The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-03-29

field the other day.
my feet" he answered with
smile, and lest the reply might have 6
sassy sound, Immediately added:
Il walked most of the way"
WAS it long Walk"
Some two hundred and fifty miles,
replied the millionaire mining man
I'VE had thousand head of cattle
In southern Oregon, and we had &c
get them to Winnemncca to ship them
to Colorado That was twenty years
ago, and there were not the rail ia
cilities we have now. So we drove
the cattle. There were fourteen of us
and ii took us three months to make
the trip. 1t was hard work. or course
we weren't going all OF that three
months. You can't drive cattle too
hard and keep them fat. Twenty five
miles day is about the limit, and
too much Of that pace would ruin your
herd. When we came to good grazing
we laid over for few days and fat
tened the cattle up. Sometimes it was
long ways between water holes, and
then the cattle suffered and so did
We. Adventures? No, we didn't have
any adventures; only hard work.
Hard work isn't an adventure"
And when you got to Nevada you
stayed there?"
YES" answered Wingfeld, land I've
been there ever since"
Although George Wingfield is a
southerner--he was born in Fort
Smith, Ark, in lS76-his life since his
boyhood has been the life of the ex-
IRENE west The elder Winglield en-
gagged in the cattle business In Ore
gon, and the younger Winglield be-
came a vaquero. or, to give 1t the pro-
nunciation peculiar to the northern
ranges, a "buckaroo." The stamp of
the "buckaroo" is on George Wingfield
In his talk, except when he is cutting
a steer out of a herd, and then he
uses a great deal Of bad language. but
no blasphemy. And the buckaroo is
extremely reserved in his demeanor
toward strangers, but when he comes
to know you and to approve Of you he
will pick out a good horse for you to
ride and even, as a very special favor,
lend you his favorite bride. The
buckaroo despises a coward, and also
despises a boaster; if there is any
thing which will make him blush,
aside from the ordeal of asking a pref
ty girl for the next dance, it is TO hear
any admiring reference made to his
courage George Wingfeld has these
typical buckaroo traits; the soft voice,
the reserved manner the personal
modesty. Twenty years in the mining
camps of Nevada did not deprive him
of them. The accumulation of a huge
fortune did not alter him a bit.
Another buckaroo characteristic is
strength of friendship. When a buck
aroo makes friend he keeps him:
when he picks out a pal, it's for life.
II you do not think that millionaire
with q great variety of mining bank
ing agricultural and industrial inter-
ests can preserve this simplicity of
attachment to his old "bunkies," just
observe George Wingheld during on::
of his frequent trips to this city.
When he comes here he puts up at the
st. Francis hotel. The press an
nouncement Of his arrival brings out
lot of his old-tme comrades. Some
of them are prosperous cattle men or
miners; some of them are down-and-
cutters. But wealthy or broke, most of
them are not used to the grandeur of
q hotel like the St. Francis. Many of
them will not enter the hotel at all.
They send word to Wingfeld, and he
meets them on the sidewalk. Some,
more venturesome, pluck up sufficient
hardihood to invade the lobby. Rarely
do they get as far as the big red rug.
Generally they take one startled look
at the gilded ceiling and sink into the
chair nearest the door and wait there
patiently until Wingfeld makes his
appearance. This is the regular course
of events whenever Wingfeld is at the
st. Francis; it has been observed
with interest by the students of hui
man nature who frequent that hos
terry These observers have noticed
that George Wingfield was never too
busy to entertain one of those rough
pals Of his.
1t was in 1897 that Wingfeld drove
that herd of cattle into Nevada and
decided to stay in the sagebrush.
What money he possessed was put in
to copper mine at Goconda That
money never came out. Finding him.
self broke, George Wingfield did the
best he could, meanwhile making a
study of mines and mining The gold
en- year 1901 found him in Tonopah
acquiring claims and mining stocks.
And then he went to Goldfield. Wing
field had studied the Nevada mining
situation to such good effect that he
was able TO forecast the future Of
Goldfield when Goldfleld's greatness
was still in the making. He bought
mining properties there, and when he
couldn't buy he leased. One of the
mines he leased was the great Flor
ence mine, whose amazing yield Of