The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-07

| Copyright, 1913 by the Mcclure News
paper Syndicate)
u ORTUNE forces itself on some men
no matter how they dodge. Tt
was so with Stratton. Out in Colo-
RADIO he was joke for years. He wan
dered about the hills prospecting when
ever he had grub enough for trip and
when his supplies ran low, or winter over-
took him, he went to work at the one
thing for which he was fitted-carpenter-
ing. He could use a plane or a saw as
we'll as any ordinary journeyman and II
he SO desired he might have settled down
| in Gunnison, Buena Vista, Ouray, Lead
vile, or any one of a dozen towns or
cities and made a comfortable living lie
had the lust of gold, however, and no
| matter how bitter his>experiences, or how
many times he determined to abandon his
wanderings, each spring brought back the
fever.
Surely he had reason to know his limta-
ticns as a prospector. Several times he
went over ground which to him gave little
or no promise. Other men came along
year or two later, saw what he couldn't
see, located claims and developed fairly
| good mines. His i'll luck was proverbial.
Those who knew the things he missed
used to say he would not know a gold
| mine II he tumbled into one.
| Stratton was 4S, gray, a bit rheumatic
and altogether down on his luck, when one
July he spread his blankets on the
, ground and prepared to sleep on the hill
side six miles from Cripple Creek He
could see the lights of the camp in the
distance. They spoke to him of COM
psnionship, merrymalSlng and something
better to eat than he had been having
| for many days. He had hoped to make
the creek that night, but had stumbled
and fallen, and had gone a bit lame He
didn't have pony or burro-nothng but
his pick, his blankets. little grub and
a few cooking utensils. When Stratton
awolSes on the morning of July 4, his leg
| ached SO much that he didn't think it
would be wise to tramp to town burdened
with his pack. He had said few harsh
| things the night before about his i'll luck
and he repeated them with interest, in
the morning. After breakfast he moved
around a bit, just to take some of the
stiffness of his leg. Naturally, as a pros
| pector, he examined the ground. He
didn't see anything promising. There was
a streak Of prudence in the man, however,
and, knowing that some good strikes had
| been made at Cripple Creek, he thought
he might as we'll locate a claim or two
right there where he was laid up. He
did so. AS a patriotic American and In
respect to the day, he named one of his
| claims George Washington and the other
Independence. The next day his leg was
| better and he padded along to Cripple
Creek.
The camp was bustling Stratton had
no trouble in getting job. He did a lit
tie carpentering and little mining. He
got good pay, especially as a carpenter,
for the little camp was growing. New
strikes were being made, and there was
ar urgent demand for buildings After a
while there came lull. Stratton, who
didn't have a lazy zone in his body, went
back to the hill and did just enough as
sessment work to hold the two claims
he had located. In doing this assessment
work, he ran across a little vein of silver.
1t was SO very thin that it didn't amount
| to much more than a basis for him TO
have hope. He tried to follow 1t, but it
ran out. In another place he encou1 :
| tered vein of gold. That, too, was very
| thin.
| In many instances the bodies of pre-
cious- metals that are In the earti, are
fashioned after The forms of trees There
| is one main body like the trunk. Then
there are a lot Of branches. From these
branches there are stringers. Usually the
trunk is deep In the earth. Generally
the branches spread out over wide
stretch of territory. In the majority of
cases, it is one of the stringers, or small
| veins that a miner runs on in his work
near the surface. He follows this strin-
ger. or vein, In the hope of finding the
trunk His quest of the trunk would be
comparatively easy but for the fact that
these trees of ore are broken in many
places. These breaks are called faults.
In the convulsion of nature. the great
tree was shattered. A branch was thrown
here. a stringer there and maybe the
trunk itself ripped apart Sometimes the
/ fault only extends for few feet. Some
| times 1t extends for hundreds, nr myabe
thousands Of feet. When a miner runs
onto stringer and n able y fbllow 1t