The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-07-07

leave the mines in disgust after very short
trial, declaring there is no gold here i'll pay
ing quantities. It should be remembered
that the discoveries made thus far are the
result of but five weeks labor.
In most instances the gold is estimated by
| the niners as worth 800 per ounce, which.
for gold collected by quicksilver, is certainly
hige valuation, though this is undoubtedly
of very great purity. The reader canreduce
the estimate if he sees fit. We have no data
on which to act in the premises. ~.r
The wall.rock is generally shattered, so
| that il, like the vein-stone, is readily taken
out with the pick and shovel. In . single
instance only did we hear Of wallrock too
| card for this.
Of the vein-stone, probably not more than
one-halfis so decomposed that the gold can
be washed from it. The residue of the quartz
is shoveled out of the sluices, and reserved
to be crushed and washed hereafter. The
miners estimate this as equally rich with that
which has "rotted," so that the gold may bs
washed from it; hence, that they realize, as
yet, but half the gold dug by them. This
seems probable, but its truth remains to be
tested.
1t should be borne in mind that, while the
miners here now labor under many obvious
disadvantages, which must disappear with
the growth of their experience and the i'm.
provement of their now rude machinery, they
at the same time enjoy advantages which
cannot be retained indefinitely, nor rendered
universal. They are all working very near
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 veins stone must be carried
to water, at serious cost. 1t does not seem
probable that the thousands of claims already
made or being made on these leads can be
worked so profitably in the average as those
already in operation. We hear already Of
many who have worked their claims for
days (by panning) without haying "raised
the color" as the phrase is-that is without
having found any gold whatever. We pre-
sumo thousands are destined to encounter
lasting and utter disappointment, quartz veins
which bear no gold being n prominent fea-
ture of the geology of all this region.
We cannot conclude this statement with
out protesting most earnestly against a re-
renewal Of the infatuation which impelled
thousands to rush to this region month or
two since, only to turn back before reaching
it, or to hurry away Immediately after, moro
hastily than they came. Gold-mining is
business which eminently..requires ofits vota-
ries capital, experience, energy, endurance,
and in which the highest qualities do not
always command success. There may be
rich in gold as that in which we write, and
there probaly are many, but, up to this hour,
we do not know that any such have been
discovered. There are said to be five thou
people already in this ravine, and hundreds
more 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 neither by other routes. For all
these, nearly every pound Of provisions and
supplies Of every kind must be hauled by
teams from the Missouri River, some 700
miles distant over roads which are mere ira
lis, crossing countless unbridged watercour-
ses, always steepbanked and often miry, and
at times so swollen by rains as to be utterly
impossible by wagons. Part of this distance
is desert, yielding grass, wood and water
only at intervals of several miles, and then
very scantily. To attempt to cross this des-
ert on foot is madness-suicide-m
To cross it with teams in midsummer, when
the wattercourses are mainly dry, and the
grass eaten up, is possible only to those
who know Just where to look for grass and
water, and where water must be carried
along to preserve life. A few months hence
probably by the middle Of October-this
whole Alpine region viii be showed under
and frozen up, so as to put stop to the
working Of sluices if not to miring altogeth-
er. There. then, for period Of at least six
months. will be neither employment feed nor
sholter within five hundred miles for the
thousand pressing hither under the delu-
sion that gold may he picked up here like
pebbles on the sea-shore, and that when
they arrive here, even though without pro-
visions or money, their fortunes are made
Great disappointment, great suffering are
INEVITABLE; few can escape the latter who
arrive at Denver City after September with
out ample means to support them in a very
dear country, at least through long Winter
We charge those who manage the telegraph
not to ditfuse part Of our statement without
giving substantially the whole; and we beg
the press generally to unite with us in warn
ing the whole people against another rush to
these gold mines, as il-advised as that Of
last Spring-a rush sure to be followed like
that by stampede. but one far more destruc-
tive of property and life.
Respectfully, HORACE GREELEY,
A. ID. RICHARDSON,
HENRY WILLARD.
| The Vermont papers states that the BAN
| ncr belongs to Hardwick, for making the