Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1922-07-01

ing a Machine Gun In France
Many Of the Veterans Are Prospect
ing on Their own-Plan, When They
Make Their Pile, to Reclaim Land
In Boulder Dam Country.
Every generation has its gold rush.
In 40 they came to Sacramento. In
the sos and '9Os to Leadville and
Cripple Creek. In 1896 to 1900 fortune
hunters swarmed To the Klondike. In
1905-6-7 mining activity In Goldheld,
Tonopah and other nearby mining
centers was at its height.
The latest gold rush Is at Oatman,
Ariz., where gold ore running $4,000
to the ton was recently opened up.
Hundreds OF ex-sOldlers, who have
found 1t necessary ito come TO dry
climate as a result of having been
gassed In the war. are ilocking into
0atman. where the American Legion
il caring for them and doing what II
can to secure them employment at
work suited to their capacities Plans
nre going forward here to build Il
big hospital for disabled soldiers high
UP In the collaborating mountains. The
location of this hospital already has
been taken up with Governor Thomas
l.. Campbell of Arizona. who will soon
visit 0atiman to discuss the hospital
project.
Just now Oatman has familiar
aspect to these eX.soldiers, for 1t re-
sembles town on the western front
Dynamite detonatl0ns keep the ground
In constant tremble and the all
night-long booming and blasting be-
low ground sound familiar In an old
soldiers ears.
Like Temporary War Place.
The town itself resembles "a tempo.
rary war town. Ypres now has its
makeshlft wooden hotels. Its shacks
made of gasoline tins and stray field
stones, its tents. And so has Oatman.
"Oyer there" they are still blowing
up piles of stray shells. while here,
below ground, they are dynam.ng
down gold ore with which to aid the
work of reconstruction In Europe.
Uncle Sam made special request
that the gold mines of Oatman be
kept going during the war-and Dat
man went over the top In 100 per cent
fashion. II mined gold when labor
costs and taxes made II Il losing game.
But now the soldiers have returned
and in the big after-war hegira Of
Young America westward the Oatman
gold fields are getting their share OF
lads who served overseas.
These ex-soldiers take to diamond
drilling with as much facility as they
did To pumping a machine gun up
around Montfauc0n. And they handle
the dangerous decorating caps used
In firing the powder-tilled holes with
as much freedom as they touched Off
handmade grenades In the trenches.
Many Veterans Prospecting.
Many of the veterans are prospect
ing on their own. They come to Dat
man In fiivvers. remove their engines
and attach them to diamond drills
which they have either rented or pur-
chased. and with ''rat-a-tat-tat" not
unlike the rattle of machine gun,
they sink their diamond studded drills
into the earth In the search for gold
bearing quartz vein. Several of the
lads have hit 1t rich, some are ION
their uppers," but all are having a
good time.
Many of them plan to make their
pile in oatman and then go up to the
country below the gigantic national
dam which Is to be built by the gov
eminent In Boulder Canyon. One col.
ony OF ex-soldiers plans TO lay out
thousands of acres which Is now the
abiding place of cactus, rattlesnakes
and barren soil. but which, when the
Boulder Canyon dam Is opened will
be one of the richest districts In the
Southwest. This land already is rising
in value in anticipation of Its in
creased worth when irrigIri0n uitcYfps
will he running through IT,