The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-11-13
A LIVE BUT
SOBER MINING CAMP
SARSAPARILLA, GINGER ALE
AND LIKE BEVERAGES TAX
EN- BY MINERS

A Virginia Chronicle correspond
ent writes from Oatman, Ariz., as fol-
lows:
This is the most Wonderful min
ing camp in the world; it has no
morning after" A husky miner,
gaunt thanked and deep of chest says
Come on. Jim, let's have an ice
cream soda Put that picture along
side one of old Arizona or one of the
Nevada camps. After having known
the old an seen the new there will
be no chance for p~essimism; that
kind is infinitely better. The mel
line up at the health office, which
has all the crystal and mahogany
effects of a saloon, and someone
says, step up, fellows. and name
your licker.' This one says: oh.
ginger ale Others take a stiff look
ing drink which is sarsaparilla and
you hear them call frequently for a
Bryan highball.'
The several hundred miners on
the payrolls put their money in tue
savings bank or buy stock. 1t is an
unfortunate citizen who hasn't some
~ornately engraved paper at home
The young fellow who waits on you
and called Make it two, with the
sunny side up is merely engaging
in this diversion of serving you n
til his stock makes him rich. He
somewhat at his work, but
that may be forgiven. He has .
number of locations and says he
would turn down an offer running
into five figures.
This is a camp which assays lOO
per cent in confidence. An illustra-
ton. There are. as has been men
toned, about 1900 people here. n
the cemetery, which is girded Win
an iron railing presumably to dls-
courage business is 16 feet square.
If that isn't optimism what wouia
you call it? Though the click OF the
ivory balls Is not heard in the land
and no croupiers to call Get your
money down in time. boys thong
the only red liquor is grape juice and
thew haven't even temperance beer;
though there are no hips bulginS
with hardware, and cards are used
for no more reckless diversion than
casino, this is a live picturesque
camp.
How about the mines? Twelve
hundred people in the camp when
is receiving a%ccretion of population
at the rate of perhaps 80 a day, all
are talking about mines, orebodles'
strikes. shafts, high-grade, and the
other paraphernalia that litter up
the linguistics of mining. Even the
children in the streets are chatter
ing about porphyry bikes and the
certainty of Pa becoming a millioa-'
aire against the Christmas holidays.
The beauty about this mining dis
trict, the people tell you, is that ore
bodies are big and you don't get
into the stuff until you go deep. It
isn't a sensational camp in II way;
that is, a %prospector can't go mosey-
ing out into the hills, accidentally
stumble over a piece of rock and find
that he has kicked loose quartz sim
ply studded with gold and exclaim:
I'VE struck it rich HOoray! I'm
worth a Million Nothing like that
here. But when you've got it. it's
there, and it doesn't peter out. And
the deeper you go, the better it is.
They say that one mine has $1,000
600 worth of ore in sight.
"Oatman is not only remarkable
for it's sobriety, the absence of rough
ness, gambling and the incidental
fictitious prosperity which these con
ditions give, but also in it's reason
able prices. No one is trying to hold
any one else up. Meals, lodging.
merchandise and freight rates are
reasonable.
With hundreds of the most promi-
nent mining operators in the United
States now in the Oatman field, de-
velopment work is well under way
and fully 35 companies are now
pushing operations in this section
The United Eastern mine continues
to Ne the big sensation in the dis
trict. In the last crosscut on tine
535-foot level oxidized ore running
S2,1OO per ton was encountered