SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 1923
I HE ¢MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE |FIVE
THE MIC -IIGAN DAILY PAGE FLVU
I
., i
100-foot tape kept them separated and taken the contractor's horses.r
while at work. We were obliged to These were never recovered. s
cross the Little Snake River as we When life seemed dull and monoto- t
followed the boundary line. The Uin- nois, Martin, our book-keeper, wouldv
ta Indian would not wade it, so, while restore us to a normal state of ani-s
the rest of us took off our shoes and nation by attempting suicide. Finally,
stockings, walked on ice for ten or one morning late in June, he did not
fifteen feet, then stepped into sixteen report for breakfast. Searching par-
or eighteen inches of water and across ties were at once organized and it fell
a second strip of ice at the opposite to my lot to find his dead body in a
bank, he returned eo the wagon for a deserted bain near Snake River, a
riding horse which fell amidstream. mile and a half from the camp. The
giving him an unexpected bath. His camp was located in Colorado, five or
clothes froze immediately and we sent six hundred feet south of the boun-
him to camp. We then built a fire, to dary line, so that the book-keeper bad
stimulate circulatiou, replaced our crossed over into Wyoming to end his
foot-gear and went on with the sur- life. While we did not believe that he
vey. did this purposely to inconvenience us,
After a few days about 8 inches of it necessitated our sending for the
snow fell and we found it inconven- ncarest coroner in Wyoming. That
lent to return to Dry Gulch each eve- officer. arrived at about five o'clock
ning. The company ordered some tents in the afternoon, when the inquest was
for us but these did not arrive until held. The coroner's jury quickly foundE
after we had completed the survey. the case one of suicide by the strychl
But little snow fell during the ensu- nine route. We then planned and car-
Ing six weeks, and, although the sun ried out a funeral ceremony that prob-
shone brightly nearly every day, the ably had no parallel in the history of
thermometer registered below zero the tv'o states. It took place after
most of the time. I only have gen- dark. Two searchlights, used for night
eral impressios of these days and I placer mining, were requisitioned to
am thankful that time and memor, light the way. A Mormon laborer vol-'
conspire to remove irregularities from iunteered to read the Scripture and to
the graph of a somewhat trying ex- say the last solemn words as the body
perience. The survey finally came to was laid to rest. In fact, practically
an end and I returned to Cheyenne everything was provided that usually
to make maps and final computations, goes with a funeral with the possible
Some time in March, 1896, I was exception of mourners. The grave
asked to return to Dry Gulch to carry had been dug a few hundred feet
out the plans of the expert mining en- north of the camp and at the appoint-
gineer, Miller, and to take charge of ed time the procession formed and.
maintenance work on the canal. I marched to dedicate there a new ceme-
accepted the offer and reached Dry tery. The men about the grave were
Gulch almost simultaneously with the a mixed lot. Our half-breed Indians,
first signs of spring. I lost confidence several ex-highwaymen and horse
in the ability of the mining. engineer thieves and two or three others who
within a few weeks. Placer gold min- held diplomas from noted peniten-
Ing was in progress elsewhere in the tlaries, stood in silence, while a Cm-
neighborhood. The local miners had psnion and disciple of a new faith,
tried to extract gold by the use of bade farewell to the earthly remaas
Mercury and had given it up because of a son of the ancient Hebrews.
of the prevalence of arsenic and an-- Feeling that my education was be-
timomy in the sand and gravel. These coming too much diversified and fur-
coat the mercury and the gold does ther that I was no longer needed, I
not amalgamate, but slides over and left Dry Gulch before the end of July.
is lost in the tailinga The local min- In November I received a telegram
ers, however had substituted burlap from the headquarters of the company
and Brussels carpet for mercury and in Providence, asking me to.return to
riffles and so they were making good Dry Gulch to check up the results for
wages with very scanty water supplies the season. I spent one night at the
but Miller insisted on the use of mer- hotel at Baggs on my way. my room
cury. He designed a plant that prom- overlooked a yard back of the hotel
ised something in the nature of a where wagons and similar equipment
monument to his memory. He had al- were kept for guests and other trav-
ready made surveys which furnished eers. On the following morning I
hbm with an approximate knowledge noticed a familiar-looking box on one
of the topography. Regardless of his of the wagons in this yard. The hotel
information,-he located the first proprietor informed me later that the
plant at such a point and on such a releatives of our late book-keeper had
grade that it would have projected requested the body to be disinterred
into the air and never reached any of and sent to New York for final bur-'
the gold-bearing material. I assumed ial. The freighter, employed to trans-
some responsibility when, during his port the body from Dry Gulch to Raw-
absence, I changed both location and lins, had reached Baggs some six
grade. Miller approved these changes weeks prior to my arrival. He had
when he next visited the Gulch. By consumed enough whiskey each day
that time, however, I had as much since that time to relieve him from
hope of extracting gold from the air any annoying feeling of responsibil-
as from the sand and gravel. As my ity.
faith in the financial success of the I soon reached Dry Gulch where I
placer mining venture disappeared I measured the volume of material that
tried to preserve reputations as far had been worked and then inquired
as possible and to afford consolation for the gold recovered. No response
to those whose hopes were soon to be being made, I did not press the matter.
wrecked, ly report to the stockholders in Prov-
In the meantime, Perkins, the form- idence was brief, and to the point. The
er milk inspector of Providence, was camp soon closed and the moving spir-
busy in other fields. He was placing its of the enterprise at Dry Gulch,
some anchors to windward as he made charging all costs to experience, col-
frequent trips into the mountains to lected their personal effects and left
the east. His assays showed gold in for parts unknown.
all samples of ore he brought back The Little Snake River Valley so-
with him. When he found gold in a ciety exhibited one or two outstand-
fire brick we had pulverized for his ing characteristics as I remember it
benefit, he made analyses of the them- For mental alertness the natives of
ieals used in his assays and found the valley could not be excelled. Char-
gold in the litherage, lead monoxide. lie Perkins, of Dixon, probably had
This discovery discredited much of his the right theory. Only those who could
work up to that time and discouraged think quickly and accurately were do-
further prospecting on his part. ing business and reporting regularly
The driving team and all of the rid- for meals. John Hardinburgh was an
ing horses owned by the company ignorant unprepossessing man, yet he
were stolen one pleasant summer convinced men of much different type
night. The horses of a contractor en- that ie owned something worth buy-
gaged in repairs on the canal were ing. These New Englanders, Yankees,
overlooked. Riding horses were bor- if you please, were unable to compete
rowed from neighbors, local deputy with men representing a society sim-
sheriffs were notified and a large par- ulated by necessity and purged of the
ty quickly assembled and started off weak and unfit. In evry transaction,
in pursuit of the robbers. The trail ucommercial, social or charitable, the
led directly east to the mountains man who had lived in the sagebrush,
where all of the horses were found al- walked away with all benefits, prizes
though much scattered. The party re- and profits. It is probable that none
turned to Dry Gulch feeling rather of the people of the valley could have
proud of its exploit only to find that successfully staged a clam bake and
the horse-thieves had returned to the although, none of them, to my know-
camp while all the men were absent ledge, ever manifested any interest in
milk inspection or the selling of sar- One quality all shared in common.
dines, they displayed vvisdom when The great gambling instinct,-the joy
they adhered to their own vocation, of taking a chance,-appealed to the
whether these were horse-stealingI sons of New England and the deni-
stock-raising, mine-promoting, or zens of the sagebrush alike. JohA
something else. (Continued on Page Eight)
r{!{{{{{{{{{{{{{{f {i !{{{i {ir I f IgIr IIgII lfill i li IIIIIlIllI II 111 ffill If 1111111111
_ RAINY WEATHER
Nothing like it to take the press out of clothes. These
damp days can make a new suit look old unless you take
the best of care of it. When your clothes lose that "out-
of-the-band-box" look call Dettling and let him give them
new life.
DETTLING
"The Faultless Tailor"
S1121 S. University
I I
KEEP an accurte record
of checks drawn in the
stubs of your check book. It
will mean less difficulty
when you're trying to figure
your balance before leaving
fore home.
STATE
SAVINGS BANK
Main at Washington
You'll want--
EXTRA PEP - VIM - VIGOR
FOR THOSE FINAL EXAMS.
A FEW OF OUR
- DELICIOUS -
STEAK DINNERS
WILL GIVEJIT TO YOU.
YOU'LL ALSO FIND THEM :A
SPECIAL TREAT !
JOIN THE THRONG GOING TO
Besimer's
W. Huron St.