Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-08-20
RY ELNO


first saw him ae q distance I'm
= little picnic park ON the banks
of the Yellowstone just before
dusk. He was huddIed over fire
In q little camp stove, and nearby
was his car. No ether evidence OF
q camp appeared. "He seems to be
staying here all night" remarked
my wife But lots of travellers make
temporary camp there. He was
stiu there the next Sunday after
noon. After we had enjoyed our
picnic lunch walked over to chin
a bit.
'Howdy, partnerI"
Hello" he replied.
How goes campin'?"
"Oh, purity good"
He was rather large, with rough,
weathered features. He was "cleanly'
dirty-that is, his much-mended over
alls and jumper appeared to have been
laundered repeatedly with soap and
cold water and a minimum Of elbow
grease. The soluble soilage was re-
moved, but the widely advertised tat
tle-tale gray" still remained.
you've been here several days, I
see"
day. It got purity cold In the big rain.
an thought 1t was goin' to snow
/ came to Livingston camped on a
vacant lot, an then fellow told me
about this camp ground, an moved
out"
Headed for the park?"
"No, I thought I'd go over to the
Boulder in few days an do a little
prospectin' This is the first time I
have ever been over in this country"
Aha! So this, thought I, Is the gold
hunter, new style.
The old-time prospector, with his
jackass or two for transportation, a
gold pan, q skillet and a parcel OF
grub on the packsaddle, dressed usually
In rather decrepit and disreputable
clothing designed primarily for pro-
lection from the weather and the rough
country, has dwtndled more or less
into the realm of legend and tradi-
The Old Time Grub Stake
Seldom young, usually aging but age
less, and bearded because that was the
mode Of his time-a razor would have |
been Just so much surplus duffle In
the packroll-the pioneer prospector
was q product Of pioneer environment. !
His eyes were permanently SQuinted
from the habit Of looking through the /
clear mountain air to far places. and
from careful examination Of minute
"colors" in rock or in the black sand |
Of his gravel.
He usually came to town only two
or three times year with his burros /
TO have spree and to wheedle some
one out of another grubstake. "I1l
strike it rich this time, shorel It CANT
be very fur away now. That new claim
Is looking UP. Why, Just look at these
speciments I'm goin' e. strike it, an
you know, If youn grubStake me again,
hat " it's yores."
Usually the merchant or someone
else In the community with some sur
plus means-and a soft heart where
the hill hermitS were oncerned-would
provide the required flour and bacon
and BEANS and some ammunition, and
the old fellow would be off to the hills
again, to hole up in an isolated cabin
to spend his days sampling the sands
of the creek or picking at the rock
In the hills, always sure that "tOmor-
row" would reveal a new bonanza.
Or, maybe, he'd given up hope OF
ever striking 1t rich, and he found
"prospectin' an easy way to talk
someone out of another grubstake.
But this stranger was proSpector
de luxe. looked about his camp. Not
much was in view. The little tin camp
stove. His coffee pot and skillet. HIS /