St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-06-28
DENVER, juno sth.,I60.

stay sOhere they are--A Falsehood Exposed. -
. yo1t i,*,& Denver, June sill; go G
Mrs. Sw1ssHELM.----Here we are, safe
and sound, after ,6ye weeks travel across
the phips and through, . wild, Indian
country; we arrived at this point, the
great depot Of the Pixies Peak god dig
gings, on the 9th inst. We had a good
road and fine weather, with the exception
Of one or two heavy storms of hail, rain
and snow, accompanied BY a. high wind:
The first happened on the 9Th Of. May; it
was SO severe in some places that a great
|many cattle persisted, while some ran to
bluffs forty q fifty miles distant, to escape
the driving snow and hail. We; heard Of
several7men being frozen to- death while
looking for their stock. On the 28th we
experienced another storm similar to Che
first, which although not 50 severe, did a
great deal of damage We were fortu-
nate enough not to lose any thing, though
we saw a:great many dead cattle along
the road; We have had some fine sport
killing buffalo and antelope. The soil
above Ft. Kearney on the Platte. river, is
very poor, and timber scarce we made a
ten days journey without wood, except
what we had taken with us water was
plenty, as we followed the: Platte all the
way to this point. .:
Denver is a town Of about 1000 inhab-
itants, and is, at present, growing very
rapidly; there are some very fine buildings,
and I notice quite number of brick be-
ing erected. In the daytime, one can
hear nothing but the sound of the saw
land hammer; and it would seem that
mechanics ought to do well, but wages
are very low, only from $3.50 to $500
per day, while boarding is $1.00.. Flour
is SIS per hundred lbs, beef IL cts. per III,
bacon Is cts, and other things in proper.
ton; lumber is worth $50 per thousand
feet, nails $2O per cwt. and rents are
4 very high: Gambling appears to be the
"order Of the night;' there are six OF
seven houses of this kind who keep up
their lawless business all night-this is
certainly a fast town.
| Two Of our company have hired 70,
$1.75 per day and boarding, to work in a
coal mine. AS 10 the Gold Mines, I know
but little about them as yet I went te
see two or three companies that arc min.
ing on the Platte, three miles above this
place, where gold was first. discovered
they were making about So per day to the
man, with a "tom.'' Those who have
claims in Russelrs and Gregory's Mines
are doing well, but there arc a great many
who have nothing to do and nothing to
live on. A large number have already
started back, while many others are merely
waiting for their teams to rest before start
ing. The greater portion Of our company
will start in short time for the Arkansas
diggings, about liz miles from this place,
on the west side Of the Snowy Range,
from whence we hear reports Of good pros
poets; butt may be that when we get
there, it will be some place else. Do not
think am getting discouraged, fol I am
not: One thing certain, there is gold
here; although the mines already discov-
cred have not been sufficiently extensive
to insure people for coming here. AL
though there have been instances where
men have made from $25 to $50 per day,
and such strikes are certain to go the rounds
Of the newspapers, while those who do
not earn their salt are not mentioned
while Gregory is now taking out four
pounds of gold per day with his quartz
machine, he can hire men to work for
him at 81 90 per day and boarding. Some