Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-05-30
THE GAZETTE.
MONDAY MORNING, MAY 50, 1859.
PIXIES PEAKE.

John Smith went to Pixies Peak and wrote
a letter to his brother George, telling OF his
wonderful success. Hear him:
..PIxE's PEAKE, March |, l859.-My Dear
Brother:-"We had all the hardships IN the
world before we got tere. We lost our horses
ut ubuoue- they were stolen from U.S.
We GOT some extra oxen, and lost them one
hundred miles from Omaha. We then tried
wheel barrows, my wife and | wheeling by
turns. till the Indians stole our barrows.-
Then we walked, till the Indians stole our
provisions, and my family got sick; so l had
to carry them all on my back. Our money
gave out long before, and for two weeks we
travelled through a wilderness where the foot
of human being had never trcd. In this con-
dition, seeing no living being, and without
money to purchase even a cracker mt any OF
the groceries along the line, we lived on roots
till my children all looked like pigs, from
roofing so long.
Il have carried my family on my back till
l I'M SO round shouldered that | can only see
the blue sky and the bright sun by looking
between my legs, up to heavens canopy
that way. | lost two hundred pounds of flesh
horse meat-when I started from Dubuque,
or we should have got along better.
There is gold here-lots of it. The go
piers dig it out of the ground by the bushel,
and in the moonlight the whole earth for
miles round looks ike heaven with it's my
Rad of stars, or like a pretty girl with yellow
freckles. The woodchucks dig out bushels
and bushels of it, and the snakes in this coun-
try look like solid gold ones, from crawling
among gold chunks! 1t is found in all sized
pieces, from the size Of a hens egg up to the
bigness Of a large stone, and of the finest
quality.
I'VE have raked together what lay loose
on an acre of ground, and have twenty-five
piles about as big as q large sized hay stack!
Last night two hundred Indians came to
rob us of a set Of silver spoons and a fine
comb that my wife had to use on the chill
dren, and we barricaded our house with
rocks of gold until they could not gain admit
lance and were forced to beg to make friends
with us. The chief laid down his weapons
and came into our camp, when my wife used
the fine comb on his head till his gratitude
was as lively as his head was, and he was so
tickled that he offered to marry my wife, and
show me where gold was in plenty. l love
my wife-you know that George, but think
ing that might die before | got rich, and
feeling that | must make some property to
leave my children, / consented to the match,
and she has gone off with the Indian, who is
Il great chief, and taken the fine comb with
her, Come out with your wife, and bring a
fine comb, brother George.
81 am going to leave these diggings for a
better one. 1t is too much trouble totug and
pry up the great big chunks of gold that
weigh half Il ton or so and are so thick you
cannot get them out without dangero of break
ing your legs, and am going up TOT ravine.
where all | have to do is to 90 10 the top of Il
high mountain and roll it down to the river.
The country here is fine, but the winds are
awful. My boys got SO light with eating
roots, that | can only keep them by me, or
together, by piling humps ofgold, about as big
as mallets, on their shirt tails, as the little
innocents sit down on the grass to play
Every thing grows here. l can raise twenty
bushels ofwheat to the acre. Oranges, lemons
and oil such colored fruits grow wild here.
while melons, pears, apples, peaches and ap-
Pile dumplings are so plenty that they find no
market.
"Sell off what stuff you have in Wisconsin,
and come out here. You can get rich in a little
while, and 90 back in such style as will as
tonish the natives.
Give my love to all the folks around the
corners, and put a notice on the school-house,
that they can get an Quilt in Chicago for
500. Come out here, dear brother, by all
means. Yours, affectionately.
,JnUS SNITH.p