Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1914-11-01
'ill go off and decry the whole coun-

try.
/ was at Mount Davidson in the
fall of 50; / met old man Comstock
and l. boy then, 1 knew nothing
about mining although l had the
fever. | listened to him. He did not
think enough of the claims he had to
put them on record. | met him again
about nine months later in Miners
Delight, Wyoming; he SAYS, NV boy.
l wouldn't give 10 feet of this coun-
try for all of Nevada" What a mis-
take he made.
I feel that the Congress should
have met in a mining town which
is friendly TO the mining interests.
Nine-tenths of those fellows in Phoe-
nix are in favor of taxing the life
out of a miner. At the last session
of the legislature they introduced
bills to tax all ores on dumps ana
prospects. How absurd
Years ago in prospecting about five
miles south of here L found some
plue and green stone. l put it in
mortar, pounded it up, took it to the
assayer at the mill here who assayed
1t; returns were one-half of / per
cent copper; no silver or gold. Poor
truck. Still, there was something
enticing about this rock. Some
months after | saw lady with lust
such character of stone in a brooch
on her neck. l had the impudence
to ask her pardon to ask what it was.
Why that is turquoise and it is "a
very valuable stone. I paid 1925 for
this one, it is my birth stone. The
stone in this ring surrounded by dia-
monds is worth $4,000" why my dear
madam l said, Il saw a mountain of
that kind of stone Well, saw
learned something. l kept my own
counsel, | went over and located ev-
erything that showed a color. The
wise guys said ! was crazy. | sent
some of the stone to Tiffany, New
York, George Kuntz wrote me it was
turquoise and advised sinking.
couldn't sink because l had no money.
To get someone in with money |
wrote to Denver, Salt Lake Frisco,
Boston, Philadelphia, Paris, London,
Germany, Switzerland in fact, every
where | could hear of any jewelers.
or stone cutters buying precious
stones. Every fellow. had some ex-
cuse, but wanted me to send
three or four pounds, and really,
some of them kindly offered to pay
the freight" but 1 had learned that
some of it was worth a dollar a
karat so the crazy old fool' worked
along the best he could for over
| fifteen years.
| Finally a man was sent from New
York
Have you turquoise claim, Mr.
Haas"
Yes Sir"
DO you want to sell it?'
| Yes Sir"
Can we go in and see it?"
| Yes Sir
| The next morning l saddled up both
horses and we went over the ground
He looked all over the three claims.
| What do you ask for these claims
Mr.. Haas"
We'll now, I believe You are a
square man and you know the value
of this stone better than I do; now
what will you give for it?"
He offered me $4,000 in cash and
when | signed the papers l got my
money. Then the wise guys COM
menced to blackmail me and the
man who bought it, but it did them
no good, and the crazy old fool
beat them to a fragile. Finally,
| was dubbed the turquoise king" of
| Arizona and the United States Geo
| logical Survey says ! am the dis
coverer. but that is the way it came
about.>
Thousands of dollars worth of eX-
cellent stone has been shipped out OF
| this country and today there are hun
dreds of silver, lead, gold, copper and
zinc properties waiting for some men
with sense and money to take it out.
| | have mined in Colorado, Utah, wv
oming and Nevada and l want to say
| to you in all candor that Mohave
county, with capital and the right
kind of men will lay over them all.
Trusting that l may have the plea :
sure of meeting with you at the
coming convention, I am
Very Truly. Yours
UNCLE JIM HAAS.