Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1931-05-15

before and after
they visited 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 accomplished riders
and skilled in the ways of the great
outdoors by the time most boys of to-
day are still playing with toys.
Their father, a graduate of West
Point and an army officer detailed to
duty in California, had taught them
self-reliance, a love for outdoor life
and instilled in them a spirit of ad-
venture from the time they were able
to walk. So it wasn't unnatural that
they should make up their minds to
see something of the world instead of
merely taking the ride to Oakland and
back to San Francisco.
They had heard much of the Yosem-
lite valley, then a comparative will
derness, and they turned their horses
heads in that direction, seeking the
adventure that appealed so much to
their venturesome 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 a sub
stantial part of their money left.
From there they ventured into Ne
vada and by the time their father re-
turned from the East and traced them
through express company agents they
had ridden approximately 1000 miles
on horseback. And all this in a period
of less than three months.
While seeing the country young
John had an opportunity to inspect
his first quartz mine. He spent sew
eral days watching the operations
there. That experience was largely
responsible for his choice of mining
engineering as a profession, 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 prac-
tically all parts Of the world, through
dangers and Embarrassing adventures
in South America, Africa and else
where and to friendships ranging
from lowly miners to crowned heads.
John Hays Hammond was born in
1853 in San Francisco, to which city his
father, who had been a major in the
regular army during the Mexican war,
had been detailed. His mother was a
sister of Col. Jack Hays. famous as a
Texas ranger, and later the first sher-
III of San Francisco. Young Hammond
spent much time at his uncles home
His mother died when he was 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 ard his brother made
their 1,000-mile trip into the wilds de-
pending 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 Francisco. 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 graduted in 1876. At Yale he was
q classmate of former President Taft.
From Yale he went to Germany
where he spent three years in the
Royal School Of Mines at Freiberg.
He returned to the United States and
went to work for Senator George
Hearst of California at $75 a month.
Els father wanted him 70 be a civil
engineer. but the lure of mining was
too great, and he turned down bet
ter paying job with railroad to be-
gin his chosen career.
He made progress enough to war
rant him in going into business for
himself. For time he was too poor
to pay an Office boy and swept out his
own office. He rode through the dan
gerous 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 Africa
70 act as an expert for Barney Barna-
to and Cecil Rhodes at their vast dia-
mond holdings. He was accused Of
being implicated in the Jameson raid
on the Transvaal republic and was
sentenced to death. But he was par
doned and went on to greater fame
and fortune
&c, BY The North American Newspaper Ailiancs)
F.u;lv p...rhI.,.