Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1922-02-23

GE
Raided the Cupboard for Bite Of
Something to Eat.
dy had said, It ran within q few hun
dred yards of the Cinnabar claim, and
a short sidetrack would make his sug-
gestion perfectly feasible; our ore
could be shot into the cars with but a
single handling.
From tracing the railroad survey, I
edged around to take another look at
the possibilities of the drainage tunnel
Daddy and I had figured on. Going
over the ground this second time, and
with some better knowledge Of the diff
culties, 1t appeared that we must have
ridiculously underestimated the prob
able cost, Pacing the distances care
fully, and guessing at the differences
In altitude by the heights Of the trees.
saw that 1t wouldn't be safe to count
upon less than mile of tunneling,
and this, in the solid porphyry of Old
Cinnabar, and In a situation remote
from the nearest base of supplies,
would run-no, it wouldn't run; it
would fairly gallop into money.
Was this what Fullerton meant to do
II he could GUST me? That he was ut
terly confident of his ability to drain
the Cinnabar was evident. But how
was it to be done? Would he, or his
hackers, be willing to spend quar-
ter Of million or more, and the better
part of years time, driving that
mile-long tunnel?
The longer thought about it, the
larger the conviction grew that no
such expensive expedient was to be
resorted to. Fullerton, or his hackers,
or both, knew some other and far
cheaper and more expeditions way of
getting rid of the water. Sitting on
big rock that had In some former earth
convulsion tu1nbled from the broken
cliffs above the mine, gave the me-
chanical fraction Of my brain lit was
small fraction and sadly under-de-
veloped) free rein.
selves. A siphon, big pipe, starting
at the bottom Of the shaft and leading
out over the top and down the noun
tain to point lower than the shaft
bottom, would. after it was once
started, automatically discharge a
stream of its own bigness, whatever
that should be. But the cost of over
mile of such pipe was beyond my
means; and If two six-inch pumps
driven night and day had failed to
make any impression upon the flood,
what could be expected of a siphon
which, in the nature of things, couldn't
be much bigger than an ordinary
street water main7
The other possibility was even less
hopeful. 1t was the driving of short
tunnel. which Daddy and l might un-
dertake without additional help, from
the level Of the high bench straight in
to an intersection with the mine shaft.
This, ] estimated, might tap the water
at point possibly twenty feet below
its present level in the shaft. Its sue
cess, as saw at once, would depend
entirely upon the location and volume
Of the underground lake which was
supposed to be supplying the flood. II
this reservoir were shallow and high
In the mountain. the short tunnel,
might drain 1t. II 1t were deep and
low, nothing would be accomplished.
e The question was still hanging hope
lessly up in the air when made my
way around to the mine buildings by
the left-hand gulch path, sneaked In
and began to shuck myself into Dad
dy's extra pair. Of overalls; just for
what, hadn't the least idea; only I
needed to be doing something to keep
me from going completely dotty in the
guessing contest.
BY this time, as / knew, they would
be getting up from, breakfast in the
cabin across the dump head, which
would most likely be Bullerton's cue
to come over and ride me some more.
When looked out in sour anticipa-l
tion, here he came, smoking one of his
I :. rr- Il" x
high-priced cigars and staggering a
bit, as he always did in walking.
This is your thirty-thousand- dollar
day, Broughton, he tossed at, me as
soon as he stepped over the threshold
OF the shaft house door; but I fancied
could notice that, some way, he
didn't seem quite so clipper and care
less as he had the day before.
"See here I ripped out; whats
the. use? You can't buy this mine at
any price !! It's not in the market and
1t isn't going to be. Not in a Thousand
years " 3l4 Il III b.
but see here; what's the use Of
butting your head against a stone wall7
You're stuck, world without end and
you know Il. This flooded hole In the
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