Gilpin observer., 1914-05-07

THu aMo Pz9ssu1TSa$ 4,s svsSo ! @ ,
(Salt Lake Mining Review


II notice in many of the leading
mining publications" said the pros
pector to his burro, chat much space
is being devoted to the discussion
as to the reason why there has been
such decline in prospecting dur
ing the past few years, and that
quite number who are airing their
views on the subject, give it as their
opinion that practically all of the
big surface veins and deposits have
the day of the old-type of prospector
has been relegated to the dim and
shadowy past, and that hereafter
prospecting will be carried on upon
scientific basis; meaning that, in
the future, prospecting will be done
with the aid of a field glass, from
the hurricane deck of an automobile
or while riding through the mountains
in Pullman car.
Il generally am feeling in robust
health most of the time" continued
the prospector, but when / read a
lot of 'tommyrot' like this l feel a
pain in my solar plexus, which term,
being properly translated, means in
the 'bread-basket', and then, too,
| feel real bad for those who have
| been led to believe that all of the
big surface mines have been discov-
cred, when there are isolated areas,
as big as some states, in some of
the vast regions of the west, where
the hand of man has never set foot
and where other Comstocks, other
Silver Kings, and other Bunker Hills
will yet be found, and, without a
question Of doubt, great discoveries
will yet be made in mining districts
which have been mined and pros
pected for years; and it will be the
old-time prospector who will make
these finds instead of the scientific
man, and it is more than likely that
a patient old-style burro will be pack
ing his kit for him while he is max
ing it.
THE time has not come yet." con-
tinued the prospector "and will not
come for a hundred years or more,
when the prospector and his burro
will be crowded out of the mining
game. Financial conditions and the
very puerile attitude of the govern
ment regarding patent applications,
during the past few years, may have
had the effect of limiting our ac-
tivities for a period; but don't you
think, for a minute, that the old
time prospector is a perishing race;
none whatever. And, what Is more,
just let US have cycle of good
times once more and more favorable
and just mining legislation, and you
will see the hills as full of prospec-
tors as they were just after Tonopah
and Goldfield were discovered.
i"And as for the country having
been thoroughly prospected, there Is
nothing to 1t, and l am willing to
wager a tommyknocker against a
power drill that / can go into any
old camp in this western country and.
by careful prospecting, find a body
of pay ore In localities which have
been over-run by mining men for a
score of years, or more. You think
this would be good joke. and state
that such a discovery would tickle
you as much as If you were to meet
up with that old outlaw of jack of
yours in the hills, Unexpectedly.
But, do not doubt or question my alb
ility to do just what ! have said
could do, for 1t is not more than five
years ago that ] pulled down the jack
pot on a similar proposition.
"At the time speak of had been
out in the hills for month or more
when, one day, stumbled into an
old mining camp that had been prac-
tically deserted. This camp had been
hummer in its day and It's mines
had paid millions to their owners.
but had become practically exhaust.
ed. 1t was an old silver camp and
no one had thought Of looking for
gold-bearing lodges In the vicinity.
The first night bunked in with an