The Montana post. [volume] (Virginia City, Montana Territory [i.e. Mont.]) 1864-1869, 1865-08-26
CHAPTER I.
VIGILANCE COMMITTEES.


The teeth that bite hardest of sight"-PRov.
The end of all good government is the safety and
happiness of the governed. 1t is not possible that
high state of civilization and progress can be MAIN
tanned unless the tenure of life and property
and it follows that the first efforts of people in new
country for the Inauguration of the reign of peace,
the sure of prosperity and stability should
be directed to the accomplishment of this object.
In newly settled mining districts, the necessity for
some effective organization of judicial and protec
tive character is more keeny felt than it is in other
places where the less exciting pursuits of agricul-
ture and commerce mainly attract the attention and
occupy the time of the first inhabitants.
There are good reasons for this difference. The
first is the entirely dissmar character of the popu
latons and the second the possession of vast sums
of money by uneducated and unprincpled people, In
all places where the precious metals may be obtained
at the cost of the labor necessary to exhume them
from the strata in which they lie concealed.
In agricultural country, the life OF the pioneer
settler is always of hard labor, of considerable
privation, and of more less isolation, while the
people who seek to clear farm in the wild forest,
who break up the virgin soil of the prairies are
usually of the steady and hardworkng classes need
ing little assistance from courts of justice to enable
them to maintain rights which seldom invaded !;
and whose differences In the early days of the coun-
try are for the most part slight as to be scarcely
worth the cost of litigation more complicated than
friendly and, usually, gratuitous, arbitration
submitted to the Judgment of the most respected
among the citizens.
In marked contrast to the peaceful life of the tler
of the sol and to the placid monotony of his pur-
suits the turbulent activity, the constant excite
ment and the perpetual temptations to which the
dweller in mining camp subject, both during his
soourn in the gulches, or, if he be given to pros
pecting in his frequent and unprecedented change
of location, commonly called stampede" There
can scarcely be conceived greater more apparent
difference than exists between the staid and sedate
fpho Strip mnfl
of miners, professional men and merchants, thckly
ntepersed with sharpers, refugees, and full selec-
ton from the dangerous classes that swagger armed
to the teeth, through the diggngs, and infest the
roads leading to the newly discovered guches, where
lies the object of their worship-Gold. .. a.. am
Fortunately the change to better state of thing;
is rapid, and none who now walk the streets OF
Virginia would believe that, within two years of th
date, the great question to be decided was, which
was the stronger, right or might? n.a. l-,
And here it must be stated that the remarks which
truth compels to make, concerning the classes Of
individuals which furnish the law defying element o
mining camps, are in no wise applicable to the ma
jority of the people, who, while exhibiting the char
acterstic energy of the American race in the pursu
of wealth, yet maintain, under every disadvantage
an essential morality, which is the more credtabl
since it must be sincere, in order to withstand tn
temptations to which it is constantly exposed. "Oh
cursed thirst of gold, said the ancient, and no mai
has even an inkling of the truth and force of tn
sentiment, till he has lived where gold and silver
as much the objects of DESIRE and of daily and labo
Hsus exertion, as glory and promotion are to tn
| young soldier. Were it not for the preponderanc
of this conservative body of citizens, every camp II
remote and recently discovered mineral regions wou
be field of blood and where this Is not so, the fac
is proof irresistible that the good is In sufficient fore
to control the evil and eventually to bring order
| of chaos.
| Let the reader suppose that the police of New
York were withdrawn for twelve months, and the
[ let them picture the wild saturnalia which woul
take the place of the order that reigns there now
IT, then it is hard to restrain the dangerous classe
| of old and settled communities, what must be th
! difficulty of the task, when, ten-fold in number
fearless in character, generally we'll armed and sur
piled with money to an extent unknown among thel
equals in the east, such men find themselves remove
from the restraints of civilized society, and beyon
the control of the authority which there enforce
obedience to the law. .. .r. r.rfl.z.L. .r.g #.a
Were it not for the sterling stuff of which the MAJ
of miners is made their love of fair play, and the
prompt and decisive action in emergencies, this hl
tory could never have been written, tor desperaao
i of every nation would have made this country
scene of bloodshed and sink OF lnlqulty such
was never before witnessed. r4 49, r.s.-.
Together with so much that is evil, no where
there so much that is sternly opposed to dishonest
and violence as in the mountains; and though car
less of externas and style, to degree elsewhere VI
known, the intrinsic value of manly uprightness
no where so clearly exhibited and SO well appreci
ted as in the Ehorado of the west. Middhng PEI
ple do not live in these regions. A man or woms
becomes better or worse by trip towards the Paci
The keen eye of the experienced miner detects Il
imposter at glance, and compels his entire isol
tion, or his association with the class 90 which
rightfully belongs.
1 Thousands of weak-nainded people return, after
stay in the mountains, varying in duration from
single day to year, leaving the field where only
strong of heart are ft to battle with difhculty Al
to win the golden crown which is the reward OF ps