" and, though only twenty-three years of age,
was generally acknowledged to be the best in the Council City country.
In a comparatively recent explosion in a quartz-mine, Shaw had been
almost blown to pieces; and although he still carried in his face and
body bits of the rock, and could see only through powerful glasses, he
was, nevertheless, noted for his energetic zeal and indefatigable labor.
The qualities which go to make a good miner are, perhaps, generally
underestimated. He must, primarily, be a man of intelligence. He must
have the eye of an engineer for turning a creek, constructing ditches,
building dams, and meeting the exigencies of the situation. He must know
formation,--understand geology,--in order to locate the pay streak and
operate it successfully. And he must know how to manage men. These
qualities Shaw combined. For instance: The labor is divided into two
ten-hour shifts, the day shift and the night shift, and not infrequently
hardy men either have not the physique to endure the exhausting labor of
pick and shovel or they "soldier" in their work. Men discharged for
either of these reasons usually came to Shaw and, shaking his hand,
acknowledged the corn, and asked him to look them up if he ever came to
Montana, or wherever they lived.

I noted some familiar faces in the pits, among them those of the lusty
men on the _St. Paul_ with the uncongenial room-mate. On the steamer
they had shown me with pride a skiff-shaped boat which they had had
built in San Francisco especially for the Fish and Neukluk rivers; and I
didn't then have the heart to tell them that they could not have
obtained a boat more ill adapted to their purposes. They arrived at
Council worn out, disgusted, and with only half the load with which they
had started. And, having been told that their claim, ten miles above,
was glaciered, without further ado or any idea of investigating it
themselves, they sold out their remaining outfit, and went to work on
"15" for wages. In this they showed much more stuff than the fellows who
"lie down" immediately; and, having enough to get out on, go home and
tell their friends that the country is a "fake." Many of these latter
are the men who, on the way up, have fiercely declaimed to admiring
audiences: "By God, sir, if I find any jumper on my claim, I've a
six-shooter," etc. One of these brave boys, whom the ladies of the _St.
Paul_ had greatly admired, _did_ find an interloper diligently working
his