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The Jersey Lily Mine

Jersey Lily MineMarch 31, 1897, Weekly Journal-Miner, Prescott, Arizona – In company with Gil S. Ferguson, a former owner of the Jersey Lily mine, the editor of the Journal Miner visited the above property this week, and was very courteously received and hospitably entertained by General Manager W. C. Bashford and Superintendent J. E. Clark.  The underground workings were visited and examined—not in the capacity of an expert, but simply out of curiosity.

The shaft is 370 feet deep.  It is sunk on the ledge, which pitches at an angle of 44 degrees.  The shaft is one of the best timbered ones in the county, everything being as neat and workman like as it is possible to make it.  In addition to an old level, run at a depth of thirty feet, which is called the grass root level, but which is not now used, there are three levels run, one at each hundred feet of depth.  At the 200 foot level, a south drift is in 250 feet and a north drift 180 feet.  The latter is in good high grade ore all the way, while the former is also in ore, part of which is high grade and part of ore of lower grade, but good milling ore.

At the 300 foot level, the north drift is in 110 feet, with a solid body of ore all the way, averaging from three to four feet, and with a fine body of high grade ore on the face of the drift.  The south drift is in 100 feet, but owing to the pitch of the ore chute on this side, the ore encountered in this is of lower grade, but improving now with every foot of work done.  A small amount of stoping has been done, and the stopes also show up good ore bodies.

In the “grass root” level, a large body of rich honey comb ore, which made the Jersey Lily famous, even in the days of its infancy, remains exposed to view.  It is very high grade, and a moderate fortune can be obtained from it at any time that it may be desired to take it out.  Mr. Bashford has about twenty men at work at the present time, and on April 1st he will increase this force and will sink the shaft to a depth of over 500 feet, and will open up the 400 and 500 foot levels respectively.

The mine is equipped with one of the finest friction hoists in the territory.  It is of sufficient capacity to sink to a depth of 1,000 feet or more.

The Lily Company also owns the Gold Treasure claim, a very promising one, which adjoins the Jersey Lily on the north, but on which very little development work has been done.

The company expects, during the summer, to erect a mill for the reduction of the ore.  This will be done just as soon as the mine is opened up to a depth of 500 feet.

Northwest of the Jersey Lily, W. C. Bashford, J. E. Clark and Fred Smith own a claim, called Point Look Out, from which they have taken ore for shipment which went $250 per ton.

Old West Book Review: Thunder in the West; The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid

Thunder in the WestThunder in the West; The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid, Richard W. Etulain, University of Oklahoma Press, $29.95, Non-fiction, Cloth. Illustrations, Photos, Essay on Sources, Bibliography, Index.

At various times he was called Henry McCarty, Kid Antrim, and Billy Bonney.  However, most of us know him as Billy the Kid.  This biography of the Western outlaw is carefully researched and well written in a style that keeps readers turning pages even though we have been exposed to this character via books and movies as far back as we can remember.

The author, Richard W. Etutain is the former Director of the University of New Mexico. He has had a long and important career as a writer and editor of more than 50 books pertaining to the American West.  This book takes the reader on a journey beginning with Billy’s original birth place in New York in 1859.  His mother moved west with young Billy and his one brother when the boys were children; it is not known who Billy’s father was.  The family’s trait continued to New Mexico Territory, and the information includes the death of Billy’s kind, hardworking mother of consumption.  Billy meandered after that from one situation to another.

Without real parental supervision or help, he drifted in and out of trouble, killed a man in Arizona before his 20th birthday, fled back to New Mexico ahead of a hot Arizona posse, and was arrested several times always managing to escape.  Later, arrested for murders in New Mexico, he was jailed and awaited execution when he escaped again this time shooting and killing two sheriff’s deputies in Lincoln, New Mexico.

New Mexico politics comes into the life of Billy the Kid as he got mixed up in shoot-outs and became a gun-for-hire as various powerful political factions and wealthy land owners vied for power.  In time, Billy ran with a gang of outlaws stealing horses and cattle.

Meanwhile, there were many people who considered Billy a good friend and many girls were attracted to him.  He had friends in the Hispanic community, and spoke Spanish fluently.  Eventually Billy was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garret inside a house in Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1881.

Everything pertaining to Billy the Kid has some controversy involved.  His birth, his little known family history, his mothers brief life, her marriage to a man who seemed to take no interest in his stepson, Billy’s involvement with politicians as well as land owners and desperadoes is all mired in controversy.  As his fame grew, many people remembered him and wrote or talked about their relationships with him even many years after his death, thus adding to the intrigue.

The second part of the book delves into all the best-known books and movies featuring Billy the Kid.  Etulain separates fact from fiction, complimenting those authors who have done serious and lengthy research.  The movies featuring Billy the Kid are mostly contrived plots filled with fistfight action and gun battles.  In the end we are still wondering why all the interest in a young, wayward character who even by modern standards would be known as little more than a dangerous juvenile delinquent.

This book takes the reader on a detailed, from beginning to end, Wild West journey featuring everything you ever wanted to know about Billy the Kid. It belongs in your Old West library.

Editor’s Note:   The reviewer, Phyllis Morreale-de La Garza is the author of many books about the Old West, including Death For Dinner, the Benders of (Old) Kansas, Silk Label Books, P.O. Box 399, Unionville, New York 10988. www.silklabelbooks.com

Heard Around The Bunkhouse #8 – Western Frontier Terms and Sayings

Western frontier terms In our feature Heard Around the Bunkhouse we bring you Western frontier terms and sayings that they used back in the Old West. Hope you enjoy them, and send us your favorite terms from those past times.

WEARING THE BUSTLE WRONG: A pregnant woman.

BEST BID AND TUCKER: Wearing your best clothes.

GET THE MITTEN: Being rejected by a lover.

BEND AN ELBOW – Have a drink.

BANG UP JOB – First Rate.

PONY UP – Hurry Up.

ROOSTERED – Drunk.

*Courtesy of Chronicle of the Old West newspaper, for more click HERE.

Another Killing For Dodge

Ben Daniels.

April 20, 1886, Globe Live Stock Journal, Dodge, Kansas – On last Thursday evening at about six o’clock, a shooing took place on the south side of the railroad on the sidewalk in front of Utterback’s hardware store, two doors west of Ed Julian’s restaurant, the latter gentleman being the victim in the affray; and his antagonist, ex-assistant city marshal Ben Daniels.

Four shots were fired, all by Daniels, all of which took effect on Julian. While Julian was found to be armed, he however, did not get to fire a shot; there is much diversity of opinion in the matter, some claiming it to have been a deliberate murder, while others assert it to have been justifiable. The evidence taken at the preliminary trial does not fully sustain either. It was a well known fact that these parties had been bitter enemies to each other for a long time, and both had made threats against each other, which fact was not only elicited at the preliminary, but was know to many of our people long before the shooting took place. Ben Daniels, at the preliminary before Justice Harvey McGarry, was placed under a $10,000 bond for his appearance at the next term of court.

The remains of Ed. Julian were taken in charge by the member; of Lewis Post, G. A. R., of this place, who gave them a very respectable burial with appropriate ceremonies. This was a very unfortunate occurrence for this place, and that too at a time when everything appeared to be moving along so harmoniously and quietly. But it appears that no one could have prevented this tragedy, not even our officers, no matter how vigilant they might have been; the bitterness which existed between them was almost certain to bring them together sooner or later, and as many predicted, that one or the other or perhaps both would be mortally wounded, if not killed outright.

Artist Frederic Remington

Artist Frederic Remington Although artist Frederic Remington had the look of an eastern lawyer or banker, on the inside he was a cowboy who could shoot and ride with the best. 
 
Remington was born in New York and went to college at Yale, where his size made him a powerhouse on the football field. Majoring in art, he found the structured classes boring. When Remington was 19 his father died, and Remington dropped out of school.
 
He wasn’t a lady’s man. As a matter of fact, he only painted a picture of one woman, and he destroyed that. But Remington was smitten by an Eva Caten. Denied permission to date her, a dejected Remington went to Montana. His first taste of the open spaces, and the wild, free life, changed him. 
 
While sitting around a campfire on the Yellowstone River he realized that within a few years the west he was experiencing would no longer exist, and he understood the need to chronicle it.
 
Remington spent time in Kansas City, roping and branding during the day, and painting at night. He spent his free time in bars swapping stories with cowboys. Later he headed to the Southwest where he met Comanche, Apache and Mexican vaqueros.
 
His experiences weren’t all pleasant. He failed at sheep ranching, got cheated out of a part ownership of a saloon, and searched fruitlessly for a mystical mine.
 
After countless rejections by publishers, finally on February 26, 1882 Harper’s Weekly published his first illustration. He then sold his entire portfolio to Outing Magazine.
 
Frederick Remington moved from illustrating, to painting, bronzes and stories, all depicting the authentic west. Although he only lived 48 years, the 2,500 paintings and drawings, 25 bronzes, and thousands of words produced by Remington preserves an important time in American history.