The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-24

The recurrence of the holiday season
is a reminder to old-time mining men
that this is about the time of the year
when it used to be the fashion to get
up some little excitement to relieve the
monotony of winter quarters in town
and camp. Feminine society was scarce
then: stag" dances we e inspid; poker
playing and drinking ware too costly to
last all winter, but diversion of some
sort was absol' ely necessary. Often it
took the form of stampedes to other To-
calities on the strength of reports of
alleged gold finds.
In the early days of this common
wealth the most striking characteristic
which would ohtrude itself upon the
mind of the unimagina tive observer
was the universal restless and rowing
disposition which animated the people.
Many of the pioneers of this state had
already braved the perils Of an ocean
voyage or the scarcely less dangerous
2000-mile trip across the Great Ameri-
can desert from the Missouri river to
the Pacific in the exodus which followed
the discovery of gold in California in
1S4S: or later. fought hordes Of hystile
Indians when Pixies peak or bust was
the legend on the covers of the prairie
schooners which conveye' the STAN
RADIO: They had mined with varying
success in the golden rivers, bars and
gulches of California; followed the sill
Yer 'excitements' which succeeded the
discovery Of the rich argentiferous
lodges of the Comstock Carson Washoe
and Humboldt Basin in Nevada; and,
when the Tending of enormous gold de-
posts in the Boise basin and other por-
tions Of the Western slo-e opened up
new field, thousands of stampeders
&r1, {1,A val r-,l,r -, -
Pacific coast focked to Re new dig
gings. These were supplemented by
thousands more fronl | o III p sup
posedly played OUT gold fields of Colo
rado and by the time the rich gold dis
coveries at Gold creek, Bannack ana
Alder gulch were made there was in the
country about as Cosmopolitan a crowd
of fortune hunters as was ever assem-
bled in any new mining region. Cosmo-
politan was no name for it. 1t was a
Heterogeneous mob Ct ma adve~ tuners
from the East and from the West, in
which the "seif-riser'' vieG 18th he
pixies peaker" in the search for aurif-
erous gravel beds or collaborating
quartz veins. The rivalry between the
men from the two sections was so pro-
nounced and bitter that it sometimes
begat open hostilities. With these con-
ditions existing, activity in prospecting
was promoted, and in every old estab-
lished mining camp. when new find
"Pike's peaker" or a "self-riser" woul1
invariably report it first to his friends
from Colorado or California respect
lively
whichever side got the first news of
new strike. the otter would be al
most sure to get early intell' gence OF
ii, and then would ensue a wild rush
for the locality. In most instances,
even when good diggings were found,
the number of men who followed the
rLer,, do rxr-,, r-ae Luz tt,h NV nF 10
claims to be secured or of chances Tor
employment. In many others the re-
4pnr @nS discoveries We're arr7~t Il kes,
and the stampeders had nothing more
than toilsome and ofttimes periluus
wild goose chase to reward them for
their pains and expenditure. AS mat
ter of fact, it may safely be said that
the number of fake stampedes in the
first three years of the territory eX-
ceeded the number of genuine discov-
cries of paying diggings by 100 per cent.
In spite of the warnings of oft-repeat-
ed experiences, however, during the
first five years which followed tbs
Grasshopper creek (Rannack) discov
cry, it was the easiest thing imaginable
to bring about a stampede in any min
Ing cagpp in Montana 1t only required
the putting on of look of wisdom and
the adoption of certain mysterious
methods of procedure when just arriv-
ing in town for any prospector to at
once become the cynosure of all eyes.
He would be placed under a system of
close espionage throughout his stay,
and when he left the direction in which
he was headed would be carefully
noted If during his stay he had laid
in a supply of provisions, tools, etc, it
would be accepted as prima facie evil
dence that he was some fellow who had
a "good thing" and the odds would oL
a thoroughbred to a bronco that his
probably innocent sojourn would be
productive of a stampede of greater or
less magnitude. One of the greatest and
most disastrous of stampedes recorded
in the annals of Montana mining was
brought about in exactly this way.
Men otherwise apparently sane and
with good business intelligence would
lose their heads when a stampede was