"Yellow Metal, and Its Effect" by the obituary editor of the Daily Leader (1898)

It was stated this morning that gold bearing ore had been discovered at the Jackson Summit mine and the obituary editor attempted to write the item with the following result:

'Twas in the Adirondacks, cold and bleak,

Where the frost covered pines topped every peak

That I found one man with shovel and spade,

Had to all appearance a deep grave made.

"Whose grave diggest thou?" I said.

"Who in this wilderness must lay his head?"

And like some sentinel on a solitary keep,

Be equally lonely, though in eternal sleep?"

"Whose grave diggest thou?" again I cried,

"So near to Mortimer's, on the Bleecker side;

And where the cars of electricity will soon go by

Must this mortal always uneasy lie?"

And then I feared my inquisitive way

Was causing trouble to the digger so gray,

Until resting his spade on a slight incline,

He said, "Hist! we're digging a gold mine."

Daily Leader [Gloversville, NY]. January 29, 1898: 7 col 2.

For more about the Jackson Summit mine and gold mining in Fulton County, see http://tinyurl.com/fulton-county-nuggets

“Perrine & Voorhees.” Johnston Daily Republican. March 9, 1898: 3 col 4.