To find it in quantities. A man strikes it rich when the quantity is unusually large.
1867. As for Dave, he and I have struck ile.—E. E. Hale, ‘The Man who stole a Meeting-House,’ Atlantic Monthly, xix. 111/1 (Jan.).
1878. Willie has struck chloride! He can sell out for fifty thousand dollars.—J. H. Beadle, ‘Western Wilds,’ p. 368.
1890. It was surmised from the size and weight of his sack that he had struck it rich.—Haskins, ‘Argonauts of California,’ p. 130.
1909. Wilson took his lunch in his hand and strolled up the side of Baxter Mountain. He climbed up on a large “blow-out” and seated himself to finish his dinner. The appearance of the rock struck him as peculiar, and he chipped off a fragment. Then he called his companions that he had struck it rich, and staked off the North Homestake mine.—N.Y. Evening Post, Oct. 28.
