Gilpin observer., 1914-05-21
/ TIE PRospacIoR ! &
|. AND HIS BURRO Z N
(salt Lake Mining Review

(Salt Lake Mining Review
Il see that you draw the line on
SOAP" said the prospector to his
burro, when you investigate the con-
tents of the garbage heap back of
the Mulligan Stew restaurant, al
though you seem to derive nourish-
ment from every other fragment con-
stituting the heap. But, for all you
know, the soap may be as palatable
as is the hash for which this grub
house is so notor:ously noted, and
you consume the latter as If 1t were
peaches and cream, or a bang-up
strawberry short-cake. You seem to
be somewhat offended at my remarks
which you insinuate are little too
personal, and have nothing to do with
mining; and that you have as much
right to select what you eat as the
prospector has to throw over the
dump the kind of rock, which does
not look good to him and which, in
all possibility, may. be the pick ore
of the mine. The soap, you say,
does not look good to you, although
it may be mighty nourishing to some
people, such as clay-eating southern
ers; while the prospector, if he
throws away pay rock because he is
not used to it, and hasn't brains
enough to test it and try it out, is
within his rights as a sovereign and
self-governed individual, and no one
has right to call him down for what
he has done or to hold him up to
ridicule.
Perhaps you are right in your di-
agnosis of the proposition continu
ed the prospector, but l want to
tell you that there are other commod-
tiles besides gold, silver, copper and
lead to be found in the great noun
tain ranges of the west, some of
which are more valuable than dia-
monds, more costly than rubies; and,
believe me, it is the wise prospec.
tor who makes an effort to deter
mine the character and value of ev-
cry strange unfamiliar rock or forma-
tion he may run into, for, possibly
it may contain something rare and
almost priceless; such, for instance,
as the carnotite ores existing in num-
erous localities, and which have been
neglected and ignored for many years
because the prospector considered
them worthless and in the same class
with shale beds and lodges of bull
quartz. But, to get back to the soap,
and this is not for the purpose of
harrassing your feelings again; none
whatever. but only for the purpose
of making a proper start in telling
the story l had mapped out for you.
Some ten or fifteen years ago a
prospector stopped over night with
me at my camp in the Black Pipe
range. He said he had NO hot air to
distill and that he had left his bull
hitched down at the corral. But, he
was somewhat excited, nevertheless,
and after We had disposed of our mil
4
the pockets of his hunting coat a
mass of stuff which looked like
cream -colored mud and asked me to
examine it. 1t looked like the gum
bo stacked up on the brake blocks
of Jim Sullivan's ore wagons after he
had crossed over the blue river bot
toms, except for color, and 1t hard
ly appeared eatable. / smelled it.
but there was no odor. and there was
no indication of its being mineral
bearing. / thought it might be man.
ufactured into cement. but Bill, the
prospector, said mo-. Then he told
me that he had twenty-foot deposit
of the stuff short distance below
his camp, and that he had always be-
lieved the measly-looking material to
be Of no more value than a clay
bank in cornfield. One day, how
ever, just after rain, he had occa-
sion to cross the deposit, and he
accumulated several pounds of the
mud on his No. los before getting
to his cabin. The stuff was hard to
get off, and he finally put his boots
into a bread pan full OF hot water.
Then he started to wash them, and
the lather he raised nearly filled the
cabin. This hybrid stuff said Bill,
is nothing more than natural soap,
and l propose that we go in as pards
and begin the manufacture Of soap,
you to furnish the necessary capi-
tai. for know you always have a
cheerful bank account, while fur
nish the material, and we will work
together
"Well, the upshot Of 1t was that
we began preliminary arrangements,
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