The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-05-08
LIES ABOUT LRADvILLE.


LIES AbOUT LkAOvlLLk.
How Some Of Ihsm Are Beaatifuny Ex-
Dlodsd By . Truth-Telling Newspaper
MAJ.
From ,hs Emir Ga,esse
LEADv1LLE, April 1e.-Nothing but a
desire to please my friends and give them
a reliable and trustworthy report could
induce me to ride 'seventy-6ve miles in =
narrow-gauge car, stage it fifteen or TWEEN
TIP. sit patiently in a lumber-bo1 wagon
while crossing the range, wade through
six Or eight miles Of snow and land in
such town as this. And don't believe
an eighth interest in the best paying mine
here could induce me to do 1t again. /
could not conscientiously come as far rs
situation here as seen by one who has no
"salted NINE" to sell, no big hotel to pay
for and no particular interest in swindling
the people out of their hard-earned
savings by getting them out here on a
wild goose chase for wealth. Leadville
to-day is the most corrupt. unInvIting and
cvercrowded city on the face of the earth.
Ever since the news was telegraphed all
ObCk tuC WOAf0 tAal tWo pun Ouhe AaSh
had struck a silver mine out here thous-
ands have been pouring in the place until
Leadville and the surrounding country
contains no less than thirty thousand souls.
This was only last summer. but since then
every foot of ground has been surveyed,
staked of and recorded, and the man who
journeys thousands of miles with the hope
of finding an inch of available ground to
squat" on will either have to 90 up on
the mountauin, or else buy il at an e1orb-
liant price. The first fellows here have
reaped a rich harvest The time is now
past for others to follow, and the man who
comes now with the expectation of getting
anything but day s labor and poor living
will return a sadder but wiser man, with
less money than he came here with, but
enough knowledge to last him lifetime.
The mining law provides that squat
ter" who strikes mineral" of any kind
can have his claim surveyed and recorded,
and from that time henceforth it is his
provided he puts 800 worth Of improve
ments on it annually. The first corners all
went to work with will. dug down until
they struck mineral" recorded their
claim, went on up the mountain and re-
peated the operation until some Of them
now have twenty claims on their hands,
which they are very anxious to dispose Of
to .'tender-feet" las they call the fellows
from the East anxious to make for.
tune in forty-eight hours. Denver and
Leadville are both full of 'agents" and
owners of claims" They button-hole
every fellow who looks as if he had more
money than brains, and they tell him how
| poor man can make money without
work-by simply buying an interest In
their claim" Those who have not al
ready started had better stay home. rob
hen roosts, run for some fat Office or do
anything equally respectable rather than
come here with the expectation Of getting
rich. There are two classes Of men who
| can get along here-laborers who are
willing to work in the mines, leave whis-
Ky alone and live on most anything, and
capitalists who have lots of money to in
| vest. When fortune is made you in
lvariably hear of it; when hundred poor
men lose every cent they have the
newspapers out here overlook the fact.
| In conversation with an old New Yorker
| who has ten claims that he Is anxious to
dispose of, / asked him conGden-
tally what he would advise those COM
ing to Leadville to do. Assuming sort
| of staggering air peculiar to the people
out this way, he rather emphatically re-
marked that if they had money to invest
| tell them TO come" but If they werc
looking for work they'd better go to hi
than hunt for If here" Briefly summed
up. would say: Capitalists, come here;
invest yonr money; develop the hidden
treasures and give employment to labor.
A poor man has no business here! Those
who have the fever beyond hope Of recov-
cry should go further on, settle at Gunni-
son, CarbonateviIle, Junction City, Koko-
mo, Robinson or some of the yet undevel-
oped regions and patiently wait for the eI-
citement to reach these localities. Lead
vile is rightly called The Poor Man
| Country!" There are more poor men"
here TO the square inch than you can find
in any other part of the world. In fact,
every nine men out of ten you meet on the
street look as if square me al was stran-
ger to them and a good nights rest some
thing they hadn't had since they left the
States. Men out Of employment here are
thicker than sewing-machine agents East,
and the hotels are full Of fellows glad to
get work at starvation wages. No one
not accustomed to the climate can stand il
to work in the mines, and even a residence
| in Leadville is almost sure 10 undermine
| a mans heath unless he is acclimated be-
| fore he comes here. Pneumonia is carry
ing off the population faster than the au-
thorities dare admit, and no death notices
are published for fear Of frightening away
new corners.