The Man Who Moiled for Gold

The Man Who
Moiled for Gold draws its title from the Robert W. Service poem: The Cremation of Sam McGee. This popular work portrays the lust for
gold, the passion for the search, and the elusive success that brought men and
women to remote areas without laws or justice. The poem also tells of
suffering, loneliness, frustration, and ultimately death. Charley Martin experienced all of these
emotions along with love and success while becoming the man who moiled for gold.

Charley Martin, in 1912, is found mining the hard
rock of Butte, Montana. Years of breathing the fine quartz dust in the pits
have given Charley silicosis. Discovery of this incurable condition, by the
mine super, brought an abrupt change to the 69-year old miners life. Change
began with the decision to move to his mountain cabin, which involved a weekend
stay with Kathleen, his eldest daughter. Kathleen held a secret hurt and
bitterness, causing an estrangement between father and daughter.

Delighted by his teenaged grandsons insistence to know
the grandfathers pioneer adventures Charley recounts events that began 50
years earlier with the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. Charley realizes that revealing
family history might bring to surface Kathleens resentments so he continues to
tell details past the romantic parts.

Successful mining ventures are overshadowed by the
murder of Charleys cousin Joe during a holdup. Kind and happy Charley becomes obsessed with finding the
roadagent who killed Joe. Other incidents of robbery and murder inflame the
Montana/Idaho mining camps into vigilante actions. Charley joins the Bannack
Vigilance Committee and participates in the historic hangings of the Sheriff
and his deputies he then travels with the Alder Gulch vigilantes to hang most
of the remainder of the Sheriffs roadagent gang including the man Charley
considers to be Joes killer.

Charley had never before revealed to family that he
had been an active vigilante who had ended mens lives. The daughters family is amazed but
accepting. Continued recollections helped Kathleen reveal her own bitter secret
and accept her father again.