The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-05-07
IMPATIENT GOLD HUNTERS
A MOTLEY THRONG WAITING FOR
THR SNOW TO MELT IN IDAHO.
Dreams Of Fortune that Make Men Face
Every Iinrdship-Ove piping Claims thai
May Lead to Bioodshed In the Spring.

| INV 'hio uhu uclBnDOIlnB Chiupo III VIII
ter was never seen before in all the long
history Of mining eIcitements. The
hungry, balf-naked, and ragged, as well
rs the well to.do, have been coming in q
steady stream, enduring hardships which
never can be adequately described, and
surmounting obstacles which might well
be regarded as insuperable.
Nothing but prospective riches could
have induced these men TO undergo the
tortures which they have experienced
and must still experience in this most
uninviting Of all climes. The dreary
days and nights passed on the foot trail
over mountains and through narrow de-
files and gorges are hardly more terrible
than the every day experience of the ad-
venturers 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 venti-
lation, aud on the floors Of these struc-
lures the population, wrapped in blank.
cts, sleeps and dreams Of wealth.
The visions the dreamers behold in
their uneasy sumbers may best be
judged from the air castles which they
build in their waking hours. Packed in
these buts like sardines, shoulder to
shoulder sometimes thirty or forty or
fifty of them on one floor, the men,
whom neither Arctic SHOWS or Alpine
terrors could dismay, sleep nightly MS
uncomplaningly Ms though supplied
with all the comforts of the completest
home. 1t is a dreary thing waiting for
the SHOWS to melt revealing what every
man believes will prove the richest gold
deposit on the continent. Every few
days there is fresh fall OF two or three
inches, which is not much when it is
considered that the old snow is from five
to seven feet deep on the level, and in
some places three times as deep, but
which is discouraging, nevertheless
When the sun shines and warm wind
blows, every one il confident that the
thaw il about to begin, but all know that
there can be no thaw in this country be.
fore May. Men grown weary of waiting
set out early in the morning determined
to overcome the obstacles which winter
has thrown in their way, but, after hours
OF labor with pick and shovel have
demonstrated that the ramparts Of ice
and snow are practically impregnable,
they beat sullen retreat.
There are men here with money. and
it is fortunate thing for many a poor
fellow that there are. Scores Of played.
ont refugees, some of them hard mon.
some merely unfortunate, and many
luckless, half crazcd, misfortrmc.smitten
adventurers, 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, and most
OF them have no clothing suitable for
this climate. How they managed TO get
here at all is mystery. Nothing so
clearly shows the unthinking and unrea-
soning nature of these great mining OK.
elements ma the blind fatuity of such
characters. The thought TINT after all
the hardships on the trail they might
reach the promised I'm only to starys
or freeze to death never seems to have
entered their heads. They come stray.
Cling in with no more baggage than A
Tennessee tramp carries in midsummer.
ont at knees and elbows, suspcinusly
thin Mt the waist, aud with features
pinched and blistercd by the cold. There
may he future United States Senators
and millionaircS among them. but it
does not look 80 now. Some of them
have been rich once, twice, or three
times, and most Of them have friends
and relatives at the East who know in
vague sort OF way that they nrc "out
West" They ARE after fortunes Of falm-
lous proportions, and expect TO find
them some day hll in q lump without
much exertion.
There are no stopping places on tho
terrible Trout Creek foot trail, and when
men with no supplies except the fow
crusts they carry IN their pockets star,
ont on that wellbeaten paih they must
keep moving day and night until their
destination has been reached. One i'm.
pecunlous but ingenious fellow with a
'ohdness for warming himself, and with
large stock OF matches on hand.
stopped every few miles and built him
sell fire. Others coming after him
found the embers, and, putting fresh
lnel on, renewed tho blaze. These ires
have now been burning along the trail
Tor weeks, Misunderstanding having been
arrived at in the matter, but every man
consulting his own interest. This fact
better than anything else will show tho
lnccssant nature of tho movement to-
ward tho Cmu d'Alnres. Tho fires
guide the procession by day, and at
night they illuminate the lonely noun
Iains for miles around
These impecuniou5 fortune hunters
must work or starvc, and MS there is
plenty Of money here for the develop.
nent OF the camp, they find remunera.
1--we employment as wood choppers and
builders. Many of Uem are weak and
'ickIy, 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 tho
East as humiliating beyond measure; but
here 1t is merely incidental to the extern.
I'VE mining operations which they are all
on in their minds. More than
me of these half.clad pioneers will re-.
.,''S " h''ioi buIldl DcIOTt Ille SHOWS
disappear.
The saloons, all with gambling attach.
nents, are running full blast day and
nght. Utilized like the rest OF tho
here for sleeping purposes at
night, the men who stretch their weary
rames on the boards of the saloons do
70 IN utter disregard Of the presence Of
thinkers and gamblers. As tho night
Sanes, and the crowds at the bar or the J
'oard tables diminish, the sleepers |
encroach upon the remaining /
pace, until finally the restless spirits n
'ho are never ready to quit, are com. y
'eiied to continue their carousals or h
'ames over the bodies Of the sleepers on o.
he floor. Any place which has a roof /
o shelter it from the inclemency of the y,
light is good enough to sleep in, and n,
ortnnate is he who finds a plank not nj.
eady occupied, no matter where it NAV :,
% situated. ! !"