The hydraulic press., 1861-08-03
The Future of Mountain Towns.

What is to be the future of our mountain
towns? Who does not ask the question, yet
half dread to hear it answered? At this
moment there are hundreds of business men
specializing on it; and hundreds out of
business, of course, who proclaim that they
are ''gone in." Men stand at the door of
their st,res, look up and down street, yawn,
stretch themselves, and retire to mourn over
dull times. Those of what the phrenologist
would term the nervous bilious tempera-
ment, walk hastily up and down their places
OF business, or work desperately for few
minutes, and then subside into chronic
dullness, with their chairs tilted back, their
feet against the stove-ppe, while they read
the daily paperS for the twentieth time.
Times are dull everywhere; business is
stagnated, and people want to know the
reason of it.
'.Business is overdone, of course; that
must be the answer We all know that, so
you may as we'll spare US the repetition of
such unpleasant information" Softly, gen
tlemen. There are two ways to read old
proverbs, sage and indlsputable as the con
clusions invariably appear: and in like
manner, accepted facts, when exhibited in
another light, vary in Interpretation, like
manuscript written in invisible ink when
held TO the fire.
In the first place, business in the noun
tainS is neutrality-suspicious. into
central locations There can be no question
Of that; and for this there are two reasons
the exhaustion of the mines in certain dis
tricts, and the increased facilities for the
delivery of merchandise. Thus, towns
having a purely local dependence must
inevitably decline with the decline of the
mines of that immediate locality. There are
towns for example, entirely dependent upon
river mining; perhaps of a very limited
portion of the river, at that-the district
between two canons, possibly. The min
ing in these locations is now on a very
extensive scale. As heard miner lately
remark, 'they employ fewer hands and more
head work" One company will occasionally
claim an entire bar; aud though they take
out Il fortune, it is no benefit to the trader,
who naturally enough sighs for the good
old times. OF course then, as there are
fewer miners there must be less business
and these localities have been worked
over half Il dozen times, and the discovery
of anything new is highly improbable, the
sooner the citizens of such places .sSecede"
the better. The companies that remain are
doing well, and will in all probability con-
tnue to do well for years to come but they
can buy their goods at the large towns, six,
eight or ten miles away. They do not need
even to leave their claims-they can send an
order, and have their goods delivered free
of additional charge. What is the use,
then. oft traders lingering about these desolate
places, when there are plenty of rising towns
and undeveloped districts coyeting their
capital and energy :?
But the cities and towns that possess a
central location are also dull. Their
merchants complain of dull times as loudly
as anybody. How are you going to get over
that? Well, in the first place, 'dull times"
is chronic disorder among merchants, like
fever and ague, asthma, consumption, and
other complaints of IA similar nature. Once
become an invalid, and you will always
remain Que; if not sick from direct attack.
you suffer from a sympathetic one-and
there is only one cure in either case ga
change of air. '-Mountaineer