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BANCROFT 
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 A. True Str. 
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TENDERFOOT 
 AND EXPERT 
 
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 A true story and experience of a 
 Tenderfoot at Goldfield and Tonopah. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1905 
 
 BY JOHN D. HOFF, M. E. 
 
 Mutual Publishing Company 
 
 Office: Rooms 913-914 Mutual Savings Bank Bldg. 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 
9 7GfS- 
 
 Office Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 
 New York, 1905. 
 Expert, 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 Meet me at Reno Monday morning. 
 
 (Signed) TENDERFOOT. 
 
 On receipt of the above telegram from Tenderfoot 
 to meet him at Reno, Expert took the noted Southern 
 Pacific Limited for Goldfield. While quietly admiring 
 the Grand Gorge, the American River had' cut through 
 the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about two hundred miles 
 east of San Francisco, who should drop alongside of 
 Expert and sing out, as they were passing Dutch Flat, 
 hut a wiry, little old man. well groomed and with a 
 high-pitched voice: "I never saw these diggm's before, 
 but I know all about 'em. I also know about Union 
 Valley, Hangtown, Grizzly Flat, Yuba Hill and Yuba 
 Dam," as he pointed a long, slender finger beyond 
 Dutch Flat. "And then I was a forty-niner a-working 
 on the river bar in old Mariposa County. Mighty 
 hard work, this mining business, working in the water, 
 a-scrapin' of the bed rock for those little chunks of 
 gold, I got stiffer than a poker, yes I did, yes I did." 
 
 Expert said : "These diggings in Forty-nine around 
 Grizzly Flat, Yuba Hill and Yuba Dam were far richer, 
 so history says, than the placer diggings in old Mari- 
 posa." 
 
 The old man braced up and said: "There was 
 mighty rich spots in old Mariposa, yes there was, yes 
 there was." 
 
 He warmed up and said in a high key to prove the 
 wonders of Mariposa County : 
 
 "I knew a feller down there on the Merced River 
 who came from 'Old Mizzoura,' who, by the way, was 
 a fine young chap, who picked up a dirty rock and 
 found it was heavy, and when he washed off the dirt, 
 what do you think? It was a gold nugget worth nigh 
 onto three thousand dollars, yes he did, yes he did. 
 What der you think? That feller went right back to 
 
 Grrh 
 
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Missouri, and when the war come on between the 
 North and the South he went ter bush whacking. His 
 wife was a Union woman, and she took all the chil- 
 dren and left him, yes she did, yes she did; and he 
 never seen sight on her until years afterward, in 1901, 
 and where do you think the two old people met? It 
 was by accident on the old Oakland ferry boat, yes 
 they did, yes they did ; and then and thar those two "old 
 people made up. Her maiden name was Lee, and now 
 that thar old man is a-telling everybody that Lee did 
 not surrender until 1901." 
 
 After being entertained a long time in this manner, 
 Expert said good-bye to this brisk old forty-niner, tell- 
 ing him he was glad to see that in his old age he was 
 able to take a trip East in all the comfort and elegance 
 of the Golden State Flier, which was quite a contrast to 
 the way he came to California on the "Bull Team 
 Flier" in forty-nine; 
 
 The colored porter of their train was of unusual in- 
 terest He was large for his age and weighed 240 
 pounds ; a very polite and humorous negro. As the 
 train was going at a rapid rate, about fifty miles 
 an hour, a thin, tall Easterner was seen coming down 
 the car, and suddenly stopped as he discovered the 
 aisle was filed with the porter. The porter said "Come 
 on," and to our surprise and wonder at how it wa$ 
 done the Easterner passed. 
 
 They exclaimed to the porter : "How was so won- 
 derful a feat so easily accomplished without you get- 
 ting out of the car?" 
 
 "Why, massa, that was simple enough. I just blows 
 all the wind out of me and just let him pass, and then 
 I fills up again. See?" said he; and the expanding, 
 exhilarating, exhaling and compressing feat was done 
 before Expert's eyes, and then he saw how easily the. 
 tall, thin man could pass the porter. 
 
 Expert arrived at Reno. The Eastern Flier with 
 Tenderfoot on board was flying from the East and 
 was on time. They soon met with a crash — not the 
 trains, but Expert and Tenderfoot. When their breath 
 was recovered — 
 
"How soon will our train start for Goldfield?" ex- 
 claimed Tenderfoot. It can't start too soon for me. 
 T must get my trunk re-checked, and there it is." 
 
 His face beamed with smiles as he spied his trunk 
 as it was rolled oflf the Eastern Flier, so down into 
 his pocket he went for that precious check. That be- 
 witching smile soon changed to a picture of utter dis- 
 may as in his trousers no check was found. 
 
 "I can't go," he yelled, "until I get. the check, 
 we will all be in the tail end of the rush in getting to 
 Goldfield — and there goes the bell." 
 
 In desperation at the thought of missing the Gold- 
 field train, a happy thought struck him as he made 
 for the baggage man. 
 
 "I'll prove it is my trunk by showing the agent 
 that I have the only key that will open that trunk." 
 
 But the agent hesitated and said: "Well, if you 
 can open that trunk, what is it we will find in it and 
 what is on top?" 
 
 "Well, well," sighed the Tenderfoot "is it not 
 enough evidence to you that I can open the trunk?" 
 
 "No," said the agent, "it is not enough. When I 
 open it I want you to tell me what is lying on the top." 
 
 Tenderfoot excitedly exclaimed : "If any man be- 
 sides me has a key that will open that trunk, here is 
 a fifty-dollar bill for him." 
 
 But of no avail; the agent would not yield. 
 
 "You must describe what is on the top lid of the 
 trunk before I re-check it to Goldfield." 
 
 "Well," ejected Tenderfoot, "it is a dress suit. Is 
 that enough?" 
 
 The agent grinned and ordered the trunk checked 
 at once. Expert took Tenderfoot aside and said to him : 
 
 "Never give it away any more that you have or will 
 wear a dress suit in the evening at Goldfield," 
 
 "Why?" said Tenderfoot, in all innocence. 
 
 Expert said : "The first time a dress suit appeared 
 on the streets of Goldfield one evening, the blue-shirted 
 and khaki-suited miners exclaimed, as they saw it 
 coming up the main street: 
 
"What is it? Look at it! Rubber! Let's put it 
 on the stage in the Mint Saloon and have it talk and 
 make it sing!" 
 
 "No sooner said than done, and 'at the point of half 
 a dozen automatic revolvers he was put upon the Mint 
 Saloon stage and made to dance and sing between the 
 drinks and the hurrahs of the men." This narration of 
 exploits at Goldfield was chilling to Tenderfoot. 
 
 A ring 6i the bell, a whistle, a puflf, and the Gold- 
 field train was off. The crowd on this train were all 
 an interesting study. All kinds of little men and big 
 men, with plug hats, derby hats and broad-brim- 
 med cowboy hats. The khaki suit and big-booted ex- 
 perts were an interesting sight. The women were there, 
 too. All were a joJly and hopeful lot to behold. One 
 big, good-natured fellow said to Expert, as he got into 
 his seat : 
 
 "They tell me you have been to Goldfield. Tell us 
 all you know of that 'ar country, for we can hardly 
 wait till we get there; and say, mister, are those tales 
 of gold we hear so much about really and honestly all 
 true? — for I have been a-dreaming every night for one 
 solid month of this yer wonderful Goldfield. One 
 morning, mister, I braced up and said to my dear 
 little wife away up in Oregon : 'I cannot stand it any 
 more, little girl, and I will have to leave you and our 
 little baby girl, Nell, and try to get some of that 'ar 
 gold away down thar in the desert, and then we can 
 build a little home for you and Baby Nell. I'll take 
 you to father's, whose big, warm heart and house are 
 always open for you and our baby girl. I'll soon be 
 back,' I assured her, 'and then we'll build that little 
 home by the Oregon lake.' Mister, it's nigh killin' me 
 to leave that darling lot, but I am strong and healthy 
 and will make the dirt fly, and I 'low I can bury my- 
 self in the ground out of sight with pick, shovel and 
 drill quicker than any man in that 'ar camp, and I 
 am sure I am going to get some of that 'ar precious 
 stuff if there is any thar to be got. I am bound to 
 stay there and get some of it before I can see my little 
 wife and Nell." 
 
"Yes," said Expert, as the hopeful crowd pressed 
 round him to hear the words that he might drop. "The 
 gold is there for forty miles long and one mile wide. 
 The belt is running northwesterly and southeasterly 
 through the western portion of Nevada, and is now 
 demonstrated to be the greatest gold and silver belt 
 ever discovered in the world." 
 
 A beaming smile spread over the features of the big 
 fellow, for he had seemed to doubt all that he had heard 
 away up in Oregon about Goldfield. The crowd pressed 
 closer around Expert and seemed to be anxious to hear 
 more of the promised land for which they were bound. 
 Expert continuing, gave them a description of the 
 country topographically. He said : "The country is ele- 
 vated into ridges running northerly and southerly, 
 which have been elevated by the contraction of the 
 north and south poles, the granite core which underlies 
 the country, the sedimentary formations being friable 
 and easily decomposed, it soon eroded away, and ex- 
 poses the apex of the core, exposing the mineral-bearing 
 blue porphyry which lies over the granite and in which 
 are the valuable mineral veins of Tonopah and Gold- 
 field. Occasionally, every fifteen or twenty miles, the 
 granite is seen cropping out for a short distance 
 through the porphyritic layers called ryolite and ande- 
 site. These peaks are a guide to the direction in which 
 the mineral belt trends. The mineral ore-bearing veins 
 are principally contacts between the diflFerent layers of 
 porphyry and between the granite and the porphyry. 
 There is also a system of veins that cut across these 
 porphyry reefs, strata and contacts at right angles. 
 These elevated, exposed, mineralized porphyry reefs, 
 which lie on the apex of the core, are all taken up 
 and located, but there is a chance for all of you who 
 are not able to purchase claims to develop, by apply- 
 mg for leases on this kind of mineral-bearing ground. 
 A company of three of you can sink a shaft and 
 may strike it rich, as others have done One carload 
 of ore would make a fortune for you. Of course some 
 will lease, work and dig, get nothing and be a disap- 
 pointed lot, and a knocker you may become; but this 
 
great mineral district will be yielding millions of gold 
 and silver when the knockers are all gone." 
 
 As . the train went southerly through the beautiful 
 Carson Valley, which supplies the mining camps with 
 produce, potatoes and hay, we passed Virginia 
 City as we emerged from the valley a little east of 
 the railroad, which we could see nestled on the side of 
 Mount Davidson. Expert pointed it out to them as 
 the richest spot on earth, which had yielded $400,000,- 
 000 in gold and silver for the benefit of commerce and 
 mankind, and where Mark Twain was made famous 
 by his story, "Roughing It." 
 
 In one of these stories (and all of them were taken 
 from facts) he describes painting this spot with a few 
 friends one night a crimson red, and by so doing ad- 
 mits that they had driven a few nails in their own 
 coffins. When this crov^d gets to Goldfield, Expert ad- 
 vised them not to try to paint the town red. 
 
 At this juncture Tenderfoot started out on a tour 
 to explore the train. He went into a forward car, 
 where the tough element had gradually congre- 
 gated and were drinking and carousing, which 
 was a circus for Tenderfoot. After he had been gone 
 about thirty, minutes unearthly yells were heard com- 
 ing from the forward car. Our car door was thrown 
 violently open, with a big, fat woman jammed in the 
 door and Tenderfoot close behind. She screamed: 
 "The men are shooting each other in the other car !" 
 She kept on through the car and did not even stop, 
 banged the door and disappeared in the rear car. 
 Close after Tenderfoot came all kinds of little men and 
 big men from out of the forward car. Expert said : 
 
 "What's the matter with you fellows?" 
 
 And one little fellow said: "We just come out to 
 let them fight it out." 
 
 Quiet was finally restored, the big fat woman and 
 Tenderfoot brought back from the rear of the train 
 where they had fled, and the gun players put into dif- 
 ferent parts of the train. The train now reached 
 Wabuska for dinner. Here they saw the Indians in 
 from the reservation. The little, narrow guage train 
 
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was soon off for Sodaville, where the train starts for 
 Tonopah. To their dismay they were notified that the 
 railroad had washed away, but to Tonopah and Gold- 
 field they must go. Expert having a few pointers in 
 regard to who might have teams in this section of 
 the country, finally secured from a well known char- 
 acter, you might say a child of the desert, whose name 
 was Tom Piper, who had lived in this part of the coun- 
 try for years. He was a temperate, honest and indus- 
 trious man who had accumulated a few cattle, and also 
 owned a mine. 
 
 When he knew of their predicament and anxiety to 
 push ahead on their trip, he came to them and said : 
 
 ''Mister, I'll take youse to Tonopah in a rig 
 such as I have. I want you to look at it as it may not 
 suit you. There is no style about it, but it will sure 
 get you there." 
 
 He insisted on them seeing it, so they went to look 
 at Tom's rig. Behold ! two handsome, large horses 
 whom he called Pacer and Punch, and a stout little 
 wagon, which would be a prospector's delight. 
 
 "Why, Tom," said they, "what a fine outfit." 
 
 "Yes, Mister, but you city chaps has style in your 
 ridin' and I want to be sure you're plum satisfied with 
 the team, I'll take yer to Tonopah." 
 
 A bargain was struck, and Tom said : "I'll get 
 something to eat and you fellows get ready and we 
 will be off in a jiff." 
 
 A great crowd from the blockaded train was delayed 
 at Sodaville on account of the washout and they were 
 roaming around in small lots. Tenderfoot was out 
 circulating among the different lots of men while we 
 were packing up. He soon came back and said he 
 had run across a man who was broke and he had a 
 piece of rock which was plum full of gold which was 
 a beautiful specimen, and had at least as much gold in 
 it as was in a $5 gold piece, and it was surely worth a 
 good deal more for its beauty and he had offered it to 
 Tenderfoot at $2.50. 
 
 Expert said : "I will go over with you and see " 
 
 10 
 
He found the fellow, who was just from Colorado, 
 with a long tale of misfortune and woe. The specimen 
 of ore he said came from a noted mine in Colorado, 
 but now he was broke. 
 
 Tenderfoot reached into his boot for the money, 
 but Expert, who had examined the ore, said : "No, we 
 will see -him later." Then taking Tenderfoot aside he 
 said: "This, is only a piece of quartz bored into with 
 a dentist's drill and filled up with gold leaf. There is 
 only about 'five cents worth of gold in the whole piece. 
 
 Off to Tonopah they soon started with Tom Piper 
 pulling the reins over Pacer and Punch's backs. What 
 a fine team and outfit, they all said. Tom looked up, 
 seemed very much pleased and said : 
 
 "I am mighty glad you think that, for. Mister, it 
 is a fact that some of those fellers that come out here 
 seems to kick at everything all the way to Tonopah and 
 all the way back, and its' mighty pleasin' to me to 
 hear you fellers talk in that way, for I know you will 
 not kick on the way. That horse Pacer, he's a mighty 
 good horse ; yes he is, Mister, he and I have been in 
 heaps of mighty tight places, but he always brings me 
 through and he is a lucky horse, too ; he has hauled 
 lots of poor chaps to Tonopah that struck it mighty rich 
 up there, including Billy D , Jimmy B. and Shorty K. 
 I'll introduce you to them all over there. They all 
 know Pacer, too." 
 
 "Why, Tom, why did you not stay with lucky Pacer 
 too at Tonopah?" 
 
 Tom straightened up, pointing back over the 
 town and beyond Sodaville. "I have a little home over 
 thar, a dear wife and four little ones, all in a nice 
 cozy spot. There's lots of young calves and cattle 
 a roamin' about ; Pve got a mine there, too. Mister, 
 and what more do I want? I am afraid if I leave it 
 ril never find such another warm spot. 'I know all 
 about the rest of the boys hereabout who went to 
 Tonopah and Goldfield and are now a mighty rich lot, 
 but their money could not buy that thar place over be- 
 hind that thar hill, where wy babies and cattle are 
 a roamin' about." 
 
 11 
 
They were all very quiet for a time after this speech 
 with their own thoughts. As they drove along through 
 the beautifully colored, treeless hills, stained by the 
 mineral oxides and carbonates of red, yellow and 
 green, which colors and tints no painters could repro- 
 duce, and having a view for miles of the contour of 
 the country with the Sierra Navada at the back as a 
 background covered with snow was an inspiration to 
 all lovers of nature When suddenly Tom from his 
 quietude exclaimed, as they were rolling along : 
 
 "Say, Mister, do you see all that level country be- 
 yond there? That's no desert, that soil is mighty rich, 
 and if it just had water on it you would be surprised to 
 see the way vegetables and fruit would grow, and I 
 believe water can be got there by drilling a hole ; 
 yes, I do, Mister. I have lived in this country thirty 
 years and it just suits me and when we have good 
 rains here that country is all covered with grass and 
 flowers, and only in the center of the valley, at the 
 low places, is it bare and nothing will grow, for only 
 there the alkali and the borax is found, and this is the 
 country where the Borax King lived when he was a 
 poor man and had teams hauling wood to the silver 
 mills, before he found the borax mine, and he is a 
 mighty fine man. I think lots of him. He is mighty 
 shrewd and smart. See the way he handles his coin 
 at Frisco and the big things he builds and runs. When 
 I took a trip one time to Frisco and got down to his 
 big offices in one of those big head framed buildings. 
 I guess you know he is a mighty busy man, and I 
 thought I would not take his time to see him, but 
 when he heard that I was out there he threw the doors 
 wide open and said : 'Come right in, Tom ; I have 
 lots of time to see and visit my old friends,' and he 
 brushed all others aside to chat with me a while." 
 
 Thirty miles out from Sodaville they stopped at a 
 beautiful spring of water where they met teams going 
 and coming from Tonopah. Tom was much worried 
 about getting hay in Tonopah for his horses as the 
 railroad was unable to haml any hay into Tonopah, and 
 he kept talking about not being able to get any hay 
 
 12 
 
when he got to Tonopah. Finally he said : 
 
 "I know all them livery men over there, and if they 
 have any hay hid away they will divide with me." 
 so Tom quit talking hay from that time on, when he 
 realized what he could do. 
 
 As they rode down from the Summit into Lone Moun- 
 tain Valley, which lies west of Tonopah, they were sur- 
 prised to find it a rich broad expanse of rich soil and 
 indications of water at different points in it. They re- 
 marked to Tom if anyone had ever dug for water in it. 
 
 "Oh, yes," he said. "See yonder ahead of us is the 
 old stage station and it is only forty feet to lots of 
 pure, good water." 
 
 Driving up at a brisk trot to the station, 
 they saw a man sitting down smoking a pipe 
 near the well The water was lifted out of the 
 well with horse power belted to a force pump, which 
 filled the tank and trough. He sold the water to the 
 travelers for their horses at 25 cents per head Ex- 
 pert said to the man with the pipe, the owner of the 
 well: 
 
 "Why don't you irrigate a patch of this ground and 
 raise alfalfa, which would now sell for $100 per ton at 
 Tonopah? This is very rich ground." 
 
 He straightened himself up and with one long pull 
 at the pipe, exclaimed: "Me work? Not much. I am 
 a native Californian." 
 
 Tom whipped up his horses and drove on in silence. 
 Expert exclaimed: "Tom, at what price do you sup- 
 pose we could buy that man out? If a gasoline engine 
 was put on there to raise the water a beautiful ranch 
 could be made of this spot and a very profitable one, 
 too." 
 
 "I believe, Mister." said Tom. "if you would just 
 show that fellow $200 in gold twenties he will com- 
 mence thinking, that he could take that $200 and go up 
 to Tonopah and beat the big games a running there, 
 yes, he would, mister, and when he had come to that 
 conclusion you would get that thar place sure for that 
 little wad o' gold." 
 
 13 
 
Tenderfoot said : "Why not buy this place as it is 
 so near the Tonopah Railroad, and you told us. Ex- 
 pert, just before we got here, that over yonder to the 
 right on Lone Mountain are mines of lead and silver, 
 and the valleys, you say, are underlaid with coal and 
 limestone cropping out on yonder treeless peak for flux 
 to treat the Tonopah ores. We could form a company 
 and build a smelter to treat these ores, and a townsite 
 we could start and soon a city would he built " 
 
 "True," said Expert, "and some day this will all 
 come true, but, Tenderfoot, when you see the great 
 mines of Tonopah and Goldfield this 'pipe dream' will 
 fade away and nothing but a mine of gold will satisfy 
 you — not a ranch to raise hay." 
 
 They drove on and soon saw Tonopah nestled high 
 up between two buttes called Mt. Oddie and Mt. Brower 
 with the tall, steel head frames of the mines looming 
 up into the sky. It was a sight in this treeless coun- 
 try and beautiful to behold. The rumbling of the big 
 stamn mills, the noise echoing through the hills was 
 music, said Expert, to his ears, for every drop of the 
 stamps unloosed a dollar from nature's grip to land in 
 Uncle Sam's mint, there to be coined and then scat- 
 tered broadcast over Uncle Sam's domain, with which 
 to build battleships, which in turn will influence for 
 the peace of the world and augment and protect lib- 
 erty for all men. We are now able to see how far- 
 reaching are the researches, energy, privation and labor 
 of the prospector, but no one can accurately tell. 
 
 They are now on the outskirts of Tononah, they pass 
 by the graveyards, which, by the way, was not started 
 by having to kill a man with a ^ix shooter, as was done 
 in '59 at Virvinia City, Nev , according to Mark Twain, 
 brt it was bad whiskv that started the Tonopah grave- 
 yard. They asked Tom to tell what he knew about 
 this graveyard and the fellows in it. He said : 
 
 "I knowed most all of those poor fellows that are 
 buried over there. Some of them have been in this 
 country prospecting for thirty years, and when silver 
 went down this part of the country and over by Cin- 
 derella went flat, and everybody went broke, and all 
 
 14 
 
we had left to show for our hard work in this country 
 was beautiful bunches of paper, all printed with pic- 
 tures of mills and mines and a great gold star in the 
 corner, and printed on some of them was 'Continental 
 Consolidated Combination Gold and Silver Mining 
 & Milling Company,' and a lot of other stuff, and the 
 hull lot would not buy a railroad ticket to get out of 
 this place so we all had to stay here, and when Ton- 
 opah was struck about three years ago all of those 
 fellows that are buried over thar flocked to Tonopah, 
 where whiskey was galore, and these chaps had not 
 smelt whiskey for a long time, Mister, sure and all 
 the other boys who struck it rich treated all these old 
 fellows from morning till night and when the cold 
 weather came on their headquarters was in the warm 
 barroom so comfortably kept, oyt into the cold they 
 staggeringly went, into the dark dreary night to find 
 their dugouts or camps and finally reached the same 
 and would crawl into their hard, rough and chilly beds, 
 to awake the next day with a pain in their sides, their 
 poor lungs being diseased with bad whiskey and also 
 their liver by cold storage meat, and in twenty-four 
 hours the poor fellows would be found stone dead. 
 They called it the black plague, but no, Mister, it's that 
 thar bad whisky that killed off my old friends that lie 
 over thar in that lonely spot with a stone uncut or 
 marked at their heads." 
 
 They soon passed by the graveyards and were in the 
 city of Tonopah, Pacer holding his head aloft. Tom 
 declared he was smelling for hay and he would get it 
 too if there was any in that thar town. The horses trot- 
 ted down the busy, hurrying, bustling street, with strains 
 of music from pianos, fiddles and harps floating out 
 from the glaring wide open saloons Glancing in them 
 as_ they drove by could be seen the long row of gam- 
 bling tables, roulette wheel and faro banks around 
 which were groups of men who often won or lost from 
 one dollar to fifty thousand dollars in a few hours, as 
 men in this camp were numerous who could afford and 
 did lose thousands which showed how rapidly wealth 
 is accumulated here. One gambling firm is reported 
 
 16 
 
to have made half a million dollars in a short while. 
 
 As Tom did not drink, gamble or smoke, of course 
 he did not haul up at any of these places of resort, but 
 trok them to the Palace Hotel, where they were soon in 
 comfortable, modern quarters dreaming of the hidden 
 wealth they had come to get. 
 
 The barroom, rotunda and offices of the hotels 
 in Nevada are all one so they were continually being 
 called to the bar to be introduced to the jolly, good- 
 hearted representative men of the town. They were 
 invariably all young men of the best mettle and qual- 
 ity, for only those who have the nerve and grit to 
 penetrate the desert came to this country first. Fully 
 fifty per cent have made a stake here. The crowds 
 tha^- came later, in comfort and ease and a'l the way 
 by rail, are not of the- same kind of stock that com- 
 posed the camp. The vim and the wonderful develop- 
 ment of the camp and the unprecedented growth of 
 the same into a city of electric lights, automobile 
 routes, electric power plant and great reduction works 
 and one large hotel with well furnished rooms, electric 
 bells and lights, toilet, bath and telephone for each 
 room, so that each mining operator can reach each of 
 his camps by 'phone, is entirely due to the stalwart, 
 vigorous, enterprising young Americans, and such is 
 the kind of crowd they were called to the bar to meet. 
 
 The neyt mornirjy Expert was aroused by Tenderfoot 
 saying: "I have been out taking in the town and 
 have met a mining man who is a big gun in this town, 
 knows all about the mines, all the prospects and the 
 way the gold and silver belt runs. He told me on the 
 side he had a pointer about a certain mine striking the 
 big Macdonald ledge, but he had a bigger thing, further 
 north on the string. He would like to take me out, 
 and my friends, to show us the big ledge. If we liked 
 it he could get hold of it for a few hundred in coin 
 and a block of stock in the concern, but the parties 
 would not part with it all as they knew it would be a 
 bonanza in time, so get up and get dressed for I will 
 have Tom, Pacer and Punch all ready to go." So off 
 he went with Tenderfoot and his new found friend, 
 with Tom and Pacer all eager for the bout. 
 
 17 
 
They went several miles out from Tonopah and 
 climbed a big hill, and right on the top we came to a 
 shaft and cut. 
 
 "Look," said the miner, "at that big ledge of quartz. 
 See how. it is stained with mineral and a little more 
 digging will soon be in rich §tufif." 
 
 Expert's mouth flew open and he steadily gazed at 
 this strange phenomena, that a ledge of white quartz 
 could be running in this Malipi bluff (a recent forma- 
 tion), so he stooped down to examine the supposed big 
 ledge of white quartz and took out his knife, and be- 
 hold, said he, as he whittled up the white stuff : 
 
 "This is not quartz, my friend, or you could not 
 scratch or whittle it in this way. This is only a deposit 
 of sulphate of lime that is used to make plaster and 
 plaster of paris, and to get genuine quartz that carries 
 values on this ground you would have to sink a shaft 
 through this Malipi. Under it you would find the shale, 
 sandstone and lime and then you would strike the blue 
 porphyry in time, I should judge at a total of about 
 500 feet, and then by drifting and crosscutting you may 
 and you may not strike a mineralized quartz vein. 
 Look back there at Mt. Oddie and Mt. Brower. Don't 
 you see how the Malipi, shale, sandstone and lime are 
 all tilted up by the granite, or alaskite, core, and be- 
 tween these two points all of this friable material has 
 been eroded and washed away leaving the porphyry 
 exposed, with its rich silver and gold quartz veins crop- 
 ping, which enabled Jim Butler to find it, so we have got 
 to find a washed off place or sink a deep shaft before 
 we can do anything more. Do you see over there the 
 great Mizpah mine which has $60,000,000 of ore blocked 
 out? It has built a railroad sixty-five miles long and 
 equipped itself, and paid two dividends of a quarter of a 
 million." 
 
 "Yes," said Tom, "that is so, and when Jim Butler 
 sold this mine he asked the expert $350,000 cash down. 
 The expert sent a telegram to Philadelphia that cost 
 $500, giving a report on the mine and asking the Phila- 
 delphia parties to allow him to draw $50,000. A tele- 
 gram came back authorizing the expert to draw $50,000, 
 
 18 
 
which was paid to Jim Butler, and before the balance, 
 $300,000, was due the royalty of the leasers had paid for 
 the mine in full." 
 
 Tom said when Jim Butler made out the papers for 
 the Mizpah claim and had signed them and delivered 
 the contract to their agent that the Eastern crowd gave 
 orders for the leasers to stop getting out any more ore 
 and as none of them had any written contract, but had 
 all taken Jim Butler's word for a lease of twelve 
 months, so they all threw down their tools and thought 
 they were done up. Jim. hearing of the orrler, went to 
 the Easterners and asked to see the contract he had 
 signed again. They handed it over to him for his per- 
 usal. He no sooner got the contract in his hands than 
 he immediately tore it up and remarked : 
 
 "Now I guess the leasers can work out their full 
 time, as my word was given to them in good faith, and 
 I would use the price of the mine to make my word 
 good," so the Easterners, to get another contract for 
 the mine, promised Jim Butler to let the leasers work 
 fhfir time otit. with the result that the royalty from 
 the leases paid for the mine. 
 
 About this time a crowd of Colorado bullies arrived 
 in camp with six shooters strapped around themselves. 
 They called themselves "the dirty dozen" and undertook 
 to run the town Soon one of them was given a leaden 
 pill and the rest were soon afterward marched out of 
 town. The rough, bulldozing, law-defying, claim- jump- 
 in.of element has had to take a back seat in this camp for 
 all time to come. 
 
 _ Arriving back at Tonopah. Tom said : "Mister, I 
 will now have to leave you sure, as I find that my 
 livery friend has only one bale of hay, and I must start 
 back to Sodaville right away. I am sorry. Mister, yes 
 I am. that I can't take you on to Goldfield." So they 
 reluctantly had to part with Tom and Pacer and take 
 the stage to Goldfield. The road was strung out with 
 teams loaded with ore coming from Goldfield, and 
 teams going there with freight. 
 
 At Ramsey's well, about half way between Tonopah 
 and Goldfield, a well was sunk 240 feet, where abund- 
 
 19 
 
ance of pure, clear water was struck. They stopped here 
 for lunch and changed- horses. A colored man was on 
 our stage, who had just arrived from the Southern 
 states. As he lined up to the lunch counter he said : 
 
 "I'll just take a piece of that pie; what is the price 
 of it, Mister?" 
 
 "It is ten cents a slice," said the vendor behind the 
 counter. 
 
 The colored man took the piece of pie and soon de- 
 voured it. He threw down a twenty-five cent piece on 
 the counter, the vendor dropped it into the till and 
 went on with ^his work. The stage was just ready to 
 start. 
 
 The colored man said : "See here, Mister, you 
 forgot to give me my change." 
 
 "Your change?" said the vendor. What do you 
 mean? We never in this country take anything less 
 than twenty-five cents." 
 
 The darkv turned pale and gasped. Presently they 
 noticed a broad grin and a pair of white teeth showing 
 as he reached his long arm across the counter and 
 said, as he took the rest of the pie : "Say, Mister, 
 I never does take less than a whole pie," and jumped 
 on the stage, and the crack of the whip and the stage 
 rolled away with the pie vender looking after him in 
 dismay. 
 
 The stage driver, Shorty Harris, was a curio, rare, 
 young and bold, for he did not gamble, drink or smoke 
 and was a native Nevada boy. As they got well ac- 
 quainted with him he commenced telling them of his 
 plans. 
 
 He said : "I am saving up my money to see your 
 blooming California and that Portland show. Say, 
 Mister, tell me the best way to get there, and what 
 would be the fare? I would like to go by the steam- 
 boat as I have rode every beast and thing but a boat 
 that goes. They say that thar boat does rock and pitch 
 about and rock more than my old Concord coach. I 
 would just like to see if she can turn over on her top 
 and right herself ^about, for I have done that thar feat 
 with this very coach and with six on the line." 
 
 20 
 
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 ^1 
 
Tenderfoot remarked : "That was certainly a feat, 
 but please do not try to do it while we are on this trip. 
 Were you ever held up on your trips?" 
 
 "Yes, only once," he said, "when I drove the Bodie 
 stage which every trip brought big bricks of gold down 
 to Hawthorne to be shipped away to Frisco. A lone 
 highwayman "rose up all at once from behind a lone 
 Joshua tree, with a Winchester level dead on me and 
 his finger was on the trigger. I tell you what. Mister, 
 the bore in that gun looked mighty big to me because 
 I saw his finger twitching around that trigger. He 
 ordered me to tell the passengers to get out and line 
 up and I quickly ordered them out and told them to be 
 quick about it too, for this fellow meant business. He 
 is in charge now. He sent me to the leaders and made 
 the passengers drop their money on a pile. One fel- 
 low, who lived at the town beyond, said: 'Give me 
 back that $5 for it's all I have to pay my hotel bill.' 
 Xook here. Mister.' said the robber, 'that won't go. 
 If you did not live out in these parts you would have 
 more than $5 on you to pay your hotel bill ' " 
 
 Just at this moment of the graphic description of 
 the hold-up out rang a voice clear and strong on the 
 desert air : "Hold up, there." They all gasped for 
 breath, their hands went to their pockets and the wom- 
 en's hands went to their breasts to hide away what 
 money they had left. With the sudden stoppage of the 
 coach the passengers all had blank and terror stricken 
 faces, but they were all at once all in smiles as they 
 saw a camera fiend line up to take a shot at the over- 
 loaded Concord coach out on the plain bound for Gold- 
 field. 
 
 22 
 
They were now in sight of Goldfield. Tenderfoot was 
 peering with wide open eyes and mouth at the spot 
 of spots now noted as the richest spot on this globe. 
 Expert said: "Look at the tilted tabk hills on the 
 right' and left of Goldfield, see how the stratas pitch 
 to the west toward the. mountains, then look toward 
 Diamond field and notice how they dip east toward 
 Ralston desert, and notice a little to the west of Co- 
 lumbia mountain that small, sharp peak just in line 
 with us and Goldfield; that is the granite, or Alaskite, 
 core, that lifted up those flat topped, tilted table hills, 
 which are sedimentary stratas under the capping consist- 
 ing of sandstone, shale and lime, which are all washed 
 away, exposing the mineral poryphry which carried the 
 veins of gold. Don't that old red hill beyond the Com- 
 bination and the Jumbo look fine? What artist could 
 paint it a more lovely hue and how precious is that old 
 hill with its stores and stores of gold. It is painted 
 though by nature's chemical actions red, blue, gray 
 and green Some think it is a volcanic heat that 
 burnt them, but such is not the case. That red is the 
 simple result of a chemical change in the original sul- 
 phide of iron to a red oxide of iron. 
 
 They are now at last in Goldfield, with piles and piles 
 of sacks, which makes you think of the California 
 wheat houses with their piles and pileS of sacks of 
 wheat; but there is quite a difference in the value of 
 a sack of wheat and a sack of this ore, which makes 
 one stand in awe, for wheat is worth $2.00 a sack, 
 while this ore you see is worth as high as $100.00 a 
 sack. Of course, all the men here are in high spirits, 
 and they congregate around the bars telling of the new 
 and rich strikes of ore, and how Bill and Jim and 
 
 23 
 
John had a big offer for their finds, and how Dick, 
 Shorty and Jack sold their claims for a good big sum, 
 were now treating the whole town with every thing on 
 tap, and it was a day galore for all the old bums. 
 
 At one of the big saloons an attractive woman of 
 striking apearance, with diamonds as big as peanuts 
 flashing from her ears, alighted from a large auto- 
 mobile, came up to the bar, and said, "Come on, boys, 
 and have a drink with me; come on you fellows that 
 are hanging around the stove line up here, and order 
 just what you want." 
 
 The glasses soon cracked to the health of this boom- 
 ing camp, and the thing is done. A twenty-dollar 
 gold piece is flung to the counter. She did not stop 
 for change. She and the auto car were soon 
 gone. "Who is she?" was asked. "Why, she is a 
 Jewess, and her fellow makes money by the barrel; 
 she spends it as she wants to and makes things 
 bum when she is hereabout," said one of the crowd. 
 
 Tenderfoot said, "This is a mighty swift place. I 
 hope we will soon get into the swim and be able to 
 keep up with the pace." "All right," said Expert, "for 
 here is Max Kunsey, a good mining man and a hail 
 fellow well met, who knows the country, mines and 
 ♦claims, and stands in solid with the supers at the 
 mines. He took them first to the January mine, where 
 he introduced them to the genial and popular Super Sol 
 Camp. Max whispered something into his ear. Sol 
 looked around and picked up a pestle and mortar and 
 a chunk of ore from the dump. He crushed it in the 
 mortar, and when he had panned out the gold in the 
 ore showed up fully a teaspoonful of the yellow stuff." 
 
 "My," said Tenderfoot, "how could such a small 
 piece of rock contain so much gold?" 
 
 24 
 
Mr. Camp said, with a smile, "This is poor stuff be- 
 side that which is in those white sacks." 
 
 Tenderfoot looked in amazement, and turned to a 
 miner who had just come up the shaft from the depths 
 below, who stopped as he passed to look at the gold 
 that was just panned out in the little black pan. Tender- 
 foot looked up and said to him, "You have a wonderful 
 camp here." 
 
 "That's what we have, mister; and it will be a hell 
 of a camp if the Government does not demonetize gold." 
 
 Expert turned to Max Kunsey, and asked at what 
 price could a claim be bought close in near the January, 
 Jumbo or Florence mines. 
 
 "Look over there just north of the January claim. 
 I can get you that group of claims for $125,000," said 
 Max. 
 
 "What!" said Expert, "is not that a big price for a 
 claim with no out-cropping ledges and without develop- 
 ment work done?" 
 
 "Well," said Max, "you will find you will have to 
 pay for possibilities in this camp, if you get any ground 
 close in on the mineral belt." 
 
 Expert, turning to Tenderfoot, said : "We will have 
 to trace the direction this belt runs, then secure some 
 cheap claims on the line of same ; I cannot recommend 
 you to buy that ground at such a price." 
 
 Expert turned to Max as he stood on the January 
 ore dump, sizing up the general trend, strike and pitch 
 of the outcropping reefs. "I have in my mind the trend 
 of the mineral belt; can we get some claims right over 
 that grani.te peak that sticks up to the left of Columbia 
 mountain?" 
 
 26 
 
"Yes, you can get claims over there at your 
 own price ; it is over a mile and a half to the 
 point you designate from here. I will recommend you 
 a man to show you that place over there." 
 
 A man came who had just got over a bum, and said, 
 "You go on in your carriage, and I will go on my 
 horse." 
 
 So off they went. Their carriage rolled on though the 
 camp just north of Goldfield, called Columbia, and they 
 drove up the slope of the little granite peak beside 
 Columbia Mountain, and drove over to what was then 
 called the Grandpa mines. Everything was quiet and 
 not a soul in sight; nor could they hear a hammer, pick 
 or drill, and no horseman was in sight. 
 
 They climbed up to the top of the ridge to see if he 
 was coming (on which ridge is now located and being 
 developed the celebrated Sandstorm and Kendall mines), 
 and waited and watched for the lone horseman to 
 appear to show them the claims they had come to see. 
 
 "What do you think of this ground?" said Tender- 
 foot. 
 
 "It is my opinion," said Expert, "we are right on 
 line with the mineral belt, although we are a mile and 
 a half beyond the edge of the demonstrated mines. See 
 here, how the porphyry reefs are running a litttle west 
 of north, and heading directly for Tonopah. They dip 
 in the valley just over there and probably lie horizontal, 
 as the core probably did not pitch them up very much; 
 then rise up again beyond, don't you see, at Gold 
 Mountain and Gold Reef, where there is another little 
 peak of granite that does the elevating process there. 
 
 They waited in vain for the horseman to appear. 
 Their patience was exhausted, as nobody came in 
 sight, so they drove on to Diamondfield, and there met 
 
 27 
 
Diamondfield Jack, who only a few months before had 
 come into this country on a borrowed bronco. He 
 staked a claim for the loan of a bronco, which claim 
 afterward sold for a big sum, and now Diamondfield 
 Jack, the noted cowboy, is now breaking in autos, and 
 the only gun plays he now makes are when some foreign 
 devil jumps one of his claims, and there are two jumps 
 in the play, one on and one off, to the crack of Jack's 
 gun. 
 
 They proceeded to Goldfield, where they met the 
 celebrated Dr. White Wolf, an educated Indian from 
 the Carlisle School, noted for his cleverness in times 
 past in protecting and defending his tribe. At one 
 time, it is said, he and a few others were selected to 
 to go to Washington and confer with President Cleve- 
 land. All went there in their native dress. It seems 
 that the interpreter had a card up his sleeve to beat 
 this Indian tribe in the deal that was to be made, and 
 he falsely interpreted the conversations held by the 
 representative men on each side. After the council 
 was over White Wolf insisted on seeing the President 
 alone His request was finally granted, and as he was 
 ushered into the presence of the President he said, in 
 perfect English : "Good morning, President Cleveland, 
 I sought to see you to denounce the great fraud that 
 the interpreter has made your representative believe, 
 and save my people from a gang of thieves." The 
 matter was sifted, and the tribe was protected, and Dr. 
 White Wolf was presented with a present from the 
 President for the service he had done his people and 
 Uncle Sam. 
 
 Dr. White Wolf was on the ground early when 
 Goldfield was discovered, and secured some very valu- 
 
 28 
 
able claims. He said : "I had quite a time to hold that 
 White Rack claim adjoining the January, as some 
 jumpers claimed part of it. I took my Winchester and 
 camped on that spot, and never slept a minute for three 
 days and nights watching for those jumpers, and I got 
 so desperate and nervous that if a man, woman or 
 child had put a foot on that ground during that dreadful 
 time, I believe I would surely have shot them down. 
 Just a week or two after I went through this ordeal 
 I caught a jumper building a monument and digging 
 a hole within a stone's throw of my door. I just 
 reached up for my gun, and said to him : 'Say, mister, 
 what are you doing on this property of mine?' and 
 he haughtily replied, 'It's none of your damn business; 
 this ground is mine.' I just got a drop on him, and 
 said, 'Now, fill up that hole you dug, you dog,' and 
 then I made him pull down the monument and carry 
 all the rocks off the claim, and as he sulked off, he 
 cried back, 'I'll fix you for this.' One Monday morning 
 early a fellow rapped at my door, and when I opened 
 it there stood a poor old drunk whom I had tried to 
 help and doctor him up. 'Come in, Tom, what can I 
 do for you now?' He said, excitedly, as he looked 
 around, *Doc, I just came from the Mint Saloon, and 
 early this morning, as I was waking up out of a booze 
 which I was on last night, I heard some fellows talking 
 near the stove, and I heard the word White Wolf. I 
 immediately closed my eyes and opened my ears, and 
 I heard those fellows planning to kill you, and this is 
 the plan, Doc: One of them is to come and ask you 
 to show him one of your claims south of town, as he 
 had a tenderfoot in hand who would buy it. When they 
 get you out into the canyon the other two fellows are 
 
 29 
 
to lie in ambush and are to kill you ; so, Doc, watch 
 out and keep your eye peeled for them. I know if you 
 get half a chance you can take care of yourself.' 
 
 "I put Tom to bed, and gave him -some Bromo to 
 sober him up, and then 1 sat down and waited for 
 my visitor, who soon came along. He gave me a talk 
 and wanted a price and terms on one of my claims. 
 He proposed to me that I should go out and show him 
 the claim 'All right,' said I, as I reached up on the 
 
 wall for my gun. 'Now, you , 
 
 march out of that door, and stay straight ahead of me; 
 don't you go to the right or the left. At the first 
 rustle or sight of another man up in that canyon you 
 are a dead man.' I marched him right up to that 
 canyon, and then back again. These jumpers, I guess, 
 will now let me alone." 
 
 Tenderfoot said : "Well, Doc, I see now that you 
 have got to fight as well as work for what you get 
 here, and I am not made of that kind of stuff, so I 
 am afraid I will not prosper here." 
 
 As they bade Dr. White Wolf adieu and 
 started down the streets of Goldfield they saw 
 a small crowd of miners in a bunch, examining a piece 
 of ore which was covered with gold, just brought in 
 from a new district just discovered south of Goldfield, 
 and plans were being made by the crowd for a rush 
 to the new field. All were mentally scheming to get 
 there first and locate the vacant ground. 
 
 A prospector out on the edge of the crowd said to 
 Tenderfoot: "Grubstake me, and I will go and locate 
 claims at this new find" 
 
 "I will do it," said Tenderfoot. 
 
 There was a rush to the livery stables to hire the 
 best teams. Expert turned to look for Tenderfoot, and 
 
 30 
 
lo ! and behold, we saw his big form leading the flying 
 gang. The stable was reached in a moment of time, 
 and through the door they went in a rush, all clamor- 
 ing for the best team. 
 
 He managed to catch up and pull Tenderfoot aside. 
 He had already bargained for the best team to be had. 
 
 Expert said : "This is nothing new, as a rush is 
 made every thirty days to some new find, and only 
 one stampede in a thousand ever amounts to anything, 
 and if we would follow up every reported new find we 
 would be continually stampeding all the time ; and 
 if we did, we would no sooner be well settled in 
 camp at the new find, when some day in would rush 
 some fellows from another new section of country 
 still further on, and announce a new strike richer than 
 anything yet that had ever been found. If we would 
 follow this excitement up we would in time be exhausted 
 in flesh, health, money and wind, and have nothing 
 but claims staked out from one end of the State to 
 the other. We would soon be in the same condition 
 that Mark Twain vividly describes of when he was 
 a tenderfoot, prospector, mining and newspaper man, 
 in the early days on the Comstock, which he fully and 
 truthfully describes in his noted book 'Roughing it ' 
 So don't you see now. Tenderfoot, that we must stick 
 close to Tonopah and Goldfield, arid be like the boy 
 going blackberry hunting who stuck to the first black- 
 berry bush and got his pail full of berries while the 
 other boys kept hunting for biger patches of berries, 
 and all their time was consumed in hunting for same, 
 and they returned home with only partly filled pails." 
 
 "I see your philosophy and think, also, we ought 
 to carry the plan out and stay with Tonopah and Gold- 
 31 
 
field, no matter what thunder may be raised about 
 new districts far and near," said Tenderfoot. 
 
 Just then, as they w.ere walking down the main street 
 toward the north end of the town, they saw another 
 crowd running to what turned out to be a woman with 
 a six-shooter cowhiding a man, who had the nerve 
 to jump her lot, which she had bought when she first 
 came to town and which now was worth a good deal 
 of coin. V Of course, the jumper was put to flight by 
 such a startling onslaught, and she was left in peaceable 
 possession of that portion of the townsite. 
 
 Tenderfoot excitedly exclaimed : "I see there is no 
 rest now for the owner of mines or lands, so one 
 is bound to be in trouble whether he has much or 
 little, and it appears to me now that he has the least 
 trouble who has nothing to defend or lose. I could 
 never see until now the philosophy of that text, 'Blessed 
 is he who is poor.' " 
 
 If we should continue to narrate all that befell 
 Tenderfoot and Expert, and all that they saw and did 
 in this wonderful golden land, it would fill so many 
 pages you would be reading from daylight to dawn; 
 so we believe we have found a place to leave Tender- 
 foot for a while, at least until he has bought a mine, 
 made a stake and his pile. 
 
 32