The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1897-07-02
How Uncoun,ed Millions Were Missed.

ySeAAS AoSNAs JUICY eAASht AAN'NA h"7
been such frenzied scramble for gold
as that which filed the harbor of Vic
toria, Vancouver island, with navy of
antiquated, leaky craft, laden to the
scupper with horde of dauntless ad-
venturers, burning to reach the prec-
ious placers of the Upper Frazer.
These upper reaches are wild enough
even today; forty years ago they were
in the heart of an untrodden wilder
ness. Civilization had not penetrated
farther than the guns of the British
cruisers could reach; even the log forts
of the Hudson Bay company were not
to be found in the remoter parts of the
region so aptly described years after
wards by Lord Dufferin as "A Sea
Mountain" Gold was known to exist;
inland tribes bartered it with others
nearer the coast for powder and lead,
or blankets, and it eventually made
its way to Victoria; but where it was
found, or in what quantities, no white
man knew, unless indeed it was the
head factors of the company, and it
was part of their duty to withhold all
such matters from the world, that they
might keep the great northwest "a
breeding ground for the fur bearing
animals for all time. But one day a
certain Jim Barker found his way up
the stream, dug gold dust from the
bars by the spadefull, and then dozen
Hudson Bay companies could not have
kept back the adventures. The rush
had begun.
There were no roads or even trails
save those made by the grizzly and the
blacktail; the Frazer and Thompson
were cruel streams, ice cold and full Of
terrible rapids and eddies. But when
did danger deter the gold seeker? The
army of red shirted, big booted dare
devils pressed on until Caribou and its
rich placers had been reached. Hun
dreds died on the way; disease AM pri-
walton played sad havoc with the sur
vivors; but the rewards were in few
a few cases beyond the dreams of av-
arice, and the logged fellows continued
to work like heroes all through the
short northern summer, with rocker
and long Tom, ravishing the rich bars
of the wealth they had accumulated |
during the lapse of ages. Wages were
S25 day, paid in gold dust 1t was
barely living pittance. Everything
had to be carried over 400 miles of
rough trail on mems shoulders, as the
country produced nothing, after the
game had been driven away, excepting
gold dust-but of that there was great
store. Potatoes cost $50 a buShel, flour
80 pound; pair of gum boots sold
for $50; drinks were paid for in pinches
of the precious husband some of the
had thumbs broader than
ever miller possessed. \ few made for
tunes, many managed to pay expenses
but the majority went dead broke.
Then followed the awful winter and
the canyon of the Frazer was charnel
house, strewn with the bodies of the
gold seekers. l
A few struggled through to the Col
lmbia river and found their way back 6
% Oregon. They prospected near Ar .
row lake and though they were in {
much richer than Caribou i
hey knew it not. Placers there were I
lone and assure veins and smelling I
,res were beyond their ken so they {
passed on. c
One man at least must have found L
ich float and he sunk shallow trial i
haft but after going down few feet q
'ecame discouraged and moved away. t
'et few more shots would have I'M b
overed ore that would have made him Il
reality. II
For more than n generation Red s
fountain lay undisturbed. And yet a
through all these long years man was a
rowing up in the distant east who had q
cen selected by fate rs the inheritor II
f the treasure hidden in the great a,
ed Mountain. ST
Born in Suffolk county, New York p
tate, Z. S Topping was by turns sailor, n
liner, hunter, prospector, Indian hunt r
: and scout. Topping saw western
fe in all its aspects, until finally he
rifted to West kootenay. Soon, al
lough an alien, he found himself Re IT,.
order and constable in fact the nr
,vernment" of that lonely region. pl
rospectors we're then beginning to 'e
ray into southern British Columbia -, y,
ON Idaho and Montana, and such ia
Imam driftwood formed the bulk of in
'pping's subjects. They were a little he