The copper era and Morenci leader., 1917-01-12
IS
 PROFESSION


 Is prospecting a business, a pro- fession, an art or recreation? Per taps it partakes a little of all of these characteristics, but it has an individuality of it's own which gives it a not inartistic distinctiveness,s says the Leadville Herald-Democrat. Min ing is matter-of-fact business that lends itself neither to romance nor sentimentality, in spite of the de- Eghtful stories told by the moving pictures, and the marvellous flights of fancy of those who draw pictures of mining camps from their eastern viewpoint. The gentlemen of imag- inative turn of mind who sometimes write prospectuses may seek to cover the mining business with the glamour of golden profits that are too often fanciful than real. But we all know that mining itself is a hard pursuit in which imagination has little play and which is constantly down to the hard pan of dollars and cents.
 But mining had to have some ideals. some phases apart from the strictly bus mess side, and yet with dash of the practical, and that is why the, prospector has always played such a picturesque part in the history of the lgreatE industry of the west. It is bis. figure. that the artist draws, and bis. thoughts and, emotions, aspirations, and dreams that the poet sings. l Prospecting is an instinct, not a business. The man, who comes to the hills does; so in response to a call the, call to adventure, to the life that } is near. to. nature, and to the rainbow dream of the future. The old breed \ that left the. cities and the farms for the trackless west is now all gone, and prospecting since the days of the
 railroad is largely an incidental mat Ater in the life of the practical mining
 man. Why should one-.go into the A mountains with a hurro. when one lean reach. the most promising sec H tiens in a. Pullman car, or carry a II frying pan and side. of bacon in the
 tonneau of a super=six2 x After all, this search for indications of ore, for traces of veins, for mineral possibilities of any description, must
 be based on Knowledge of geology or mineralogy. The old prospector
 followed few well known rules. He knew his blossom rock" and his out Elerop. He spent much of his time in banning the gulches for placer indi-
 cations and he was more frequently
 in the early. day resorts where men do i 1congregate to interest the tenderfoot
 in his claim or to secure the much
 coveted grubstake to develop his
 ground or to engage in further pros 'lpecting.
 One would like to see more young nien take to the business of prospect ing, and give it the necessary stand ing and responsibility as distinct
 and definite line of endeavor. Why
 should there not be a profession
 known as ''prospect-engineering de- 1 voted to the work of discovering and locating mineral ground? The Col
 orado School of Mines has already
 realized the importance of this work
 by offering course of instruction in
 prospecting, designed :. to equip the
 student with the elementary but spe-
 cialized knowledge necessary to know
 some of the secrets of the hills We
 find men who devote themselves to
 the work of developing and operating
 mines, others who plan or manage
 all kinds of ore dressing plants.
 These men take. the proposition after
 the ore has been discovered Why
 mot lift prospecting out of the clouds
 of myth and mere spicturesqueness,
 and dignity it as a distinct profes
 sion? ssa