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JJAXTER SPRINGS NEWS. M. H. GARDNER, Publisher. HAXTER SPRINGS, - - KANSAS a i LAST STRIKE AT OPHIR. IThe Sad Story of a California Min ing Camp. Ophir was the most prosperous mln 'ingcamp on the western slope of the .'Sierra, and Wash Conner was the most prosperous minor it contained. Ills claim, the "Bluo Juniata," was paying enormously, and Wash had become very popular; for he pave away his money as fast as he made it Wash was a tall, ; good' humored ' Missourian, lean, light Laired and sleepy. No one gave him credit for much energy or ambition, and tho accident by which ho had stumbled (upon his claim when the camp was first .nettled wns told far and wide as a case -of "fool luck." It happened this way: The camp be gan as a placer camp, and all the "'claims" along the stream or on tho flat wero taken up, when Wash, a tall ; greenhorn of a new-comer, drifted in without a dollar to his name, and stood watching the sailor company of runa ways from ships in San Francisco bay, .as they took out their "ounce to the man" from the best washings in the camp. "What are you looking at, young fel low?" said the captain of the company. 'Why don't you stake out a claim?" i "All taken," said Wash, slowly. "uo up on the top of the hill by them -oaks," said the man, winking at his comrades. "More there than here." Wash borrowed a pick, went to the place indicated, and in an hour devel -oped the most famous mine of the dis trict It was a curious pocket-mine in a loose, broken formation; and though every one rushed to the place and . staked out the whole hillside, no other claim ever paid a tenth part as much as the "Blue Juniata." In tho course of time, as the region ' became settled and men with families came in, Wash fell in love with the pretty daughter of a farmer in the Sa raroento valley. He reviewed the past a hundred thousand dollars bad come out of his mine, and he had nothing left to show for it lie resolved that if the girl woum nave mm he would never waste another cent Ho went to the claim, struck a "pocket," and took out more than a thousand dollars, the larg- est yield of a single day in the history of the mine. Then he quit work, went to tho town, "spruced himself up," drove down into the valley, called on the girl, proposed, and was accepted. "Jennie," said W ash, "you've got to lano me, ei you wiai me, if at un it i badn't any mine, an' wasn't worth picayune." "I do," said Jennie: 'Its you I care for lor, Wash.1' A month later they were married, and "began housekeeping in a little house of - whito pine, built near the mine. Then Wash began the regular development of ILis claim. For six months he kept up courage, though not a dollar had come from it in . all that time. They lived on what was left of the thousand dollars after the wedding expenses were taken out "Then, one day, Wash said: "Jennie, the boys think the old mine is played out; but I don't I'll never give it up while I live. I'll find a bigger pocket in that mountain-side than any man He climbed the hill and began work on a tunnol which should strike the broken, gold-bearing ledges at a lower point than he had yet reached. Months more passed over the heads of the miner and his wife. One after an- fVkA tViAlit fitlAnrla A aanwt t V i m thai credit gave out and they lived on game, fish and berries, so that the little money they had could all be spent for blasting powder. Every morning at daybreak Wash, gaunt and silent went to his work; every night at dark he stumbled tiomo to his cabin. "Jennie," he said, "I know there is cold there. We will find it soon. never before worked a month in the old mine without taking out something. 'This dead-lock has lasted more than i year. It can't last always. I will find the lead again, and then we will let the rest go and buy a farm in the valley where we can forget about this fight' She believed every word; for she was .a loving, loyal woman, and she knew that this great awkward Missourian was c man among thousands. The very toys in town hooted after him, and called him crazy; but she knew better. Her family had onco urged her to leave lilm and come home, but thev never ven tured to suggest it again. Old miners -passing by looked at the claim and said bere was no gold left Men who bad bad thousands of dollars from her hus band, and owed their entire fortunes to blm, at last refused to give him credit for a sack of flour or a side of bacon. "You stick by the mine, Wash; HI :Stick by you," was all that Jennie said. Che never told ber husband that she bad gone to ber brother, who was rich, and asked him for a little money to carry them through the winter. "Not lor that spendthrift Missourian to waste," was bis answer. "He can clerk in my store if he will give up bis fool ishness." Somehow the camp was down on Wash. He bad given away loads of money, bat always after a fashion of his own. Whon old Doc. Selby was knocked out by tho leading saloon-keeper, and nearly died in the snow, Wash took him up, learned his history, and sent enough money to his family East to educate his children. That was well enough, but he told the saloon-keeper that he "ought tor be hung;" and in the present crisis the old follow was not idle in advising people to let that fool Missourian alone. There had boon some who would have stood by Wash in a different fashion, and "Been him through" to their last dollar or last drop of blood. Hut none of them were left in the old camp; they were scattered over the Pacific Coast from Panamlnt to Casslar; some of them lay silent under plne-treo slabs on the hills west of the river. Wash's hair grew gray and thin. He stooped lower and lower. Deep lines were graven in his faco.and his eyes be came fierce and terrible. Men met him in the gulches trapping game, or down in the streams with his fish-nets, and passed him by without a word. Pros pectors, climbing over the hills, heard the sound of his pick as he toiled in his tunnel, and laughed him to scorn. "Be cause ho found a few pockets, he is bor ing right into the granite. Crazy as a loon, and his wife as bad. Her relations have done every thing to help them offered them a farm and the best kind of a show down in tho valley." It was an afternoon in October. The saloon-keeper sat on the bench by his door reading a newspaper. He heard a noise at the head of the street; the vil lage boys were shouting: "Here comes the crazy Missourian miner." Wash, ragged and miserable, came into sight and, after a moment's hesitation, spoke to him: "Evening, Mr. Riley." "I can't do any thing for you. "Mr. Klley, listen to me. I hain't a cent in the world. We've sold all our goods and worked in the mine together this month. Jennie's held the drill while I druv it I can't get a pound of powder, but tho holes are all Bet in the face, ready. Something tells me that this time it will touch gold. I can feel it just ahead. I've felt it all along; but now it's right thar, within reach of one more blast I tell you, Riley, I know it's thar." "You're crazy, Wash." "Riley, you've got money. Give me one keg of powder, an' I'll make you a rich man. I'll give you half we take out You don't know how I've worked this year. I've hammered from daylight to dark, gone hungry and slept cold, an' fell down in a dead faint time and time over. Put your hand thar!" He siezed the saloon-keeper's hand and held it on his breast The man felt Wash's heart sway several inches, as if it had torn loose from its place, and its wild, loud throbbing was like the beating of a mighty engine. "Thar," said Wash, "you see I ain't for long. That mine's for my wife. She's stayed with it and with ma I ought to have dropped it und put my pride down long ago, but now it's too late. Riley, will you let me have the powder?" "No." Wash looked at his old enemy and turned away. lie "had already tried others, the store-keeper, the hotel owner and every miner he could find. They thought it was foolishness and worse. There had been many things said about that crazy Wash who mar ried a young woman and made her work like a slave in his worthless claim, and some of them were flung out at him that afternoon. "I tell you, Wash," said one, "the in sane asylum is the place for you, and the boys will have to get you there and send your wife home." So far astray does the judgment of men and or communities sometimes wander! No one in all that camp un derstood the proud, unyielding soul that bad set itself to wrestle with Nature and her secret The afternoon wore on into night, and night into morning, and morning, noon and afternoon built up another day. W ash did not come back. Some boys climbed the hill and wont into the tunnel. There lay Wash, dead, at the further end of the drift his pick in his hand. life had gone back to break his own way into the treasure-house, but his heart had burst in the midst of a giant stroke, and he had fallen across his own weapon. There his wife had found him, and she, too, weak and sick and heart-broken, lay in a faint over his body. Ophlr Camp woke with a start to some dim sense of its crime. Tender bands carried Wash ard his wife out of the tunnel, and did all that could be done for the poor woman. A dozen men went back into the tun nel from which they had taken the dead man, and looked at the place where his last faltering shock had glanced on the flinty rock. "Boys," said one, "111 never forget that I told Wash he couldn't have any more powder, not if he died in his tun nel. We'll set off them last blast-holes jest as he wanted, and then we'U bury him in here where he dropped." There was plenty of blasting-powder now to be bad for the asking, and in a few minutes more the face of the drift was ready for the blast the fires set and lighted, word had got around the camp, and every man was gathered at the mouth of the tunnel. A few women were in the old cabin caring for the dying wife. A long silence followed the lighting of the fuses, and suddenly the dull noise of the shock and the fall of heavier masses of rocks than usual startled the miners outside. They ran into the tunnel with their ights. The blast had opened a wide path into an irregular cavern, gleaming with gold. Above, below and on all sides was the shining, precious metal. That last blast for which Wash bad struggled so bravely, had revealed a fortune. The excited miners rushed out again with a wild shout A woman mot them with flush od and frightened face. "How can you make such a noise?" she said. "The poor thing's gone, cry ing like a baby for her dead man." The miners drew close together, ashamed and profoundly affected. After a little a few of them went back to the tunnel and secured Wash's pickaxe, which bad been left leaning against the walL We can't bury them here, now," said one; "the mine will be worked again. They must lie on the hillside, where all his old friends of twenty years ago are laid." Meanwhile they were talking in low tones, when suddenly, a miner, who had been looking at Wash's curving pickaxe, which hardly another man in camp could have handled, gjive a cry of surprise. In a little flaw in the weld ing of steel to iron a few inches from the point was a fleck of wire gold, broken off and caught there by the last stroke of the weapon, as it was flung forward and the man with it both sink ing at the foot of the wall of rock. "Ef only Wash could bsve seen that before he died, 'twould have made him happy." said one of the minora "He knew pocket-mining traces better than any other man in the mountains. That's pocket gold; he could have had a thou sand dollars on that bit of yellow wire. Wash made his strike himself, without anybody's powder; but be died before he knowed it" 'What makes you say so, Jim?" que ried a second minor. "Because I helped pick him up. He jest had both hands gripping his pick axe handle, and the point of it was wedged in the rock. He lay jest as he fell, going down with the stroke, as if he had felt bis heart giving way, and threw himself and his pick into that last blow. 'Twas an awful stroke he made. I never saw rock split so by mortal man before." Wash had no relatives. His wife's brother came up and took possession of the claim which the miners had pro tected against all intruders. In a few weeks it became generally understood in the region that the wealth of the "Blue Juniata's last and. greatest pocket" was estimated by conservative miners at a quarter of a million. It was manage.d with consummate skill, and one of the finest blocks of build ings in San Francisco was erected by the shrewd, selfish man of affairs who had once refused to help "that crazy Missourian brother-in-law" of his. The hidden gold of the "Blue Juniata pocket" went abroad in the world, blessing or cursing according to the natures of the men who held it; the miner and his wife lay in the red hill side soil, under the pines, within sound of the river, their struggle past But from the day that Wash fell dead in his tunnel a blight seemed to fall on the little camp of Ophlr. Mine after mine gave out; miner after miner moved away. A land-slide swept off the cabin where Wash had lived, and though, as I have said, the "Blue Juniata" yielded all that wis expected, and even more, and founded one of the great Paclfio coast fortunes, none of its treasures brought happiness to those who worked it To-day the camp is deserted, and its very name a memory. The broken flumes rot on the hillsides and the grizzly sleeps in the ancient tunnel where the Missourian sank dead in his last wrestle with fate. This is the story of the last strike at Ophir. Charles Howard Shinn, in N. Y. Inde pendent MEASURING THE EARTH. The First Attempt to Ascertain the Size of the Terreatrlal Bull. In 1507, Fernel, a French physician, made the first attempts to ascertain the size of the earth. After having observed the height of the pole at Paris, he went to the northward to a point where the pole was just one degree higher than at the point of the first observation. He measured the distance between the two stations by the number of revolutions of one of the wheels of his carriage, to which an indicator had been attached. From these observations be came to the conclusion that the earth's circumfer ence was about 24,408 Italian miles. Measures executed more carefully were made in many countries; by Snell in Holland, by Norwood between Lon don and York, England. It was not however, until 1609 that Picard, under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, reduced the degrees to any thing like a certainty. His plan was to connect two points by a series of triangles, thus ascertaining the length of the arc of a meridian intercepted be tween them, to compare it with the dif ference of latitudes found by making celestial observations. The stations used were Melvolsine, in the vicinity of Paris, and Sourdon, near Amiena While these measurements were being made a discussion arose as to the inter pretation of them, some affirming that they indicated a prolate, others an ob late spheroid. Tbe former figure may be popularly represented by a lemon, the latter by an orange. To prove which was right Picard'a observations were extended far to the north and south, one expedition going to Pern, the other to Lapland. The Peruvian expe dition worked nine years on the ques tion, the Lapland about five. The re sults of the measures thus obtained con firmed the theoretical expectations of the oblate form. St Louis Republic STILL PULLING WOOL. JL Wew Tork Merchant Shows Senator riumb the Folly of McKlnley' Duties on Carpet Wools favorable Reply From the Senator Bow tho Senate Committee Yielded to the Demand" of the Wool Growers The Shoddy Men Clamor For McKlnley'a High Wool Duties. Mr. Louis Windmueller, a large wool importer of New York, wrote recently to Senator Plumb protesting against a duty on Russian camel's hair and against increased rates on coarse and mixed wool, such as are used in carpet making. It was shown by Mr. Windmueller that, as we have no camels, it would be fool ish to place protective duties on camel's bair to build up a new industry, and that tho same is true of coarse carpet wool, since next to none is produced in America The only effect of these duties, therefore, would be to Increase the price of carpets to our own people. In reply to this letter Mr. Windmueller received the following letter from the Kansas Senator: United states Eekatk, ( Washington, 1). c, July 14, 189a Loull Windmueller, Liq., New Tork: Dear Sir: 1 have read what you say about the duty on Haitian camel's hair. Will give this matter full consideration, and exoept for something which I do not now foresee will support the position which you take. I do not object to the rectification of the In equalities of the tariff, bnt I have not been able to convince myself, nor have I been oonvlnced by the reasoning of others, that there should be any general Increase of the dnties now Imposed, especially upon art loles which go Into general consumption among our people. Yours truly, FBESTON B. PLUXB. It was Senator Plumb who introduced the resolution in the Senate to require tbe Finance Committee to give reasons for changes in the tariff. But this reso lution called out such a rigmarole of glittering generalities about "creating new industries," "protecting American interests," "meeting increased competi tion abroad," and so on, that it would have been as well if Senator Plumb had never Introduced the resolution at alL With regard to the wool duties, for ex ample, the committee said: "The de mand from the representative wool growers of the country that the rates upon wool should be largely increased, has led the committee to recommend the adoption of the classification herein suggested, which it is hoped will result in a uniform and honest classification of wooL" That is funny. The wool-growers "de manded" largely increased rates upon wool, and the committee gave them "a new claslflcation." But this was by no means giving a stone instead of bread, for the "new classification" results in a large increase of duties, though the committee neglected to assign any reason for that increase beyond the "demand from the representative wool growers of the country." This affords another example of how the protected interest of the country are allowed to write their "demands" into our tariff lawa The theory of protection is that tbe law-makers examine the con dition of the country and then decide that "protection" is needed, and this is accordingly given. In point of fact the thing is never done in this way; but the hungry interests come flocking to Con gress to impose their "demands" upon a committee that usually knows very little abouttrade and industry and is only too willing to have its action guided by men who know what they want This is the way tariff bills to defend "Ameri can interests" are concocted. It is the men who want to fill their own pockets who rush before committees of Congress and prate about "protecting American labor from disastrous foreign compe tition." As the Senate committee had no rea son to give Senator Plumb further than "the demand of the representative wool growers of the country," Mr. Wind mueller undertook to show the Senator that there was no good reason to in crease the duties on camel's hair and coarse wool; and he undertook .to 6how up also the iniquity of the "uniform and honest classification" which the committee said it had given at the "de mand of the representative wool-growers of the country." The present rates and the increases are as follows on coarse wools: On wool valued at 12 cents a pound or less tbe duty is 2f cents a pound, which is equivalent to 34.60 per cent ad valorem, and this is changed by the committee to 82 per cent for wools valued at 13 cents a pound or loss; on coarse wool worth more than 12 cents a pound the duty is 5 cents, which is equivalent to 30.45 per cent, this being raised in the present bill to SO per eent on wool above IS cents a pound. So much for the duties; but here is where the "uniform and honest classifi cation" comes in and effects a doubling up of duties in a way to delight the po litical shepherds of Ohio who made the "demand." The bill provides that if any bale of wool of one class contains any portion of wool of a higher class the whole bale must pay the duty of that higher class; and further, that if any sorting of the wool has taken place the duty shall be doubled. This is what the political shepherds "demanded" and what they got Mr. Windmueller shows that inasmuch as all carpet wools are sorted before im portation, the rates put down in the bill will bave to be doubled; that is to say, on wools worth 13 cents or less the duty will be 64 per cent ; on the higher grades 100 per cent Our political shepherds know how to make 'demands" for their own interests. The plea that the polit ical shepherds make is, not they have any carpet wools to sell, but that these imported carpet wools are sometimes used to make cloth for the people's alotbing which, from the shepherds' standpoint is a thing to be stamped out by the iron heel of a McKlnley Tariff bilL Carpet wools must be mad so expensive that the wicked manu facturers shall not be able to put them Into our clothing, in order that the political shepherds may gtS - higher prices for their wooL This vill mean dearer carpets for the people; but what do the shepherds care for that? They are looking out for number onel Meanwhile it is highly instructive to note that shoddy men are clamoring for the McKlnley wool dntlea They want to feather their nests too. They see that high prices on wool will cause a larger demand for their humbug stuff, and therefore they bave taken a great liking to McKlnley, and nobody is now supporting the McKlnley bill with mora ardor than tbe shoddy men. A PUZZLER. What Republican Pa pert Think of Blaine A Fauler For Proteettontata, Mr. Blaine's letter to Senator Frye on tbe subject of reciprocal trade relations with South America and the islands of Cubs and Porto Rico, has called out a variety of views from the Republican editora The letter evidently puzzles them. Some of them treat it like a pointer dog when be finds a box-turtle; he frisks around, throws up his taiL cocks bis ears, takes a sniff or two and wonders what on earth it can be. The curious thing about the matter Is that some of the most hide-bound pro tectionist papers who always stand in horror of "British free-trade," applaud the letter as exhibiting qualities of far sighted statesmanship. That stalwart Republican journal, the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette, says: "Mr. Blaine's letter on the tariff, rn which he suggests an opportunity of opening the markets of forty million of people to the products of American farmers, is of vast publio importance, and will command great attention." Tbe Chicago Tribune sees the impor tance of Blaine's policy as tending to give our farmers a wider market The Tribune does not believe in the protec tionist notion that the home market is enough. It Bays: "Mr. Blaine's method of protecting the farmer is by opening new markets, which will take his sur plus crops, and thns increase the value of all he raises. Were corn brought into this country in immense quantities Mr. Blaine would put duties on it to protect the farmer. As it is not, he seeks for more markets for surplus corn as the best way of protecting him. The McKinloyltes have but one medicine warranted to cure every ailment snd that is high taxation of consumers." The Tribune does not believe in trying to humbug the farmers, after the Mc Klnley fashion, by putting a duty on corn. The New Haven (Conn.) Palladium insists 'that Mr. Blaine's significant utterances, urging the securing of more foreign markets, should be crystallized into law. To fail td do this, and t? fail to bring the bill more into tbe shape which the people expected snd desired, is to give free rein to the agitation which Mr. Blaine notes an agitation which, if unchecked, has defeat for ns in store as surely as night follows day." And Senator Hawley's paper, the Hart ford Courant, thinks that Blaine "has struck out in a line of development of American trade which is full of promise it it can be followed." The Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat a Republican paper notwithstanding its name, agrees with Blaine that "the present bill is unjust to the American farmer, in that it neglects to guard his interests in foreign markets, although abundant opportunity is offered." Tbe Pittsburgh (Pa) Chronicle says: Secretary Blaine points out very clear ly some of the great mistakes of recent years in our commercial policy, as a warning against the blunder of admit ting sugar free of duty without exact ing some concessions from the for eign producers by way of reciprocity." And the Philadelphia Press, one of the most hide-bound of all the hide-bound protectionist papers, grows enthusiastic ' over the scheme for continental free trade. It says: "Reciprocity, once be gun, will spread over the hemisphere. At a stroke the United State will step into a great trade, equal to that of In dia." But there are some discordant notes. The Boston Advertiser, for example. which thinks the letter "more strange every time it is read," is "forced to think that Mr. Blaine has gone too far in assuming that under the proposed tariff revision any trade relations can be entered into with the South Ameri can republics which will, in bis words. 'open the market for another bushel of wheat and another barrel of pork. " At any rate, Blaine has done the friends of a low tariff an incalculable service in eniorcing weir views in we high places of his party. He has hidden the leaven in the meal, and it has al ready begun to work. Theyeay that when Speaker Reed came into the House the day after Blalne'f letter was published he looked gloomy. He sees in Blaine's reciprocity scheme a fire-brand which may start a serious conflagration on the Republican side and jeopardize tbe Tariff bill cer tainly delaying action on it and so de ferring action on it until it will be im possible to pass the Force bilL The Minnesota farmers bare bad too much tariff in theira Their plat form demands that the "war UrJ 2" be radically revised, and denounces the McKlxley bill as "the crov&lsj IztaEj of protection." '