White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1914-05-17

neck and muscle-ridged barrel led the
dozen brown and notified mares OF
his seraglio up a silent hillside with
that eternal vigilance which, among
horses as among men, is the price OF
liberty. The hoof of the daintily-
stepping herd left hardly a mark even
where the gritty soil was free of the
age At the summit of the ridge the
horses. became SO many Borglum
statues while gazing down into the
valley of the Truckee. The stallion
had halted them when his eye picked
out a group of the enemy on the
bench above the river in the edge of
Reno. A white canvas could be seen
to fall to the ground down there and
the men could be e waving their
arms. Presently the echo of a
tremendous shouting floating up the
ridge. The enemy might be organiz-
ing a truly desperate chase. The
stallion whirled and with the mares
at his heels settled into one of those
forty-mile dashes that save the TANKS
of Nevada wild mustangs from the
branding-iron and their mouths from
the bitter taste of a bride.
The men did not pursue. None
paid much attention to the horses
except a young multi-millionaire
from New York who wondered where
their riders were. but eve he forgot
the herd rigidly posed on the sky
line when the canvas veil dropped
from the statue of his father. which
was indeed the work OF Gutzon Borg
lum. The bronze was John W. Mac
kay ONE to the Comstock again.
With the stripping OF the canvas his
face set in IN eternal stare across the
valley to Mt. Davidson from beneath
the brown rust of which he and his
companions in their day had extract
ed seven hundred million dollars in
gold and silver ore. But why should
Mackay. who knew more about that
stupendous discovery than anybody
else stare? Plainly Mt. Davidson
did not contain the answer. The
figure of John w. Mackay, brought
suddenly into the sunlight of the
University of Nevada quadrangle.
was beholding Reno. a city of twelve
thousand population. at his feet. and
stretching away to the foot of the
Washoe range the meadows, orchards
and farms which the university had
helped bring into existence to replace
the lizard-hiding sage-bursh he had
supposed to be the mask upon an
everlasting waste. No wonder John
W. Mackay leaned on the pick in his
left hand, forgot the nugget in his
right hand, and stared.
The bronze eyes swept the eeiger
grade. up which a multitude toiled
to Virginia City and down which
Hank Monk drove Horace Greeley at
breakneck speed to keep the lecture
appointment at Placerville. but his
attention must have been instantly
diverted by the whistllng of loco
motives on three separate railroads
that entered Reno. One of the whist
ling trains was just setting out for
New York with thirty carloads OF
Nevada alfalfa to be used In
putting r~ace-winning energy into the
thoroughbreds of the stable of James
X. Keene. Another train had
brought In for shipment to San Fran
cisco fat steers which not the native
bunch-grass. but this same wonder
full forage alfalfa, had run up to hve
dollars over the market. The third
train, drawn by a huge Mallet loco
motive completely made over at the
shops at Sparks. Just up the track
there. had a mixed lading of sugar
from the beet-handling factory at
Fallon. copper matte from the smelter
near Ely, gypsum, cement and wool
from the backs of Shropshires lately
introduced from the other side of the
world. Yet not even the whistling OF
such trains might long hold the
bronze ears against the sounds that
came from Immediately behind. ore
was being crushed in the Mackay
School Of Mines. The ore would be
analyzed and assayed with the same
scientific exactness hal marked the
work in the mechanical arts and cleo
trical buildings at the east side OF
the quadrangle, and the work In the
soil, seed. chemical and home econ
omics laboratories at the west side.
"Mr. Mackay has a startled look
on his face observed one OF the
spectators. Perhaps that rowing
band of wild horses up at the summit