Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-12-07
Life i'm q Mining Camp

1t is hard to keep separate the fantas-
tic snd the sad in ones impressions;
hard to decide wlsich has more pathos.
the comp deserted or the camp newly
begun, the picture of disappointment
over and past or that of enthusiastic
hopes, nine out Of ten Of which are
doomed to die. I have some tim es
thought that the newest, Invest, most
:sanauine camps were sadde5t sights Of
all.
The expression OF fresh mining camp,
at the height Of it's "boom," is some
thing which must be seen TO be compre-
lhenued.
The camp is in the heart of fir fores'
perhaps, or on the stony sides of gulch.
and night. Nobody draws breath till
he has got cabin, or bouyh hut, or a
sent over his head. AS if by magic,
there grows up a sort OF street, a dozen
or two board statutes, with that cheap
est and silHest of ali shA ns, the bat
tlemeut front, Haunting its ugly squares
all along the line. Glaring signs painted
on strips Of cotton sheetlny biraChed ami
,unhieaCheG. are nuiie over do rs. In
next to no time there will he mint,
an ''exchanye," "bank," a Nv emma
bakery "Ch nese laundry,"a "hutel
and q livery STABLE" Between each
Night and morning viii blossom out
crops of "real estate Offices" and places
where thinning proper les are bought
and sold," ''claims located, proved,
bought aud sold" 'surveys Of miuing
az lains made" etc; crops also, alas, OF
Twhiskey sa oons, Nth wicked names and
lurlt red Curtains, danger and death sig
mails
The stumps are not taken ont Of the
preteuse o. road neither are powders
nobody minds driving over them, on
over anything, in fact, SO he getr
Quick to bis "ca,m," or to the tract II,
which he is feverish|y prospecting" It
y brook trickles through the camp, so
much the better; it IAN do double duty
as drain and We'll LucKlest they
who drink the highest up, but tn' y
who drink lowest down do not mind.
The wo men. if women there are, are
fierce anil restless, like the men. They
make shifty semblancrs OF homes out Of
their onr-roomed cabins. 1t is nor
worth while to have things com or.able,
= or keep them in order, Tor there is no
knowing whether the camp will turn
OuI W NC u $SCOo VI libtI 1Sti0 AA''A
row they may pick up their chattels und
move on. AT the fA,utest rulnor o. Il
bigger ''in,i," in altSther camp, the
men to whom they belong will be Oft,
and they must follow. They stand in
their dourways, idIing, wondering, wait"
ing, goss1ping, and quarrelin.. Tbs only
placid creatures are the babies, whose
simple needs OIL sun, dirt, and being let
alone are amply sup. Piled. They are
happy, aud they only, in all'th camp.
1t is a strange lite unnatural unwaoie-
some, leading to no good, comfortless to
a degree wh,cs, many OF those WAC lead
it would not endure day, exec ot for
, the,hope OF great gain, which fires their
very veins. The worst Of it is that the
lie is as fascinating as it is unwhoiesome.
't'Once a miner always miner" Is a
proverb which is lite less than the ex.
act truth. The life is simply gamester's
life, with the wide earth for hazard
table, and the instances are rare III
which person who has once come un-
der It's spell ever breaks away. 1t is lso
.auncominon thing, in Colorado. to meet
!. an old gray haired man who. has been
prospecting aud mining all his life, and
Y has not yet made q dollar, but is buoy
antly sure that he will strike it'' soon.
December Atlantic. 5s.3.