138 FRUIT RWCrilXG. 



of the men who Iiad been using the pick and blasting 

 powder in it beheved there was still enough of the 

 precious metal in the mine to warrant a further trial. 

 He secured a fresh lease of it for a small sum, and 

 went out to begin work upon the mine single-handed, 

 having barely enough money to furnish himself with 

 the necessary tools and provisions to last a few weeks. 

 At the end of two years that same Italian workman 

 had over forty men in his employ, and a balance in 

 the bank of $50,000 (£10,000), and sufficient ore lying 

 outside the mine, ready to be " rawhided " down, 

 to yield him another $50,000. It is strokes like this 

 which feed the never-extinguished lamp of fervent 

 hopefulness and fan into a flame the ever-glowing 

 embers of speculation in the breast of the Western 

 Canadian. 



Rawhiding, I may explain, is a name for a method 

 by which metallic ore taken out of a mine is conveyed 

 down the mountain side. The ore is crammed 'nto 

 strong bags, weighing approximately 2001bs. each. 

 A few of these are packed together on the raw hide of 

 an ox, and the hide is then dragged down over the 

 snow by a horse. 



Another channel by which the predominant 

 impulses of the Canadian How out Into the fields of 

 fruitful action is his keen love of sport, especially the 

 national sports of hockey (on ice) and lacrosse, though 

 all sorts of games, and not the least the art of boxing, 

 claim their proportionate share of his personal 

 interest. And where his personal sympathies are in- 

 volved, there his purse is not wont to be niggardly in 

 its backing. A hockey contest between two neigh- 

 bouring communities stirs each community to its 



