Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-30
FINDING GOLD BY A DREAM
- a OANA1-A1u'
The Story a Ceur d 'AIene Miner Tells OF
His Luck.


credence. To dream Of finding mine is K
them conclusive evidence that such a
mine exists exactly as seen in
the vision. Ii they fail "a
locate it that is there misfortune.
They never doubt for moment that they
have been made the medium of some
| communication from on high to the chill
| dren Of men. The Dream Gulch, one OF
the few paying mining properties in the
| new C9ur d'Alene district, was so named
| because its owner, one David. claims to
have been led TO search for gold in these
| parts by vision. \ year ago he was a
farmer up in the Palouse region, having
no thought of riches, and we'll content TO
| grub out out a living on his not oVerpro-
! ductive claim. He took no newspapers,
and had no means of knowing ANYTHING
about the TumOrs then in circulation to
the effect that the Ceur d'Alene country
was rich in gold. He put in his crops
last year as usual, and awaited the har-
vest.
One insuferably hot night in the latter
part of August he had his wonderful
dream. He went TO work as usual in his
field, and thought nothing Of his nights
experiences until nearly noon, when
something brought to his mind the first
fragment of his dream. 1t seemed to him
then like some half-forgotten story, and he
seated himself intent upon recalling 1t all
if possible. Slowly the whole dream was
revealed to him with marvellous distinct
ness. and he went over it again and again
IN his mind as something that he was
loath TO dismiss. AT dinner he told his
wife, but she, matter-Of-fact soul, was
disposed to rally HIM little for his folly
in paying attention to it. He said no more
on the subject to her. He made up his
mind that the first chance he got he would
send for some newspapers and see il they
contained anything which would help him
to solve the mystery. In the meantime
he committed his dream to paper, even to
the minutest detail, and made drawings of
certain localities which he had seen in his
vision. In talking about it since then he
has said:
II have dreamed many times, as
everybody has, and some of my visions
have been very vivid, but this one was
unearthly. 1t made such an impression
upon me that l could not begin to make
you understand my feelings if ! tried. 1
could think OF nothing else. Something
seemed to be urging me all the time to do
something, but what TO do did not know.
l actually began to fear that my mind was
beginning to totter.''
David's dream, as narrated by himself,
was as follows:
81 found myself in a most desolate To-
cality in the mountains, where, to all ap-
pearances, no human foot had ever BEEN
Something impelled me on, and fought
my way through thickets that were in
tenselY dark even at midday, over rocks
and through raging torrents. My course
was upward, and though l could see no
end to my journey, and my feet were
bleeding and my clothing torn, / well re-
member that l was not in the least dis
couraged or alarmed. At length, when
nearly exhausted, | reached the top of
the mountain, and looked down for miles
into the valley below. AS see it now it was
not an inviting sight, but / pushed on re-
gardless of the pain the eXertiOn gave
me. When i got to the bottom / found
myself In a vast solitude, shut in by
mountains on either hand, and not a hui
man habitation in sight. 1t is so real to me
now that tremble to think of the condi-
tion l was in, but at the time / know ]
felt no concern fOl myself. / lay down and
dreamed again-a dream within a dream.
| saw the adjacent mountain peaks sur
mounted by palaces of the most gorgeous
description, some of them made of mar
bic, others Of pearl, and still others of
gold, silver, and precious stones. Their
lofty spires and d0mes pierced the sky,
and the SUMS rays were reflected with daz-
Zling brilliancy from their resplendent
columns. Out of their great gates came
men, who rode down into the valley and
gathered gold and silver in chunks, and
carried them back to the mountains. One
party came to the point where / was
sleeping, and being already well loaded
they counseled together whether they
would open the earth at that point that
day or wait until another time. There is
gold here said one in a voice that / can
never forget, 'but we had better not
bafhop NTH II IN dow of b Al
place, and come again tomorrow I'm
der a cedar shivered by lightning, they
piled up several stones, and rode away.
81 aWoke,' looked hastily about me, and,
though the palaces had vanished, | saw
the blasted cedar and the pile of stones.
All around in that part of the gulch saw
bits of gold protruding through the sod or
the gravel. The very rocks seemed bur-
nished with 1t, and even the trees glisten-
ed from root to topmost branch. l seemed
riveted to the spot. / wanted to fall on
my knees and dig, dig, dig. Did any one else
ever have such wealth at his disposal?
My brain reeled with the thoughts of what
| would do with my possessions, and be-
came weak and intensely agitated. In an
instant the scene was shifted, and must
have slept from that on dreamless sleep,
or else my thoughts were on other things,
for when j aWOke / had no immediate
ICCOlltCblOll VI al blltJ Ddu BctHs-f
In the course of time David got a bundle
of newspapers, and almost the first thing
he saw In them was report of the Cmur
dAlene gold excitement. He read every
thing relative to the new placers and
sent for more. He believed that he had
found key to his dream. The more he
read about the topography of the country,
the stronger became his conviction that it
was the same locality he had visited in
n 70 Nv har, hfo 81,
ed he set out alone for this place. then
but just founded and a mere collection of
tents. His wife undertook TO persuade
him that his mission was a foolish one.
and even limited that she believed he had
gone clean daft, but nothing could stop
him. In describing his experiences David
says: II found that nearly everybody
who had gone in had taken the Trout Greek
trail, and / resolved to try that first, /
thought | would scout around the noun
tains, and if found aplace that looked
like the one where l began to climb in my
dream, would keep on. Imagine my
Joy when found the Trout Creek trail.
the very route that / had taken. It was
as familiar to me as though / had been
over it before. Every once in a while /
would see some very familiar object, and.
doubly impressed with the idea that there
was something in my dream, pushed on.
L
buoyed up in this way, and when on the
summit | saw the distant mountain
peaks and the sombre valleys intervening.
every doubt left my mind. 1t was the
same view had had before. could locate
the very places where the palaces that
filled me with such wonder had stood. and
caught myself several times looking up.
expecting to see them again. When / cot
doWnintO the valley | was disappointed.
Tho tents and other rronapfU Of ftso o.,,,.I.-
comers had changed the aspect of affairs
somewhat, but / soon got my bearings
and pursued my journey. A few miles
away / came upon ground that was
growing more and more familiar. / kneg
L was near the place where gold was to be
found If there was anything in my dream.
My heart beat like trip hammer, and l
felt a faintness stealing over me. /
leaned against a tree for support and
brushed my eyes with my hands. The
stiffness was oppressive. A wild bird
flew up from a bush at my feet with a
startled scream, and / inYoluntarily ut
tered an exclamation of terror. Right
ahead of me was the blasted cedar under
which had reclIned in my dream. and at
its base was pile Of rough rocks. moss
grown and crumbling. 1t was the fdenti-
cal spot. am ashamed to say that /
looked for the gold in the grass and gravel.
and was disappointed at not finding il.
entered claim at that point and named
it the Dream Gulch. Any one around here
can tell you what it is worthv
The Dream Gulch is making its owner
rich. He does not exactly pick lunps of
gold from the surface, but he has secured
a very rich product under the crust. The
story of the dream is a familiar one here.
and no one pretends to doubt its absolute
truth. David has been offered big money
to dream again, but he declares chat he
cannot do it to order.