, 1880-05-24
Expec.atio.s Being Realized,


of the discovery Of geld on the upper
Skag,t but little interest was felt by Seat
! tie people in the announcement. Soon,
however, parties began bringing in gold
dust in considerable quantities and ru
mors were rife Of many rich strikes along
the tributaries nf that river, and what 1t
first was supposed to be but = cnimera
Of the brain Of some over Jealous pros
pector, rapidly took the form Of reality,
while these who doubted and scoffed
were gradually forced from their position
by the stubb~rn fact sthat gold kept flow
ing in from the new discoveries in such
quantities that to longer doubt was sense
less. Before many wecks..ths gold fields
WAS the topic of conversation among all
classes. Skagit became the watch word
and cry, and its tributaries the Mecca
toward which all eyes turned and high
hopes conferred. But just as the first los
Gators were about getting their claims
n condition for op, rAtieLs on large
scale an early winter closed down aud
put stop to further Developments. Al-
though the little work VIII ch had b. en-
accomplished was only preliminary, and
could scarcely be called q test, even OF
the ground on which il was performed.
enough ~sa learned Of the richness OF
the diggings, AMI srfiicien; gold produced
to Cause blaze of excitement that
spread far and wide over the Who'll,
Pacific coast. tn. glad tiGing> awakened
new hopes In the breasts Of many an old
miner who oft times hs1 turned specu>
lative eyes toward the Casca'le range
with the mental assertion of: "Thcre
must he gold there somewhere There
was calculated Thousand Il told you
socs" ir"m as many mining camps along
the Pacific slope AZ the news OF the rich
discoveries flew from camp t" CAMP
The winter, although the seveiest ever
known on the coast. could not keep
back the impetu US prospcc.or notwith-
standing it was fact well known that
the Skagit country was c"vered with
deep SHOWS even in the mildest winters,
and MANY rushed in determined to over
come the difficulties of snow and ice and
open their claims Immediately. But
snow Storm followed snow storm until
the hardest of these pioneers were COM
PEELED to cease operations and leave the
digging. until the summers sun had
cleared the mountain sides and streams
ni their heavy mantle "t frozen snow. A
long and anxious winter followed
Many and high the air castles built by
claim owners. and as the spring advaE-
ces thousand eyes watch the battle be>
tween sun anil snow and note with glad
hearts the solid encrsachments old Sol has
already made upon the stronsho!ds "i
ais antagonist. The snow that covers the
golden hanks OF Skasit's streams is fast
disappearing and expectation runs high.
Already the stroke ot the pick rings out
through the echoing canyons, and the
rasp OF the shovel mingles with the sound
OF the waters that .iash from the moun-
tim sides. Within the past two weeks
great activity has been displayed in pre-
paratiOns for work on an extensive scale.
aud in localities where the snow has
sufficiently melted, s~vera! parties have
done considerable prospecting with rock
ers with results which hear ou. the high
expectations cherished ever since the
full results from operations Of last Fall
were known. Every stroke of the pick
more fully establishes the fact that the
diggings are rich, and every tour OF the
prospector up the many tributaries prove
them to be extensive. Although every
one regards it As too early Ly at least
a month for the commencement of gen-r>
al operations, yet steady flow of gold
finds its way to this city. increasing in
volume a. the season advances, showing
conclusively that some few At least are al
ready adding to their store OF wealth.
This is but tue dawn,ng o. q glorious day
golden day if you willard when the
noon tide hour is reached thousands Of
glad hearts along the romantic banks Of