Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-06-03
The Grc;, test Humbllg of the Age.


nun, the Atlantic Cable, and the thousand
and one other humbugs of the day, sink into
utter insigniicance, when compared with the
gigantic Peak. And the history of the rise
and foil of the peak is quite as singular
quite as astonishing-as that Of the prince of
showmcn, or Of the Atlantic cable, or any
other. We rccollect, some six or eight months
ago, reading little paragraph in a st.
Louis paper to the effect that some trader, or
hunter, had picked up a nugget Of gold that
he had stumbled upon in the Pixies Peak
region and from which he came near falling
hcadlong down the peak valued alta fabu-
lous sum. We thought very little of it at
the time; but not so the shrewd specu-
lators of Kansas. Whether the story of the
finding of this nugget originated with them
or not we cannot tell {; but if it did not, they
succeeded admirably in keeping it in circula-
ton. The next thing, an article appeared in
some paper, under fiaring head, in which
it was recorded that party Of men had
reached the great FL Dorado, and after "pros-
pecting,' were convinced that the California
gold regions were the smallest kind of pota-
toes in comparison with Pixies Peak. In
knocking around with their picks and shovels
among the nuggets" they filled their pock-
cts with the choicest, and left the remainder,
together with the dust, Of which it was said
the soil was almost entirely formed, for their
friends in the States.
These accounts, which were nearly all Of
them first published in Kansas, Nebraska
and Western Missouri papers, were, as a
matter of course, copied in the journals
throughout the country, as other news was
rather scarce Just at that time-no war-not
much political squabbling, as the Presidential
election was too far in the future-though
many of the newspapers copying them dis
credited them editorially. But the lovers of
filthy lucrc"-the worshippers of the yellow
ore-werc aroused! They read the wonder
full accounts of the newly discovered gold
regions; they gulpcd them down; they
believed them! And with faces turned Pixies
backward, each one clearly saw, looming up
above the surrounding mountains, as the rays
of the setting sun shone upon it, peak Of
FURNISHED gold! Oh, then, what gearing
up of teams what tumbling into wagons,
heller SHELTER, of bags of flour, coffee, sugar,
pork, whisky, and the like; what hasty
leave taking Of wives, sweethearts, parents
and children; what a whipping up Of old
nags worn out in rmwork what gadding-
up of oxen whose ribs protruded through
their hides, almost what rush pell-mell,
hurry scurry, head-over-heels- TO Pixies
PEAK!
The earliest emigrants reached the So
called gold regions some time in February
and March, enduring intense suffering and
cold and in some cases from lack of food,
having forgotten, when they started, to take
anything to eat along with them! What
need had they? Was not gold what they
were going after, and were they going to eat
or sleep until they had made their fortunes
and got home? Not they! Hills afar off
are ever green,' is an old adage; but they
made it read, "Peoks afar off are ever vel.
low" and proved that they, alone, were
green. But, alas for human hopes! The
nuggets of which they had read so much
of which they had dreamed so much-and
which they expected to see scattered around
in convenient piles, in quantities to suit the
ambitions of each and all-werc not to be
found ooh! what a fall was there, my
countrymen!" Desperation seized upon men
who had started upon their journey with
bright hopes and imaginations stretched to
their utmost and desperate cases demand
desperate remedies. One chance still re-
manned to realize their hopcs--at the expense
of their fellow men;
How quickly nature falls into revolt,
When gold becomes her object"
So, instead Of returning to their homes and
publishing to the world the result of their
mad search for the glittering dust, they wrote
back favorable reports to their friends and
to the newspapers throughout the country !;
invited everybody to come and satisfy them
selves laid out cities; talked of making a
river to the mountains; built steamboat to
run on wheels, to be propelled by wind and
went to work with might and main to set
things in order, to receive the mighty cmi-
grafton which should pour in upon them as
the season advanced. And they were not
mistaken. Fifty or seventy thousand men
responded to the invita-. on; left comfortable
homes and kind friends, to appease their
longings for gold. And, as they came pour
ing in by thousands, these shrewd specula-
tors imagined that their fortunes were made
that naught now remained but to sell corner
lots to the sold-seekers at any price they
might ask ; and to encourage them to wait
patiently till the snow had melted from the
mountains before commencing their opera
tons. This answered very we'll for time !;
but when small parties went out, and, after a
thorough search, could find nothing but a
small quantity of black sand, containing
EiieSStihto pa SiClCS, ouCII dS W louiiu
along every creek in the country when their
provisions began to be scarce, and prices ex-
orbitant when funds became exhausted and
no gold could be found to replenish their
purses-then, and not till then, did they dis.
cover that they had been humbugged; and
then the retrograde movement commenced +;
and then mad, starving men rushed headlong
back, after having squandered all their hard
earnings of years, to commence in the slower
but much surcr way to competency.
Let us hope that the effect Of all this will
be good that men will not again suffer
themselves to be carried away in the wild
chase after delusivc chimcra. In this tragic
history may be traced the truth that