, 1862-10-11
Concentration and Dull Times.


excite; and second, the residents of the
Pacific cOost are mostly composed of that
class who have been attracted hither by the
mines, with view of 6 bettering their for
tunes, though the rapid manner in which
many Of them dispose of their gold after
they have obtained it, negatives this latter
position. The history of all the mining
excitements on the coast shows that at the
first reports of erich strikes" there has
been a general disposition among the peo-
pie to stampede for the new diggings; and
even those who have followed up all the
excitements since the days of 40, and who
should at least have profted by experience,
are not less hasty to pack up and go than
those who come fresh from the lands of
steady habits. Disappointed in one, twen-
ty, and all the excitements, they find soGie
''qu:et spot in which to settle down and be
contented with living" But Just as they
have placed themselves in a condition to
make that living, a new colorado is discov-
ereG in some remote point, and the old de-
sire to make quick fortune returns. Home
comforts are sacrificed, and the means they
have accumulated are disposed of in order
to obtain money to defray the expenses of
a journey to the new land of promise. The
sequel almost invariably shows them their
error. Arriving at the goal, they find that
hundreds of others, actuated by the same
motives and desires, have done likewise
The people have all concentrated at one
point; the mining region is overrun; and
while one man makes ten or a hundred dol
lals day, ten or hundred men make
nothing. The mines are reported hum
bug, and the fortune-hunters beat a re-
treat as hasty as was their journey thith-
erward
During these excitements, the surplus
miners-disappointed or not-generally
tarry for awhile in the vicinity of the mines,
to prospect, OF to wait in the hope that
s. something new will be discovered. A
demand for goods and provisions is created;
and one trader, who gets in early with a
supply, makes money Others hear it, and
the excitement among this class becomes
not less intense and unreasonable than with
the miners; and almost every man who is
not doing what he may deem rushing
business at home, starts off with his goods
and supplies for the mines. Arriving
there, they find the disappointed miners
all leaving, the demand for supplies de-
creasing, and finally they awake to reali
zation of the fact that the market is over
stocked, and that they must come down to
the small profits which they might have OBJ
tanned at home-if not to the heavy losses
which they would not have sustained had
they remained in the quiet city or village
where they had become established.
This disposition to concentrate makes
times lively at the first flush. But men
do not stop to reflect upon the causes, and,
without further reasoning, they seem to
regard the present only as the index to the
futu1e. Towns grow up beyond the de-
mands of the country, and those who in
vest their money in these places seldom ev-
er realize return Already has the histo-
ry of the mines of the upper country
shown all these results; though the mines
are not "humbug," but are good,
rich, and extensive, as the hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of gold
that has been taken from them during the
summer full we'll establishes. But the en-
igration thither has been too large. Too
many men who were not satisfied to "let
we'll enough alone" in other localities, have
gone there to do worse. And to-day, both
from disappointed miners and merchants in
Florence we hear the cry of ''dull times J"
and yet the miners who have claims there
are making their hundreds of dollars per
day. Ii is inevitable, however, that there
are yet too many miners there for that i'm
mediate mining camp, and too many tra-
ders and spectators for all tc realize for
tunes from the demands of miners Lew
iston echoes the cry, and merchants who
went there early in the season, big
with hope and expectation, are now
leaving the place to seek some other To-
cality for business. In their onward march
to these places, they did not stop to consid-
er that the country was new, and its only
resource the gold mines. As the miners
sought only the locality of the richest dig
gings, so the traders and specuIators looked
for the site of the Sacramento" that
should grow up upon the sand plains at
the head of navigation on Snake river, or
to the nearest point of supply for the mines;
and to-day, at their leisure, they are left to
philosophize as to whether a country with
no other resources but gold mines, covering
a scope for hundreds of miles in extent,
and accessible from all points, can support
trading population at one place large
enough to supply the whole mining dis
trict. Whatever their theory may have
been, it is evident that they are awaking
to the truth that they must change
their practice. Yet the impression which
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