The Ronan pioneer., 1917-06-15

he scrutinized it carefully and finally
put it all in a couple of gold pans.
Then he went out and got three or
four good sized boulders from the
channel of the creek and put them in
the fire which was blazing in the
fireplace.
"What's that for?" inquired Rich.
"Wait and see," replied Hoover.
"I"ve seen worse looking gravel than
this, and I'm going to wash it,
"There isn't any water and you'll
have to wait till morning to chop a
hole in the ice," said Rich, land,
anyway, who ever heard Of prospect
ing in a cabin? The colors / found
last fall were half mile below here. -
But Hoover went right ahead with
his preparations, saying nothing. He
found a wooden tub and filled it full
of snow. Then he raked out the hot
boulders and but them in the tub.
After adding sne several times he
soon had a tub full of water. Then
he took Que of the pans of gra |
that came from where his bed po is
stood and began washing it out in
the tub. When the pan had been
washed down by Hoover's skillful
full hands, it yielded dust that weigh
ed out $40 in gold.
Rich, who had never seen so rich
a strike, was wild with excitement
and joy. i.
"What are our workings worth,
Jake?" he inquired.
"Well," said Jake, who had made
too many big strikes to get stirred up
1,;o c1, II
per claims would sell tomorrow for
100000.
'I couldn't get the son-of-a-gun to
sleep wink that night" complained
Jake the other day in narrating this
incident.
Jake Loses as Usual.
But as usual, the strike did Jake
no good. Rich proved ungrateful
and before spring came he was
scheming to beat Jake out Of his
share of the strike. He did this, Jake
claims, by selling a half interest to
some men in Deer Lodge, and things
were so manipulated that Jake found
himself on the outside of the deal.
The strike that will make Jake
Hoover's name live forever was his
discovery of the famous sapphire
mines in Fergus county, which have
since he located them in 1895, yield
ed millions to their owners.
Jake had a cattle ranch on the
South Fork of the Judith river, but in
the summer and autumn months he
used to do good deal of prospecting
One day in early summer he saddled
up his best horse and packed another
one for long trip, for he intended
to journey over to the Helena coun'
try to look for a lead he had once
run across in early days, when quartz
mining was oft n too expensive
process to be profitable and the pros
pector preferred placer strike. lr
the afternoon he crossed Yogo creek
which is the north fork of the Judith
that he decided to camp for the nigh
in an old log cabin. The next morn
ing it was fine and warm again, ant
Jake felt that he should get an early
start and push on while the weather
was good. But somehow he had
"hunch" to do some prospecting
along the creek, his instinct telling
him that, because there were grea
many gulches running out into the
creek in that vicinity, he was likely
to find that gold that came from
some of them. So he took his PAL
and started to wash gravel along tht
rims.
Strikes Sapphire Mines.
The first few pans yielded nothing
but stray color or two, and he wal
just about to quit and make anothe'
start on his journey, when his ey'
was attracted by some small BLU
pebbles, smooth and transparent, il
the tailings of his pan. He picket