The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-08-06
The Prospector of the Desert


George Wharton james in Chapter
20 of his work, entitled, 1.-The Wonder.
Of the Colorado Desert" gives an ex'
tremely vivid picture of a certain type
of prospector, following this descrp-
ton with the common sense advice
given by one of a different type. We
think this is rather interesting ma
terial
And in the dry times what will not
a man drink? oh, you city dwellers
who must have dis,iiec water ana
Apolinaris and Shasta and iced
drinks, just think once Of the poor
prospector at an akali pool! Stagnant
dirty, full of filth, a standing place for
animals and fearful night creatures,
bitter, salt--yet that is all he can get.
1t Is lukewarm and sickenng. And
what encourages him through all these
trials? He hopes to strike it rich.
He has what the phrenoiogist wouln
term a well developed organ of hope.
He is imaginative. He sees visions
He dreams dreams. He doesn't look
like an ideaist; his hands are horny,
his nails untrimmed and black border
ed, his hair and beard unkempt, and
II he ever shaved no one would now
know it. His eyes seem ever bent
downward to the earth, and his lips
are as thick and sensuous as his eyes
are dull and heavy.
Yet he is dreamer. He can see
in this inhospitable barren plains or
these dreary, sandy deserts or these
rough and rugged slopes, pockets of
the precious metals. He can see his
pick discovering them, and then, in
succession, the shaft, the drift, the
stope, the bonanza, the mill, the bricks
of precious metal and the hoard at
the bank He sees his wife in silks,
satins and diamonds, riding in her
carriage drawn by fiery horses driven
by livered coachmen; or himself in an
automobile with a French chauffeur
He sees a brownstone front with
lackeys innumerable, and table COW
cred with finest linen set forth with
cut glass and silver and loaded with
every delicacy the markets afford
Who sits at the head there? Who
moves about in this lordly mansion,
20 cent cigars and giving or
1ers with consciousness of power and
right? Who saunters into the library
% meet distinguished guests or to
greet the flower of society in the par
or or drawing room? 1t is he, the
dreamer, the prospector the burr.
iriver, the eater of flapjacks and ba-
ION, the sleeper under the stars, the
'helterless wretch of the storm.
"Ah. there is an allurement in these
lreams that exercises such a power
If fascination over minds as renders
weak the bewitching enchantment of +
| Lorelei or the singing f the sirens. |
"Once let man yield and his course !
If life Is cut out for the whole of his i
lays Should he strike it rich his
lreams will come true. He sees the
lark mines Of the Verde at Jerome.
lie remembers the Copper Queen, the
anaconda the Comstock.
But, alas, should he be taken i'll! h
Who is there out in tat forsaken i
lace to care for him? He tries his .
nipple remedies. in his extremity tries
CRIBS the India1j have shown him how .
D use. He is too weak to gather
FOOD. to go for water to light fire ]
lie grows weaker day by day Now {
nd again he faints and the hours fly
asst and he wakens, parched with /
ever and the deadly glare of the un-
sun. His burro wanders !
II forgotten, the rats and other YER t
lin come and watch. The timid liz {
rds even approach nearer The cot t
'ntals look on with great brown, I
1uid eyes, and even the dread of the +
esert, the rattlesnake, comes and t
ills upon his breast, starting with f
lrprise when the yet alive wretch d
axes some meaningless movement in .
s pain. The hours pass. The dark Il
Ass of night follows the brilliancy of h
e day Still he lies, but he moves d
IT. The lizards run over his face and n
) makes no stir, the rats knaw at his q
our sack and he hears them not O.
lere is Tapping Of wings heard a
owe, and a great black, bald headed W
I'd with hdeous beak and great II
cary eyes swoops down upon him Isl
d dreams and dreamer are at an 81
d. =,
Il once asked an old ana experienced al
ospector what advice he had to Of L
to those who thought of going on ca
the desert in search of the precious ge
tails. His immediate response was, VI
III them to stay at home He then al
ltinued: TO be a good prospector led
man must be well prepared in be
'iety of ways. He must be able
~