The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-02-15
STORY OF jim BUTLER
DISCOVERY OF TONOPAH
FOUND RICH FLOAT WHILE
ROUNDING UP WANDER
ING 5URRo.

ing version of the discovery Of Tono-
pah in the Engineering and Mining
JsurnaI-P Press of February 3:
Jim Butler passed out-"went over
the range"-at Sacramento on Janu-
airy p. He was 67. Jim had been a
prospector, and was the discoverer Of
Tonopah The story Of the discovery
is somewhat garbled in the newspap-
ers-not that it matters much to Jim.
But the facts are these. He had left
his headquarters in Austin to go to
little camp, the Southern KlondilSe,
which never became prominent. He
camped with his burros. on the wash"
below where now is Tonopah. OF
course he turned out his burros TO
nibble desert plants, as burros Will
consent to do. In the morning, ac-
cording to custom. Jim had to rambe
over the low hills above his camp to
get his burros. and in picking up
stones to herd the burros back as the
custom is, he CHANGED upon quartz and
likely outcrops The specimens were
not erich in virgin silver" as the
newspapers have il, nor were they To-
Gated ION the hill known as Mount
eddie" nor did Mrs Butler knock
them off There are no veins on
Mount eddie Quartz is quartz to a
prospector, however, and Jim took the
samples to an assayer in the Southern
Klondike camp. who soon pitched them
out of the window on his way back
TO Austin, Butler collected other sam
pies. There was an assayer in Aus
tin but Jim's credit there was no
hrmer than in the Southern Klondike
camp.
How Odde Got In.
In spite the absence of virgin sill
YER" the quartz looked live" to jim |
He had a friend in Austin one TaskeI /
L. Oddie a young man who was try !
ing to break into mining by the sin
gle jack route. To him he went and |
promised an eighth interest for the |
price Of an assay Oddie's finances /
We're hardly more plethoric than But /
lers, but having been trained as a
lawyer. he persuaded the assayer to
moke an assay for one-half of his
eighth-viz, one-sixteenth. The as
say ran very high; whereupon Butler
determined to make another trip to
formally locate the claims on his find /
Before he got under way however,
the assayer at the Southern Klondike.
hearing rumors. recovered his sam
pies, and assayed them, finding them
rich. Recalling Buffers description
of the locality whence they came. he
set out to find the source and locate K
claims for himself. but he could not
find the place and returned. Finally. Is
Mrs. Butler an energetic woman, /,
reused Jim to make the trip and To- $
cate the claims q
Their richness was ia once appar- O
ent and experts" came to inspect c
perchance to buy. One such visited d
Butler when he was five feet deep in c
a location hole Jim squnted up at e
the expert" standing against the t
slaring desert sky well what dye p
hink about her" asked he. "She 10
won't go down." answered the faint
hearted emissary of capital" Jim
pat on his hands and raised his pick
or another blow. well" quoth he.
I'm damned sure she
Won't go up"
A Square Man. a
He was a kindly man and a just. "a
Who inspired kindness and justice. o.
len came eager to get in on the find. p'
'either Jim nor his partners had any st
money. so Butler leased his lodges IN NJ
ectiOns, for the ore was rich ship se
ing ore well worth hauling 100 mics
y wagon to Sodaville and shipping III
hence to San Francisco or Salt Lake vi
i'm allotted these leases verbally as "'
, terms and space. you take so "s
lany feet here" he would say "aid &C
ay me 80 much royalty" and that
as all there was to the transaction we
When it soon turned out that these mi
asers We're pGtting in great crews, ms
ere running feverishly during the ar
me allotted, were making fortunes be
II themselves and threatening to gut ca
lie mine, Jim remained TRANQUILITY firm thu
his word and to his friendships. RAJ
hen he sold his property. as he soon foi
d, he safeguarded in the deal each ne
an with whom he had ever had the
srbal understanding OF had passed ma
nding word sio
Gets $4,000 for Assay.
He later bought fine ranch in Fish is
axe valley, west of Tonopah-a des- in
t oasis-and went there to enjoy leg
'e. Yet he loved Tonopah and Xix wo
to visit there. and to gather great ELI
cups of friends and take them into str
saloon for a drink-happy and proud
spend good gold pieces. He loved wo
e prospector and the miner and sue
canned of doing great things for see
ne loved others equally. AS fai
ms partners whom we mentioned: Lo
lille Butler got his ranch, Oddie- a ,
lother just and kindly man-did not of
ep his Tonopah earned fortune. but tar
now in the United States senate. me