The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-05-14
CHAPTER discontinued.


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"I'll have to admit" said Hilliard
dghtly, "that the odds are on the side
OF the experts. But as for the ro-
mance-" He smiled at Angela and
wondered IL he dared begin so soon to
build up the framework Of his mission.
"IVe been telling Angela that it's
mostly hard work. Once In a while
you do run into something lurid. of
course-romantic, If you want to call
II so. 1 remember one bit out of my
own experience" Angela had dropped
the papers, and was listening as close
ty as her father. "a few years ago
come friends of mine bought up an old
abandoned property out in the Butte
region; bought it for a song sand it
was very quiet peaceful little Song
at that, because metals had been dull
and to continue the metaphor-my
friends weren't in particularly good
voice just then. But after they'd TAX
en- title, they realized that they'd only
sung the first verse of the song. and
there were a lot more verses and q
pretty strenuous chorus. There was
q shaft to be unwatered and q lot of
timber-work to be done; they were in
for big expense, and their credit had
tucks In it. and the outlook wasn't any
too rosy. But thirty yards from the
main workings there was a fairish
sort Of tunnel, with the start of
wluze-thats blind shaft running
down obliquely from a horizontal tun-
Nei-and 1t pointed straight toward
the main shaft, and 1t occurred to
them that they could continue that
Wine another few feet, strike their
main shaft about the hundred and
fifty foot level and save lot Of labor
and expense that way by getting q
clean approach to the shaft instead
of taking a lot Of bother with 1t In its
decrepit condition. Well, they began
to 60 down that Wine, and inside of
ten feet they struck a brand new and
unsupported vein-there hadn't been
any outcrop showing; it was sheer,
unadulterated luck. Then they had
credlt-they certainly did To make
q long story short, they pawned their
futures, and begged and borrowed ev-
cry penny they could lay their hands
on, and they developed that property
to the last cent, and when they had
perhaps two hundred thousand or so
tons Of four per cent copper in sight,
and there were indicated ore reserves
OF another half a million tons, they
sold that property to a group of New
Workers for an utterly phenomenal
price, without ever having so much
as touched the original shaft for which
they'd bought the property"
"Ouch!" said Cullen, and "Good-
ness!" said Angela.
"And," said Hilliard, smiling remi-
Riscently. eff the original owners had
pushed that Wine for couple of days
more than they did, or If my friends
hadn't decided to go at the problem
In exactly that way well, as say.
what's one mans romance is another
mans tragedy. My friends got their
Investment back in something less than
four months, and after that 1t was vel
vet. And the selling price was in the
Geighborhood Of two hundred times
what they'd paid for it,, That's min
ing history. Mr.. Cullen" And indeed
It wss-and the only fabrication about
1t was. billiards. claim of friendship
for the lucky owners. This, as he as
sured himself, was salesman's license
every successful operator is a
'friend" Of any salesman.
Cullen nodded thoughtfully; his
eyes were bright. Angela was alter
pately regarding him with indulgent
pity, and sending I-told-you-so mes
sages to Hilliard.
"Where was this--in Montana?"
"Silyerbow county. Near Butte. |
Yes, there Is romance in that country, |
MIR. cullen It's in every tree and ev-
cry rock, and in every Hill and valley |
and under the ground. And Pm afraid |
I'm just enough Of realist to find |
most of my own under the surface"
ITO save my life," said Cullen. 81 !
can't help thinking of that region as !
O. Mark Twain sort of country-som-
breros and SiX-Shooters and Vigilantes |
and stage coach hold-ups and gold dust |
as medium of exchange. know it's !
childish, but I've never been out there, !
and it's hard to get over what we |
learned at school," He surveyed his |
yaunted garden less arrogantly; the |
fountain, which in his moments of |
complacence had all the attributes of |
"a geyser for him, was suddenly a |
feeble faucet, and the tidy lawn was
no more seductive than window-box. |
"The up-to-date schoolbooks," said
Hilliard, laughing, shave good many
lehanges in them. The West of the
learly eighties is all gone, the atmos-
phere is all gone, the old-style miners
are all gone; you used to see some pic
turesque sights even ten years ago, but
powadays you best realize how the in
dustry has changed when YOU see
couple of pals hunting for work In an