The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-02-03

terests of the people most directly af
fected by the law. There is just nov
a vast tendency abroad in our land t
Jump at the conclusion that any ney
thing is better than the old, simpl,
because 1t is new and strange Horac
said 1.-THE unknown is always great!
A far more business like and reason
able attitude to assume would be t.
look upon innovations with tentativ,
suspicion, unless 1t is manifestly an(
clearly right and better than the old.
we all think we know who the gen.
eraf public is, and that it must be-
suspected" goes without saying; bu
who is the prospector? Who is the
miner? Surely, they are the people
most directly affected; but what OF
them? The people of the eastern and
middle states are wholly innocent OF
any knowledge regarding the question
who is the prospector," his business
or his life! But who, in fact, is this
prospector, what is his business, any
way, on this planet we call our home?
True. the Rockies" can not boast
the venerable antiquity of the Allie
ghanies or the Adirondacks with
whose shrunken frames lowered peaks
and rounded shoulders, these stalwart,
rugged, and youthful forms of the
Rockies" stand out in comparison as
a mere child of yesterday; but, if true,
as we are assured by great astronom-
ers and biologists, that all dry land
must, in the dim future, be eroded
down, washed away, and transported
to the bottom of the sea; and this
planet we call our home once more
becomes a waste of waters" then
surely, long after the old Blue Ridge
and the hills around Hudson Bay have
sunk beneath the wave, our Rockies"
will still tower in lofty altitude dar-
ing the second coming of "the flood"
And in the meantime the prospector
must find" for mankind the natural
mineral wealth hid away in the
"Rockies"-that's his business!
The United States geological survey.
existing for more than forty years, at
an expense of untold millions, has
never discovered mine, nor uncover
ed pound of ore!
Who is this person, the prospector?
Mr. Pinchot, and his kind, believe him
to be one who mounts his automobile
laden with quail on toast and cold bot
ties, salles into the forest reserve"
and when he wakes from his stupor in
the morning, promptly plants his
stake" on a Camp Bird, United Verde,
or Comstock lode, and forever after
enjoys the "unearned increment
when, by rights, it should have been
divided among the balance of US, share
and share alike!-or, far better still, |
the proceeds of the mine to be used to
defray the magnificent salaries of the |
bureaus political forest rangers, whose
sole duties, when they have any, are
the collection of rents" and bills"
and driving prospectors "out" and
"off" the forest reserves"
But who are these persons, the
spectors-clothed in legend rather
soft raiment?
The moss-grown ruins of their low
" cabins lie strewn under the hills
,ilent tokens of the battling disap-
pointment of intrepid pioneers. They
are the blood and sinew which prom
Use long life to this republic!
There is an old axiom often quoted
ins mining circles, that "prospectors
are not miners" This is only too true,
though quite contrary to the public's
Illusion in that respect. Prospectors,
as a rule, are ignorant as the Twelve
Apostles. If they had not been pros
pectors, they would have been hunt
ers, trappers, fishermen, pearl divers
or soldiers of fortune! History re-
cites how, in the year 1725, Liberto
VOTERS, a Swede from Stockholm,
leased the great Rio Tinto mines OF
Spain from the crown-having previ-
ously made a fortune practicing his
as a pearl diver in Vigo
Bay.
True, the prospector's perpetual
IDEAL is in one short campaign to make
an everlasting fortune Short cam
paign and everlasting fortune-sounds
all right but it is a rare bird, visits us
seldom, and halls from parts unknown.
In Its movements 1t might be likened
to Halleys comet, which appears in
the sky once in about 76 years. From
many points of view this world Is
small but IL one sets out to prospect
for things golden in the rock-ribbed
he will soon be found ex- I
claiming: this is very large world!
There is surely room for all to pros
oect!
Though seldom successful in his
he prospects million acres
1f the public domain, and hews
thousand caverns in the mountain
sides In his laudable efforts to dis
cover the natural mineral resources
If our country, and increase his own
and the nations available wealth. He
prospects a thousand places where he
never locates a claim. He locates
claims which he never taxes