Ellsworth American., 1922-12-27
7 .SIa.. NJ .ae ~ ~ NKWN
PETS OF FORTUNE
Poor Mems Lucky Strikes in Gold
and Diamonds.
Chance Turn Of Spade or Stroke Of
Pick Has Opened Path to Fabu-
lous Riches.

A road was being made in Tasmania
with stone obtained from around the
New Golden Mara property, near War
ratinna when 1t was discovered that
the "road-metar' contained gold in
considerable quantities. The con-
tractors decided to use less valuable
material, as this seemed like paving
the road with gold.
The goose that laid the golden egg
Is fabulous, but the chickens with
their crops stuffed with nuggets are
true A gold rush at Santa Barbara,
Cal, was occasioned by the discov-
cry Of small nuggets in the crops Of
thirty chicks killed on a local farm.
Another consequence was great NOR
tality among poultry to see what their
crops contained in addition to corn,
remarks London Answers.
A poor man in Chile bought the
foundation of house for small
sum and among the stones with which
he proposed to build a wall around
his garden he found one containing
large percentage of gold. He was
smart enough to inquire where the
stone came from originally. and lucky
enough to succeed in his quest. A
weeks work proved the foundation of
fortune.
Two men who had prOSpected for
gold without discovering single trace
of the precious metal, came to the
end of their strength and their re-
| sources. Then one of them died The
other dug a grave and in the sad task
struck nugget weighing 100 pounds
Eventually he sold his find for more
than f7,O0O (S35,0OW.
klondike was discovered by half
| breed trapper who, stirring the en-
berS of his camp fire. noticed Il strange
| yellow color for which he could not
| account. He mentioned the fact to his
| friends and within half an hour dig
ging operations We're begun. Each
| spadeful of earth contained gold.
1t was when both capital and hope
We're exhausted that the last stroke Of
! the pick revealed the fabulous riches
| of the big Bonanza silver mines. a
iOuSt WllltIl HAS Nltl1tu SIl-
yer to the value of f4O,OOO,O0O ($20O,-
| OO0OOO). The Flores mine of San
Luis Potosi, Mexico, was struck by
a poor priest. who bought an aban-
dOned claim for an "old song" and
two brothers named BoladoS, who
earned a miserable livelihood by car
! rying fuel, found in crevice opened
by an earthquake an enormous block
of silver worth almost 81 100000.
But the discovery of South, African
diamonds remains the most romantic
In the world. In 1867 John O'Reilly
stopped for the night at the house
of a farmer named Van Nickerck.
Children were playing on the floor
with pretty pebbles which they had
found in the river Looking at one
Of the stones, O'Reilly said, "rhat
might be diamond"
The Boer farmer, laughed and said
that diamonds We're not to be had for
the STOPPING. However. O'Reilly OBJ
tanned the farmers permission to take
the pebble to Cape Town, promising
to give him half the proceeds if it
We're of value.
At Colesberg he stopped at tavern
and displayed his stone. scratching
a pane Of glass with it to prove his
/ contention that it was a diamond.
But the other fellows scratched glass
with their guntlints and flung the peb-
BILE out of the window. O'Reilly re-
trieved it, and on reaching Cape Town
was told that it was a diamond of
twenty-five and half carats. O'Reil-
ly sold it for 5000 t$3,0O0). and divided
the amount with Nickerck
The Boer then recalled that he had
seen an immense stone of similar
appearance in the hands of Kaffir
witch-doctor. He found the fetish
man, bought the stone, and sold 1t i'm
mediately to an experienced diamond
buyer for f1l,2O0 (S36,OOO).