The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-03-10
BACK FROM LEADTILLE.
Bread IA Quarter OF "a Dollar n Leaf and Two
thousand Mea Ia Idleness.

A N,,os reporter met Mahlon n. Draper,
who short time ago was seized with tho gold
fever aud went to l@sdyillc. Colorado.
Back already r the reportnr inquired.
Vel. yes know when I've got enough.
was ~ L"adviIe one week only"
Why did you come back 30 soon from that
place of surprising prosperity"
II went there with a view Of locating, but
soon saw there was no show. Merchandising
was what | intended. groceries and cveryth ing
OF that sort. general stock. but soon saw that
nothing Of that kind would pay-alrcady over
done. Dry goods business IN the same nx-n
fact. there seems 10 be nothing in aLyth Ing but
the vices. In the first place. rents, even II you
are lucky enough To get q room. are too high.
There are l2.OO0 people in Leadyille to-day.
nearly all mon. aud ut least 1000 men are with
out work and without dollar in their pockets.
never saw SO many beggArs IN my life, mis-
cradle devils, begging for u quarter to buy
loaf 81 bread. You can get little loaf about q
mouth'ul. Tor ten cents. but descent sized loaf
But. The other 1O0OO-are they making
Some Of them are. But there's no room for
new men. and yet they are constantly coming.
The mines. smelters. and sawmiils are running
all the men now that they can handle And Just
tnine! This little city, the liyeliest. wick@dest
city in the world, has nearly all grown within
the past year. In lStl II WIS called Shutdown,
and there were Il few houses there. but It's pres
ent population has all como within the past
year lot IN the business part Of the town
that twelve months ago sold for 500 to-day
soils tor $1,000. Rents are vicously high. A
business room eighteen feet wide by forty feet
deep rents ~ $500 n month. The Theatre Com
ique building, rough frame box, seating and
Standing ahout scv"n hundred people. though
they crowd IN a thousand night seven nights
in the week NJ { n hrAd-wcll. snrdines in n box
are comparatiycy comfortable compared with
thrm-rehts for 81 400 month. Well. the in
Equity can afford to pay IT, for the wine room
alone takes in 5000 Il night Tor liquors. There
ar" two other theatres, paving the Same heavy
rents ~ the Comique. Gambling houses and
saioonsY don't know therr's over n hundred
OF them, / should think. Every saloon Is II
gambling house. There are numerous dance
halls which pay an average rental Of 5000 per
month.
The first mines arc not over quarter Of n
mile from tho main street and they extend
OVER several miles of territory, though the pay
ing mines are | am told, all near Leadvllle.
The Blk run Of metal is silver. though there's
some gold. Most of the mineral is low grade
ore. There's no room thcre for men unac-
uuainied with mining. The foreman OF tho
L,ul" Pittsburgh mine exclaimed to me the
other day:
What do people moan by coming here,
green men. 10 work in these mlnosl We don't
want EN- II takes the best bridging To keep
these mines from tumhllng IN now when
Worked with experienced hands, old miners,
rs the mineral 10 chiefly in tho form Of car
bonnte. and crumbl,'s ike rotten checse.
The paving mining interests are mOnOp-
Oli2eI by capital. Ii takes capital 10 run these
mines. and greet den ~ ii 10 get any profit
out of them. They are already filed with old
miners who have poured In from DeHdwooi.
Grorgr and a hundred other points so
YOU see there Is no show whatever for amateur
taleuth