The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-01-31

light cleaned like star IN the SKY,
was mine. There rose the sound OF
rapid exhaust as fan drove fresh
air down the shaft to ventilate the
underground passages. In the shadow
Of the bins two shining lines OF steel
rails looked as If they were hanging
from the side of a cliff.
It was toward this point that the
lone engine, without a light OF any
kind, was cautiously making it's way
As it crossed the lines Of the min
Ing property a grim-faced man, with
a sawed-off shotgun, quietly stepped
aside and a dozen pairs Of sharp
eyes, accustomed to the darkness.
peered at the crew on the narrow
gauge locomotive as it followed the
rails toward a string Of cars below
the orehouse. Above doomed the CRIB
bling of the dump. Below was yawn-
ing void where the mountain fell
away at an angle of go degrees.
When the engine approached the
cars other men emerged from the
dark recesses Of the orehouses. On
the chute platform, the gallery Of the
orehouse, the bunker bin and the
cribbing, armed men looked down and
watched every movement. The ap-
proaches to the point where the cars
stood were all guarded.
The engine was expected and cross
ed the line because one of the shift
bosses stood on the step and waved
assent.
A brakeman went forward quietly
and the engine coupled onto the cars
so gently that the ore sorters in the
big room above did not hear it.
There we're five cars behind the Rio
Grande engine, loaded with ore worth
81 100000.
When everything was in readiness
the armed guards swarmed over the
cars. They sat on the pilot, In the
tender, everywhere. Then, still with
out lights, the train dropped silently
down the mountain. Just before It
passed over to the main line the
electric current was switched into the
headlight, the tail lights placed, and
the train commenced it's journey into
the mountain air Of an ideal summer
night.
There were no stops. The train
had the right of way. There were
no unusual signs at any station. No
one along the line had an intimation
that there was anything unusual In
the shipment. The fact that the
freight was .given right Of way excit-
ed no unusual comment.
The train screamed around sharp
curves, roared over the long, wooden
trestles and cautiously threaded mar
row paths gnawed out from the sides
Of the granite canyon walls of the Rio
de las Animas. The train was car
| ry1ng one of the most precious car
goes ever consigned from the San
| Juan section to the smelter at Duran
60.
Just as thin shafts of white shot up
ward like a fan in the eastern sky,
the train passed over a maze OF
switches into the dark shadows Of
a smelter
The yard engine took it to the
scalehouse. The cars were weighed
and then they were spotted in front
Of the sampler, still surrounded by
| armed men, who did not leave them
until the last ounce of ore had been
removed, under the direction of an
authorized lore watcher" who gave q
| clearance receipt to the man in
charge.
It SENS mysterious and weird, says
the Railroad Mems Magazine, but It
is done SO often in the west. Here
was the movement Of 100000 worth
OF ore from a bonanza mining camp
in Colorado, through a town literally
alive with people day and night, and
SO quietly that no one, save those
actually engaged in the work, knew
anything about it. The value of that
cargo in gold and silver bearing rock
was worth from SO cents to as much
as so pound.