Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-12-09
kLONDIkE OuTDONE.
Rich Gold Mountains in the Rugged
Wilds of Wyoming.


Wilds of Wyoming.
The discovery Of gold Mt Grand En-
campment, Wyoming, in such quantities
as staggers belief is reported. Mining
experts who have looked over the ground
believe that developments will uncover
an entire mountain Of gold, which will
relegate all other gold districts to insig-
nifcance. Wyoming has suddenly blazed
up as the possible, even probable, richest
country in the world. People there and
all around are mad. Everybody is rush
ing to Grand Encampment in spite Of
snow and cold. The excitement is higher
than anything within the memory of the
oldest miner, not excepting the days Of
40.
Grand Encampment is sixty miles from
the nearest railroad. 1t is situated in
the heart of the Sierra Madre mountains.
1t lies west Of the Platte river. The near
est towns are Rawlins, Saratoga, Wal
colt and Fort Steele.
The district is one Of the most rugged
and widest in the West, but there is no
klondike desolation there, for the re-
sources are ample. 1t was honeycomb-
cd rock, scarcely larger in diameter than
the wheel of an ordinary farm wagon,
that has precipitated the gold boom, start
ed gold camp and made the residents Of
Wyoming gold mad. A white quartz sur
face float in Purgatory gulch, UNDECIDED
there, perhaps, for centuries, has been
found to hold within its hint-like walls a
golden treasure amounting to $24, 5S4, or
$3,012, in round numbers, for each ton
OF its weight.
II klondike and Cripple Greek had both
suddenly been transferred to Carbon
County, Wyoming, and all the gold fields
Of the Transvaal had settled in the noun
tain gulches along the Grand Encamp-
ment river it would be difficult to con-
ceive a greater excitement than has been
wrought among the natives by the golden
wonder and its less productive neighbors
upon the surrounding hills.
Where less than month ago not fifty
people resided in an area Of more than 300
square miles, to-day hundreds or anxious
prospectors are securing mountain and
canyon in the hope of finding the golden
vein from which these immense boulders
must have been eroded ages ago. 1t seems
to be the old story over again-'49 revived.
Leadville in the early sos and Cripple
Greek in the early '90s. And no matter
what may be the ultimate outcome Of it
all, for the present at least, the eyes Of
Wyoming are turned from Klondike, and
the big Western State is nursing a child
Of her own.
Nor is Wyoming's gold excitement
seemingly unwarranted. Mining experts
of high standing pronounce the surface in
dications OF the new district to be far
greater than those OF either Cripple Greek
or Leadville. In depth alone can the
mineral wealth Of lode claim be actually
determined, and as no shaft or prospect
hole in the district has as yet been sunk
to greater depth than fifteen or twenty
feet, surface indications remain the only
means Of estimating the wealth of the
camp.
-Four miles southwest of the new town
OF Grand Encampment Is n mountain
largely covered with golden float 1t is
looked upon as being one Of the wonders
Of the camp, and has been called the
Mountain of Gold" 1t is perhaps 1900
by 5000 feet in diameter, and at its crest
is $500 feet above the level Of the sea.
Nine great parallel bikes of heavily min
eralized quartz traverse it from northeast
to southwest. These dkes are all crop
ping and stand out as plain as the rows
Of corn in field. Quartzite and mica
schist separate them from each other, and
experienced miners believe that with
depth the dikes will all converge and form
one mammoth body of ore. The float on
this mountain is by far the richest yet
discovered in the camp. Pieces no larger
than hens egg have been found to run
from 80 cents to one dollar pure gold, and
chosen chunks from the dikes have assay
ed as high as 81 900 a ton.