The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-02-23
The Sta mpede.

nothing to what is already know
about these mines. No new discov
cries have been made nor are ther,
any additional inducements hell
out to encourage the continued STAN
pede 10 them. Still every train /
crowded by anxious, excited goli
seekers eager to arrive at the sup
posed Ell Dorado. In the meantime
towns are being laid out, lots are sole
at booming prices, and business
hoases being built at points on The
Northern Pacific and in the Coeul
d'Alenes. And what is there to JUS
tify all this hullabaloo7 Why some
gold has been found on the rim.
rock of a creek or two in the Coeur
d. Alenes. Only this and nothing
mole.
It seems strange, don't it, thai
men who are known to possess .
reasonable degree OF caution and en-
dowed with a fair amount of com
mon sense can be led off on a wild
goose chase upon a mere suspicion
that gold exists at the end of the run.
But so it is. Stampedes for gold are
as contagious as the measles, and
men follow each other in q mad rush
for its search with the same disre'
gard of consequences that a drove oil
frightened sheep will follow the
leader.
There are q few old Californians in
this Territory who can call to mind
the early stampedes in that State.
The first which occurred there was
organized In Nevada. Nevada coun-
ty, in the spring of 1850. Some one
came into the then booming. bustling
town and reported he had discovered
a lake way up in the mountains
whose bed and shore were literally
lined with nuggets of gold, varying
in size from that of marbles to the
largest of pumpkins. Not even the
streets of the New Jerusalem were
paved with greater treasures. The
foolish, incredible story was believed
and a band of one hundred and fifty
men went in search Of the mythical
lake. OF course 1t was never found.
TIE organizer of the stampede barely
escaped with his life.
Kern river was the next objective
point of the stampeders. This was
another humbug of the first water
started in the interest of stage COM
paDies and hotels. But 1t gathered
in its deluded victims by the thous-
ands and then flattened out. Soon
after stories of fabulous deposits of
gold on the Pacific Coast in Northern
California and Southern Oregon,
were circulated. The fools not being
all dead, they rushed by the thous-
ands IN search of the coveted treas
ure. It was said the sand bluffs in
the section named were literally full
of fine gold and that all one had to
do to gather it was to throw up the
sand and the wind, which conven-
iently blew in that favored region all
the time, carried the sand away and
left the shining particles of gold
upon the outspread canvass of the
miner. This was called the Gold
Bluff stampede,
In 1857 reports of rich discoveries
OF gold in Fraser river. British Col
reached California. These
reports were backed up by exhibi-
tions of large quantities of gold, said
to be taken from that country.
Never in the history of California
was such an excitement created.
The San Francisco papers were full
Of glowing descriptions Of the mines
paid for by the steamship companies
raining lines of steamers bet ween
that city and Victoria. The fever
took hold Of every prospector, miner
and many business men OF the inte-
rior counties OF the State. Those
who could go joined in the rush.
Every steamer was crowded ana old
tubs unsafe to float outside the har-
COR were loaded down to the guards
with eager, excited multitudes. The
threatened to depopulate the
State.
Well, the end soon came. There
was gold there, bnt the mining sea-
son was short, the claims were
and the output of the mines
still. Weary, sick and dis
neartened, those who had money
Immediately returned to California,
md those who had spent their last
to reach the inhospitable and
much overrated country were assist
ID home by the British consul at
Victoria, and kind-hearted Amer
cans at that place.
Volumes could be written about
he hopes and the tears, the dangers
md the privations, the sickness and
be suffering which accompanied the
to the points we have
to. They nearly all returned
o their old camping grounds sadder
,ut wiser men. A few, a very few
made money. The most Of them
what little they had. But
he worst has not nor never can be
old. The bleaching bones upon the
trails, the unmarked mounds
# earth In solitary places and the
ecord of the insane asylum at Stock
on may tell tales which pens cannot
write. The history of one stampede