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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1935)
Old Mining Towns 1 Are Stirring Anew _ «-— New Gold Rush in Far West On in Full Force. San Francisco.—Again tins spring, on the heels of the rise of gold prices, dreamy-eyed adventurers; lanky, gnarled veterans of the Klon dike; miners and clerks, gamblers and promoters, are following the come-hlther look of Lady Luck. Ghost towns dating back to the West's beginnings are stirring anew sfter a Kip Van Winkle slumber. Abandoned mines are suddenly heaving and raucous, ns prospectors thrust down new shafts. The new gold rush, which started last year, is now on In full force. Scalp hungry Indians are no long er the chief menace to the gold seekers. Agonizing death In some sun-parched desert Is a remote peril. But much of the old color and drama has enlivened the Klon dike. the wide, ojien West and points South. Ones Mor# Wide Open. Casual, gold-itchy houris, spirit ual descendants of Diamond Lll and Lady I,ou, are drifting Into the newly ataked mining ramps. Saloons and gambling halls are once more wide open, and while bridge and poker nre more fre quently played among the miners, an occasional game of faro Is not rare. Men are not so quick on the trigger, but the professional card sharp, the mine salter, the con man has come back Into his own. And sudden disappearances and mysterious deaths are reported from time to time along the Colo rado river and west of the Pecos. Almost since the first day that President Roosevelt set a premium on newly-ntlned gold there has been a steady revival of the old gold camps. Carl Dunrud, a KIrwin "dude rancher," 00 miles southeast of Cody, Wyo., recently bought ma chinery for the reopening of mines dormant for 80 years. In the hills nenr Rnboqulvnrl peak, Arlz., the Magma Copper com pany Is sinking sbnfts In ancient Spanish mines near Oasis. In the old days fortunes in ores wpre cart ed away by Spanish conquistadores. Indian Oasis has a miniature gold rush all Its own for the Magma company has options on 35 claims which have not been operated In 50 years. More than 500 men are grubbing In old tunnels and aban doned diggings which haven’t known the echo of pick and spade in decades. Gold In Them Hills. Ward Elmore, eighty-year-old soldier of fortune, swears there Is an El Dorado In the hills of north ern California. His story started new hordes of gold Beekers rushing from San Francisco. Placer mining Is widespread to day In California, Nevada and New Mexico. One of the most Important de velopments Is the remlnlng of the Almaden, oldest nnd most his toric mine In the West. Even in far-off Alaska the redis covery of pay placer gravel has been reported In the vicinity of Ninilchlk, which dates back to the tlm« of the Russian occupation. Students Get All Living Costs for $3.50 Weekly Athens, Ohio.—One hundred men students of Ohio university here have been able to live on $8.50 each a week tills year, under a co-opera tive plan. The small living expense Includes both room and board. The plan, first tried experimentally last year, was worked out by a group of stu dents, under direction of the uni versity. When Alaska became American property various mining groups dug there with varying degrees of suc cess. A few weeks ago Ted Craw ford. John Kelly and Knute Arm strong took four ounces of gold from the earth and that set off a new rush there. And, of course, with the new gold rush, has come a wave of fraud, desperado deeds, and the practice of salting or faking a gold tlnd so that some gullible pros pector will buy. Canadian Valentine Causes Family Row Montreal.—Mrs. Aldel Clou ntre Is suing her brother and his wife for $199.99 because they allegedly sent her a valentine. Mrs. Clouatre alleges the val entine bore a picture of a “fun ny-faced woman, whose features were pnrtlally hidden behind a massive pair of spectacles, and at the bottom in writing the cap tion: “She looks very much like you, eh? She has glasses like yours." On the reverse side were other Insults. Mrs. Clouatre declares the val entine "injured her feelings." IJer brother and his wife deny sending the valentine. Plans Aircraft to Carry 170 Persons Rerlln.—The disaster to the Unit ed States navy’s airship Macon has revived speculation here as to the ultimate worth of llghter-than-alr craft and has thrown Into sharp re lief the plans of a German Inventor for a 170-passenger heavler-than air flying boat designed to cross the Atlantic from Hamburg to New York In 1ft to 18 hours. The designer la Engineer E. llumpler, builder of the famous ltumhler-Taube fighting planes of World war fame and of a dozen other types of plane. Air Resistance la Feature. The chief advantage claimed for the Humbler transoceanic plane Is Its lack of air resistance. Viewed from the front, It Is merely one enormous wing mounted on two pontoons, which tnper hack to the tall-steering fln. CREPE-PAPER STRAW Ilf CHKKIK NICHOLAS Here are two cunning spring chapeaux, the one a new pill box model, the other n bonnet, the sort which Is so popular with the young er set this season. Believe it or not these smart millinery types nre crocheted of strips of crepe paper. There is hardly a hat fnshlon that cannot he copied sucessfnlly in crocheted crepe paper. You will feel a thrill of satisfaction and pride to he hatted with a brand new chapeuu you have made yourself. Then, too, there Is the advantage In cro'chetlng your own hat, of matching It to your costume and ac cessories. Equal load distribution Is the second prime feature of the plane. Engines—there are ten, each of 1,000 horse-power—passengers and express are all Inside the wing, which Is high enough to accom modate l man standing, and which has a spread of 289 feet. The wing Is 41 feet from the front to reur. Doctor Kumpler says he has achieved decentralization. Instead of n cabin In the middle, with other weights such as motors, fuel, pay loads, as In the average plane, which puts too much strain on the wings, he has built a wing strong enough to carry the entire load equally distributed. Interior Like Pulman Corridor. The Interior of the wing looks like a pullman corridor. It is di vided from end to end. On the port side are passenger accommo dations much like those of a train, with portholes facing the direction of flight. Behind are the ten en gines, each with Its own attendant and operater Independently, with its own four blade propeller. The plane would cost $1,000,000. The second and third would cost approximately $800,000. Such a plane could reach Hono lulu from San Francisco in 12 hours with a useful load of 70 tons, and could conceivably push on from there to Manila In 22 hours. It also would be Invaluable to British Interests as a link with India and the colonies, a fact which recently has attracted a British syn dicate to iuqulre about the patents. Coach Wants Musicians for Football Passers Madison, Wls.—When a coach asks a prospective center If he Is a musician, the coach Is not ns crazy ns the candidate might suspect, Dr. Clarence W. Spears, head football coach at the University of Wiscon sin, revealed here. A knowledge of music Is a valu able asset to a good center, Speas explained. In addition to big hands and ability to pass accurately, a sense of rhythm and timing Is one of the most essential qualifications of a center, the coach said. The center position Is the most important on the team, Spears said, because his pnss Initiates every play and a bad pass makes the play at least 33V4 per cent Ineffi cient Strange Bird Threatens Crops on Pacific Coast Yakima, Wash.—Agriculturists in the West Coast states are watchful for a strange bird that recently invaded America. It is known as the Asiatic r.ilnah, believed to have found its way here from Honolulu. It Is native of Indo China, but ap parently thrives anywhere. It is noisy and quarrelsome, makes war on other birds, and is n menace to groin and fruit crops. The minnh, about the size of a blackbird, lias yellow beak and feet, dark head and brown body, with a large white patch ou each wing. Great Mimic Battle Will Be Fought Here Air view of Pine camp, in northern New l’ork, which this summer will be the scene of the mobilisation of about 60,000 American soldiers and of the greatest peace-time mimic warfare that has ever beeu conducted In the United States. SEEN--'HEARD •round the National Capital tfii • ■By CARTER FIELD-HH-3HB Washington.—Grade crossing elim ination is one phase of work re lief that can be started 15 days after ttie President says "Go!” des pite the Chief Executive's own recent warning that tlds was one type of project that would lie the slowest In getting under way. The only reason for the 15-day delay is that this length of time is required for advertisement for bids. Despite the President’s expressed concern about delay on grade cross ings Incidental to the acquiring of the land, approval of the projects, and selection of only Important highways crossing mainline rail roads, the fact is that all difficul ties have been solved by the pub lic roads bureau of the Depart ment of Agriculture. Slightly more than one thousand projects are ready for bids, 750 more will he ready Inside of a year, and 2,302 additional will he ready within two years. So officials of t he bureau are champing at the bit, and wondering why tlie President takes such a pessimistic attitude. The President’s point about ac quiring the land is not Involved, for in tlie first thousand projects, now ready, options on the land needed have been acquired by the states in which the projects are located, and the .states understand thoroughly that the state treasuries must pay for the land, with tfie federal gov ernment paying for the work, ma terial and overhead. The total number of projects for tlie first year is 1,756, for over a thousand of which the land options are in hand. The total cost would lie $184,314,000. The total number of additional projects to be ready within a year is 2,302, at a total cost of $277,507,500. So that with in a year work could be started on a total of 4,058 projects, at a total estimated cost of $461,881,500. In addition there Is much other projected work which is ready to go Just waiting for White House ap proval now that tlie work relief hill is a law. The bureau of roads is also ready to start at tlie flash from the White House on road contracts. These are parceled out on tin* time-hon ored formula laid down by law, as between the states, so the figures are not so Interesting. Takes to Mining The government is about to en gnge in the mining business! It will certainly go la for some other minerals. Outside the precious met als the government proposes to mine only metals which would not com plicate the existing mining situa tion, or compete with products al ready In the surplus class. For ex ample, there would be no mining of Copper, lead or zinc. Most Important of the metals un der consideration, besides gold and silver, are tin, qulcksll er, chromi um, nickel, tungsten, ant.mony, and manganese. Incidentally, there Is plenty of political dynamite In the last, perhaps enough to eliminate It. Not directly but Indirectly. The Idea is, If manganese mining were developed on a big scale In tills country, there might he a move inter on to put a sharp tariff on it, whereupon the steel companies would have to pay higher prices than at present, which In turn would make their competition with Belgian steel—its cost lowered in (he United States by the recently approved reciprocal trnde treaty— more difficult. In addition to these metals, two other minerals are under considera tion. These are special grades of mica and graphite. There Is a hill pending In the sen ate, Introduced by Senator .Tames P. Pope of Idaho, which would al locate a hundred million dollars from the work relief fund for min ing. This hill Is not expected to pass. But while this Is down the same street, the hill Is not neces sary if the administration wants to act. It has plenty of author ity under existing law. The projects could be gotten under way as pure work relief on force account, ns op erations not arranged by contract arc called. Experts Approve The gold and silver mining, deci sion to enter which has practi cally been made, are almost ideal from the government standpoint. The experts advising President Roosevelt insist there is no doubt whatever that mines could be worked by the government—for gold amt silver—which would pro duce enough not only to pay th( wages of the men employed, am the total cost of operation, hut nc ttially to yield a small profit be sides. And the beauty of the plan they point out, is that there wouU be no element whatever of compe tltion with private business Tin government would just take t tie gold and silver and put it in the treasury. If there were no profit at all, no harm would he done. If there were a profit It would he turned back to the work relipf fund for employment In other directions. Some of the other metals men tinned, especially tin and nickel, are regarded as vital from a na tional defense standpoint. This country Is deficient In them. Min lng experts are most anxious to nn dertake development in this direc tlon. The main problem of course Is that there is a very large stranded mining population, located for tht most part near at hand to the points proposed for these govern ment operations. The men ure skilled miners, so that no train lng would be necessary. They would be far happier carrying on their ac customed work, It Is argued, than ; In working on grade crossings or | on public roads, for example. Any [ way. there la not a lack, but a surplus, of men needing jolts who could be put to work on grade cross ings and roads. So far the mine experts insist projects are in as good shape as any for putting men to work im mediately. All that would be need ed would be the Presidential O. K. And they expect that very shortly. Cotton a Problem With the AAA under fire from so many quarters, King Cotton re mains one of the most important world problems, threatening to save or wreck the administration's plans to lift the farmer up to that "parity” of purchasing power which President ltoosevelt is so fond of discussing. Most southern statesmen wave aside so-called threats to American supremacy in cotton. They con tend that nowhere else in the world can cotton be produced successfully to compete with the United States. Either the cost is too high per pound, or the quality is too low, they insist. The threat involved in Brazilian expansion In cotton growing lias been discussed at length in these dispatches, including the confiden tial view of the present Brazilian administration which is that the United States efforts to hold the price of cotton up will crash, as did their own with respect to cof fee, and therefore they are not too optimistic. But they hasten on to add that they can produce good cotton at a profit at 0 cents a pound. This season the United States ex ported to Great Britain 563,000 bales, as against 1,036,000 last sea son, and 1,013,000 the season be fore. This is partly explained by two things. Japan has finally passed Great Britain as a producer of cot ton textiles and so has become the chief consumer of the raw staple. But the disturbing fact about the two previous paragraphs is that the United States exported to the en tire Orient this season 1,318,000 hales, as against 1,689,000 last sea son and 1,398,000 the senson before. In fact, the total exports of cot ton this season from the United Slates were 8,565,000 bales, as against 6,033.000 bales last season, and 8,040,000 bales the previous season. Not nn encouraging picture! Disturbing Facts Two seasons ago the Uniteu States produced 12,901,000 bales of cotton. Last season 12,712,000 bales. This season 9,019,000 bales. AAA restrictions. What happened meanwhile in the rest of the world? India’s record for the last three seasons was 4,100,000, 4,500,000 and 3,800,000 bales. China produced 2,200,000 this season, 2,000,000 last, and 1,871,000 two years ago. Russia, In fourth place, Is crawl lng up. The increase there is from 1,778,000 to 1,889,000 to 1,937.000 this season. Egypt increased more than half a million bales over twq years ago. Then comes Brazil, generally re garded as the real menace. Two years ago she produced only 373,000 bales. Last year 807,000 bales. This year 1,250,000 bales. Next season? Peru increased in the three years from 205,000 bales to 325,000 bales; Argentina from 150,<XX) to 225,000; Mexico from 95,000 to 200,000; The Sudan from 121,000 to 170.000; Korea from 135,000 to 150,000; Manchuria from 56,000 to 100.000; Belgian Congo from 38,000 to 90. 000; Turkey from 60,000 to 90,000, and Greece from 22,000 to 50,000. The really disturbing fact conies in adding these and other foreign Increases In cotton production to gether. America has decreased her production 3,000,(XX) bales in the three seasons. Defenders of the AAA program insist that the world this year has used up a large quantity of surplus cotton, and that prospects for next year are therefore bright despite this increasing foreign production. Meanwhile the dust storms In Texas and Oklahoma, the two big gest cotton producing states, seem to promise further curtailment this year even than had been planned, and correspondingly Increased in centive to foreign producers to expand, the short American crop promising a continued high price, even if there were no AAA. A one per cent tax on all life in surance premiums and a tax on all movie admissions above 10 cents— Instead of the present limit of 40 cents—are among the levies that the treasury will recommend to con gress some time before this ses sion adjourns. Some of the treasury experts, who were ordered to the job of figuring out the new taxes, liked the idea of the sales tax. But President Roosevelt was consulted about this, and at once turned thumbs down. CooyrtKht.—WNU Servlc*. Beautiful Madeira Radio Towers Crown Funchal’s Ancient Fort Prepare*! by National Geographic Society. Wanhinffton. D. C.—WNU Service. HANGING seasons do not touch Madeira, the beautiful Portuguese Island on the fringe of the eastern Atlantic. Its velvety green mountains cleft by deep ravines, its terraced hillsides, brilliant with flowers and flowering vines are the same, summer and winter. In December the peaks of the towering mountains, which rise like an amphitheater back of Funchal, chief city of Madeira, are some times tipped with snow; but all else is vividly green, with a riot of multi-colored blossoms on every ter race of this quaint old town, which climbs the hills above a sapphire sea. Gardens are the striking feature of the Madeiran capital. They hang one above the other like balconies, radiant with flowers of many climes. Stiff Brazilian araucaria pines, tall Australian eucalyptus, and leafy Asiatic mango nod to palm, mimosa and magnolia. The Indian fig, with its wide-spreading branches, grows beside the flamboyant of Madagas car, the coral tree of the West In dies and the camphor tree of Japan. Most effective in winter are the flowering creepers—the deep magen ta and brick-red bougainvilleas and the blazing orange blgnonla, which form solid masses of color on the high walls. Flaming poinsettias and red, pink and white camellias grow as tall as trees. Clinging to the sheer face of the cliffs which bor der many of the gardens is a vari ety of aloe which thrusts out star tling scarlet flower spikes above the blue sea. To the gorgeous huges of the flow ers add the gray and black of the rock-strewn shore, lapped by white sea foam; the deep terra cotta of the soil In the ravines which inter cept the town; the pink, buff, and cream of the houses, with their green shutters and red-tiled roofs; the brilliant chrome-green of ba nana and sugar cane which grow in nearly every garden, and you have the ‘‘natural color picture" of Fun chal. Automobiles, motor busses, and trucks now crowd Funchal’s nar row streets, but it Is the native "carro" or sledge, drawn by a pair of patient oxen, that catches the eye. Riding in an “Oxen-Cab.” In one of these two-seated, cur tained and canopied “oxen-cabs,” which resemble big baskets on run ners, one may glide over smooth, polished cobbles to the cog railway that climbs a steep Incline to pine clad heights 3,300 feet above the sea. A feature of the ascent is the shower of flowers tossed by blos som-laden children, who scamper after sledge and funicular. This graceful act, unfortunately, is marred by the insistent clamor: "One penny! One penny!” The descent from the mountain can be made in a toboggan sledge, which offers an exciting ride. The speed of the passenger and cargo sledge is slow, but the downhill "running carro" provides real thrills. The broad armchair on run ners is used in descending selected routes of tilted streets. Two men hold the sledge in leash by guide ropes; as It starts down the slip pery stone path they hop onto the back platform and the slide begins. Then come flashes of town and sea, gaudy blossoms draping high, sunlit courts, dark-haired women and big-eyed children framed in vine-hung doorways, pedestrians flattened against the wall. As the sledge approaches a curve, the crew jump off to guide it with vigorous tugs around the corner, checking the speed when the lower level is reached. Madeira is an oceanic Amazon whose height from her crown, on the summit of Pico Ruivo, to her base in the briny deep south of Funchal is nearly 20,000 feet. Only about one-third of this mountain queen is visible above water, her head and shoulders draped in a vivid emerald scarf. The islands forming this archi pelago, Madeira, Porto Santo, and two uninhabited groups, are of volcanic origin. Considering the depth of the surrounding sea, and the abysmal chasms which every where cleave Madeira’s mountain ous surface, it Is evident that a vast period of time must have elapsed since the beginning of the countless eruptions which went toward the making of this island. Today no live craters exist in this group, as on the Canary and Cape Verde islands. Early History of Madeira. Much traditional lore is asso ciated with the discovery of Ma deira. Romans, Arabs, Italians, Spaniards, French, English, and Irish have all been credited as the first to glimpse the island. The most romantic of the legends con cerns two English lovers of the Fourteenth century, Robert Machln and Anna d’Arfet, wrho eloped from Bristol in a small craft and were blown southward to Madeira’s east ern shore. With the coming of the Fifteenth century history Is on firmer ground. It is known that the Portuguese ma riner, Zarco, sent out by Henry the Navigator, reached Porto Santo In 1419, then sailed across to a larger Island, 23 miles away, braving a dark cloud which hung over it, an evil omen to the superstitious sailors of that day. The forbid ding cloud proved to be vapor hang ing over the mountains of a beau tiful, densely wooded land. Zarco and his followers landed on the shore of a sheltered bay about 12 miles northeast of Funchal. Be cause of its forests the new land was named "Madeira,” the Portu guese word for wood. A w'orld-renowned figure stands out in the early history of Porto Santo and Madeira. Christopher Columbus, restlessly sailing these seas in search of information re garding the then unknown western ocean, came to Porto Santo. He married pretty Philippa Uerestello, the governor’s daughter. The house where they lived in Villa Baleira, the only town in Porto Santo, can still be seen. Columbus devoted himself to chart-making, from time to time visiting Funchal to gather informa tion. In the Madeiras, Canaries, and Azores he listened to the tale of every adventurous sailor he en countered, picked up valuable nau tical hints and pondered deeply on the drift borne islandward from the west. Sugar cane, introduced from Sicily, was responsible for Madeira’s pros perity during the early years of Its. colonization. Negro and Moorish slaves were imported from Africa to work on the sugar plantations and to build roads and aqueducts. The stone Irrigating canals, or “levadas,” extending for miles down the steep mountain sides still render efficient service. Without them the lower regions would be w'aterless a large part of the year. Origin of Its Wine. Soon after the colonization of Madeira, the Malavesi vine was im ported by Prince Henry from Crete, and other varieties were introduced at a later period. Today one type of Madeira wine bears the old name, “Malvasia,” or “Malmsey,” fa mous in England when western Eu ropean wines of that name were well known, and later when Ma deira wines had taken their place. Our naval hero, John Paul Jones, was at one time master of the Two Friends, a Madeira wine ship. The finest wines of the island were in demand in the American Colonies. Ships from Boston. New York, Phil adelphia, and Savannah, laden witli pipe staves, timber, train oil, dried fish, and rice, brought back pipes of Madeira to the wealthy Amer ican merchants and planters. Madeira is a small island, little more than 30 miles in length and less than half this in width: but it is so mountainous, and so gashed by deep gorges and guarded by gi gantic headlands, that access is difficult to certain of its sun-kissed coastal villages, cool, mist-envel oped uplands, and deep, fern-hung canyons. Motor busses, which con nect the villages on the paved high ways, have made a marked change in the manner of life and outlook of the country people.
