Horses are saddled, mules are packed, sluices abandoned, and the long and unmarked route is filled with gold hunters. Away they go, over mountains, across streams, through canyons and pine forests, with the single object of making the first selection of a claim in the new location. Not unfrequently it is the case that a single company is the first to learn of the discovery of a new rich placer. If the claim it has worked is abandoned the succeeding morning, it is received by the camp as incontestable evidence that a mine of superior richness has been found,-and hundreds start in pursuit of the missing company. Rumor is a fruitful cause of stampedes.
Disappointments are more frequently the consequences than rewards.
Instances are common where whole camps have been deserted to follow up a rumor, and be disappointed, and glad to return at last. There is nothing permanent in the life of a gold miner,-and beyond the moment, nothing strong or abiding in his associations. Whither he goes or how he fares, Nobody knows and nobody cares. Florence had suffered from these causes. The roving portion of the population had gone, some to Boise, some to Bannack, and some to Deer Lodge.