The Placer herald., 1860-04-14
Washoe.

| u"iIy auueu ~ tne tlousduus lonS snlVeTlns
on the bleak side,hlls and among the sag,
brush of Virginia city. More men tax,
their departure day after day from comfor
table fire sides and well spread tables, te
toast their shins around suffering sage brusf
fires, behind canvass scarcely available tt
ward off cold furious winds, with visions o
silver and grub in the distance. Because
few men are reported to have made fabulous
fortunes the whole State has gone clean daft
on the silver question. No stop can be
made to the crazy rush for region in whicl
neither wood, water, or provisions are to be
had. The world wants to take trial o.
privations, and we fancy its powers of en-
durance will be tested thoroughly in Washoe
before sanity returns.
Suppose a region should he discovered
within six days travel of California; where
in the judgment of cool headed men, found
ed on numerous trials, five dollars per day
could be surely made for fifty thousand men
during ten years to come. Does any one
suppose that mad rush would be made to
reach the spot, like that which we are now
witnessing? Yet it is a safe prediction to
affirm not one in fifty OF these gone and
going to the silver mines, will ever realize
five dollars a day for their pains.
We once heard public speaker declare
the Americans gambling people. Had he
been less sweeping in his declaration, or
substituted Californians for Americans his
assertion would have been preg' ant with
truth. On every hand the fact is evident
the masses are averse to being contented
with fair and steady incomes. With what
aviditv do we buy tickets in rattle and take
one chance in fifty Of winning anything,
thing we want. We pack up, leave our
business to 90 to ruin, and seek a claim in
Waslioe. spend money, time and labor on
the barest uncertainty with the hope of max
ing a pile in few mouths instead of ac.
cumulating it gradually for years. Strange,
that the annual excitement ana disappont-
ments they produce have not given the null
titude experience and wisdom. They ought
to know by this time there is sudden for
tune in store for few, and blank disappoint-
ments for many. Thousands of those in
fatuated beings now suffering priva,ions to
obtain an interest in silver mines will rue the
day they ever passed the boundary line of
California Tor Utah. 1t is not in the nature
of things for half the silver hunters to make
fortune. The vein of silver rich enough
to do it has never been heard of in the world.
Washoe may be different from any silver
region ever discovered, and will he shown
radically so if it shall prove fortunate spot
for half the emigrants thither.
There may be many rich veins of precious
metals in the country to which so many are
Fastening with inconsiderate speed. 1t must
be remembered, however, that lodes have to
be much richer in that country than in Cali
fornia to pay the working. Neither wood
or water is to be procured but at a distance
from the mines. The country is compare
lively inaccessible. The necessaries of life
are dear. Take all these things into conside-
rations-the risks to be endured, and the
expenses to be met-and the wise man COM
fortably fixed and with moderate prospect
before him will remain where he is, nor be
uneasy and discontented when rumors shall
reach his ears that others are boarding bags
of wealth in some far off. God forsaken re
gion. Nevdda Journal.