The Miner Sport

Catalog Note *The Miner Sport; or, Sugar-Coated Sam's Claim* is a western mining adventure by Edward L. Wheeler, author of the Deadwood Dick series. Set in Grim Gulch, Colorado, following Leadville's carbonate discoveries, the story opens with four prospectors—Sugar-Coated Sam (the elected leader), McDuff, Hans, and Snapp—who discover gold and establish a town. Sam stakes out fifty uniform lots and travels to secure official title, then purchases neighboring tracts for future development, incorporating as the Sugar-Coated Mining Co. The narrative introduces William Henry Shakespeare, a bullwhacking poet fleeing a necktie party, who plans to publish a newspaper advocating lynch law for road agents and offering poetical commentary. When stampeders arrive by wagon-train—miners, merchants, and ladies—a stylishly dressed sixteen-year-old girl nicknamed "Sure-Pop" attempts to gamble with Sam for a lot, wagering her hand in marriage. Sam refuses, and Sure-Pop departs angrily with the displaced settlers, promising retribution.