The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-11-09

ss G1v9 q WOEut u Oh HIA-
nounced crisply ias he turned 10 Fair
child Each u us'n light one Of
thee things, and then / say wen run
Because this Is going to be some q \
plosion r.
Tairchild smiled the smile OF q man
whose heart is humping at ito maxi
mi speed. Before him In the long
line of the foot wall were ten holes,
""upholes," downs" and swimmers
attacking the hidden ore. i'm every d.
r~ection. Ten holes drilled sir feet
into the rock and tamped with double
charges of dynamite. He straight
ened. i|A5f q @ r. .M%
"All right, men Readyq' !.
Ready !. ~ H. f.
Touch 1'emn off" ~
Il The carbide lamps were held close
ITO the fuses for a second. Soon they
were all going, splitting like SO many
venomous, angry serpents-but neither
Fairchild nor the miners had stopped
to watch: They were running as hard
al possible for the shaft and for the
protection that distance might give. A
wait that seemed ages. Then:
"One!" H. K, ~,
""And two-and three !"
'There goes four and nve-they
went together"
Observation-Disclosures"
Again a wait, while they looked at
one another with vacuous eyes. A
long interval until the tenth.
1.-TWO went together then I thought
we'd counted nine?" The foreman
stared, and Fairchi1d studied. Then
his face lighted.
"Eleven's right. One Of them must
have set off the charge that Harry left
In there. All the better-it gives us
just that much more of a chance"
Back they went along the drift tun-
mel now, coughing slightly as the
sharp smoke of the; dynamite cut their
lungs-a long journey that seemed
as many miles instead of feet. Then
with q shout Fairchild> sprang for
ward, and went to his hands and
knees.
It was there before him-all about
hfm-the black, heavy masses of lead
silver ore, a great, heaping, five-ton
pile Of 1t where 1t had been thrown
out by the tremendous force Of the
explosion. 1t seemed that the whole
great floor of the cavern was covered
with it, and the workmen shouted with
Fairchild as they seized bits Of the
precious black stuff and held 1t to the
light for closer examination.
Look! - The voice Of one of them
was high and excited. "You can see
the fine streaks Of silver sticking out
It's high-grade and plenty Of it,"
But Fairchild paid little attention.
He was playing in the stuff, throwing
it In the air and letting it fall to the
floor of the cavern again, like q boy
with a new sack Of marbles, or a child
with Its building blocks. Five tons
and the night was not yet over! Five
tons, and the vein had not yet shown
It's other side!
Back to work they went now. Again
through the hours the drills bit Into
the. rock walls, while the ore car clat'
tered along the tram line and while
the creaking Of the block and tackle
at the shaft seemed endless. In three
days. approximately sorty tons sf o.,
must come out of that mine-and WORK
must not cease.
Morning, and in spite Of the sleep
laden eyes, the heavy aching I'm hill
head, the tired dropping Of the Shout
ders, Fairchild tramped to the board
ing house to notify Mother Howard
and ask for news Of Harry. There
had been one Then he went on, t.
wait by the door Of the Sampler until
Bittson, the owner, should appear, ant
drag him away up the hill, even b
fore he could open up forsthe morning
'"There it isl" he exclaimed, az h<
led him to the entrance of the cham
Der. 'There 1t is; take all you wan,
of it and assay I"
Bittson went forward into the cross
cut, where the men were drilling even
at new holes, and examined the vein
Already 1t was three feet thick, and
there was still ore ahead. One Of the
miners loked up.
"Just finishing up on the c~ross-cut,"
he announced, az he nodded toward hi
drill, 1--WE just bitten into the foot
wall or the other side. Looks to me
like the veins about five feet thick
as near as I q measure tt" + j
"And--" Bittson picked up a few
samples, examined them by the light
Of the carbides and tossed them away
-"you can see the silver sticking ont
I caught sight Of 4 couple OF pencil
threads Of II In q or two Of those
samples. All right, Boy I" he turned
to Fairchild. "What was that bargain
we nader H. b. :
1T was based on two hundred dol
Iars-a-ton: ore. This may run above
or below. But whatever ii ID, TIL cell
NIL you al handle for the next thres
days at fifty dollars q ton under the
assay price" ss@s ~ *Tg
you've said the word. The trucks
viii be here In an hour If we have to
shovel a path all the way up Ken
lucky gulch." us ss ! 4svzzs
he hurried away then, while kair
child and the men followed him into
town and to their breakfast. Then,
recruiting i new gang on the pro1pisa
OF payment ut the end Of their three
day shift. Fairchild went, back 10 the
mine. But the word had spread, and
others were there before him.
Already fifteen or twenty miners
were assembled about the opening d
the Blue Poppy tunnel, awaiting pr.