The Missouri herald., 1922-09-22

equally unexpected good luck rescue crews drove
ceaseessy through the oked tunnel that had
the two mnes battered at the separating walls of
At last drill driven through the last barrier of rock
into the Argonaut.
Sweating shoulders drove steel picks until
this hole had been enlarged enough to permit to
Hope rose and fell as the first aid second bulkhead the men
had built in their attempt to stay the poison gases
found. But alaste third! 1t ptifu structure gap
ing in places that the could through it, but
checked the somewhat and the the oxygen
helmets halted before it, afraid to tear it down while the air
before it poisonous lest they thereby sudden death
any who might be alive beyond it. Hope highest
when this last bukhead found and height
made its greatest plunge Before those who waited above for
of their loved knew that the had
broken through the bulhead word had already
them that the bodies of the AZ found
and counted.
Jackson took the blow calmly and presently found COM
fort in the knowledge gained from left by of
men, and fromhe OF the regarding the
work before they died. that quick, mercifu death had
to them instead of the agonies OF starvation There
lingering in the nky darkness 5000 feet below level The
gas came then ethargy, then oblivion
Jackson, in Anador county, lies about 40 miles southeast
OF Sacramento, the State capitol of California 1t is SMALL
mining town of perhaps $500 The Argonaut Kennedy
mines located there which among the deep
in the world each possessing shafts nearly mile
ward These mines located in the heart of the Mother
Lode country and for than sixty have poured forth
golden treasure. Gold first discovered there Cali
orna in 184S and since then is said the Argonaut has yield
ed more than S20,000,00O.
The tragedy of the Argonaut mine will hardly be immor-
that grips the heart the less The who down into
the depths of the earth to discover its hidden treasures just
the who out to in ships daily offer their lives and
ALL and but little accounting made of it. Only when atten
on is rveted to their hazards by catastrophe like that
in California does the world understand the oreals
and hardship of of its children What terrors and
what suffering, both of body and OF mind these Al
ured in their vain fight for life be imagined but fully
realized because the secret is locked in their chilled and
moonless hearts
Every person in this country who read the daily record
of the gallant fight made by the of gmy
fascinated by its possibilities There hope, faint
that the entobed would be reached at least before all
of them had paid to the fullest with their lives And
felt be certain the discovery of the dead bodies
dissprng shock to all who scanned the papers
from day to day for of the with
of profound regret that the nation read the disappon
ing when the final barrier broken down and the sad
secret of the golden tomb revealed
Hercules and Jason and Orpheum and all the that
brought back the golden treasures from Colc honored
heroes but they heroic than the
who worked for three weeks mile below the base of Cali
foIna mountain in the muck and CRIME Of poisoned atmos
plere their entonbed fellows. The efforts of these
latter also epic, but in this day and time something
new will happen divert the attention of the nation
those heroes will be forgotten Already, calm and silent
the grave for the winds that through its
depth the deserted Argonaut lies idle and resting beneath
the ghosty stars gloomy that fills the soul witt
awe Even the birds Of the mountain nights hun its barren
and lonely presence; while be that less fasdous bat
have taken abode in its rented and chaed heart
with spiders great and small weaving in the noonbeams
scy shroud 1t the way world where there is muc
of change and divided interests The OF the wind
continue of gold and millions viii be lost
body and soul i'll the quest.
--ooo---
An automobile up and stopped in front of the post