The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-05-27
The Rush Of Tenderfeet, TO the Col.
OradO Mines,

y
The Rush Of Tenderfeet" to the Col
oradO Mines.
l found all the hotels at Denver over
flowing with pilgrims bound for tn
mineral regions, and who are rushing il
thus early in order to pick up the fortune
which are lying around loose, befor
somebody else shall get along and COB
bic them. Cunning "early BIRDS ar
these fellows; they propose to catch tn,
matutinal silver worm before the dew i
OFT the grass, and while other predaciou
birds are lazily sleeping in their warm
eastern nests.
And SO they are coming; thousands ;
day, all bound for the mining regions
and fortune. The hotels are full. an(
the landlords sleep their guests two in 9
bed, three beds in a room, and. besides
have rented all the vacant bedrooms II
adjacent houses. | was fortunate the
first night. Our whilom fellow citizen,
David Gage, secured me bed, in room
a block or SO away down the street
There were three beds in the room, and
two occupants beside myself-two gold
hunters, who all the night long snorted
and snored, as, in their dreams, they
dragged the shining ore from its mountain
caves, and climbing the tortuous canons
IN search of further wealth.
Denver has the biggest mine on the
continent. 1t is in the silver dug from
the pockets of the onrushing crowds,
and which is more profitable mine than
any other which is being worked in the
ranges of the g Reckless
| Denver is smart tOwn-a Chicago on
reduced scale. 1t is getting on, and
| VIII continue to get on without any sur-
gestions from outsiders.
l staid in Denver a few days to get
ready for my trip into the mountains.
had various fiattering offers to be let into
" sure thing you know" for mere
trlfie, and was shown at least four diff
ferent men who have made their pile in
lucky strikes.
The four or five hundreds who have
failed to make any strike, and who were
hanging around with about one clean
shirt and five dollars in cash to each fifty
OF them, were not pointed out to me. /
have found it to be the rule in Denver.
and all through the mountains, that the
most attention is given to those chaps
who struck it rich There is wanting
that attention to the majority-the great
crowd of dead-brokes s-which one Would
expect In democratic community.
AT Denver the trains coming in over
the Kansas & Pacific Railway bring each
day from three hundred and thirty to
four hundred and fifty passengers. ninety
per cent. of whom are bound to the min
ing regions in search of sudden wealth,
The trains OF the South Park Railway,
leading from Denver toward Leadvilie.
are crammed to the brim-the seats are
filled, every berth taken, and men are
stretched out in the aisles as thick as
swine in cattle-cars. Every stage line
which enters in Leadville comes in
jammed, coach after coach, scores of
them each day, and hacks and other pri-
yate conveyances to the number of doz-
ems pour out their human contents which
they have gathered up at the various rail-
way termini within reach of the Lead
vile region.
Are these thousands who are daily
pouring into the Gunnison and Leadyilie
regions from the Eastern States-are
they mad? We shall see in the course
of this correspondence.
On the train from Emporia, on which
took passage, the six coaches were
crammed to their utmost limit; in the
sleeper there were three passengers be-
side myself. This little fact will afford
some indication as to the amount of cap
ital which was represented on the train.
During the five hundred miles which
divide EmpOria from Pueblo, had op-
portunity to cultivate the acquaintance
of many of those who filled the six
coaches. There was a young fellow
from somewhere in Illinois who. in
company with a party of three others,
was bound to the Gunnison region. He |
was a healthy-looking person Of twenty |
five, and from his conversation had evil |
IDENTIFY lived on farm all his life. I |
had several conversations with him,
which, in no essential respect, differ |
from dozen or twenty which had |
with others. l said:
What are you going to do when you
get in the Gunnison?''
80, | don't know. I'm open for any
thing which will turn up.''
Have you any trader"
No, only l understand farming.''
"But do you know there is no farm
ing in that mountainous region?''
mo, don't know much about it.
only know there's silver there, and I'm
going out to look for some''
{" Did you ever mine any; do you know
anything about prospecting, or anything
Of the kind?'
"No, sir.''
found that the party of four had
their fare paid to the town of Gunnison,
and that the entire party had remaining
less than thirty dollars. They had no
blankets, food, mules, picks or outfits of
any kind. They were going naked, as
it were, to encounter the tremendous
hardships of the unsympathizing mount
aims. Their faces were young, fresh;
their eyes eager and hopeful, and / |
could not bear to overwhelm their hopes
BY telling them the truth. And, be-
sides, it is doubtful that they would have
believed me- If 7 had told +ham