The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1913-02-06

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"You have been a good loser; I'll put in with
you and play hundred thousand against your
claim"
The prospector lost the claim.
"Now will play you for your services tomor
row to show me where the claim is and where to
open the ore. For that will consider that you
have five thousand the table"
The prospector lost that.
The next day he traced out the lines or the
claim for the winner, who organized company
with a stock of one million, the shares OF which
went for sixteen dollars each!
Millions were taken from the mine within
few years. 1t became of the most famous
in the entire Rocky Mountain country
In the early days of the Comstock Lode, in
Virginia, Nevada men made money SO fast
that they did not know what to do with it. Those
who were not making 1t spent their time devising
ways and means to talk the others out OF por-
ton of their wealth. Gamblers were IN full evil
dence, and there were some big stakes; but IL
remained for bunch of Mexicans to play for the
largest stake on record in the United States
without the use Of cards.
One Of the many claims, located IN the midst
of the district had not shown any ore Even the
men who had millions hesitated to sink smart
on it. The people were In q fever of excitement
The Mexicans owned practically nothing. In TACT
the "greasers could not get look in" Alto
gether 1t was very discouraging-to them.
Then 1t occurred to some bright genius to
capitalize the labor of the Mexicans Gathering
q bunch of them together, 1t was proposed that
they sink shaft on one OF the well-known
claims which was twelve hundred feet in length.
For each foot you sink, we will give you a
onefoot surface interest in the claim" they were
told" provided you sink to ore"
In other words If they abandoned the work at
any time before reaching ore, they would get
nothing and the owners would have the smart.
oEodn 1xc OH wQv
The Mexcans pow-powed and tabbered at one
another for half night and then started to
work.
Everybody laughed. They were comparatively
poor men. They could Ill afford the expense they
were undergoing They drilled by hand, fought
the hard granite, and gradually lowered that
shaft. They bailed water that flowed IN SO fast
that it threatened to drown them but they stuck
to the work with desperation.
At three hundred feet they uncovered the rich
est portion OF the worldfamous silver deposit,
and from the vein they opened, more wealth was
taken out than from any other portion of that
richest single mile of ground in the world
The Mexicans' share one-quarter. Nearly
one hundred million dollars came out of the hole
they sank! 1t a gamble pure and simple.
They played for high stakes-and won.
In the Occur dAlene, of Idaho, when that min
ing region was the center Of the earth there were
some big games. The story is told Of one man
who conceived the idea that he could make
money in gambling faster than he could take II
out of the ground. 1t was so much easier With
what cash he had after selling his mine he could
count UP to one hundred and fifty Thousand
dollars.
He had evolved wonderful system.
II simply can't lose" he told his friends.
His plan was to play steadily for sixteen hours
daily, and, by complicated series OF bets, tt
retrieve when he lost.
Everything went along swimingly for the frs
few days. At times he was as much as twenty
Ave thousand to the good.
Nine days after he started top lay he suddenl!
found that he was just where he had started
he had one hundred and fifty thousand dollar
when the cards came a certain way, which woul
involve according to his system betting the en-
tire amount OH single turn" He played tn
queen to win and the tickle creature played falls
to him.
Women are the cause of all trouble, anyway.
he muttered as he rose from the table. Il ough
to have known better than that, for that was tn
queen of spades and should not have made tina
bet except when all the queens except the quee
Of hearts was out"
1t was the irony Of fate that. when the quee
that It won
In the days when Cheyenne. Wyoming, til
headquarters for the cattlemen of the northwes
gambling ran wide open. When the cowboy
came to town they made things hum None
grew ON trees The gaming spirit was In the al
dealer standing behind roulette table or
night suddenly motioned the proprietor. A fe
moments later he was paid of. It is customa,