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Show 228 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. Leadville now stands), spree all night, and return ' dead broke' in the morning to commence again. "Mr. Tabor was then working our mine, which was No. 12 above discovery. We took that because it had a fall, but it was a mistake, for the gold was nearly all washed over the fall into the claim below, from which $80,000 was taken out during the summer of 1860. " I was very happy that summer, and joyfully anticipated a visit to my mother and father in the fall. " On the 20th of September Mr. Tabor gave me one thousand dollars in dust. I put my wardrobe, what there was of it, in a carpet-bag, and took passage with a mule train that was going to the Missouri river. I was five weeks crossing, and cooked for my board. "With that thousand dollars I purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Kansas, adjoining the tract we already owned. My folks dressed me up, and in the spring I bought a pair of mules and a wagon in St. Joe to return with, which took about all my money. " Mr. Tabor gave me one-fifth of what was made that summer, when I left; the other four thousand he sent to Iowa and bought flour, and in the spring we opened a store in my cabin. He worked in the mine during the day, while I attended to the store. I feel that in those years of self-sacrifice, hard labor, and economy, I laid the foundation to Mr. Tabor's immense wealth; for, had I not staid with him and worked by his side, he would have been discouraged, returned to his trade, and so lost the opportunity which has since enriched him." |