The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-05-06

think that likes samples were running
pretty high. So they began ito watch
him. They couldn't find a thing wrong
except that he wore his old blue coat
right through the hottest days. Ike
was hopping the sweat from his brow
with his old red bandanna one sultry
August noon. When bee lit on his
left hand and crawed up his sleeve
An expression of agony stole into likes
one bleary eye. He squeezed the bee
through his coat sleeve, but 1t only
stung harder,
II couldn't tell you what he said
Nobody but an old-time miner would
be qualified to pass on Ike's language.
Finally, he could stand the torment OF
that singing bee no longer. He tore
off his coat, revealing the tube, and
ran for the creek tearing his shirt to
ribbons on the low-hanging branches
of the pine and spruces. The smelter
man noticed the tube when Ike took off
his coat and his little game was over,
But he had got away with $4,000 or
$4,000 which the smelter people were
never able to get back.
WeIshman Beat Smelter People.
Another old Welshman beat the
smelter company with trick about as
good. He awa Us carried a cane, and
always insisted on being present when
his ore was sa implied He had a gold
mine and he'd point that old cane at a
pile of sample ore and gesticulate
ground with it all through the process
| samplIng. And his samples assayed
a good deal higher than they should
have. One day new smelter hand
with unusually sharp eyes noticed that
old Welsh as they called him, pointed
a good deal closer with his cane as the
pile of ore got smaller He began to
suspect that cane and watch Il like a
hawk. Finally he grabbed 1t away
from the old Welsh one day. An ex-
animation showed hollow ferrnl.
which Welsh kept filled with gold dust
and used to salt the sample pile when
It got got down small
81 believe that smelling companies
got away with millions of dollars Of
miners money by the process OF
screening the ore samples The era
was crushed on a bucking board. The
bucker was run over ii until 1t was
4 w <
screened Usually rich gold ore, al
most pure gold, would crush out flat
and not go through the screen. So
the best Of a miners ore didn't go into
the sample pile at all, which was made
up of the sifted ore. OF course that
made his ore assay much lower than
1t should, and the smelling company
got the benefit of the difference
Another Clever Trick of Miners.
"Stln another trick that was worked
by miners was to take Il piece Of Bah
bit metal, lead and zinc combined and
put gold amalgam, composed OF gold
end quicksilver, al around It,
when this lump was retorted, the
quicksilver would run out, leaving
what looked like an enormous lump
of pure gold, but was actually babbit
metal with n layer of gold on the out
side. A good many Of these old-time
gold bricks were sold to jewelers., and
even bankers, in an early day,
"Samplng by machinery has done
away with the possibility of these old
cheats being pulled. The owners of ore
now looks through glass partition If
he wishes to see his ore sampled. How
ever, ! think the majority of the min
ers and the smelling companies were
honest In the old days. These cases |
have been telling you about We're just
the exceptions.
"Of course there were good many
mines sailed, II, A w. Tabor of Den
yer, once bought a sailed mine That
was back in rs. Chicken Bin, one of
the first miners to come to Leadviite,
sold the sailed mine to Tabor,
Not FToSneCE OF Valddple STS'
chicken Bin had a mine that he'd
sunk q good many feet without much
of ore He got tired of dig
cling one day and decided to sell his
mine. SO he ana his man
packed ore, which they stole from Ia
boris own mine, all one night and
next day he got Tabor to look over the
and he bought it for $500
A doy or two later Tabor met Chicken
Bin In the postoffice.
""Thought you told me there was
good ore In the mine YOU sold me I
Tabor said. "There isn't any ore at all
In that mine
"I know d. well there's ore In
that mine because l put it there my .
self" Chicken Bill said
Tabor erinned and accepted the I
joke on himself. However, he began
the shaft deeper IN the mine .
he'd bought He hadn't gone twenty
feet with his sand shaft when he
struck body Of sand carhonates Of
silver. That was the Matchless Minis
At Leadville and Tabor took $4,000, 00O
put of IT, Chicken Bin died broke, q,
Aspen They still point out his grave
a an