of purchasing this piece of ground, for it
would round out the ranch to perfection, but Yetmore, knowing how much
he desired it, asked such an unreasonable price that their bargaining
always fell through. Being unable to buy it, my father therefore leased
it, paying the rent in the form of potatoes delivered at Yetmore's store
in Sulphide--for Simon, besides being mayor of Sulphide and otherwise a
person of importance, was proprietor of Yetmore's Emporium, by far the
largest general store in town.

He was an enterprising citizen, Simon was, always having many irons in
the fire; a clever fellow, too, in his way; though his way was not
exactly to the taste of some people: he drove too hard a bargain. In
fact, the opinion was pretty general that his name fitted him to a
nicety, for, however much he might get, he always wanted yet more.

My father distrusted him; yet, strange to say, in spite of that fact,
and of the added fact that he had always fought shy of all mining
schemes, he and Yetmore were partners in a prospecting venture. It was,
in a measure, an accident, and it came about in this way:

The smelter-men down at San Remo were always crying out for more
lead-ores to mix with the "refractory" ores produced by most of the
mines in our district, publishing a standing offer of an extra-good
price for all ores containing more than a stated percentage of lead. In
spite of the stimulus this offer gave to the prospecting of the
mountains, north, south and west of us, there had been found but one
mine, the Samson, of which the chief product was lead, and this did not
furnish nearly enough to satisfy the wants of the smelter-men.

Its discovery, however, proved the existence of veins of galena--the ore
from which lead chiefly comes--in one part of the district, and the
prospectors became more active than ever; though without result. That
section of country where the Samson had been discovered was deeply
overlaid with "wash," and as the veins were "blanket" veins--lying flat,
that is--and did not crop out above the surface, their discovery was
pretty much a matter of chance.

Among the prospectors was one, Tom Connor, who, having had experience in
the lead-mines of Missouri, proposed to adopt one of the methods of
prospecting in use in that country, to wit, the core-drill. But to
procure and operate a core-drill required money, and this Tom Connor had
not. He therefore applied to Simon Yetmore, who agreed to supply part