The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-09-01


bulous tales of erich strikes" and oi
prospect holes which could have been
bought yesterday for SIoo and are
held to-day for $50, 1000; to be intro.
duced to men who q year or two ago
were penhiless and looking about for
somebody to furnish them coarse food
and set of tools with which to dig a
hole in the mountain "for luck" but
who to-day are reputed to be million
aires, to hear the careless way in
which men in blue flannel shirts and
cowhide boots talk of hundreds of
thousands or million of dollars, is
enough to set any one crazy who is
not perfectly selfpossessed or did not
come here determined not to get ex.
cited no matter what happened.
The gambling. houses are feature
of Leadville, as they are of every
other mining camp. Although there
are State laws and city ordinances
forbiddingr gambling, no effort is
made to enforce either. The doors
of these places stand wide open day
and night, and everything is done to
attract the notice of passers-by, just
as if the business was legitimate
one,. protected bylaw. There is no
pretense of, elegance in any of the
gambling-houses which have visited,
as there is in those OF Eastern water
ing places and in large cities. The
inside ofmost of them is destitute of
paint or plaster. The tables are
plain pine ones and are surrounded
bywooden chairs. The floors are
covered with .tobaeco-juice and mud,
and the patrons are mostly roughly
clad miners, who play small or
large game as money is plenty or
scarce with them. In prominent
place, in each saloon there is bar
which is always well patronized; in
the larger places there are two bars.
One-half or one-third of each gam
bling house is separated from the re-
mainder by low railing and is set
apart for, keno. Around the sides of
the remainder are tables upon which
are played. faro, high bill poker,
rouge ct. noir, hazard, etc. In the
rear ofieach place a private room is
partitioned off for the accommodation
of persons who wish to eight the
tiger in private. in the public room
the play is generally for Comparative
ly small sums; chips are sold for from
ten cents to 81 each and the bets
rarely exceed S.. In the daytime
the gambling saloons of Leadville are
almost deserted, but at night and on
Sundays they are constantly thronged.
While the pioneers of the mining
camp have left their impress upon the
character Of Leadville, the refined,
educated, law-abiding people who
have come here from the East have
kept control Of things, and made the
city remarkable for the good order
that is maintained and the general
safety of life and property. Of those
whose first experience in a mining
camp has been obtained in Leadville
a larger proportion are men OF educa-
ton or former wealth than ever as
sembled in any other mining centre
in the early days of its history. OF
the young and most enterprising men
who are in business, holding positonsi
about the mines or prospecting on the
neighboring hills, not few are fresh
! from college or from professional
studies, and lawyers, physicians and
teachers may be found here engaged
in almost every branch of business.
| Inc 1nIluSIlCG VI lnCll VI tiiio Siaoo is
seen in the organization of such ipsti-
tutions as the police force-a splendid
body of uniformed men who would
not disgrace the Broadway Squad, oi
New York; in the establishment ol
accompanies, the introduction oi
the Holly system water-works, the
organization of a gas company and
the establishment Of schools. Men
pass here for what they are, and not
| for what they have, how they arc
| dressed or where they were born.o No
body, cares who a., mans grandfather
was, OF. of what State he is a native
No one can afford to treat anothe'
with contempt because he Is unfof
, ltunate; the wheel may turn over anC
. 1.-the poor man Of to-day may yibecom
the millionaire of tomorrow. .Sucl
lt1f;nos have been common inlsead