A GOLD RUSH

Hokitika Guardian, 28 May 1927, Page 4

A GOLD RUSH

STRIKE'’ IN JIADCEIt HOLE

Mi AY YORK, April 2. The diamond rush in South Africa has been forestalled in the picture theatres of the United States by the gold rush in Arizona. Both provide ideal subjec ts for the cinema camera ■ hut the perfect touch lias not been lent to the xeense from Arizona by the overnight growth of a brand new town— AVeepah—with a mayor, restaurants* hotel, am! hank all of them owing their sudden birth to a lucky badger limit hv two 19-year.x-olcl hoys. C overed with dust the two lads only a fortnight- ago drove into the mining town of Tonopah in a battered rickety “flivver.” They lifted a few dirt-covered hags from the car. locked them ti)i. and then walked around the showing glittering chunks of rock to the olcltitners,

So duzfding were these chunks that the old miners who looked at them askance said. "Hell, that ain’t gold, hoys.” So the hoys went to bed rallied by doubts. CHASE ACROSS DESERT. When they awoke the following morning they carried one of their chunks to the assay office and were told that it was worth about seven guineas a pound. The town seethed with excitement. ( rowds dogged the footsteps of the hoys, who maintained an obstinate silence regarding the- origin ol their bind.

A few hour- inter a train from Los Angeles halted at Tonopah. Out ol it sprang Frank Horton, a hero of the goldfield rush of 1902. He is the father of one of the hoys. T liree shut themselves u|> for a talk. When they emerged the town horn mo a whirling mob of shouting Immunity. The trio were pursued across the desert by a mad procession ol mini and hoys, some driving in ramshackle motors. others in squeaky carts pulled by mules. For forty miles amid clouds ot alkali dust across the desert the procession struggled along until it arrived at AVeepah. a treeless spot on the foothill plateau of the Silver Peak range. They found there Frank Horton, the veteran, with his hoy companions triumphantly squatted on a site he had bought six years ago lor £5,090.

AH around the "strike” the army of excited adventurers stalked their claims within a radius of six miles Each day the gold rush assumed bigger proportions. They arrived by scores and hundreds. Alauv of them dragged shacks and sheds and tents all the way from Tonopah. FIRST BUSINESS SIGN.

At Weepali flimsy buildings arose as if hv magic. Gambling dens sprang into being. The first hsiuess sign read. "Water. 2 dollars a barrel; gasoline (petrol), 50 cents a gallon; ham and eggs. 80 cents; white mule. 50 cents drink. To reporters dispatched by the log daily newspaper young Horton told his story. 'When some months ago twins arrived in the Horton family he promised his mother, as Ids falla-r was in -man; ini straits, that he would do something to save them from hardship when they grew up. So he and his i lium, Leonard I raynei'. after months and months of fruitless digging near Tonopah. trekked to AVeepah equipped with chesse bread and sausage for a couple of days. The second morning young Horton walked straight uphill and started digging in a badger’s hole. He dug a trench four feet deep and handed over the shovel to his friend. Suddenly voting Truyner “let a war whoop out i,f him and tore down the hill. I lie vein stood out glittering with gold leal

The Horton’s claim is still unsold ; but the news despatches state that the negotiations are nearing consummation and that it- is destined to fetch a sum running into millions. Aleanvhilc other claims are being sold daily, some for sums as large as two thousands sterling, others for as little as a hundred pounds and a share of stocks.