Everybody was happy, for a time, and apparently prosperous.

Then came trouble.

The government swooped down with a mining tax.

And in its worst form, too; for it was not a tax upon what the miner had taken out, but upon what he was going to take out--if he could find it.

It was a license-tax license to work his claim--and it had to be paid before he could begin digging.
Consider the situation.