The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965, May 02, 1935, Image 2

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    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.