Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-03-30
GOLD HUNTERS.
Dreams of Fortune that Make hen Face
Every HARDSHIP Overlapping Claims
tfat May Lead to BlOOdshed
in tae Spring.

rs the well-t0-do, nave Dten coming III
steady stream, enduring hardship
which never can be adequately de-
scribed, and surmounting obstacles
which might well be regarded as insu-
Ierable. A literal wilderness of the
toughest imaginable Typographical Pc
culisrities, buried in snow IN some
places so deep that bottom cannot be
touched, swept by icy blasts, destitute
of even tie simplest cOnveniences of
civiliztd life, and overhung with leaden
clouds, this whole region has in six
months been peopled by one Of the
queerest aggregations of men anywhere
to be found.
Nothing but
Prospective Riches
could have induced these men to un'
cergo the tortures which they have ex-
perienced and must still experience III
ibis most uninviting OF all chimes. The
dreary days and nights passed on the
foot trail over mountains aud through
narrow defiles and gorges are hardly
perience of the adventures who have
already reached the goal. There are
thirty or forty rude cabins here, each
containing but one big room, with no
windows, holes in the sides serving for
purposes of light and ventilation, and
on the floors Of these structures thepop-
u'ation, wrapped in blankets, sleeps anu
dreams of wealth.
The visions the dreamers behold 10
their uneasy slumbers may best be
Judged from the air castles which they
huiId in their waking hours. Packed
H. these huts like sardines. shoulder To
shoulder, sometimes thirty or forty or
fifty Of them on one floor, the men,
hom neither Arctic SHOWS ror Alpine
tGrors could dismay, sleep nightly az
III complainipgly as though supplied
W tn ali the comforts of the completest
home.
1t is a dresry thing waiting for the
81 ows to melt, revealing what every
an BELIEVES will IrOve
The Richest Gold Deposit
On the continent. Every few days
here is a fresh fall % two or three
riches, which IS not much when 1t Is
considered that the cid snow is from
five to seven feet deep on the level, and
IN some places three times as deep, bat
which is discOuraging, nevertheless.
When the sun shines and warm wind
lows, every one is confident that the
thaw is about to begin, but all know
that there can be no thaw in this coun-
try before May. Men grown weary OF
waiting set out in the morning determ.
il ed to overcome the obstacles which
inter has thrown in their way, but,
after houls of labor with pick and
shovel, have demonstrated that the
Iamparts OF ice and snow are practically
impr, enable, they beat sullen retreat.
There are men here with money, and
ii is q fortunate thing for many poor
fellow that t. ere are. Scores OF played
out refugees, some OF them hard men,
SC me merely unfortunate, and good
II any lackless, half crazed, misfortune
smitten adventures, who have made
the rounds of all the camps only to be
forced by starvation to keep on the
move, are here. They have no money,
aud most of them have no clothing
fuitaUle for this climate. How they
managed to get here at all is mystery.
Nothing so clearly shows the unthiah.
ing and unreasoning nature OF these
great mining excitements as the blind
fatuity Of such characters. The thought
that after all
The EardshIps
on the trail they might reach the
promised land only to starve or freeze
to death never seems to have entered
their heads. They come struggling in,
with no more baggage than a tennessee
tramp carries IN midsummer, out at
knees and elbows, suspiciously thin at
the waist, and with features pinched
and blistered by the cold. There may
be future United States Senators AMI
millionaires among them, but 1t doesn't
look so now. Some OF them have been
rich once, twice, or three times, aud
most of them have friends and relative.
in the East who know in vague sort
of way that they are tout West" They
are after fortunes of fabulous proper
tions, and expect TO find them some
day in lump without much exertion
or lai or.
There are no stopping places on thu
terrible Trout Creek foot trail, and when
men with no supplies except the few
trusts they carry in their pockets start
'ut on that we'll beaten path they must
keep moving day and night until Their
destination has been reached. One i'm
ptcupious but ingenious fellow with a
fondness for warming himself, and with
large stock of matches on hand, stop
red every few miles and built himself
fire. Others coming after him found
the embers, and, putting fresh fuel on,
renewed the blaze. These fires have
now been burning along the trail for
weeks, no understanding having been
arrived at in the matter, but every man
consulting his own interest. This fact
better than anything else will show the
inceSsart nature of the movement to-
ward the Cpur d. Alenes.
The Fires Guide
the procession by day, and at night they
illuminate the lonely mountains for
miles around.
These impecunious fortune hunters
n ust work or starve, and as there Is
plenty Of money here for the develop.
ment OF the camp they find remuuera-
tive employment rs wood choppers aud
builders. Many of them are weak and
sickly, and the axes which they swing
seem in their bony hands instruments
with which they are unfamiliar; but
they toll on uncOmplainingly. They
would regard such employment at the
East as humiliatjng beyond measure;
but here it is merely incidental 10 the
extensive mining operations which
they are all carrying on in their minds.
More than one Of these halfclad
pioneers will receive a miners burial
before the SHOWS disappear.
The saloons, all with gambling a..
tachments, are running full blast day
and night. Utilized like the rest Of the
buildings here for sleeping purposes at
night, the men who stretch their weary
frames on the boards of the saloons do
so in utter disregard Of the presence Of
drinkers and gamblers. As the night
wanes, and the crowds at the bar or the
board tables diminish, the sleepers
gradually encrosoh upon the remain-
ing space, until finally the re>tless
spirits, who are never ready TO quit, are
compelled TO continue their caroussls
or their games over the bodies of the
sleepers on the floor. Any place which
has q roof to shelter it from the in
cIemency Of the night Is good enough
TO slsep in, and fortunate is he who
finds q plank not already occupied, no