388 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



Men working in couples sunk shafts with the 

 vaguest idea of what they sought, while others 

 frankly and cynically admitted that they were 

 looking for a sucker. One miner urged me to 

 visit his camp where he and his partner were 

 working. It happened that as we approached 

 the mine, which was merely an open cut, a blast 

 was fired. 



"My partner has just put in a shot. Let's 

 see if he has got anything," said my companion 

 upon whose invitation I was there. When we 

 reached the cut the working miner handed me a 

 specimen which he had just picked out from the 

 smoking debris. I subsequently assayed the 

 sample and found it abnormally rich, but the 

 salting of the mine was so clumsy that it wouldn't 

 have deceived a child. Most miners are self- 

 deceived, and, blinded by the possible prize, can- 

 not see how small is their chance of winning it. 

 Two brothers with property and a business in 

 Ohio spent five months of the year camping be- 

 side the hole they were digging not far from one 

 of our mines. Year after year they kept up the 



