Old Joe Cattering

Marble Springs 2.0 screenshot of Old Joe Cattering

What we know

1830-1904
Prospected Sugar Boy Mountain. In 1872, he uncovered two large silver veins,and he secretly mined what he could. Mr. Davidson helped him buy out all other claims on the mountain and financed the Sugar Boy Mine, which produced $100,000 of silver a year in its heyday. The mine had not tapped out when the Silver Crash of 1893 forced the mine to close. He and his wife, Billie Rose, stayed on to raise their children¹ (Lily, Conner, Tadg, and Rowan) and gain respectability in Marble Springs.

Footnotes

1. Item 1960. Rules of Conduct. iv. Never be irritable or unkind to anybody. Enquire within upon Everything

Silver is the Secret to Happiness

Old Joe worked his claim at night.
When it is dark outside, he'd say, might as well be dark inside.
At the end of his night, he'd roast chickory for coffee¹
and watch the aspen leaves turn slowly silver
in the growing sunlight. From shadow to sun,
he'd say. Might as well see the world
in a greener, clearer light.

The breath of his dearest Columbine went fast one night
while he was in the mine, taking their stillborn baby
back into her cold body. He buried them quietly
in the back of the mine shaft, leaving a vein
of untouched silver to watch over them.
Death and birth he'd say. Two sides of the
same coin we pay for life.

Might was well enjoy the show, he'd follow.
After all, we bought and paid for it, already.
When he saw Billie Rose's laughing eyes
down at the White Owl, he let her win
all his silver. Promised her more if she'd
only join her quicksilver² laugh

with his silver claim — To purify the
mine tailings into life, he'd say.

Footnotes

1. Item 2488. Chicory. Chicory is found to be an agreeable flavourer of coffee. The roots possess qualities hitherto imperfectly ascertained, and worthy of further examinations and development.

2. The fall or inclination of the tables, both copper and blanket strakes, is also regulated by the class of ore. If it should be heavy then the fall must be steeper. Be careful that your copper tables are thoroughly water-tight, for remember you are dealing with a very volatile metal, quicksilver; and where water will percolate mercury will penetrate. Getting Gold.

Connections

Portal

Sources

Getting Gold: A practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students. Written by J.C.F. Johnson, F.G.S. (1898) Portal caption and links
Billie Rose Cattering
Tim Harmon
Penny Cernak
Laura Keeperly

Please note that this poem is dedicated to Talita and Christina, Sine qua non

Portal to secret connections--drops of quicksilver (mercury)