Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1896 — GREAT LUCK OF A MINER. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GREAT LUCK OF A MINER.

For Was ?oor a* a Panoer; Now He la Rietanan Prince. John fierce Is ’a Tombstone; Ari., miner who, up to a year and a half ago,' Lad difficult work to provide the necessaries of life for himself and f#/t>Ily. He is now in San Francisco with $250,000 In gold coin to-bls credit «It is another story of a lucky find of rich gold and silver bearing quartz. Plerpe is the name of the new eamp, just coming;lnto proinlnetibe, about thirty miles northeast of Tombstone. ]f bl. made more conspicuous because, in addition to its great ore richness, it is about the only gold camp in the territory. .. Already there are 500 peol4e there, and empty houses from TotnMtnne are being taken there bodti/,' 1 AH'English syndicate has secured the Pierce ledge, and has organized with $1,500,000, apd,/it is said that there Is a prospect ,of the new camp rivaling Cripple Creek in Colorado. Fierce about four years ago took up n claim about thirty miles northeast of Tombstone. There was a water hole In the mountalilk, and he took the place in prder to get. the .water so he could raise a,.few heas ot stock. One day, about eighteen months ago, he picked up a piece of stone to throw at one of the cows when he noticed how henvy It was. “L'pon closer examination,-” says Fierce, “I saw what looked like good quartz and I took home several pieces of the rock and horned It out The result showed considerable gold. I went back and got more rock and took It Into Tombstone the next day and au assay showed me that I bad found a rich mine. The ledge whore I picked up the rock was not over 400 feet from a road that had been traveled for years.” It was just luck I found It." Fierce had no money himself, so he had to do all the developing work on a small scale. He managed to take out several tons of ore nnd ship It away. The result from this shipment was over $.”>,000. With this amount of money he sunk a shaft and opened his claim so Hint It possible to ascertain the extent of the ledge. After

this work had been accomplished some parties from Silver Cllty, N. M., camo nlpifg and bonded the property for $200,000 on a year’s time. Before the year had expired they sold the bond to the English syndicate for an advance of SIOO,OOO and when flip year was up, which occurred lost week, Mr. Pierce got a draft on San Francisco and he at once came to the city to get his coin. Prior to two years ago Pierce was a brokefidloWh 1 miner, a man who had nbver had to exceed $lO at one time, and Who was having a hard struggle tq wake both ends meet. Now he Uasi.s2so,ooo, all In gold coin, and, like most.men In similar circumstances, dM'k'Uot know how to spend his money. His wife, before he made the strike, had to to to Tombstone and help out the family exchequer by doing such odd jobs of house cleaning as shecpuld find, while the son, a young man, now 20, herded cattle on the ranges. ‘ Besides One son, he has a daughter, who was given the advantage* of the public schools of Tombstone.

JOHN PIERCE, THE ARIZONA MINER.