The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-15

Y III NIiflNs u to AONh NtH 'AR 1SNAaNs "-'h y
the then:immense county Of Fresno. In lsJ
gold was found in he foothills near the SaI
JOAQUIN River. aud the town that sprang u
took its name from Gen. Miller. who hai
commanded a military most there. In n feN
mouths the population OF Millerton was 4.5OO
The New iorbe rs believed that the wate
mower In the San Joaquin River would make l
tho great manufacturing own Of the Pacin,
coast. and that the mines would add TO thu
prosperity Of the town. More than S80O.0W
Of New York none was spent In Millerton ir
1857 and 1858. Flour and other mills were
built. streets were laid out. plazas were stakeC
of. waite power was developed. expensive no
tolls and schoolhouses we're erected. and SOC
teams we're busy for weeks IN hauling lumber
and other building material TO the new city
of the interior OF California. Two churches
we're built Mt a cost OF $4,000 each. and the
stores are said to have been worthy Of cities oil
10000 population. NV newspapers we're Is
Rued there IN 1883. and the town was boom
Ing ON the money tho New York capitalists
spent there. Suddenly the ledge Of gold ore
pinched out, and after several small fortunes
had been spent in irving to find 1t again. the
mines we're abandoned. The mining popula-
ton fastened at once to new fields. but the
business and professional men stayed for n
while longer. The mills were never started.
the capitalists would make no more invest
meuts. and Millertcn died. The wooden build.
inRs were torn down and carted away In the
course OF the next twenty years. and the stone
and brick buildinEsscrumbled into ruins. Tho
shell OF the Court House. which cost $4,000
in 1858. still romans, and so do'the walls Of
the hotel. A huge iron safe. which was trans
ported around the Horn from New York. and
then hauled from San Francisco across the
State OF California to Millerton. has by this
time rusted ava in a mud hole where II was
left thirty years AGO. The site OF the costly
fountain In the public park ia marked by a
few pieces OF chiselled granite.
Excelsior City was one OF the most talked Of
towns in California from 1866 to 1850. Many
a Californian lost his fortune there. Excel
sior is a perfect specimen of n decayLi town.
1t is away up in Sierra county In northern Cali
fornia. When the prospectors found rich ore
there in 1896 the town began to boom. A cor
p~oration bought a tract OF land at Excelsior
for commercial purposes. laid out streets. sold
lots and started building. More than POO
buildings. each worth $500. were erected in
six months. and there were several struc-
lures that cost about ST. o each. In a short
time a substantial little city arose and every
available foot OF ground was used. Stores
we're erected and q brisk trade was established.
Six hotels were built. besides several restau-
rants and churches, and a theatre followed.
A two-story stone block was erected by
Smith & Perkins. Corner lots sold for $1,000
each. two banks were established. a newspaper
was started and Masonic and Odd Fellows
lodges were instituted. A furniture factory
was even established. The city was incor-
porated in 1857. The hotels were crowded
and the excitement increased. Nothing was
talked Of but lodges, stocks and town lots.
Enf n 1nf ElyS0 an arr Nf thn - fra1 otroAty
from $1,000 to So 900 was paid. A small store
on O street rented for 5000 a month. A stock
board was organized with daily sales of Ex-
celsior and other local mining stocks.
At this time the population Of the town had
reached about 5000 and was RAPIDLY increas-
ing. Quartz mills with seventy-two stamps
were in operation and blasts were going of in
thirty or forty tunnel and shafts all the time.
But. strange as it seems to one who looks at
the matter nowadays. not a cent had been
taken out Of the mines. while thousands had
been put in. Still. no one was discouraged, and
the stamps continued crushing ore. Finally
the chief mine. the Excelsior. was cleaned up,
and the news was carried to the waiting. anx-
ious crowd that the run was unsuccessful.
By no known process could the gold be extract
ed from the ore. Almost a panic resulted.
were left with the contents exposed to
N'N INV L
with their shelves packed with merchandise
undisturbed until they were robbed
and burned. 1t is a curious sight to see what
Of this once fiourishing city. where
more than $2.0OO.O0O was expended on mines
and buildings. A mass of quarried stone on
which a number of iron doors and shutters lie
in confusion is all that remains OF the stone
OF Smith e. Perkins. A very large three
story building built on a granite rock is still
On a hill overlooking the town
are three good residences. the central one
stylishly ornamented. This house cost 81,
and was purchased twenty years ago for $25.
every hand are ruins Of frame buildings.
whole blocks having been destroyed by fire.
After the tourist on the Canadian Pacific
has passed through the scenic won
ders OF the Rocky Mountains and the Selkirk
range and has hung for hours above the preci-
pices in the Fraser River canon the train sud-
denly shoots out into a level space In the river
valley and brings up at a station called Yale.
Yale 10 inhabited only by a handful OF white
men and several hundred Chinese and Flat
head Indians. whom the traveller sees upon
the station platform with baskets OF tempting
The hamlet is as lonely as one can i'm
aRine. but thirty-1ve years ago there was a
regularly Incorporated and thriving mining
Of between $4,000 and 10000 people at
Yale. 1t was the big town OF British Column
bia. and $4,000 would not go very far in max
an investment there. Now one could prob
buy the whole city for $1,000. The as
sessed valuation there reached 49, 900.
That was when the Fraser River placers were
at their best. The late Henry George lived at
Yale for some months. and John W. Mackay
there for a long time.
The visitor who leaves the railroad train and
walks about the ruins of Yale will find album
liant suggestions Of its past glories. There are
the bank buildings, where Englishnen did a
business of thousands Of dollars daily. now
open, floorless and almost ~rooless. Strangely
one saloon has been kept almost in
al these years at Yale. IT has few broken
windows. but It's front doors are still on their
hinges. The lettering on one window, "Whis-
keys and Wines" vet remains. Tons and tons
IF iron wheels, cables and broken and rusted
machinery. all brought to the Pacific coast
rom England, around the Horn. lie in the |
'arth and snow. A little gold is found in the
river banks. and among the sands near the
As the train leaves town tourists often
see q few Chinese digging In the sand on the
eft side OF the river. The Chinese are satis-
led il they make an average Of 81 n day. They
nonopuliZe the left shore. but on the right (,
I-.1- IA 49,, H. a. - A. g. H II - !