The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-03-26
IN TIE GOLD FIELDS.
An Eloquent Description Of tho
Poop 9 Who Inhablt the
Golden Clutches Of
the C@ur d.
Alepe.

A correspondent Of the ndepen-
dent writing from Eagle City, gives
the following graphic pen picture of
the men to be found in the new
mines:
Among the three thousand people
who have thus early found their way
to the COeur d'Alene mines, q large
proportion are business men. They
are men # means, of energy, of in-
telligence, who come here to obtain
the first opportunities of investment
which are SO desirable in all new
camps. They are shrewd, thoroughly
informed men, who eagerly compete
with each other for the numerous
business prizes which are to be drawn
in the great mining excitement
lottery.
There are hundreds of laborers
here. Hewers of wood, and men
who are content to earn honest wages
for honest work. They are stalwart,
sinewy fellows, who toll early and
late, in snow and storm or sunshine.
These are they who are building
cities in these desolate mountain
wilds.
There are gamblers here. OF that
rest assured. There are hundreds of
them. Gamblers of the genuine Bret
Harte style. Men of large hearts,
generous impulses, men to whom, of
all that are in the camp, you would
90 first to ask a dollar with which to
buy a meal. Men who would never
refuse you so long as they had a dol
lar.
Gamblers there are, who are not of
this stamp. Men who are constantly
begging stakes of the better class
with which to fleece victims.
And the victims are here. Lots OF
them. Some are wOrkmen, and lose
their wages every week. Some bring
a little money with them to the Occur
d'Alene, and return home broke.
The girls" are here, too, and more
of them come every few days. Some
of them dress ~stylisbly and wear silks
and diamonds. Some dress cOarsely
and slovenly. Quite a number wear
mems clothes, and walk the streets
in garments that would excite the
envy of Susan B. Anthony.
Boys are here, mere youths not vet
ouS " IA1Vl4 ICCASs ~ II q tO1xkO1C
school for lads, yet they have come
with the rest.
There are old '49-ers here-men
whose hair and boards have been sill
vered in the tirelees, persistent search
for gold which will never end till
Iife's close. They are all prospectors,
and you find them living a hermit's
life in little cabins up lonely gulches.
And the miners are here. The true,
grand-sOuled, old-time miners, with
their blue shirts and Open-palmed
hands. Their cabin; their fare, their
blankets, will be shared with the
stranger just as it used to be in the
golden days on the American and
Yuba, just as it always has been
where there were miners. If any
class should be monarch among ren,
it is these same miners. They laugh
at hardshlps and privations. they
never think Of Sinking work or of
doing a dishonorable act, and when
the dust is PANIED out, it goes as
easily as water.
Bye and bye many a rough, hard
character will come, many y bully,
cutthroat, scoundrel. but so long as
the miners are in the majority, the
camp will be all right. The miners
are the men upon whom depend the
fate of the country, the men, Of all
others, who will rule the camp.
All yes, and another has come, the
Angel of Death. Neither the snow,
For the rugged mountains, nor the
silent forests, nor the deep, dreary
canyons could hide from this new
boom camp. He has come, and his
pinions have borne some Of our num-
Der beyond the worry and WEAKNESS
of this struggle for gold. Under the
hillside snow lie four of the boys,
who came eager and thirsting, little
that their bodies evermore
would rest among the gold dust they
came to find.
Yes, the Angel of Death is here,
and scores and scores and hundreds
will acknowledge his presence ere
the year closes. and next winters
snow will find them sleeping under
the snow. among the golden sands.