Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-10-06
SUNDAY STORY
The
Power Of Luck
By BENJAMIN BeRKHALTER

0y 0CIVJRlvb1iN 0ka1NNb 1SAA01GN Il
"Can you direct me to the works Of
the Loon Gulch Gold Mining COM
lpanyY asked Of . ragged man. at
the same time drawing rein to receive
bis reply.
fright around the speer Of the
mountain; take the right hand road
after crossln' the creek. You can't
miss It It's the only lot O. bulldin's
there 10 around there. Fine property.
STR"
$50 I have been told. have also
heard that It was built mp on . strik-
ing piece Of luck"
"You bet: the goidarnedest luck that
ever happened to q prospector."
what was IT."
"why Hawley. be come out yers .
matter Of fifteen year ago. fur to SEQ
II he couldn't make q FORUM BY q
short road. been tryln' to do that
myself ever since I was twonty-nvo
year old. and Just look at me-my
clothes in tatters and nothin' In my
stomick. Where one man strikes
payin' dirt thousands spend their lives
workin' fur nothin'. Ten year ago II
you'd a seen Hawley you'd a seen .
man fist about like me. He was wan.
dcrin' about ycre with q pick and
shovel on his shoulder, ragged, nothin'
In his stomick and nothin' In his
| pocket.
"Tm wrong there; he had ten pounds
O. blastin' powder. and that was all
the property he had in the world ex.
cept his pick and shovel He had .
pair o. shoes on his feet, hut there
want no soles on 'em. I'm wrong
ag'in about his property. He had one
thing more, and that was q magni-
fyin' glass he used to examine quarts
with to see II there was any gold In It
"One day he was walkin' around over
there where he could see up the gulch.
He'd been to Antelope, where the post.
office was then. and had got a letter
from his wife In the east sayin' she'd
been turned out O. the house she'd been
Twin in, the children was sick for want
O. proper food and the bottom had
dropped out O. everything. Hawley was
clean discouraged. He thought he'd
find a place so hidden that he'd never
be found and would kill himself. He
hadn't nothin' to kill himself with ex.
cept the blastin' powder. and he hadn't
the good luck to have any matches with
him or any other means o settin' 1t or.
"He walked up the gulch ways, or
rather staggered up It, for he was weak
from want O. food and encouragement.
He left the road by path and, comm
to the end Of the path. walked on no
where. Comm to lonely place among
some trees and bushes, he sat down
and tried to think Of a way to set OF
his blastin' powder. Purity soon he
struck an idea. He hung his magnify.
In glass on a twig and put the powder
on the ground so that the focus Of the
suns rays would strike It.
"But he didn't want to know list
| when he was agoin' to be blown to
atoms. SO he moved the powder a few
inches, keepin' 1t In the course the 70.
cused sun spot would take. SOS IL
would pass over the powder after
awhile. This would leastways give him
time to say his pra'rs.
| "When he'd got 1t fixed SOS the>sun
spot was sure to strike 1t he lay down a
few yards away with his back to the
powder and waited. It warnt a cheer.
full condition, was IT."
II should think not" I replied.
| II dunno how long Hawley waited.
never hearn. But bimeby there was
big explosion. Hawley didn't know
for awhile whether he had been killed
or not. he was so stunned. But he
| wasn't even hurried. The force o the
| explosion was all upwards.
II dunno II he was disappointed or
not. l never heered that nuther. But
he rolled over and looked into hole in
the ground made by the explosion. II
was jest like prospector to look 10
see what was in the hole instead O.
thinkin' where he might "a been II his
tryin' to kill hlsself hadn't failed. Then
he looked for his mngnifyin' glass.
He remembered hearin' somepin drop
, list after the explosion and. gittin' up.
went where he'd heered the sound.
The glass was layin' near by on the
ground. He TUX it up and. gittin' down
| on his stomick, looked through 1t into
the hole. Then be picked up a piece O.
quartz and examined that Then he
got up and danced oil around by his.
self like crazy man.
'Diggin' out some pieces o quarts
from the hole. he Tux 'em to Antelope.
where there was an assayer. and had
'em ussayed. They showed gold
enough to make ten millionaires.
pervidin' the stun was a reg'lar ve'
Then he stole away to his hole BY his
self and dug till he was satisfied that Il
was vein, then entered his claim and
went to men who had money and
formed a company. Hawley gittin'
three-quarters o. the stock.
THAT'S the origin o the Loon Gulch
mine. one o. the biggest In the world"
paid the man literally for his story
and. much impressed with the force OF
| luck In our worldly affairs. drove on to