The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-11-08

: Vile would be lined with burros a!
} thickly as autos now line Park stree
, in Butte. The p~rospector and his
cargo carriers turned out by the hun
dreds for days in the spring months
loading up for a trip to the hills.
In Telluride, Colo, where the pros.
pectors were wont to spend the win.
ter months the morning air was
made hideous by the "hee-haws'' oil
the hundreds of burros-'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 p~rospectors 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 a 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 a 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 a 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 adj
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 well past 60-with his
pack on his back, now lives in a real
house and takes his ease. Billy
Parks, who sank the first shaft in
Butte, is till driving a tunnel back of
Sheridan in the foothills at the age of
80, and George Briffy, who helped in
hat sinking, is living on a ranch in
Park county. Here and there about
he states may be found other ex-
,rospectors, men who can still make
sour dough" bread, turn a hot cake,
pair of eggs or a rasher of bacon
~ merely clipping the skillet, an
Without losin' a drop o. grease" are
till to be met, but they have no J
.iuccessors. !
What cold, hunger, thirst and pri- I
ration could not accomplish has been {
brought about by other means 5
What the Indian stake, rifle and l
omahawk were powerless to bring 6
bout has been achieved in part by 9
.alf a dozen pudgy, specialized gentle l
1en sitting about a mahogany table l
n the financial district of London.
'hese men fix, each day, the price of e
liver. a
The British government is the I
largest silver purchaser. a
hese financial gentlemen determine c
Or themselves how much silver bull a
on is available and what are the 3
demands. With this basis, l,
hey calculate the amount that the .
roducer may be willing to accept I
nd this is the market price. a
As a result of its denomination, q
nd the consequent decrease in price,
liver was slowly r~elegated among :
rospcctors to the same class, or =
early the same, as pyrites of iron. &
Refined gold was still $20.67 an
nnce and gold was still to be had, =
nd so they continued to prospect.
ut the world war sent the prices of
,od. clothing and supplies skyward,
lille gold remained at its former
rice. and the days of the p~rospector
nded.
II am afraid we have been too
Iuch disposed to take the p%rospector
,r granted" said Secretary Hamil-
m Of the United States mining in
liry commission at Butte recently.
We didn't seem to think he needed
~ encouragement"
At the commissioners 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
only see the pot of gold at the
linbow's end, but can likewise see
Ie denominations of the coin in the
and even the mintage date on
Lch coin. -
Like the sea elephant, the pros