Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-09-21

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< Hitting the High Ones x
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Yea, the prospector is a peculiar
fish. He goeth forth into the noun
tains and liveth upon sowbelly and
pan bread (when he can get them)
and gathereth unto himself many
rocks, which he poundeth and mill
eth and findeth naught therein. He
finally cometh upon something which
beareth gold in exceeding richness,
but the ledge from which it came
eludeth his search. He sendeth to
the assayer which sitteth in the high
places a piece of ore and the report
which cometh to him causeth him to
weep and tear his hair.
O.
But were it not for the prospector
the great mines of the country would
not be pouring their wealth into the
avenues of trade today. His search
for precious metals has for its in
centive seldshness, it is true, yet the
world is the gamer through his ef-
forts
A trip into the mountains in the
company of those who are in search
of a ledge which will bring them
fortune reveals many quaint charac-
ters. There is the old prospector
who will never see the age of 7OI
again. The biggest part of his life
has been spent in the hills, and he
has taken on much Of the rugged
ness Of the country. One would
think that he would be discouraged
with his repeated failures to discover
riches, but not so. He is cheerful,
and can relate many amusing Incl
dents.
Then there is the prospector who
Is looking for something, but whose
ignorance of mining and minerals
handicaps him sadly. If he finds
anything of value it will be because
the Goddess of Fortune in kindly dis
posed toward him, and this some
times comes to pass.
One meets the man who is eccen-
tric He tells you that he does not
care for the coarse gold, but is look
ing for flour" Just why he frowns
upon the larger chunks is beyond the
ken of the ignorant tenderfoot
The Blue Mountains in Oregon un-
doubtedly contain much valuable
mineral which have not been discov-
cred. Indeed, some sections have not
even been prospected. This year
there have been several seekers in
that vicinity, but the territory is so
large and topography of the land so
rough that it will be many years be-
fore this section is thorough covered.
It will undoubtedly contribute much |
to the wealth of the world in the
years to come
%
Folks, if you were in a place where |
you could pan coarse gold to the
number of fifteen to twenty colors,
and could not find a piece of rock
which even showed a trace of gold,
and the land which you were pros
pecting had no water for placer min
ing, wouldn't it make you mad? But
that is exactly the thing we were up
against, and we had to give up our
search for the year. Winter comes
early in those mountains, but we are
going back again next year and en-
deayor to discover the Eldorado.
Major McGonigle was one of our
pack horses. He has a peculiar sense
Of humor, and one of his tricks which
he put on for our edifcation was ly-
ing down and rolling with his pack.
j ne COuLeuLS shattered 10 lhe IOuI
corners of the globe contributed
much to the joy of the occasion. We
eussed him in all the languages with
which we are familiar, including
Chinook.
Speaking of horses reminds us that
we never saw animals range so high
Is those in our train. The highest I
hills seemed to be their objectives
1t all times, and the steepness OF the 7
aforesaid hills was extremely trying {
lpon the soft ones of the party, and
hey happened to be us.
30 4
It's rather hard for genuine
over Of horses to switch off of the 4
subject, so we will tell you some
hing about our string. We had in
he bunch some of the racing blood S
which has contributed so much to O
he records of the past twenty-five \