New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-07-16
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY
XIII.
THE GOLD IN TIE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
ILL.

For some ten years past, vsgle stores sblruiDs
n, impl,iDr the existence Of Gold in our country
,rrcjpsl chain Of mountains have from time -
time reached the pubbcear; bat they seemed 70 res.
On very srsht or insecure foundations ana a'trsce"
but limited and transient attention. AL i'uloA .
or trsppers, or traders bare assertion 'n@'' ID
srsyertiDg the narrow raVines and precpi'ou'
-. ., o,r American Switzerland be had picked
mn a piece of quartz lustrous with g'd' or e'en
ANAL nugget Of the pure metal "ss Calculated 10
attract H.tle attention while CaliJrnla was unfold
inc her maryeous treasures, aud While the fact
,tood forth clear and unq1estionabe that not one
pound of the precious dust from al the region
watered by the Missouri's mountain tributaries bad
ever been known 10 swell the worlds aggregate
,he alLdesired metal, and not one company, or
individual even was known TO be seeking the yeno"
dol on this side Of the backbone Of our continent
So far as ] can learn the fret three parties ever
Organized 70 search for god in all this Rocky
Mountain region were fitted out in the Spring o
1859 from the Cherokee Nation, from Missouri ana
from Kansas (Lawrence) respectively; ana
these. though they carried home or cent home
large stories Of the auriferous character OF the
country they "prospected," took with them pre-
eous little gold. But their reports aroused spriE
Of gold. seeking adventure in others, so that the
ensuing OasD Fall witnessed rush OF three or
four hundred, mainly men Of broken fortunes
from the dead mushroom cities OF Nebraska
and Kansas, TO the region watered by TIE South
Platte, and the more northery sources Of the
Arkansas For some reason, this point-the juno
ton of Cherry Creek with the South Platte
became the focus of the goldhunt here those who
staid through the Autumn and Winter busted them
selves in putting up log cabins, and writing home 10
their friends in the States accounts OF the richness OF
this region in gold--a metal which, except IN very
minute quantities they had seea but with the eye OF
faith. doubt that three thousand dollars worth OF
gold n every shape had been taken ont by The five or
siI hundred seekers who had come TO this region IN
hot pursuit Of it, down to the first day OF last
month-May, 1859. doubt it, not merely because
have never seen any reliable accounts Of that
much gold being sent or received from here PRIOR
10 that date. but because the gold does not exist
where it had almost exclusively been sought down
to that day. Cherry Creek though its extreme
sources are near Pixies Peak, is so headed oil
from the mountains by the South Platte, that l
can hardly realize that it should bring down any
gold at all; and, at best, washing the sands
of either of these streams their junction, for
gold, seems to me mach like washing the banks of
the Amazon, in Brazil, for the gold of the Andes.
Yet nearly all the eoldhunting of this region up TO
last month, had been dole in the sands of these
creeks most oft miles distant from the mountains
There is testimony that several dollars worth OF
dust per day to the hand WIS thus washed ont IN
certain happily chosen spots; but such successes
were transient and despite all the glowing accounts
Get forth in letters to the States, it is clear that all
the gold washing done throughout this region up to
Last month had not paid an average of fifty cents
DER DAYS labor; while the cost of each mans sub
si.tence while thus employed, cannot have fallen
short of dollar per day. And the high waters oil
the streams preclude advantageous washing IN the
Spring. even were gold far more abundant and en-
during in their sands than it has yet been proved
Such was the actual state Of Thugs when the
fret food Of gold seeking immigration began 10
pour in upon Auraria and Denver two months or
more ago. Many of the seekers had left home with
very crude ideas of gOld-digglng, impelled by
glowing bulletins from writers who coliounded
sanguine expectations with actual results, and al
best spoke of any casual realization of five TO ten
dollars from a days washing as though It were a
usual and reliable reward of gold.seekiDg industry
throughout this region. Many WHO came were
doubtless already wearied and di,gusted with the
hardships of their tedious journey-with sleeping
in wet blankets through stor us Of snow aud hurrI-
canes of hail, and urging hollow weary cattle over
immense treeless plains on which the grass bad
hardly started Coming in thus wealherbe a,en,
chafed and soured, and finding but handful Of
squalid adventures living in the rudest log huts,
barred out from the mountains by snow and ice,
and precluded from washing the sands of the
streams on the plains by high water, they jumped
at once to the conclusion that the whole thing
humbug, got up by reckless spectators to pro-
mote selfish ends. They did not stop to reason,
much less 20 explore, but, spurred by laudsbe
even if untmely longing to "see Nancy and the
"children," they turned their catte's heads east
ward and rushed pellmell down the Platte, sweep
ing back nearly all they met. l estimate the num-
Der who have started for pixies Peak" this sea
son aud turned back at not less than Twenty Thou
sand, and their positive less by the venture Gin
time. clothing and money! at not less than an
average of 800 each--or, in all. Two Million, of
Dollar.
Meantime, a few of the pioneers of this region
mainly experienced gold-miners in Georgia, Cali
fornia, and even Australia-were quietly proceed
ing to prospect the Mountains, so fast as the disap
rAaranca of snOu and lea uould permit-sn1