St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-05-02
coLoRApors elooaAuo
lAvsay 11nas II The 1laing 1ova = CT
plo ORook.

lAvsly T1nas n The lglning 1ova - Cslv
plo ORook.
Cripple Creek u made up almost en-
.tirely of small frame buildings oceu-
pied by saloons and gambling hou-es.
Merchandising in overdone. ! should
say. / saw one grocery store where
II clerks were at work. Groceries, dry
goods, clothing, ETC.. are sold very rea-
sonably. but beer i sold at two glasses
for quarter; whisky. the same price.
A gambler il NJ good - anybody In
Cripple Creek and . saloon keeper bet
ter. The town, however, h not
tough" You do not see men h the
streets carrying pistols. but the gam
bling games are wide open. Cripple
Greek IL in the same county (El Paso)
with Colorado Springs, where no liquor
can be sold. Colorado Springs, how
ever, has five stock exchanges. two Of
which are kept open day and night,
like . restaurant. These exchanges
are always crowded, and the Colorado
Springs people. although 70 good about
liquor. have NO hesitancy in robbing
the unwary- by selling them worthless
stocks.
Cripple Creek has electric light gas
and w1terworks. The water comes
from an artificial lake on Pixies Peak,
which II only 16 miles away. At night
the town reminds you Of the Midway
at tho worlds fair. The main street II
five blocks long. There are three other
business streets Of about equal length.
A corner lot On this best street. 1sxl20
feet sold lately for $4,000. A real e.
tate boom has been added to the mining
boom and the result i pandemonium.
Il II said that At this season there
are from 30 to 10 deaths daily at Cripple
Greek from pneumonia, largely due to
exposure. Visitors are unable TO find
proper recommendations. and, IL man
who u not aeclimated takes pneumonia
from exposure, he il pretty apt to die.
Hundreds Of men keep ''bachelcFs' hall''
in cold rooms, and live ON improperly
cooked food. Az the altitude II very
high q great many Of the tenderfeet
die.
While I was in town I heard . man
ol5cr $50 . month for desk room in
the o1Iice Of the Palace hotel. the only
brick building in Cripple Greek. The
offer was Indignantly refused. Lots
that were worth $500 three months
ago are now being held for 5000. A
fool is born every minute.
From three to five hours are required
to get . chance to inquire 1t the post
office for mail; from 200 to 800 men
arc in line constantly at the post Office,
and the post ONCE II full Of mail that
has never been distributed. Everybody
is crazy about everything. This in the
rule 1t Cripple Creek.
There are over . thousand incorpo-
rated mining companies in Cripple
Creek, and of this number less than
IS yield . return on the investment;
perhaps you know that gold mines are
not producers, but actual consumers
Of the worlds wealth. In other words,
moro money II spent in gold mining
than il obtained from It; every dollar
in gold dug out the ground costs . good
many dollars. It n said that about 60
Cripple Creek mines ship ore, but only
IS pay dividends; into the other 02s
mines money il being poured like wa
ter. Over . thousand companies have
been incorporated, but only IS pay
dividends; there are athousand Of other
'clainas" which are probably worth
less. heard II estimated that there
are 5000 men in the district earning
wages, certainly $500 Of them receive
their pay not from what n produced
in Cripple Greek, but from fools who
send money there.-Thomas Barton,
In Atchison Globe.