The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-07-14

'you - getting too frisky with Democratic
funds to plank Dick Bland in as justice OF
the peace, and 1 don't like your general
gait, so believe I'll dump you down the
hill into B street, - whereupon he grasped
the right hind wheel of PitZer's buggy
and raised il from the street.
Here, you political bum, me and Dicb
is in to stay. You go and fall down q
shaft until after election and be ID"
retOrted the sack bearer, reaching grace
fully for his hip pocket. ..
The man at the wheel continued to lift
and incidentally remarked that he would
boot Bland over the Geiger grade into
Gold Hill the first chance he got.
Pitzer was not accustomed to such lib
critics, and pulling his derringer began &c
drop lead into Paddock's left shoulder.
After firing two shots his horse took fright
and ran into Gold Hill, with the driver
hanging out Of the carriage box. News o.
the shooting spread over the city, and
search was made for Bland, who, by the
way, could not be located.
Two years later he doomed up in Mis-
souri, as a newly elected congressman and
has succeeded in succeeding himself eveI
since.
These are but few of the incidents OF
the past. It all came back to me seeming
II on the instant, and the turmoil and ac-
tivity of the sixties presented strange
contrast to the present state of lethargy.
Up and down the street l saw but few peO-
pie. On the corners, instead Of busy, &C
tive, rustling men, saw idlers basking
In the sun. Tall stacks on huge red paint
ed hosting works gave forth no smoke,
and the steam pipes had rusted into a dull
red hue.
I walked into the engine rooms but the
massive wheels were motionless and dust
covered. Watchmen sat on the work
benches and coils of cables, smoking THEN
pipes in silence.
A Picture of Today.
looked into the shafts and saw the idle
cables swaying in the currents of air that
rushed up or down, as the case might be.
Steam was still floating up into the sheayes
and cOndensing against the roof, only to
drop in fine shower to the floor or back
into the mine. There was no roar of ore
Gathering and sliding into the iron cars
made for that purpose; neither did heai
the gong signals to raise or lower the cage.
To the east reposes the sink into which
runs the Canyon river ana drops into the
earth again without performing its old duty
Of driving over 400 stamps, with q daily
capacity of four tons per stamp. The mills
situated in the river bed show no sign OF
fife, and the water wheel no longer turns
in the stream. Occasionally a small ship
menU of gold ore is worked into bullion,
and the steady thump of the crushers echo
through the canyons for a day or two, only
TO be hushed again during a long wait
for more rock. 1t sounds like the final
death rattle of a giant industry that il
slowly passing away and can only be
saved by one remedy-the remonetiZation
of silver Old prospect holes showing red OF
blue gravel against the dark background
of sagebrush stare at one like eyes in the
mountain side opened in wonderment at
the idle men. From %, 900 ambitious
money making men the population OF
Virginia City has dwindled to less than
5, 900, and but few of them are employed.
In mines where several hundred men were
formerly employed there are now not more
than a score. In the early seventies nearly
1000 men were employed underground
night and day. Now there are not 100.
People wonder that there is not enough
ore left to keep the town and the mines
running but they constantly forget that
silver is too low to justify extracting rock
and dlspOslng or the metal Tor almost
nothing.
Right today there are many valuable ore
bodies in the great COmstOck lode, which
is practically centercd under Virginia
City, but the present rate at which silver
is selling makes it foolish to work the
mines.
Drifting Away.
People who have been residents of Vir-