Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-03-03

came upon them. He declared him.
self I'm on It." He had prospected
the ground before. He was determin-
ed he would not give an inch. They
conceded him a half interest. which
he divided with his partner. That
claim afterward became the Ophir
! ground.
Its gold-bearing days were short
lived, when an assayer named Mel
vile Atwood came along. Struck by
the appearance of the black residue
from the ore, he essayed 1t and found
that 1t ran three thousand ounces In
silver to the ton. Prior to that the
search had been for gold. Now there
was stampede Within two years
Virginia City, Nevada. had popula-
ton OF thirty thousand. and the fam
GUS lode named after Comstock has
produced In gold and silver $S50,OOO.-
600. The mines burrowed down to
depth of more than three thousand
feet. and for years fought through
rain of scalding hot water under
ground
In the early 70's It began to play
out" The people were panic-stricken.
Thousands faced starvation. Then ap-
peared man who seemed to ''see
through the mountain" The great
lode had only been scratched. he de-
clared. John Mackay. with James Fair
and Messrs. Flood and O'Brien. start
| Qd m MI ha CA-eNlilataI Ea1tfrrpia
and Virginia shaft Dark days were
on the camp when that shaft went
deeper and deeper without revealing
an indication Of ore. Just as the night
was BLACKLIST. and the people filled
with despair the bottom of the Con-
solidated shaft punctured the top Of
the greatest bonanza ever recorded
in history. Stocks scared. The hopes
of the people revived. Virginia City
was bedlam of excitement. Millions
two years the Consolidated paid dlvi-
dends at the rate of s2.000.000 a
month
The Chicken and the Professor.
| n CuiChcn was luc dCCiucHtdl ucdHS
of hating a party of gold hunters, at
point which afterward became a
great city, and the center of the most
remarkable mining discoveries ever
known.
A group of Georgia miners stopped
on the banks of sandy creek in west
ern Kansas. New Years day. 1859.
They had some poultry with them
which they turned loose for few
days. They killed one. and In clean
ing 1t small gold nugget was found
In the crop.
Instantly a town was born. The
men were from Auraria. Georgia. and
they gave that name to the new place.
The stream was called Cherry Creek.
They PANIED up and down and within
few weeks so many trains OF prairie
schooners had stopped there that
quite a community had been estab-
llshed. The Pixies Peak boom was on
From Leavenworth the world had
been notified. There were saloons,
gambling houses. dance halls, all the
indulgences Of mining town. when
the placer began to wane. The rush
crowded the village. But the supply
Of gold was scant. Wagons labeled
pixies Peak or Bust" came in daily
Some assembled the peak-seventy-fiv
miles to the southland II they could
have found the man who started the
rumor there would have been hang
ing.
Then John Gregory PANIED down
the creek to the Platte, and followed
II to its confluence with Clear Creek
Here he obtained better "colors" He
ascended this stream thirty miles to
the point where 1t forked. He PANIED
the gravel on each side. and selected
} the North Fork. The next day he
lifted painful OF gravel from a gulch
} that will forever bear his name. The
rush that followed changed the name
of Auraria to Denver. and divorced
from Kansas and Utah enough terri
tority to create Colorado The people
were gold mad.
I w. Green Russell. another Georgian
went into the next gulch. and almost
: the same day that Gregory struck
IT," George Jackson. who had reached
I the South Fork of the same creek by
, crossing the mountains. added another
district
The gold came so fast that the gov.
. eminent ordered a mint erected at
t Denver in 1861. Then evil days fell on
the new camp. The free" gold dis
! appeared 1t was now held In the
, clasp of iron and sulphur and would
+ not yield. Thousands faced ruin
Not one. but several cities had beer
! built in the mountains. Denver had
( grown by leaps and bounds. The
I people were in panic. A mass meet
: ing was called. 1t was gloomy crowd
? that assembled All agreed that some
! thing should be done. But what?
> "Send for Professor Hill" shouted
' a man in the rear Of the room.
: who Is Professor Hill?' asked ths
. | chairman