The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-07-02

the miners here now labor under the dis
advantages, which cannot be retained In.
definitely, nor rendered universal They
are all working near a small mountain
stream, which affords them an excellent
supply Of water for washing at very
cheap rate; and, though such streams are
very common here, the leads stretch over
rugged hills and considerable mountains,
down which the vein stone must be carried
to water, at n serious cost. 1t does not
seem probable that the thousands of
claims already made or being made on
these leads can be worked so protitably in
the average as those already in operation
We hear already Of many who have work
ed their claims for days (by panning) with
out having raised color as the phrase is
that is, without having found any gold
whatever. We presume thousands are
destined TO encounter lasting and utter
disappointment, quartz veins which bear
no gold being prominent feature Of the
geology of all this region.
We cannot conclude this statement with
out protesting most earnestly against the
renewal of the ;niatuation which impelled
thousands to rush to this region a month
OF two since, only to turn back before
reaching it, or to hurry away Immediately
after, more hastily than they came Gold
mining is business which eminently re-
quires OF lis votaries capital, experience,
energy, endurance, and in which the high
est qualities Go not always command sue
cess. There may be hundreds of ravines
in these mountains as rich in gold as that
in which we write, and there probably are
many, but, up to this hour, we do not
know that any have been discovered
There are said to be FIVE thousand people
already in this ravine, and hundreds more
are pouring into it daily. Tens of thou
sands more have been passed by Us on our
rapid journey to this place, or heard Of as
on their way hither by other routes For
all these nearly every pound Of provisions
and supplies must be hauled by teams from
the Missouri river some 100 miles distant,
over roads which are mere trails, crossing
countless unbridged water courses, always
steep-hauked. and often mirey, and at
times SO swollen by rains as to be utterly
impossible by wagons.
Part Of this distance is a desert, yielding
grass, wood and water only at Intervals OF
several miles, and then very scant;ly. To
attempt TO cross this desert on foot Is
madness, suicide, murder. To cross it in
summer with teams when the water cours-
es are mainly dry and the grass eaten up,
is possible only TO those who know just
where TO find grass and water, and where
waller must be carried along 10 preserve
life. A few months hence, probably by
the middle of Oc.ober--this whole Alpine
region will be showed under and frozen
up, so a 10 put stop to sluicing, if not to
mining altogether. There. then, for PC
rod OF al least six months, will be neither
employment, food. nor shelter within five
hundred miles for the thousands pressing
here under tho d.lusion tina, gold may be
picked Up here like pebbles on the sea
shore. and that when ;hcy arrive here,
even though without provisions or money,
their fortunes are made. Great disap
roin;ment. great suffering arc Inevitable
few can escape the latter wno arrive at
Denver City after September without am
pie means 10 support them IN very dear
country, q, least through long winter
We charge those who manage the teie-
graph not Ia diii,i,e part of orr state
ment, without giving substantially the
whole: and We beg tie press generally TO
u;ste with us III warning the whole people
against another rush 10 the gold mines, as
IIladvised as that Of last spring--a rush
sure ~ bc followed like that by a stain-
pede, but one far more destructive of pro-
pertv aad life. Respectfully.
lloKlCE GEUErrv
A D. Rrcn.RnsoS,
HESaY WILLARD.