It was interesting to hear each one in his turn relate how near upon certain occasions he came to striking it awfully rich, or what he might have done if so and so had not occurred, or what he didn’t do and ought to have done, while another would explain how near he came to making a big thing if he had only stuck to his claim a little longer, or had only run his tunnel in a little farther.
Yet another would relate how he spent every dollar upon his claim by sticking to it a little too long, and found at last to his sorrow that it was of no value whatever.
And this led to an argument upon the question as to how long a miner ought to stick to his mine.
Many instances were related to show how a great number missed it by abandoning a claim too soon, before bed rock had been struck in the shaft, or gravel in the tunnel; while other cases would be
Yank. Mike. Jim. Jeff. Jersey. Pike. Tenn. Julius. Boozer.
MEETING OF THE OLD-TIMERS.
mentioned of how miners had spent their last cent in prospecting a claim that they ought to have quit long before, as all their friends advised them to do.
But upon the whole it was the general opinion that owing to the nature of the business it was very uncertain and difficult to tell exactly when a miner should abandon his mine, for it was found that after all it was about an average, since just as many hit it by quitting a mine as others missed it by hanging on too long, and the number who hit it by sticking to it about equalled those who missed it by quitting too soon.