The Westerners
XXIII
A FOOL FOR LUCK
When it is a question of mining, the most cautious business man loseshis head.
It is very difficult to realize the fact that the Western property mustnot be judged by Eastern standards.
These two short paragraphs state the main reasons why, in the firstplace, so much capital is sown in waste places; and why, in the secondplace, Western gold mines have so bad a reputation among investors.Nine out of ten of the legitimate mines of our Western States would begood investments if they could be run as carefully and intelligently asis any wholesale grocery. The expectation of big gambling returnsseems to render men careless as to the smaller details.
Why this should be so, it would be difficult to say. Of the truth ofthe statement there is absolutely no doubt in the world, as anyone whoknows the history of the West can testify.
During the three days' duration of their stay, the Easterners looked atfacts, incomprehensible to the eyes of such as they, through theexplanations, honest enough in intention, of Billy Knapp. He led them,perspiring but pleased, from prospect to prospect, from shaft to shaft,from hill to hill. He showed them leads, fissure veins, red quartz,white quartz, water supplies, timberings, hanging walls, country rock,pan tests, and he talked about it all with that easy fluency ofeloquence, that flattering assumption of the other man'ssophistication, which is so peculiarly a talent--nay, a genius--of theWesterner.
Some trades there are for which all men imagine themselves qualifiedwithout especial training--such as horse buying, writing stories,judging pictures, and mining. This is a little strange when onereflects that other things, such as painting, skating, keepingaccounts, or making a horseshoe, while not a whit more difficult, areacknowledged to require a certain amount of technical education andpractice. Perhaps it is because the initial concept is so simple; as,in this case, the digging of ore from the ground, and the reduction ofit. Details come, not from observation, but from actual experience.Anybody, on the other hand, can see, without understanding, thecomplexity of double-entry bookkeeping.
On the afternoon of the third day, the Easterners, Billy Knapp, andMichail Lafond gathered formally to talk it over. The latter contrivedto be included because he was a man of experience. After some littlepreliminary discussion, in which the Easterners showed by their airyfamiliarity with the topic just how much of the local color had soakedin, Stevens rapped on the table.
"Although this is not strictly a business meeting," he began, "perhapswe can get at what we want better by putting some little formality intoits discussions. The question before us is this: Mr. Knapp herepossesses certain property which he wishes to dispose of. We have beenover it thoroughly in the last few days, we have examined the figuresrelating to its assays and the gross value of the claims. They havebeen satisfactory. We have next, as it seems to me, to figure on theprobable working expense, in order that we may, with some intelligence,estimate the margin of profit." He sorted over some papers on thetable before him. "Let us take up the Great Snake lode first. What,in your idea, would be necessary for its development?"
"Wall," began Billy, rising formally. "They is practically two leadson th' Great Snake; an' if you-all decides to work 'em both, you'd wanta shaft on each. A plain-timbered shaft costs you yere about twenty totwenty-five dollars a foot. Then you needs cross-cuts, and drif's atabout five or ten a foot besides--that includes everythin'--men, tools,powder. Then yore pump an' hoist is worth about two or three thousan'.includin' minin' expenses for two months. That's all th' actualexpense connected with th' Great Snake itself; but of course you has tohave yore stamp mill and washer for all the group of claims. A goodstamp mill costs you ten thousan' dollars, but it's good forever."
"How much shaft and tunnel would you have to sink before getting to apaying basis?" asked Frank briefly.
"That would depen'. You wants to get to water level, of course, aforeyore shore; but it might pay right squar' from th' surface. Count on ahunderd foot."
"And when you get to pay level, what capacity a day would you have?"
Billy laughed. "That depen's too. You can put on more or less men.Call her from fifteen to twenty ton a day."
They bent their heads together over the figures. After a littleStevens read the following tabulation:--
2 shafts of 100 feet each @ 20.00 . . . . . . . $4,000.00 Cross-cuts and drifts, say . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200.00 Pump and hoist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000.00 1-10 of the cost of mill (there were ten claims) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000.00 -------- Initial expense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,200.00
"That thar figger," observed Billy, "brings her right up to datewithout no squealin' whatever. Yere you figgers on taking good hardrock out of four hunderd foot of tunnel an' shaft. Lots of that is payquartz. You got to figger that you gets some return out of it all.They's a good many ton of ore in four hundred foot of shaft!"
"That is true," said Murphy. "There won't be eight thousand outlaywithout any return."
"Yore dead right!" agreed Billy.
"Let that go for now," interrupted Stevens. "We can call that'velvet.' Now what we want to know is, what will be the workingexpense of converting the ore into gold when the initial expense isover?"
"Call her about five dollars," replied Billy promptly.
Stevens consulted the assay table. "The ore on the Great Snake asshown by samples taken from various spots in the prospect shaftaverages $8.55," said he. He figured for a moment. "Allow $3.00 a tonprofit at twenty tons a day, it would take only a little over fourmonths to catch the initial expense."
"Of course there's your running expenses of a camp," suggested Frank.
"Oh yes, but look at the margin to cover them."
They went on to the next, and the next, until the ten claims were allfigured over. Not all showed as alluring a prospect as the GreatSnake, for that was admittedly the banner claim of the group, but allyielded a good margin of profit. It was simple as a proposition inalgebra. Assay value minus cost of production equals profits. Therewas no unknown quantity in sight. Lafond alone saw one, and he heldhis peace.
One more item the Easterners had to include, and this, falling withintheir business habits, and out of Billy's, they arranged to their ownsatisfaction. It was Billy's price for his claims.
"Now what are your ideas on the subject, Mr. Knapp?" asked Stevensbriskly.
Billy hesitated. "Mebbe it's funny," he confessed; "but I hadn'tsettled on a price. I know you gentlemen 'll do what is right. But Iwould like to stay with her a bit."
"Stay with her?"
"Yes," explained Billy, embarrassed. "Keep a holt; sort to beinterested myself, you know." There spoke Billy's vanity.
The three talked together low-voiced for a moment. They had conceiveda vast respect for Billy's capacity in the West, howeverunsophisticated he might appear in the East; and they had long beforetalked out in anticipation just this point. Stevens voiced theirdecision.
"We have decided, Mr. Knapp," he began, "to ask you to be oursuperintendent, provided of course the company is formed. We feel surethat your best efforts will be expended in our behalf, because yourinterests will be ours." Then he went on briefly to flatter Billyexceedingly, until that individual was ready to weep with joy. "Ourproposition is this," he concluded. "We intend to form a stock companyof two hundred thousand shares at one dollar a share, non-assessable.Of this amount a majority will be held by the promoters of the company,some other smaller amount will remain in the treasury, and, say, fiftythousand will be floated on the market. Our offer is, to make yousuperintendent at a nominal salary of five thousand, and to give you inaddition thirty thousand promoter's shares as your price of the claims.These shares you may either sell or keep. Thus you may either take acertain sum of money, or you may pool your interests with ours,confident that every good showing made by you as superintendent willincrease th
e value of your holding as participator in the enterprise.In other words it gives you a personal interest in your work here.What do you say?"
"Heads I win, tails you lose," said Lafond over in the corner, but hesaid it under his breath.
To Billy it was all gorgeous. He saw only that he was offered thirtythousand dollars and five thousand a year, in addition to keeping theposition of prominence he coveted. To him the paper dollar shareslooked as good as paper dollar bills.
"What do I say?" he cried, "I say 'put her thar,' and thank you. Let'sgo have a drink!"
So the meeting adjourned, wonderfully inspirited, especially MichailLafond, for at last he saw a chance.
As he looked up at the stars that night before turning in, he made aquaint little sign on high. It was the Indian gesture of worship."Lafond," he purred to himself, "you are a fool for luck. RipplingWater used to say you were born under a lucky star, and by the Turtle,I believe she was right!"
For though the Easterners thought they had done well in paying Billywith a paper futurity, Lafond saw two sides to the question. Themeeting had been conducted, apparently, in the most business-like andpainstaking manner, yet it was to be noted that the fundamental facts,the facts on whose accuracy depended the whole value of the subsequentfiguring, were accepted on Billy's mere say-so, without an attempt atoutside verification. Billy was honest, but he was superficial. Histemperament did not force him to search out the little details.Michail Lafond was in the habit of searching them out very thoroughly.
He saw that one claim, because of its peculiar situation, would requirean ore bin of equally peculiar construction; that it might perhaps benecessary to flume water to another; that a third, though its surfaceshowing was good, gave indications of being nothing but a blow-out;that though the assay of a certain ore was high, the actual workingvalue might be low, because of the refractory character of the rock.In regard to mere externals of camp-building, his experience taught himthat the Easterners' estimate would turn out to be superficial. Hisview from the inside showed him that every last article of equipmentfor the buildings, and every pound of machinery, would have to bebrought in on mules; that men might not always be easy to get in a newcountry; that hay for horses came from a distant prairie, at pricesthat corresponded to the distance; that the enthusiastic promoter israrely or never the careful, painstaking superintendent. And so with ahundred other items, which the Easterners had entirely overlooked. Itis marvellous that they should have done so. Translate gold intobutton hooks, the Hills into a factory, Billy Knapp into an impecunioussmall proprietor anxious to sell, and not one of the three would havegone into the affair so blindly. But it is true. And more, thehistory of this operation at Copper Creek is the faithful history of amyriad of exactly similar enterprises in the West. Ask your brokerfriend, or anyone in a position to watch the floating of schemes onChange; he will tell you.
Having settled the business of the trip, the Easterners spent a fewridiculously juvenile days in pleasure. Billy worked himself nearlyblind to get them a shot at deer, but without success. They visitedCuster. On their way back to the railroad, they took in the Pine RidgeReservation, where they saw five thousand Sioux, and bought beadedmoccasins and short ill-made arrows. Finally they piled on thePullman, vastly pleased with their sunburn, and a little inclined toswagger in the presence of these clean-shaven, quietly civilizedtravellers who had not just left the exciting dangers of a pioneercountry.
Billy accompanied them. His presence was necessary in Chicago wherethe new company was to be "floated" and its final organization broughtabout.
None of the results of the visit were as yet known officially, but ofcourse a well verified rumor had got about that the Easterners werereally going to "take hold" and every man in camp was at the hotel doorto bid the visitors farewell. Michail Lafond was the last man at thehub of the wheel before the horses started.
"I am glad you came," said he, holding Stevens' hand while he spoke,"and I am glad you are going to invest here. It will help us all, andI sincerely hope it will help you."
Stevens looked at him suddenly, as if to discover whether the lack ofconfidence in the words was reflected in the man's face. Apparentlysatisfied, he replied easily, "Course it will."
"Always figure on the safe side," suggested Lafond.
"You're dead right there," responded the other, "and that is just whatwe've done. We've put down that fifty thousand as dead clear outlayfor a starter, without any offsets by way of return, and surely some ofthat ore will pay something before we get down two hundred feet. Oh,we're all right on that. You'll see us booming before spring!"
Lafond watched the wagon out of sight with a smile in his inscrutableeyes. Then he went down to spend his afternoon with Durand, hummingthe remnants of a little Canadian _chanson_.
"A fool for luck," he repeated to himself; "a regular fool for luck,Lafond. All you have to do is to sit right still, and it comes to youwithout the effort on your part."
Between him and his object there now intervened but fifty thousanddollars. And fifty thousand dollars was not an unlimited sum of money.