The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1895-09-10
THE PEOPLES FIGHT,
Not the Miners.

4udl oI1ll3 III ACTO3 5Oi0 IA thC
sands of the American river, sent
Joy and gladness to the hearts of
the millions, who, by their toll,
produce wealth. The existence
of California has been known to
the civilized world for centuries,
but its resources and character
istics were as little known to the !
people of the United States as
the most excluded region of the
interior of Africa is today. But
the discovery of gold fields in
that remote region, in a few
short months, made the people
of the civilized world more fam
iliar with the climate, rivers,
mountains, of the Pacific Coast,
than they were with the streets
of London and New York. The
enterprising and adventurous of
Europe and America rushed to
the New Eldoradoes and describ-
ed to their friends at home the
wonders of the land of gold. The
favorite son of every hamlet in
the Uuited States was sent, by
the old folks at home, to the
new world of promise. Within
two years of the first discovery,
two hundred and fifty thousand
of the pick of American man
hood, from every section of our
common country, were engaged
in mining for gold, and building
a new empire in the West. In a
few years the most accessible Of
placer gold mines were exhaust
ed, and the yield of gold declined.
The providential discovery OF
3 the Comstock lode of gold and
j silver inspired new life and con-
! tinued the development of the
r far West. The region between
;, the valleys of California and the
Missouri river, was unknown tc
e all, except few trappers and
adventurous explorers. Wher
many, who are now living at
tended school, this vast regior
was marked on the maps of the
geographys then studied as th'
UNEMPLOYED desert of America
. Previous to the discovery of thu
Comstock, gold placer mines ha'
been found and worked to som'
extent, from California to tn
eastern slope of the Rock,
Mountains, but the discovery o
e the Comstock led to the discov
e cry of silver mines Throughout
/ the entire mountain region. Th
u working of silver mines require
"a more labor, machinery, and eS
3 penditure of money, than tn
II washing of free gold in the plac
L. er deposits of the rivers, mour
tains and gulches, previously e1
L. plored and largely exhausted
To supply the silver mines, agr
cultural products were essential
farms and beautiful homes 500
ne appeared throughout this va:
Is region wherever water could /
Oh obtained for irrigation; farmin
ne and mining brought other indus
III tries; towns and cities sprang VI
10 continental railroads soon TO
1g lowed to do the business of I'll
OF country, while what was SUI
% sed to be an uninhabitab
desert was being converted in
states and territories and vi
- furnishing q market for the su
ed plus products of the farm, Il
4 looms, the machine shops, al
the foundries of all the states
IN. the Union, the American peoI
me rejoiced at the growth and pre-
Ter perity of the new great We'
During the war of the Rebellio
IT. the mines of the West were t
hope of the nation. Mr.. Linco
I'D said to the writer of this artic
while the war was still progre'
G. ing, "that without the gold a
silver of our Western mines,
CHI would have been impossible
have sustained the credit of
rs. country to prosecute the wi
and that the mineral resourt