The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-07-11
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD.
Hard Life Of the Men in the For
ests Of the Northwest.
The Thirst for Wealth Leads Them to
Incur Untold Dangers and Hardships
Among the Unexplored Wilder
nesses of the Mountains.

In western Washington civilization
is confined to narrow strip along the
borders of Puget sound and to some OF
the best agricultural lands that lie
| in the large wooded plains about its
southern end, says the New York Sun.
All the rest is covered with great
rocky mountain ranges. cleaved by
deep, dark valleys and covered up to
| the line Of perpetual snow with heavy
forests of fir and cedar. Every spring
hundreds of prospectors plunge into
| this wilderness on search for gold
and silver, some on their own account,
but most Of them go grub-staked by
local capitalists, that is, all their ex-
penses are paid and in return they give
half interest in whatever mines they
may discover. With rifle, hatchet,
bag of -four and frying-pan slung
over his shoulder, the prospector starts
on his quest. He goes as far as possi-
bic by stage or carriage, then on foot
enters the forest asd follows for many
miles narrow trail that winds in and
out between the trunks Of great trees.
whose heads, reaching up hundreds of
feet, shut off the sun and keep the
earth in a twilight so deep that only
moss and fungi can grow. At times
the path skirts the side of rushing
mountain river, where in every eddy
are dozens of darting trout. Then it
climbs and winds high up the noun
tain side, grows fainter, and finally dis
appears, leaving the gold hunter to
scramble on over fallen logs and around
precipices as best he can.
When night comes he stops usually
in the bottom of valley by a stream
of melted snow water, fries and eats
some pancakes, cuts great pile of fir
boughs for bed, throws himself on it
and is asleep in a moment. All
through the night the cold and damp
from the stream and the mossy ground
creep up and in the morning he is stiff
and scarcely able to stagger on. He
continues thus day after day, seeing
only the trees near about him, and oc-
casionally bit of dark mountain side
through rift in their tops. Finally
he has climbed high up and comes out
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the first time in days. the full daylight.
Here, high above the world on the
mountain sides, he stands weeks
searching for silver and gold veins and
hunting goat and deer for meat.
Sometimes he loses himself, his food
gives out. and he starves, or by mis-
step falls thousands of feet from a
precipice and is dashed to pieces in the
valley below. If fortunate, he locates
several claims, stakes them out, finds
bearings for them on the peaks about,
and then, loaded with specimens,
makes his way back to civilization,
where his ores are assayed. He has
brought the best specimens only, SO
they come out splendidly. People be-
come excited, and party, including
mine spectators, goes up to see what
he has found. If good, the mines are
sold on the spot to spectators, who in
turn sell to rich eastern or English
mining companies. These cut trails
through the woods, send up machinery
piecemeal on donkey or mule back,
hire a lot of miners at three dollars a
day. and the mine is started for profit
or loss, according to the way the lead
holds out.