The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-08-11
LETIER-THE MINES
AND MINING.

following, cur readers Will sgree with Us,
that this ia the most candid and FRANK
contribution from the gold fields that has
fallen under thsir observation within
twelve monIh:
/ From TarryaiI or the South PARK paeked
load Of provisions, NY blankets, and pleA
and shovel. oyer the snowy range 10 the
Blue. where bare since been located. And
Dow after residence Of Elk weeks 10 these
mountains, during which time DO day mas
passed. whether sunshine or storm, WITHOUT
tie severest tell. either 10 prospecting or ia
boring 20 open claim. propose TO give
you a plain. nnvarnished opinion Of the
country and lis resources. There IS so!d
here. And have no doubt that for centn-
Fies 10 come these mountains. whose bold
SUBMITS rise IN awful grandeur from sea
/ OF piues, viii continue 70 be explored; their
rocky sides will be drfted, thelr rivers VIII
/ be dItched and dam( II Jed in more than one
+ sense. their guiches deiEed and worked, and
still weld fair return Of the treasure that
forms the circulating medium Of the worlds
commerce. Still these mountains are not
studded nor are the rivers lined and choked
vito gold. Ii does not gIi.ten IN the sand
nor Weld a rich reward TO the blow of every
pick. Labor. toll, hardship, depriVati n,
such as would make a man. if dreamedJot
! 10 Iowa, recoIl and curse his fate, must be
endured 10 obtain il; and even this does
not IN nine cases out Of ten bring the de-
served reward. Obstacles must be over
come, which if presented to man in his
farming operations upon the prairies Of
. 4 l., L. ~. al ,g,E
handles ia despair, and fv TO some other
business for support. For myse.! Am here,
aud here expect to remain for some months
/ - come, though would gladly return 10
Iowa this fall If | conlI 90 So having ac-
c9mplished anything that would half COM
pensate me for what have already endured.
It is related Of Napoleon that preTI Us TO
his scaling tho Alps, the AID whom he sen.
forward - ascertain if the route was passa-
F Lle, returned and Immenced reporting
that be Thought the route imprGctCd5ie.
Napoleon sternly asks: SIS the route
possible - "Bareiy, Str." '.Ihen let US set
I forward" was the command Of Napoleon.
And 1T fue say, that unless a man is en-
lowed wiki some Of the stuff that constituted
EapoIeon. Emperor Of France, he has no
business 70 come TO the Rocky Mountain
gD.I reai9n. Unless my friends 10 No tn
crn Iowa can contemplate carrying fifty
pound pack over moro rugged peaks
/ than they ever dreamed Of, and these, too,
hedyad and blocked with snowy glaciers
that never melt, without shuddgr. they
had better stay away from Pixies Peak.
No man who cannot school himself to sit
down by his camp fire under the shadow of
a nine tree, and eat his cold bread and fat
bacon as complaccntiy as the ESqu;maux,
sips his whale oil in the Arctic regions, has
no business to come to to this country.
To show exactly what a man must en-
counter and overcome who comes here to
mine, at the risk of being thought cgotisti-
ca, will give a portion of my own person
al experience up to date. And mine is but
the experience of every miuer who pursues
his business with determination TO vim &;
or have it 10 say, II tried,' When | came
TO Tarryail. which is on the head of the
Platte IN the South Park, resolved 10 cross
the snowy range and prospect on the Blue
River, where gold was first discovered late
last fall. In company with Ptiton and
Hathaway Of Webster City, | shOuldered
my pack, consisting of two weeks provision,
blankets for out door sleeping, pick, shovel.
frying-pan, and cofee-pot, and started
The pack weighed between tifty-iive and
sixty pounds. Before US was about seven
miles of up, mp, TT. then the same distance
of down, dOtCE, DOWN, to the waters Of the
Blue. 1hr snow presume averaged four
feet in depth, and through the deep gorge
up which we assembled to The summit of the
range, have no doubt there were places
where it was twenty feet in depth. Before
ha" al '",' d. t,'' summit "a '"o SNOWY
r"i'Se-t', nIo'h- ""'c'i tue fare a'hoS Phefs
lh'S'S ~ "'''I''' even ior an ".'o""en man
90 ca'ea ms DFeA'h-''e sun haa ehee'e
tue crHS'eu Sno" 81 'na' every o'hes step
Wou'h "FoP through Almost 10 my very aech
= i"'t', with my PHcA o0nHi upon my
s"2n'"'r+, 80 ,"'' / was o'iheat 10 remove
II, ""ni" JIG OF moment III suFiE SHeh'e
""'' '"' '"oHS"t "ouid Try 20 crowd Hse'i
mo my "r"'h HHt con'd never move
another 'H9A' ba' looking up towards the
, summit aim .sI over nv mead, could see
''nS Hho W men, Phen win 'heIr heaVS
PACKS haAIhS "e'r ME]a2 way $40" J
'0"1r - '""t oa'F'" PEAK upon "h'ch ne SKY
F,'"'s" - rev "o' ,"V"'"I "o"n 'o""rH'
'"e 50 " e'e'S'C Gems oe'o",l co"'d see IKE
,'a'" io"'" ''- S''N'y tue pain over "n'ci
, w. J">, '''@7'" ny "',"t 'FS'' "''
"lN''s "S "0' 81" -, ''T'H' "'"' "'"tt
an u: l 'h' w. AVA ''j.' hE Every he'''
anu '3"u' '"d'"7 ,L'eFF hl"Se'S' ""nid
; aERn trnG mIs-h 70 iAe surface OF thl
$40" ana PH+A forward, !N0S NJ noon
STOOD upon the summit OF the snowy range
Here stood upon an1Tro" hoss-bacG,
forming the dividing line between the Ter
rtor'es OF Kansas AMI ltah, having ascend
ei ny one steep Eu.ea from the east, while
5ator' M was - counterpart, down which
TO dasc"Ud to the Blue. At single tss,
could have thrown n stone into water:
which, winding down through the Platte
down through thu Missouri, down through
tn' Ma>s'ss'pPi, found their way into the
tut of Mexico and the Atlantic: am
standing IN tbs sam" place could havct
tossed pebble into the water. that, gurg
lng down that mountain Cuich into the
blue, d1wn The Blue into the trraude, a1wr
toe "7anda into the Colorado, and dowr
the t9t'rF o. ut length End an outlet in tbs
Nuit OF California and the Pacific. Although