The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-05-27
THE TIN LIZZIE" TAKES
PLACE LOWLY BURRO
PROJECTORS OF THE DESERT
ADOPT MODERN MEANS
OF TRAVEL.
CW. =. DeWolf in Denver Mining
JOurnal)

CIV. l.. Dew OH IN DeuftA -AiAAA5
Journal
Someone has said that a prospector
is an optimist gone to seed. The
statement may apply with more or
less truth TO the prospector of the
past. that weather-burned taciturn
individual who plodded behind his
burro pack train over the waste places
of the west in a perennial search for
mineral wealth The statement does
not. however. synchronize with the
activities of the prospectors of the
present, who with a loaf Of bread a
jug containing something having a
KICK much stronger than wine and a
lizzie. stripped like Steptember Morn
jorneys into the Wilderness and finds
it paradise now.
Where the old timer was content TO
pace off the miles with the sand drag
ging at his heel and make dry camp
between water holes the prospector
of today covers a hundred or more
miles between daylight and dark and
beds down on the desert beside Lizzie
under the canopy of the stars. with
never a sand-blister on his foot to
give him painful reminder of the dis
lance covered The prospector of yes
terday made the grade a-foot; the
prospector of today makes il I'm an
auto. and the prospector Of tomorrow
may make it in an airplane-quien
sabe? Thus do the utilities Of yes
terday become obsolete today and
those of today pass into the discard
tomorrow
Spring on the Desert.
An of which is by way Of announc-
ing that spring has arrived on the
Nevada deseret and that the prospec-
tor is on the move
His tin automobile is skipping and
jumping over the trails with the err
ratio lateral movement of n water
bug. hitting the high places with a
bang and sithering along the courses
Of the arrows barking like a coyote
Horned toads and Lizards sclrrv from
its track to the protection of the
chanarral and bands Of wild horses
etampede for the hills at its apnroach
Pick shovel and eold-pa rattle n
harsh accomnani for its nirht
apd its ton load Of bedding and other
caron irnedimerts swavs drlnkenlv
10 the streee Of the uneven going.
PeaAirr the Stores
Tho rni~~at'on Of the nrosnecfor e'--
torHe in oil directions from hove He
ctorae in silhouette o~ainet fine el1v
1.-Two on MANY % hin ord nol,os hie
hond ~c~her-like from manv nroe-
rect hole For the most mart ne ie
rairl'- woll advanced i'm wears hut
a"e has no mower to wiiher him or 10
stale the infinite variety of his pic
t'lresoue vocabulary He is wise
old hird-one for whom the desert hos
no terrors and for whom the hills
have few secrets. He reads the min
eral signs on serrated outcrops as
readily as printed page. and braves
the unchartable desert without
thought of its sinister possibilities
He may not recognize the sermon i'm
a stone. but if it he n hit of mineral
bearing float he will trace it to its
source and tell the world that he
claims the 'vein lode or deposit" by
right of discover.
Later on he may abandon his loca-
ton for that ever-better prospect just
over the hill; but somewhere, some
time. he hits it right and proves mp a
mine. When he does. oh BOY Stil.
his celebration lacks somewhat of
the 10Y of yore now that prohibition
has made the desert more arid than
even nature intended. However. in
compensation he usually has more
coin in his pocket at the windup than
formerly.