some of the Pioneers.
Among the pioneers of Black noun |
tain.H remember A. B. Fall, c. o. Lagre-
feldt, judge Wood, Capt John [ CHM, |
o. ConnoF, Bill Conner, Lee Smith, /
Nose Dillon, Fencnler brothers, Thomas |
0'keefe, Mai. Logan, H r Hillebrand, |
E L ShallefOrd, Cay Porter, John Rob- |
erts, Robt Symons. Charlie Beisweng- |
er, Phil Deter, D. ". Reckhart, James 1
Edwards, the pioneer assayer of camp; |
John James, John Selman, Frank Gas !
key, J. D. Gasherie, L n. He'll, Theo. |
Eggers. Richard Caples, Col. Baylor, /
Mclaughlin IdttIe Mack), Jim Rob- I
eson,- Billy Hayden. Prof. Hopes, Amos /
DE MueIs, Hagen and the Breeze broth ]
ers, owners OF the Oriental; Capt. J. NJ I
Smith, of the custom service. Pat L
Breen and Pat Markham, Bob Robinson,
George Stokes, VIII Latimer, who was
murdered in Sinaloa by a
Mexican Jefe, Otis Turner, Bob Burch,
John Mack, the builder of the Sunol
Capt. John 7 CHM wrote up the camp
from geological standpoint for the FL
Paso papers, which was illustrated by |
wood cut pictures from photographs
editor, but was the first man to erect
stamp mill in Tuolumne in the DAYS
Of "49" in California
There were daily reports of new
strikes and every night eager crowds
assembled at the camp fires to hear the
latest news Capt Smiths store was
a faTorite place. for gossip of the
Feutonic lodge in PushaIogamony
suIch by the spring. Here one night I
he entertained a crowd of
CnanDeT
merce TO see and inspect the camp and
report Beer. wine, whisky and lunches !
Of all kinds were served lavishly. |
Along toward midnight, when everyone
was in the receptive mood. Charlie
caused a wild excitement by exhibiting
to his guest sample of exceedingly
rich gold, nearly half gold, just dis
covered before SundQWn, which he said
belonged to me. but that was not
aESSre of it The claim was called the
Pusha-logamony,. named after the old
which claim was just east !
Of the Bismarck. The ore assayed !
about 100000 per ton All kinds of
were made to the owner
saw motley crowd of Ell Pasoans |
on hanGs ana knees trying
to find even a piece of float to take
back with them 10 FL PaSo as SOU
and judge J. f. Townsend Finally, af-
ter they were gone, 1t leaked out that
the sample was, from Cripple Creek.
Some of the crowd appropriated the
sample and exhibited II around town,
causing new stampede. Really there
was plenty of float picked up that as
ton, the leads of which have never
been found. Many claims changed
hands, for small figures. Most of the
)wn1es of 10 foot holes asked enor-
nous figures and drove away wouldbe
investors.
Ores Rich in Free Gold.
The ores were rich in free gold down
% the OXidiZed zone or water level, |
which was only so TO 100 feet below
he surface. Below there the values |
we're much lower, as the suIphides car
led the values, and the ores ceased to |
De amenable to the old treatment by
he an-amalgamatiOn process. This |
vas demonstrated in the SunoI mine,
which was free milling down to wa
er, about 100 feet deep. When the
miners of limited means learned that
n order to make money they must put
n expensive pumps and that they
Ould not ship their ores SO miles to the |
81 Paso smelter at a profit, they quit |
md the camp soon became deserted. |
The old Mormon, however, is the only !
exception. That mine has been worked
regularly since and produced over
200, 900. It is said now to be under /
'ption to the c. & A company, of Bis
Zee, and they will put down a main |
haft 1000 feet deep.
Long to Return.
There are many of the old Black
fountain argonauts stin living, some i
4 whom have since followed mining I
n various mining camps of the west, |
7ho vow that they will return to the
Id camp again They remember the !
of true fissure veins be- :
ween perfect walls of diorite dixie
nd monzanite and porphyritic walls.
hey remember seeing phonolite bikes,
nd disseminated particles of white J
nd braSsy mineral which may have