Year: 1871

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For several years the honest miners
living on and about Soap Slide had
taken very little interest in quartz
mining. or anythin. connected there
with. There were several reasons for
This. In the first place the >oapslid-
ers professed TO be thoroughly disgust
ed with the uncertainty of that branch
uf mining. They had been brought TO
,hi~ frame of mind by the >orrowfnl
experiences of the past. Ia lsj7,
when Uncle Ben Stephens-thc first
man, hv the way, who ever located
claim OF any Kind in that vicinity
discovered his famous quartz lead on
that brow Of the hill, only n few hun
dred yards from the town, and pounded
out in a handmortar fully seven thou
sand dollars in less than a week time,
there was great excitement not only
in SOAP Slide but in all the neighbor-
ing caInps Is MelL, Every body caught
the quartz fever al once, and gTIrcl
mining came for time 10 be looked
upon as low and spiriiless pursuit,
unworthy the attention of any save
Cinnamon and Greasers.


Strange 10 say. however, no discoy-
ery like that of Uncle Ben was ever
again made Notwithstanding the fact
that each individual on the Slide had,
in the course OF a few days after the
first PRONUNCIATION Of the great news.
succeeded in makln n location on some
quartz lead. where they su"k shafts
and coveted and narrowed around in
different direction with ali the assidu-
ity, il not the discretion, of some en-
ierprising ground squirrel. All these
| well-neant exertlons were thrown
away. In . short time Soap Slide,
awaking 10 a consciousness Of the time
and money they had been uselessly ex-
pended, pronounced quartz-mining q
humbug of the first class, and ever af-
,erward pointed the finger of scorn at
Uncle Ben, who still hammered away at
his ledge.


Perhaps there was another equally
good reason why the Soapsliders had
no more interest in quartz. 1t was OF
a financial character. They were all
exceedingly poor, Quartz-mining, to
be successful, requires large prelimi-
nary outlay of capital, and this fact
they soon ascertained. Thus the lack
of confidence and the lack OF capital
conspired with other things TO leave
Uncle Ben alone in his occupation.


A burned shiftless, worthless set Of
loafers-that's Whist they are-the hull
pack on EN- muttered Uncle Ben. as
from his seat on pile of quartz near
the entrance Of his tunnel, he looked
down toward the Slide and saw the
knot of loafers assembled in front Of
the GREYHOUND Saloon-the only estab-
Ishment of the kind which the place
then supported.


.Drat 'em eff they think they're go
in to get ennv better off drinkin' Sam
AllhiIe's chain-lightning whisky and
playin' freeze-out and seven-up. they're
goin' to slip up on it, that's all. That
little girl of mine has got more sense
in five minutes than they all have in
week. Bless her little heart she's stuck
to me through it all without single
cross word or look A CLEAN of ten
derness stole ever his features, only to
vanish as he again directed his gaze To
the Slide, shaking his horny fist and
giving vent to his feelings in sundry
mild expletives.


II was near the close Of short sum-
mer day. Some bands Of yellow light
still fell through the walls of pines
across the piles of quartz, which lay at
intervals along the course OF the car
track. On one Of these, fearless OF
the proximity of the old man, an ad-
venturous ground-squirrel had climbed,
and sat there on his hind legs, holding
an acorn between his fore paws, and
occasionally sending forth shrill cry,
which was answered by his fellows in
the distance. This, and the clamOrous
piping of flock Of separated quail On
the farther side Of the ravine, we're the
only sounds that broke the evening
stiffness.


Here. On his lead; known to all in
the vicinity as the Home Ticket, Un-
Gle Ben had labored patiently for the
last seven years. Possessing all the
careless prodigality of the true forty
miner, it had taken him but a little
while to get rid Of the sum which be
found himself owner Of in few days
after the discovery Of the vein. he
found no more pockets like the first
still, the vein was undeniably rich, and
in running his tunnel be now and then