The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-05-22

Between 80 anu ~ years ago eNety-
body in the west heard much Of "the
bad man from Bodie." There was
such man: in fact. there were a
good many of them. but there were
many good men in Bodie also. Bodies
reputation in the world was not alone
from It's bad men. 1t was a great
mining camp in its day, fabulously
rich in gold ore and ranking with
those which were second only to Nir-
ginia City and the great Comstock
lode. The Comstock was In its glory
and the adventurous spirit of the
prospector was at its height. Such
was the stimulant to search for other
Comstocks. To this day no equal has
been found. But other camps of
tremendous Importance, deserving to
be called great were found. And b.
die, at the eastern edge of California
close to the Nevada line. was among
the number.
mining. Some rich lodges were being
worked on the Mother lode in Cali
fornia. But through necessity the
great advances in quartz mining were
made on the Comstock.
In 6odie "When the Boom Was On"
The story about to be told is not Of
the prospector who found bonanza
just as the last slice Of bacon was be-
H. 80 x,rHo
credit and grub were gone and his
last powder brought the gold he was
looking for But 1t tells of one who
was in Bodie when the boom was
on" right In the thckest of it, and
an active factor in its everyday bust
ness. He made money and lots of it.
Plenty of quick money was coming
out of the ground and lots of new
money was coming into the camp.
His beginning there was without
money. but there was plenty of room
and opportunity for hustler, for b.
die was typical of the very best min
ing camps of the bonanza days.
Bodie Camp Then and Now.
The principal Of this story is an
old timer in the Occur d'Alenes, as
well as pioneer of Bodie. He is too
modest to permit his name to be
used, but some of his many friends
will recognize him. He was talking
to the writer about mining booms and
1nining camps in general, when the
latter casually mentioned some of his
own experience in recent years in
prospecting in the Bode district and
In some Of the newer and nearby
camps, for while Bodie is almost a
back number gold has been found In
late years in other parts Of the dis
trict in the porphyry bikes and in
places other than the quartz lodges
where the early corners looked SO hard
for It. And some of the old land
marks of the country were familiar to
both the newer prospector and the
argonaut
Made Money Fast.
Maybe / ought to be ashamed to
IL,
haven't got any too much to show for
it now, but it's fact that | cleaned
up net. through business enterprises
$4,000 in the first Is months Of Be-
dies history. And my start was
without capital.
1T happened this way AT this
point, the very beginning of the story
there was no Bodie so far as l knew
John Mackey then at the height Of
his great success on the Comstock,
had Just finished certain work on
some big enterprise and had on his
hands five big 14-horse freighting out
Ats. 70 animals, with trail wagons,
dunnage carts and all the parapher-
MALTA so useful in long distance
freighting over the mountains and on
the desert.
A Deal With Mackey.
IL knew him quite we'll He was
through with them and wanted them
off his hands. 1t was a good outfit,
worth money. Make me an offer.
says Mackey. 4 can't buy anything.
said l. But Mackey didn't want the
care of the outfit with no special
work for 1t, and was insistent Make
me an offer he repeated several
times Finally l said, I haven't got
$4,000 or anything near 1t, but If l
did have 1t 1t would be yours for the