The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-23

OF 1880 1t is estimated that about one
million of people-men, women and
ch1ldren-left the Eastern states bo1,nd
lor the new Eldorado. But of this vast
army thousands died of hunger and
thirst amid the burning alkali deserts
OF New Mexico and Arizona; thousands
more lost their way and persisted
m1serably amid the gloomy CANYONS
and intricate Businesses of the Rocky
mountains; multitudes fell victims to
the tomahawk and the scalping knife
OF the Apaches and the ravages of the
SIOUX, while others were butchered by
order OF the Mormon elders who
strongly resented the intrusion of the
gold seekers, and who sought, by the
deliberate preparation of a series of
the most frightful massacres, to dam
back the living torrent and force it to
return Whence it came. In one Of these
battues no fewer than 1876 men, women
and children were butchered This oc-
CURED at place called Mountain
Meadows, Utah, on Sept. IS, 1857. and
it is some. satisfaction to be able to
record that the chief actor in this
bloody drama, Bishop Lee, was shot
nearly twenty years later March l3.
1870, after a fair trial, by order Of the
United States government. But neither
munger nor thirst, the treachery of the
savage, nor the enmity of the Nor
mons, sufficed to daunt the ardor Of
the gold seekers. In two years the
population of California trebled. San
francisco grew from log village to a
great city, and the prosperity of the
country was assured
In 1860 occurred the Colorado rush"
when tens of thousands of families
passed through Kansas, bearing aloft
on their white-tented wagons the proud
legend pixies Peak or Bust
From the Peak county the gold hunt
ers spread southwark to New Mexico,
Texas and Arizona, and northward to
Nebraska, Wyoming, Dakota and Mon
tana. In all these wild and little known
territories, gold in more or less album
dance was found, and some of the
PUSHES even recalled the famous days
of 40. Perhaps the best remembered
was that to the Black Hills in the
spring of 1876. Sixty thousand people
swarmed into the district in the space
of about three months, and some enor-
nous fortunes were made. More than
5000 of the unlucky ones, however,
persisted of starvation during the en-
suing winter, and hundreds were kill
ed by the Sioux, in the center of whose
country the Black Hills were situated
But even the Black Hills rush was
thrown completely into the shade by
the Leadville excitement This famous
rush began in 1878, and curiously
enough in 1877 the writer was over
the ground where the city Of Leadville
now stands, little dreaming, however.
that within a stones throw there Law
treasures that would have placed him
on an equality with a Vanderbilt or a
Rothschild.
Just six weeks later, two men. named
Stevens and Wood, suspecting from its
weight that the dirt contained gold
or silver. made an assay With blanch-
ed faces and trembling hands they re-
turned to their camp and recommended
work. They kept their secret until by
purchase and locating they had Sc,
cured nine claims. Then they allowed
the truth to leak out, and the Leadville
boom began. Mine after mine of I'M
paralleled richness was opened. Two
years later the writer stood on the
spot again. A Pullman car conveyed
him there this time. On every side the
homes of 10000 people extended, while
through the busy streets the newsboys
rushed with special editions of the
"Leadville Evening News" the Lead
vile Star" and the "Leadville Tri-
bune.'
The Leadville boom was, so far as
America is concerned. practically the
last of the great 'rushes," until the
Yukon excitement of this present sum-
mer. There have been many isolated