The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-04-14

Mining JOurnaD
Cabinet representation Cor the
prospectors has been attained in the
selection of Albert Bacon Fall as sec
rotary of the interior This depart
ment has jurisdiction over practically
all work done by the government in
the interest of mining. The new
secretary has worked in and has op-
Grated metal mines, is an experienced
prospector. and is closely abreast
with the needs of the industry. He
promises to leave nothing undone
within his power to relieve the de-
preston now gripping mining Sec
rotary Falls first mining experience
vas in Mexico. From bOyhood the
role of prospector had appealed to
HIM, so at the age of twenty One,
with such knowledge of mining as he
could acquire from books he ventur-
ed into Mexico. That was in 1882. He
began at a mine near Moves Zacate-
cas-, where for three years he worked
as a mucker. as a timberman and as
foreman. He served his apprentice
sup vi TIC lOloA anu III lllt ODtIdtlOu
of pumps. He sorteS ore, built roads
and sharpened drills. When the Mex
lean Central, in 1884. ran its first
through train from Mexico City to El
PasO. young Fan returned to the
United States with enough practical
experience, he believed. to undertake
operat ton on his own account Dur
ing 1885. 1886 and 1887 he prospected
through the back range of the Sierra, /
in Grant county n NJ. He located
number of properties and undertook
the development Of several While in /
Mexico he had acquired some pros
poets in that country and these he |
developed with the aid of associates. /
together with his New Mexico activ- |
tiles Finally in 1907, he sold his I
holdings in Mexico. In discussing his /
mining experience Secretary Fail said .
that there are numerous monuments
to bad fortune in the wake of his mi
ming experience. but he admitted that
there are a few monuments to good
fortune as well.
one of the prospect holes which Mr.
Fan dug came near being his grave. !
He was doing a little single-hand /.
hammer work in the bottom of a 25-
FOOT shaft while his partner was
loisting the used drills. One of these
slipped through hole in the raw
hide bucket and landed on Mr.. Falls {
lead. The resulting injury was a ,
evere one and even yet he carries a i
conspicuous scar as a reminder Of c
his episode.
Twice during his experience IN e
ieXico Mr. Fall barely escaped death.
y lille exploring an old Spanish m
Working bad air was encountered by u
wo of his Mexican workmen One p
managed to reach the surface more i,
cad than alive but he was unable to o
ring out his companion. Thereupon :,
Ir. FAN went into the hole himself if
'und his workman at the bottom of v
Wine and managed to carry him up f,
ne chicken ladder and the crude II
'adway to the surface His heroism f.
as in vain as it developed that he b.
nd brought a corpse out of the mine. Z,
he other narrow escape he had in o,
exico resulted from the proclivity r
chicken ladders to turn over In e1
dentally. Secretary Fall does not m
ink mich of chicken ladders. Mr. &C
Ill was born in Frankfort. KY, No III
mber 26- 1861. His father was Will bs
m Fall who was member of the Fl
aft of General Nathan B. Forrest of III
e Confederate army during the civil
lr. His mother was Miss Edmonia m,
ylor. of Kentucky. The then future iii,
oretary of the interior earned his va
st money as an operative in a cot I<n
4 factory in Nashville Tenn. Later of
returned to Frankfort where he ne
lght school and read law under III,
dye William Lindsey. In 1879 he te,
mt to Indian territory and later wa
we'd to GAINESVILLE. Texas. On re- do
ming to New Mexico from Mexico I'm