Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-03-10
THE Girl,
A HORSE
AND
CONTINUED from page ~

bunch was still nudgtne me, / let
him ave the floor, SO to speak, fig
uring Chiefly myself as 4 good listener.
Yes; we do run across some rather
queer propositions in u trade" he
said, after he had given me some sort
Of an idea of what q. mining engi-
neer's job is like. "In my own cx-
perience, for example. the only sure
shot I have ever had-or possibly evcr
will have-Eot away from me-"
1t was up TO me to bite, and, of
course. l did it,
How is that?"
t"1hc mar died." he replied laconi-
cally.
That sounded rather interesting, SO
Il gave him another pinch.
Tell me about it; If it won't bore
you"
cepted another cigar out of my pock-
ct case.
You be the one to be bored. 1t
was this way. A>little over a. year
ago I was on my way to Chicago with
a report that l had been making on
some properties in the Cripple Creek
district. In the Denver-Omaha: Pull
nan l fell in with a nice old gentle
man who had been buying himself a
gold brick in the shape Of a flooded
mine. The mine had at n time been
6. producer though not by any means
what you'd call a bonanza After a
rather extended dividend-playing Pc
riod-I don't know just how long,
though it was some y~ears-the luck
changed, as sometimes happens. In
sinking and drifting the operators had
uncovered another vein which was
exceedingly rich. Don't let me talk
your arm off" -
Go ahead" said /. "My arms are
insured"
well, at about the time that they
struck this new underlying vein. they
also struck water: so much Of 1t as to
lead them to suspect hat they had
tapped an underground lake. The Did
gentleman wasn't exactly a woolly
slheep-in the Wall Street sense of the
term. He had owned stock in the mine
for a long time, and it had beer pay
ing him dividends. right along. So
naturally, after the now strike was
announced, he was perfectly willing
to own more. I don't know what his
investment was, but nc gave me to
understand that it was something like
half a million. In less than n month
after the deal was closed the mine
was drowned and went out Of bust
ness" Il,
still, I don't sec your lost oppor-
tunity." I threw in.
I'm coming to that. AS it happens
my specially as an engineer is the un-
watering Of wet mines. The old gen
tlen1an had maps n profiles with
him; the records Of a very careful and
excellent Typographical survey. In,
reasonably certain thai l discussed a
way in which that mine can be
drained at comparatively sn,al ex-
pense.
II told him l thought l could do it
but | didn't give my plan away. IN
stead, l made him a propositions; OF!
fered to undertake the drainage job
at my wi costs. If 1 should succeed
he was to decd me a fourth interest ir
the property. If I didn't succeed. il
was to cost him nothing-surt Of Il
contingent fee, as a lawyer woulo
say
laughed. You made, an offer like
that to a stranger? and on a mine
that you had never SEEM
He Grinncd good-naturcdly and go
back at me. quick.
A business is d. taking uI
chances. AS the matter stood AT thai
stage of the game. ] had everything
to gain n nothing to lose, and the
only chance ] was taking was: in tht
bet on my own ability AS an engineer
The old man was a queer old codgeI
in some respects; Is secretive and eau,
tious as an old fox. For example: he
had carefully clipped the name q
the mine from the b~lue-prints auo
other papers. and in all our talk he
never once let that name slip. and
never even mentioned the name of the
district in which the mine was located
But in spite of all this caution he
drew up a sort of option agreement
with me. .'
I'VE found a lawyer and had the
agreement drawn up in legal form
The time limit was to be a year, anG
each Of us was to put up a, thousand
dollars to make the agreement bind
ing. If either of US should wish tt
withdraw within hat time, he was
al, liberty to do so by FORGETTING his
ante Of a. thousand dollars to the 9th,
er. II neither Of US withdrew by Of
before the end of the year, I was tt
be at liberty to 30 ahead with nay
drainage project. and tho agreement
bound the owner to turn over a one,
fourth interest in the property TO nlf