Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1920-01-03

was vital to the success of the enter. prise. Brougher's interest made him la millionaire. For several years he has lived luxurious life in Califor- mia.
 In October the men set out with a few tools and cooking utensils, bed ding and a water barrel. Reaching the scene of the discovery, they start ed work on a small seam of ore from which they extracted two tons. Then | it pinched. They made two trips out with the ore, hauling one ton to Aus tin and one ton to Eureka for ship ment. They then returned to the prospect, this time with a windlass, determined to sink in the hope of find ing more ore. In grading out for the windlass they uncovered the real Mig pah vein, five feet in width. Winter had come on and the weather was bit terly cold. They had no tent and not much food. Without hay or grain, the horses were "hobbled" and turned loose to rustic from the sparse bunch grass. They often wandered far afield and Oddie, being the youngest of the trio, undertook the job of rounding them up. While not engag- ed in chasing the horses, hauling water, cooking, etc., he worked in the shaft. Finally came check from the smelter for the two tons of ore, $6OO per ton, which renewed their courage and gave them something with which to sustain life.
 News of the rich strike spread quickly and early in 1901 men from the outside reached the new Ell De- rado. Leases were let, new discover ies were made, rich ore was sent to the smelters and the boom was on. Probably never in the history of min ing was big venture, such as this quickly became, handled in such sim pie fashion. Butler let out the leases, pacing off the distance and setting up rude stakes or monuments of rock to mark the boundaries. There was, in the words of the Indian, mo paper talk"-no formal documents-merely a verbal lease and a notation made by Butler in little red note book that block No. so and so had been leased to so and so. Oddie was the office man and to him, Butler made report. The job grew into big proportions and the work became onerous. Freight ing teams flocked to the camp and at one time 90 head of horses aSd mules were engaged in hauling ore to Soda vile, a distance of 65 miles, the near est railroad point. Sodaville was an old mining center and supply point on the narrow gauge Carson & Colo rado Springs railroad, and was poorly equipped to handle ore. At one time there were 130 leases in operation, shipping all the way from few tons to carloads of ore; and these leases had numerous partners, whose inter ests in some instances were based up- on the time at which they became partners. Oddie billed all the ship ments, looked after the smelter re- turns, received the money and divided it, paying the teamsters, subtracting the royalties and then dividing the money among the lessees in propor. tion to each mans interest. He had no modern office equipment, no ad- ding machine, ,nor even typewriter, and no clerical help. He did the work alone and without remuneration. And so well was the business administer ed that in a full year of leasing op- erations there was never dispute over boundaries, or shipments or returns. In contrast with the usual custom cf handicapping lessee when he devel- oped good shoot of ore, Oddie. en- couraged the boys and advanced them money so that they could employ min CTS and get out as much ore as possi- ble.
 "Cal" Brougher came down from Montana at the behest of his brother, Wilse, and the two took lease, which made them good money. Other big producers were the Lynch -O'Meara lease, the Cutting and the Douglass McQuillen. Near the end of 1901 the mine was sold to Philadelphians who organized the Tonopah Mining com pany and built the Tonopah and Gold field railroad. New discoveries were made and the camp grew into large proportions.
 Shortly after his arrival Cal Brougher opened a place of refresh ment at corner where the trail from the lease joined with struggling line of tents and rough buildings, named Main Street" The four story Mizpah hotel now occupies this cor ner and Brougher owns stock in the hotel company. With Oddie he took over the Belmont, prospect that was unfavorably considered, which they succeeded in financing. Out of their efforts grew the great Belmont mine. 
 Under a new scale recently put in- to effect by the United States rail