Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-06-08
WHAT ABOUT PIXIES PEAK.

L
LEAvENwoRTH, Kansas, May, %, 1851
am here in the very focus of the Gold-at-
Pike's-Pcak excitement. OF the great cele-
bration yesterday in honor of the arrival OF
| the first return stages from Cherry Creek, you
| Will have had tidings before this reaches YOU,
| probably; also of the suppers eaten on that
| account, if not the consequent head aches this
| morning. Let me briefly sum up the conclu-
sions have drawn from all the information |
can gather here, viz:
l. There is gold at Pixies Peak.
=. Very little has yet been dug.
3. y considerable though very inadequate
amount of prospecting bad been done up to
the 10th inst, which is the date of our latest
advices.
4. A great deal more will soon be done, as
the snow only begins to be fairly melted out
of the gorges of the Rocky Mountains, where
the rich mines or placers must be found, if
anywhere.
s. AS yet this prospecting has not yielded
enough to pay the board Of those employed
in ii.
6. Yet few who have had extra luck.
would seem to have done pretty well, and
| some of them (unleSs they lie outrageously)
| are now making So to SS per day to the hand.
| The board of a rugged, hard working miner
| in that region ought to cost 50 per day.
Z. 1t is not known to this hour that any ex-
| tensiye placer has been found, and nearly ev-
cry miner is still prospecting for better dig
gings.
8. Hundreds of those who rush madly off on
a gold hunt across five hundred miles of unin-
habited foodless country, inFebruary orMai ch,
have either died outright of starvation, or
have suffered and been famished to the last
limit of mortal endurance. And all who have
started in their tracks with but few days.
provisions and scarcely any other resource but
the clothes on their back have probably suf-
fered, or will suffer, everything short of death,
and some of them viii probably die.
9. There is as much uncertainty and dis
trust in the Gold Region as here, and many
who have reached Denver City or Auraria
have turned back in disgust, which others
would do if they could do it with safety.
10. Many who had gone part of the way
have been discouraged by the reports of those
they met, and are heading towards the States
again.
II. There is no demand for labor in any part
of the alleged Gold Regions, and many are
there idle, who would gladly be hired and set
to work.
II. 1t is not yet decided whether any con-
siderable amount of gold can be mined with
profit in the new Gold Region. Months more
of patient and well directed labor may be re-
quired to settle that point
13. As yet, less than $4,000 in all, has
been received on this frontier in gold, the
product of the Pixies Peak region.
ii. 1t is highly desirable and proper that
the capacity of the new Gold Region should
be tested and ascertained. Those who are
nationally employed in this work deserve well
oi the country. But there are people enough
now IN or near the new Gold Region for all
reasonable purposes-far too many for the a
placed there.
10. 1t is not merely folly-it is criminal
madness-to rush off to Pixies Peak Gold
Hunting without ample provision in the shape
of food, clothing, blankets, mining impie
mcnts, and money. He who goes without
rlIslles on suicides fate.
Such is the substance ofal can learn from
the vicinity of Pixies Peak. l leave for that
region on Tuesday. H.o.
On the 18th nlt.. the dwelling Of A. W.
Parker in Giles county, Tenn, was destroyed
by fire, and three of his daughters-one aged
between Is and 16 years, another between II
and IL years, and the youngest aged about
years-perished in the flames. The oldest
and the youngest were entirely consumed, and
the other was rescued from -the flames by the
father, though so badly burned that she died
IN about 2S hours