The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-11-09

vile would be lined with burros a
thickly as autos now line Park stree
in Butte. The prospector and hi
cargo carriers turned out by the hun
dreds for days in the spring month!
loading up for trip to the hills.
In Telluride, Colo, where the pros
Ipectors were wont to spend the win
ter months the morning air was
made hideous by the ''hee-haws" Of
the hundreds of Rocky
mountain canaries," the prospectors
called them-proclaiming to the
world that day was about to break
Like the cock in Chanticleer they may
have been trying to ''raise the sum
with their voices.
Thousands of prospectors lived and
died without ever having attained
anything approaching financial COM
petence. Failure did not discourage
them. Their vivid imaginations,
their boundless confidence, their
hope transcendent buoyed them up
and, like Olive Shriner's seeker after
Truth who gave lifetime pursuing
the bird and died without having
more than touched one feather from
its wing, so the gold seeker died
without having realized more than a
meager existence, but filled to the
last with dreams of the days when
I'm goin' to eat pie with fork"
which with many of them was a term
synonymous with the possession of
the wealth of Henry Ford.
The stories of the pick accidentally
stuck in the foot wall uncovering
mineral wealth that has made a half
dozen millionaires, of the burro who
accidentally uncovered "lead" that
made it's owner rich-the Jackass
mine of Idaho-of streams the beds
of which were studded with, golden
pebbles caught the fancy of every ad-
venturous spirit. The free life in
the clean hills lent an additional ap-
peal and the prospector became as
important a part of western life as
the banker.
OId-Timers of Montana
He is no longer seen in all his by
gone vigor. The type is practically
extinct. Charley Carver, who ran the
first store in Butte, crossed Chilcoot
pass in company with Bill Owsley-
both men we'll past 60-with his
pack on his back, now lives in real
house and takes his ease. Billy
Parks, who sank the first shaft in
Butte, is till driving tunnel back of
Sheridan in the foothills at the age of
80, and George Briffy, who helped in
that sinking, is living on a ranch in |
Park county Here and there about |
the states may be found other ex-
men who can still make |
sour dough" bread, turn hot cake,
1 pair of eggs or a rasher of bacon
by merely clipping the skillet, an
without losin' a drop o. grease" are
still to be met, but they have no
What cold, hunger, thirst and pri-
yation could not accomplish has been
brought about by other means.
What the Indian stake, rifle and
omahawk were powerless to bring
bout has been achieved in part by
lalf a dozen pudgy, specialized gentle
men sitting about a mahogany table
n the financial district of London.
These men fix, each day, the price of
liver.
The British government is the
worlds largest silver purchaser.
'hese financial gentlemen determine
or themselves how much silver bull
ion is available and what are the
market demands. With this basis,
hey calculate the amount that the
roducer may be willing to accept
nd this is the market price.
AS a result of its denomination, {
nd the consequent decrease in price,
liver was slowly relegated among :
rospcctors to the same class, or :
early the same, as pyrites of iron
Refined gold was still $20.67 an \
unce and gold was still to be had,
nd so they continued to prospect.
ut the world war sent the prices of
BOD, clothing and supplies skyward,
lille gold remained at its former
rice, and the days of the prospector
nded.
81 am afraid we have been too
luch disposed to take the prospector
,r granted" said Secretary Hamil
IN of the United States mining in
uiry commission at Butte recently.
We didn't seem to think he needed
ny encouragement" i
At the commissioner hearing,
here less than a bakers dozen of
rospectors were on hand and of
lese not more than half a dozen
ere of that celebrated type who can
0t only see the pot of gold at the
.inbow's end, but can likewise see
ie denominations of the coin in the
1T and even the mintage date on
.ch coin.
Like the sea elephant, the pros