The Coolidge examiner., 1931-04-03

| $$# %S}x}asa% 0 planned on 90
ing a bit of
camping before and after they Wis
tied their friends in Oakland.
John Hays Hammond, the Older
of the two lads, was fourteen
years old. His brother was two
years younger. They had been
brought up in the California OF
Civil war days and they were ac-
complished riders and skilled in
the ways of the great outdoors by
the time most boys of today are
still playing with toys.
Their father, graduate of west
Point and an army officer detailed
TO duty in California, had taught
them self-reIiance, love for out
door life and instilled in them a
spirit of adventure from the time
they were able to walk. SO 1t
wasn't unnatural that they should
make up their minds to see some
thing of the world instead OF
merely taking the ride to Oakland
and back to San Francisco.
They had heard much of the
Yosemite valley. then a compara-
tive wilderness. and they turned
their horses heads in that direc-
ton, seeking the adventure that
appealed so much to their venture
some dispositions.
Occasionally they stopped at
small hotels, but for the greater
part they slept in the open. They
shot their own game, varied their
diet with the fish that abOunded in
the mountain streams and thrived
on their own cooking. BY the time
they reached the Yosemite they
still had substantial part of
their money left.
From there they ventured into
Nebraska and by the time their
father returned from the East and
traced them through express COM
pany agents they had ridden ap-
proximately 1000 miles on horse
back. And all this in a period of
less than three months.
While seeing the country young
John had an opportunity to in
spect his first quartz mine. He
spent several days watching the
operations there. That experience
was largely responsible for his
choice of mining engineering as a
profession, a career In which he
has gained world wide renown and
great fortune.
The trail that started with the
trip to the Yosemite carried him
to practically all parts of the
world. through dangers and hair
raising adventures in South Amer
lea, Africa and elsewhere and to
friendships ranging from lowly
miners to crowned heads.
John Hays Hammond was born
in 1855 in San Francisco, to which
city his father, who had been a
major in the regular army during
the Mexican war, had been de-
tailed. His mother was sister
of Col. Jack Hays. famous as a
Texas ranger, and later the first
sheriff of San Francisco. Young
Hammond spent much time at his
uncle's home. His mother died
when he was a little fellow.
His father and uncle, between
them, taught him to ride, to swim
and to hunt. He proved that he
was an apt pupil when he and his
brother made their 1,000-mile trip
into the wilds depending largely
on their skill with rod and gun
to live as they rode through the
| lonely and rugged country.
The youngster was educated in
the public schools of San Francis
co. Later he went TO a private
preparatory school in New Haven
to qualify for admission to Yale.
He was enrolled in college at the
age of seventeen and was gradu-
ated in 1876. At Yale he was a
classmate of former President
Taft.
From Yale he went to Germany
where he spent three years in
the Royal School of Mines at Frei-
berg. He returned to the United
States and went TO work for Sen
ator George Hearst of California
at S75 a month. His father want
ed him to be a civil engineer, but
the lure of mining was too great,
and he turned down a better pay
ing Job with a railroad to begin
his chosen career.
He made progress enough to
warrant him in going into business
for himself. For a time he was
too poor to pay an office boy and
swept out his own office. He rode
through the dangerous Apache
country on a business mission in
1882, later almost losing his life
! in troublesome Mexico.
He came into worldwide prom
! inence when he went to South AT
rica to act as an expert for Bar
ney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes at
their vast diamond holdings. He
was accused of being implicated in
the Jameson raid on the Trans
vaal republic and was sentenced
to death. But he was pardoned
and went on to greater fame and
fortune.
Co. 1880, by The North American
| Newspaper Alliance.l