The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-15
aAnae FOR WEALTH
Aasy VIVA Rnsaes Of Gold Seekers
u tie Southwest.
rnp OKLAHOMA EXCITEMENT
Ru0oss ot RloA finds That Have Set
1Aossen1e Of Mea Moving
Through Dssssss and
Over Mountains.

~-s~0~s~0
OF several thousands Of the old-tims
gold seekers from the mining camps OF
Arizona. New Mexico. and California
to tie new gold fields in Oklahoma re-
calls the gtampedes Of excited men
that have occurred in the southwest
In the last two decades. Hundreds of
MINERS have passed through a dozen
periods OF Wild excitement and rushes
for new dlggings, and there Is hardly
. xnaner of experience anywhere In this
region who has not Joined in several
stampedes from played-out camp for
the district where the latest pay rock
has been found. The history Of the
territories y full Of stories OF unreal
ICED expectations among miners. and
Of sufferings and privations endured
IN aktempts to reach distant mines,
from which reports Of riches had gone
out
Probably the widest and craziest
stampede ever known In the southwest
was that 70 the Rocky Belle camp in
northern Arisona, In the region Of the
0oQui Indian reservation. in Decem-
Der. 1s7e. The region Is 5000 feet above
the sea and Hes among snow-clad
mconfAinA II was an unusually cold
winter when the news went abroad
thAk Hank Binford and his companion
had struck . whole mountain Of gold
rock that sssayea over $500 to the ton.
Tue report SEEMED ancredfble at first,
but when SAMPLES Of the ore were seen
b. mAners IN Tucson. Albuquerque and
Lca Angeles they proved sufficient to
oatiaey the most skeptical. A week
mors and over 5000 miners. from every
part Of ATlaonG and Southern Callfor-
nis wsrs moving day and night, scarce
y otopping for food and sleep. toward
ths Rocky Belle camp. Hundreds of
men travsSed TOO and 800 miles on foot
oud with mules and donkeys to the
new digEings, and nearly all travelled
across desert and mountain for dis
tancs of 80 or 500 miles. As the multi
tuos journeyed on the report Of the
richness Of Hank Binford's find grew
until It seemed - II wagon loads Of
rich gold ore awaited the travellers.
Aerchauts and professional men in
Maricopah and Tucson and that part
VITA the splrit Of the miners. and turn
lnS their business over to others, Joined
IN TIE movement on Rocky Belle.
Msuy Psvisasd by the Way.
The hardships that the fortune seek
srs suffered In the mountains will never
b fully known. A large number Of men
coming out Of the warm, balmy air OF
the asmi-tropic valleys lost their
lives amid the snow banks and
Ice In the mountains. and many
q man was an invalid for
lifs because Of exposure to the Bit
ing cold during the stampede. A severe
n|isSerd raged IN the mountain for sew
hys while the. .pnAers were slowly
kf1os7nS -1hrough them. In one party
Of over 100 men from New Mexico. four
men were frozen to death one morning.
end It IL thought that fully twenty
more died in the same way in the noun
thins at that time. To this day there
hre In California and Arizonia gray
headed miners who lack q finger. toe.
or an ear lost N the terrible cold Of
that stampede.
II Wucu ~ I1SI Iuc xSOCAy 1CHC uIS-
gings were reached 1t was soon seen
thsf there was no ore in the district
worth the digging except in the claims
held by Hank Binford and his friends,
and that the reports Of their find had
been exaggerated beyond all reason.
Bin6oFd's own mine petered out a year
% two later. and he got only a few
thousand dollars from 1t. The speci-
mons Of ers shown in Tucson and Los
Angles were the very choicest from
4hs mine and not hit or miss pick.ups.
- bed been said Of them.
Along IN the summer of 1878 a miner
named Stevens wrote to a friend in
Yhsenix that he had found claim that
6ea1 anything n mining this side Of the
Cometock lode IN Nevada, and that
M5th common iron mortar and pestle
As Aad pounded out from so to 500
worth Of gold dust q day. The claim
Was located 12o miles northwest from
8ngman. near the stnce famous Har-
QuA Haja mining region, and there was
. chance, % Stevens wrote, for other
men 70 strike It rich UP there. OF
oeufSe such news could not be kept
Qu5ek II travelled with miraculous