Griggs courier., 1892-06-24
CHECKERS As MONEY.

+ CHECKERS AS MONEY.
Incident or Piains E..e Oceurrine .where
\ Denver Is NoW.''
+ Squat on one OF the lowersteps Of
the post @ces Hiding the Other after.
noon, ! newsboy unloeded his poekeh
of d miscel ellxne6us cS1lectidn d small
change, marbles, string, chalk and glass
and proceeded tocount up his earnings.
Bringing separately and in quartettes
his unique Collection to light q couple
of very dirty round pieces ofWood, evi-
IDENTIFY used rs checkers at q distant pc
riod of time, finally rolled forth. After
critical examination Of the museum the
boy cast the checkers to one side, gave
howl to inform his patrons that he
was still on;earth, and started down the
street. Near the door leaned an old
man-spare and gaunt, two days
growth of beardon his face, and this as
white as snow. He had watched the
boys proceedings with considerable in
terest, and when the youth had left he
stopped and picked up the discarded
checkers and examined them critically.
They ant worth much now" he said
to bystander, retrospectively, ''but
can remember when such as these
passed as good coin right in Denver
here" $50
The person Y addressed naturally
showed some surprise. ''It was this
way" continued the old man. '.Along
in the SOS, as you may know, Denver
was conspicuous by its absence more
than anything else. Bands of people
who came through here bound for the
gold field way out west camped a while
and then moved on, never stopping to
consider that they might stake out .
town lot which would be better than
any mine in the course Of years. The
idea of q city would have been laughed
at then, just as you would now laugh at
the idea Of q city being started in the
middle Of the Arizona desert.
"When was boy, as far back as '4S,
my parents came to Colorado territory
from Iowa, bound for the west, but
nowhere in particular-any place to
start q new home and make something.
We struck the Platte valley in the fall
finally at point on the. river which
must now be out beyond Overland.
Here number of the party, exhausted
from the heat and wear of the overland
journey, grew very ill and four of the
twenty five died. The Arapahoe Indians
were then in their glory, and, although
SO far in our journey, they did not offer
to molest us, none of the men in the
party were at all sanguine about re-
naming here and wanted to push on to
the southern trail and thence to Cali
tornia. The precarious condition of a
number of the party made this tempo
rarily impossible, however. The camp
was made, and with considerable doubts
Is to safety the emigra nts prepared to
10 the best thing possible under the
circumstances.
''The stock of provisions had already
become very low, and before long all
that had been brought from the east
was exhausted. A little game was Sc
cured. but not enough to provide for
the great need of the camp. To add to
the gloomy outlook the weather became
cold. Finally, little less than starvation
was before the emigrants. At this point,
however, help came from an unexpected
quarter-the Indians themselves
s'The canvas-wagon tourists carried,
rs matter of course, number OF
'<nick-knacks and trivial ornaments
which had found their way into the
boxes when the Iowa homes were
broken up.
''One evening number of Indians
came into the camp and viewed the
preparations for the evening meal with
considerable curiosity. Finally their
attention became riveted on some small
wooden blocks one of the children was
playing with. They were the old,
fashioned sort, of square woot and
painted red and blue. One of the red
men took several of them up and finally
put them in his girdle and walked
away. OF course no remonstrance was
made to this action.
1.-The next day the Indians returned
again and signified by pictures that
they wanted to look at the child's toys.
They were ut once produced. Among
other things there was an old-fashioned
checker-board, with two sets OF brass.
bound checkers, with which some of the
party had served s to pass the time.
These seemed especially valua BILE in the
eyes of the Indians, and they handed
them to one another and grunted over
them with the greatest satisfaction.
When the visitors departed they confis-
Gated these, too. q
1.-TWO days later four of the Araphoee
came into the camp loaded down with
the carcasses of some slain deer. These
were deposited in front of some of the
tents, and, pointing to them, the leade,
made known that they were intended
for the use of the emigrants. Then he
pointed to a string of bright-colored OBJ
jects around bis neck -
81 am a living monument of untruth,' =
concluded the old-timer, as he gazed in
admiration at the top of the Boston
block, ''if those redskins hadn't strung
the checkers and were using them as
| ~oo1-1,noca JNo1l <1,o,, ,,,o,,<, ,,o! 4