Evening star., 1934-08-26
BY FOREST CROSSEN AND WILL
LIAM REED ARTHUR.

| LIAM REED ARTHUR.
vt IS afternoon in the quiet little
Southwestern Colorado town of
Mancos. A man in faded, patched
/ L overalls and ragged sweater,
| the muck" of a mine splashed
dirty-whit on his boots, stands before
a store counter. He has asked for a
bill of groceries and has been turned
down.
But we're out of grub" he explains.
Then a light comes into his eyes.
Were bound to hit it soon. Let me
have Just rs cents worth O. beans"
Sorry, Starr, but can't let out
another thing till your bills paid. I'm
might near broke myself"
Starr walks out, head hanging de-
jectedly. All the way to the Red
Arrow Mine one thought is in his
mind, "Out O. grub"
Venison Stew.
The sun is sinking. Streams of
golden, hazy fire rest on the mountain
tops when he comes within sight OF
the bright gray pile of rock that is
the dump of the Red Arrow. Here he
and his partner, Gilmore, have worked
| for weary months. Here his wife has
| cooked and washed and slaved for
them and his two sons. And now to
have to quit-because he couldn't get
six bits worth of beans. No!
Couldn't get any grub" he an
nounces as he enters the rough shack.
The three men and the woman look up.
"Well get along. Charles" his wife
says, coming close to him, her toll
worn features heightened by the yel-
low glare of the lamp. "Old Jack
brought us the hind quarters of a
| deer this afternoon"
"Yeh, come on and sit down." Gill
more calls. Who wants to eat beans
when he can fill up on venison stew?"
They eat.
Tomorrow" Gilmore states, well
put in the last O. that powder for
big shot. I got hunch we'll hit her" :"
The Greatest Gamble.
Starr is himself again, gold miner
with the fire and madness OF the
greatest gamble known to man in his
blood. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
The next morning they drill the
holes for the last shot. They tamp in
the precious dynamite. They light the
fuses and race out of the tunnel. They
wait at safe distance. A dull boom
reaches their ears. Smoke strings
from the mouth of the tunnel, its
| acrid sting biting their nostrils. They
must wait until it clears.
They enter the tunnel, hearts
pounding, throatS tight with emotion.
They reach the jagged hole that the
| explosion has made.
| Wait! Something sends back the
flare of the carbide lamps in a CLINT
ing flash. A streak fully 16 inches
! widel
We've hit It'll" Starr yells, falling
to his knees to pick up jagged piece
of rock streaked with brilliant yellow.
In frenzy they tear at the exposed
out nuggets of pure gold from the
soft rock. They have made a strike
that runs 81 pound, $4,000 to the
ton. -.
In the drawing room of her lovely
DCIlNCl OllC W1OOW VI O11C O4
Colorado's famous mining men is in
| conversation with her brother.
Il want to do something for these
poor unemployed, Shirley" she says.
Il don't want it to be charity. The
dole is pathetic thing. I want to
put these men to work"
But how?"
Her eyes light as she murmers one
word: Cripple Creek" 1t was there
that she had come with her husband
in the flush of their young love. 1t
was there that he had made his start
from gold. And now she turns back
to gold.
II want you to unwater our prop
erty," she explains. There is good
ore there. You take charge and get
that mine running"
Smiling Faces.
Her brother puts a force of men to
work. Faces wreathe with happy
smiles as the word passes that this
bountiful woman philanthropist has
opened the old property. The water
roars from powerful pumps in
mighty stream as the level in the shaft
SINKS. Men put in new timbers. The
mine is ready to work.
The miners strike ore, a wide vein
1t is low grade, but it will more than
pay expenses for a big crew.
In Altman, once known as the
highest incorporated town in the
world, two men are tearing up an
! old sidewalk to use the plankS for
| fuel. They stop. One snatches up
a piece of float - gold bearing
quartz that lies on the surface.
They grab shovel and picks and
start digging. A shovel brings up a
mass of rotten stone that shows the
brilliant yellow of free gold! They
work faster, digging out pounds of the
rich stuff. They sack it and start for
the nearest assay ofice-after they
have staked the claim.
An Overlooked Vein.
The assay runs IL ounces Of gold
to the ton.
| And to think" one partner remarks
| to the other, that for years thou
| sands of men walked right over that
| vein!"
At Victor, the great "City Of
Mines" above Cripple Creek. four men
! are digging around the foundations
of the camps first hotel. A pick sinks
into a soft granite boulder that has
become badly weathered AS its WELD
er draws back for another blow he
sees a streak of yellow in the cash.
Hey, boys!" his voice rings out In
half croak, half scream
The three rush to him. Whats
wrong?"
He points to the cash of cleaning
yellow They fall to- their knees
around the boulder. eyes staring,
breath hoarsely whistling from their
nostrils and open mouths.