Graham guardian., 1922-01-27

short SidetraCk would make his Sug
geStion perfectly feasible; our ore
could be shot into the cars with but a
single handling.
Fram tracing the railroad survey,
edged around TO take another look al
the possibilities of the drainage tunnel
Daddy and had figured on. Going
over the ground this second time, and
with some better knowledge of the diff.
iiculties, ii 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 It wouldn't be safe to count
upon less than Il mile of tunneling,
and this, I'm the solid porphyry of Old
Cinnahar, and in situation remote
from the nearest base of supplies,
would run--no, 1t wouldn't run; II
would fairly gallop into money.
Was this what Bullerton meant to do
iC he could 0ust 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 II million or more, and the better
part of years time, driving that
mile-lOng tunnel?
The longer l thought about 1t, the
larger the conviction grew that no
such expensive expedient was TO be
reSorted to. BullertOn, or his hackers,
or both, knew some other and fur
cheaper and more expeditions way Of
getting rid of the water. Sitting on r
big rock that had in some former earth
convulSion tumbied from the broken
cliffs above the mine, gave the me-
chanicaj fraction of my brain lit was
small fraction and sadly under-de-
NelOpcd free rein.
Two possibilities suggested them
selves. \ siphon, big pipe, starting
at the bottom OF the shaft and leading
cut over the top and down the noun
tain to point lower than the shaft
bottom, would, after 1t was once
started. automatically discharge Il
stream of its own bigness, whatever
that should be. But the cost Of over
Il mile of such pipe was beyond my
means; and If two SiN-inch pumps
driven night and day had failed to
make any impression upon the flood,
what could be expected Of siphon
which. IN the nature of things, couldn't
he much bigger than an ordinary
street water InainI
The other possibility was even less
hopeful. II was the driving Of n short
tunnel, which Daddy and | 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 a point possibly twenty feet below
its present level in the shaft. Its sue
cess, as | saw ut once, would depend
entirely upon the location and volume
of the underground lake which was
supposed to he supplying the flood. If
this reservoir were shallow and high
in the mountain, the short tunnel
might drain IL. If it were deep and
low, nothing would be accomplished.
The question was still hanging hope
lessly up iE the air when made my
way around to the mine buildings by
the lCft-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
needed 10 be dong 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 anticlpa-
tiOn. here he came, smoking one of his
high-priced cigars and staggering
bit. as he always did In walking.
"rhis Is your thirty-thousand-do dollar
day, Eroughton," he tossed at me as
soon as he stepped over the threshold
Of the shaft house door; but | fnncled
| could notice that, some way, h
didn't seem quite so clipper and care.
less as he had the day before.
"See here" ] ripped out; whats
the use? You can't buy this mine a.
uny price! It's not In the market and
II isn't going TO be. Not In thousand
yrarSw
but see here; what's the use of
buttmg your head against stone wall?
You're stuck, world without end. and
you know It. This Hooded hole in the
ground Is Of no more use to you than
Il pair of spcctacles to O blind man !"
"Icrhaps not a.; It's a poor thing, but
mine own | guess can keep 1t as
a souvenir If | feel like it. can't II"
"Oh, h--lw he Gritted, and turning
on his heel went away.
After he had gone / patted myself
on the back a bit for not losing my
temper and then, just to have an ex-
cuSe for staying away from the cabin
ana the Fullerton vicinity, made fires
under the boilers and got up steam, IN
the FORMER pumping sinsm Daddy and
! had operated only the two big cen
trifugnls, ignoring the deep-well pumps
designed to lift the water from the
lower levels Of the mine.
Just TO try something that we hadn't
tried before, got steam on the deep
wellers, and soon found that the
machinery, which we hadn't taken
down In the general overhNuling,
needed tinkering before II would he
safe tO run IT, Banking the boiler
fires, | went nt the job single handed
and managed to wear out the lIvelong