The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1921-02-04
CHAPTER XII.

climate temperate, in fact, decidedly
cool. Billy was waiting for them and
was properly amazed, but not scan
dalized when Don Juan Cafetero,
abusing the station hands In horrl-
BILE hodgepodge of English and Span
ish, superintendent the landing ;ots the
baggage on the platform.
II had to bring him with me-" Web
ster explained. ''I'm going to Wean
him, and after that baby quits cry
ing for his bottle, believe me, Bill,
Wen have the prince of foreman for
our mine. Quite character, is Don
Juan. when you dig down into him."
"Dig far enough into that ruin and
you'll find fire crackers" Billy admit
ted. "However, John, I'm afraid he
won't explode. The powders damp.
How did you leave DoloresT
gift as fiddle, Bill"
GLOW does she stack up on better
acquaintance, Johnny"
"She's a skookum lass. She sent
her love and promised to send you
back to her P. D. Q. So don't bother
me with talk about her. You'll see
her again in week or ten days.
hope"
"No? Is that so, Johnny? Bully
for you, you old wampus cat. Tell
Don Juan to steer you over to the
Globo de Gro. He knows the place.
I've got to go and hire a mule or
some other quadruped for Don Juan
if we're to avoid late start in the
morning. Good night, old fellow"
They were up at daybreak, and
with three heavily laden pack mules
in charge Of two semi-naked mozos,
while the cook logged comfortably
along on his big splay feet in the rear,
they set out for Billy's concession.
For 80 miles they followed the high
way, and then debouched to the south
west along a neglected road just wide
enough to accommodate the clumsy
OK carts Of the poems. The country
was sparsely settled and evidently CIV
en- over to stock raising.
Darkness had descended on the val
ley by the time they had pitched camp
at the claim. They were up at
dawn the following morning, however,
and Immediately after breakfast Jack
Webster went to his duffle bag and
brought forth a dozen little canvas
sacks and a prospector's hammer.
Snow then, William, my son." he an
nounced, slight the lantern and We'll
see if you've forgotten all taught
you about mining"
They clambered up the dump to a
point where two light steel rails pro-
jected over the edge. On top of the
dump, lying beside the rails were two
small, rusty, steel ore cars; the rails
led from the edge Of the dump to the
mouth of tunnel in the hillside and
disappeared therein.
Webster stood a moment, looking
around him. "How did you happen to
locate this ledger" lie demanded.
"Was it grass root stuff, with an out
cropping here at the foot Of the hill?
No, of course, it WASN'T. You haven't
enough ore on the dump. What the
devil were You driving at?"
'Only small portion Of that dump
is mine, Jack, and didn't locate the
ground originally. I came into this
valley from the south, and as worked
up the range, | found bald spot
close to the top of the hill, and a GAL
lows frame over an abandoned shaft.
Naturally, I went down the shaft to
see why it had been abandoned. To
my surprise, I found 12-foot vein
Of free-milling orc, on contact be-
tween andesite and Silurian limestone.
The ledge stood straight up and down,
which seemed to argue great depth"
"Somebody had found an outcrop-
ping on top of that hill," Webster de-
clared with conviction, 'and sunk a
shaft on the vein to open it up and de-
ter1nine it's width and direction. And
what did you do, Bill?'
II got my transit and ran a line
from the shaft on the hill, following
the direction in which the ledge was
running, and marked out the exact
point toward the base of the hill where
/ would start my tunnel to cut the
ledge. To my surprise, I discovered
my predecessor had selected that
identical spot. So verified my cal.
culations and then sat down to think
It over. l remembered that frequent
and violent earthquakes occur in this
country, and it seemed to me rea-
sonable hypothesis to blame some an
cient and particularly violent seismic
disturbance, which had faulted the
vein and set it over considerable
distance. According to my calcula-
ton, that other man should have cut
the vein at 50 feet-yet he had gone
on 1O2 before quitting. So l got half
a dozen poems and drove ahead 10
feet on the other fellows tunnel; and
by Heck, Johnny. cut the vein!"
'sBully boy! And then?'
II 1rifted ten feet on the vein. and
the ore suddenly gave out. 1t stopped
Just like that, proving I'd come to
the upper end of the vein where it
had faulted; so just worked up and
around. stopeing and sinking a winze
here and there, until just about the
time my cash reserve was getting pref
ty low picked up the true vein and
opened it up for the full width. Come
in, and I'll show you"