Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1879-03-19
TO LEADvILI.E AND DEATH.


The Other Side OF the Question.
From the Cheyenne Daily Leader.l
The immigration business can be greatly
Overdone, the same as anything else.
That it has been overdone in many cases,
and most notable in that Of Leadville,
Colorado, there is indubitable proof. II
there were no evils attending it, there
would be no complaint, bnt the terrible
tales Of suffering and destitution which
come from that place. show only too
strongly the fragrant injustice of i'm
migration agents and railroad companies
in directing a rush to the elevated and
sickly FL Dorado. No mining discovery
has ever been more uniformly pulled up
beyond justification than Leadville. Paid
and influenced correspondents emitted
columns Of false praise Of the place, and all
advised the unemployed and the seekers
after wealth to stake out their 10. in
Leadville, and wealth would be as certain
as age itself. Newspapers elsewhere in the
State, with the motive of financial gain
as accruing to themselves or to their city,
lent full power to the propagation Of
sensational reports, and the spreading in
iuence of these stories was made manifest
even to the shores Of the Atlantic and
Pacific. Little puts were dropped into
the ocean of exaggeration, and the circling
ripples went to the boundaries. Railroads
leading anywhere near a direct route to
the d~iggings, brought to their aid ilium-
mated posters, with highly-colored de-
criptions of the place, and the power of
the press, as welded through lengthy
advertisements, which were noted more for
the b~ewildering array OF adjectives and
false statements than for the good motive
which influenced their publication. Such
startling ines as s'To Leadvlllc or death |"
s'Leadville and wealth !" A fortune awaits
you at Leadvillei" Millions made in a
day at Leadville !" and other similar head
lines, which greet the eye all over the
East, are well calculated to encourage m
igration. These posters, without excep-
ton, are the work of railroad companies.
That these reap a harvest of fares, as a re-
suit, is taken for granted, from the fact
that the process of lnflaming the migrate
nv and speculative mind is continued with
undated vigor. 1t can be easily under
stood, then, now the population of Lead
vile has swelled to disastrous proportions.
What has been dom in the case OF Lead
vile will be done again in the very next
discovery. Greed prompts the ruinous &C
ton OF those who gain through the misfor-
tune of others, and they will not cease in
| their efforts so long as the prospect is
shining with more gold. But q strong SEN
timent is growing, which exclaims to those
who are producing more immigrants
" Hold Enough II" 1t is necessary to
stop; and at the same time Denver and
Leadville may as well admit that the thing
has been overdonc.
Whatever claims OF value may exist in
the vicinity of Leadville have already
been taken up. Powerful companies are
operating the best paying mines; and while
they give employment to many miners,
the wages paid are insufficient to justify
the vast outlay necessary to transport ones
self to that point. Commerce and trade
are also overdone in Leadville. Too many
merchants have been lured on the noun
tain height, and the result is 3 lack Of
| profit. As to the sickliness of the locality,
the growing cemeteries in the suburbs.
and the prosperity Of undertakers, speak
most eloquently and powerfully. A num-
Der of causes unite there tn render health
at all times precarious and uncertain.
Hence, when diseases and starvation reach
the thousands Of idle men, there is bound
to be a desperate band.
The outside world cannot but sympa-
thize with these unfortunates. 1t desires
that there shall be no more deception, and
no additional restitution. To encourage
immigration of laborers is positively Grim
inal, and C~olorado's fair name should not
be SO stained.