Nebraska advertiser., 1860-10-18
Letter from the Mines,
BREoKINRIDeE, BLUE RIVER, Ut
September 20, A. D. 1860.


R.. w. FuRNAs, ESQ:
Since the United States
Mails have been established through to
this point, and knowing that there is more
confidence IN Uncle Sam than any other
individual Especially Hinckley & Cos
Express. 2 write you a few incidents
relative to this sountry.
What a great variety Of characters In
these mountains! The German. French
man, Englishman, Russian, Backwoods-
man, Polander, the Yorker and Southern
er are each and all working to gather in
the different gulches and rivers for a me-
.alic substance called Gold-go where you
viii and at any time, with but few excep-
lions, and you will find them toiling for it.
Blue River, French Gulch, Iowa Gulch
and others are nearly abandoned; while
the Georgia, Humbug, American and Ga
lena Clutches and part of Gold Run is pay-
ing good. The Georgia Gulch is said to
pay the most regular. The American
Gulch is deep diggings but coarse gold.
| saw a nugget weighed yesterday, re-
ported found in the American that weigh
ed 1856 GO. The gold is mostly what is.
termed wire gold. The Blue River gold
is shot gold and is very finely specimened.
Nearly every claim in the California
Gulch with probably 5 exceptions, is aban-
doned. I suppose there has been more
prospecting here this summer than any
other n year in California. The Dig
gings here have turned out so poorly, that
is, the principal part of them, that people
have been, and are now, determined to
find terdiggings, and consequently they
have been prospecting, have not found II,
nor will they. Go among the busy scenes
where the miners work hard, and many
hours in the day, and it will make a man
short breathed to behold them. And then
quita scene like the above. pass a few miles
west of the Blue River where there is no
mining, look around on the dark, deep,
lonely woods, and see no mark of c~iviliza-
ton. How the mind expands! Youlook
up and fancy some far of cloud the Great
Spirit looking down ON his primeval world,
in all the freshness and beauty of its first
years. The Imagination glows, the feel
ings freshen, the affections become intense.
Rapidly these the scenes of cur early man
hood rush upon US. Our hopes our fears
the lady of our love, the objects of our am
bition. We see some wild animal or per-
haps a bird that we may have startled
from IFS perch, dart off in the blue sky und
thus before US seem the world all our own.
Return to the mining region again, and
behold the vast variety of human beings,
among whom, and with whom we have to
Here too, as well as in Brown
Ville, we often find women loyeliest, and
most fascinating, a beautiful flower in the
wilderness. And here are generous and
free spirits, who would do a stranger a IA
Vor as well as a friend-how dlfFeren,
from what we supposed.
My imagination of the Rocky Noun
aims were, that when we once reached
he summit we retained that position for
niles on miles, but it is different. On
coming to Blue River, we raised 10 the
LIQUIDS seemingly, then we descended a
cry deep, narrow, rocky rayine, where !
wO or three held to the wagon to keep it
rom collapsing its contents, then we as
ended and descended, crossed streams of
'ure, cold water, crossed bare hills Of