The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-06-17
Proposed Home for In
digent Mining ProSpeCtors

Az IL. A<IiSiSS, q lIIiIllIS eng llleSI al
Spokane. has written the following ar
tic.e suggesting the establishment OF .
home for aged prospectors:
OF all the great events of the nire-
teenth century, none are paramount to
the discovery of gold in California in
1913. We We're then rather going
nation, with practically no capital to
exploit and properly develop the co,,n-
try east of the Mississippi, to say moth
ing of the vast unknown country extend
ing from st. Louis to Astoria, and from
British Columbia to Old Mexico.
When gold was discovered in Cali
fornia in 1S4S it took but a short time
to proclaim the good news to all thu
civilized world. and less than fifteen
months after the discovery parties Of
men from nearly all parts of the world
We're en- route to the new Eldorado.
The news had aroused the latent force
in man that enables him to overcome all
Observation-Disclosures the wild animals
subdue the Indians, build villages and
school houses, and then look fer other
worlds to conquer.
They We're fine lot of men, physically
and mentally, that started for California
in 1880, and those who crossed the
adventure and desire to see and explore
that they acquired on the trip.
After the year 1850 the states began To
! feel the effect of all the new dollars put
into circulation and our growth from
that time on has been marvel. A little
gold was being mined in Georgia.. bu.
it was California first and the Rocky
mountain region later, that furnishel
| Of md
| ufacture that made it possible for US TO
become the foremost nation of the worl |
within the short period of so years It
is to the men who pioneered the great
west that l desire to call your attention.
What shall we do for them?
| 1t seems to me that many of these
men We're created to blaze trails, make
discoveries and endure hardshps, 50
that those who followed could enjoy all
the comforts of advanced civilization
| Many of these men have gone to the
great unknown, and need no assistanc.
from us. But there are many still living
who are from so to 20 years old, st.ll
prospecting and exploring. How they
live would be a revelation to many
who have become wealthy through the
efforts, endurance and sufferings Of
| tHGSC SAME plOuceIS anu PROSPECTUS
With a saddle horse. a pack horse Il
carry from three to four months pro-
vision, which consists of flour, bacon
beans, coffee, tea, sugar and salt col
himself and his horses, pick and shove
and few cooking utensils-he nearly
always uses tobacco, and sometimes has
a dog for companion-with $25 in hi!
pocket and a few blankets to keep h n
| s-rl.A
equipped for a six-mOnths' trip into the
mountains. He is full of hope-optimis,i,
and visionary to the extreme. He start.
out in the spring-time feeling sure tha
he will strike it rich and make a stalt.
before snow flies.
He leaves the roads and trails ant
strikes out for the UNEMPLOYED country
examines closely every change in The
formation, and with his pole-pi'l
handy, he breaks and examines every
thing that looks like ore, pans out thu
gravel along the creek beds for go't
cOlors, endures all kinds of hardships
and 80 per cent of these full season tr,p
bring him nothing that will justify fur
Their exploitation.
Sometimes he strikes it rich and "a
ports the fact to his fellow prospectors
and stampede. is the result.
Washoe, New. Virginia City, Mont.
and hundred other places that 'hav,
produced a billion of new dollars. is II.
result of the indomitable and tireles
search of the prospector. Sometimes tn,
prospector gets a snug little fortune an,
retires from the field. But a majorit,
of them are improvident, lavish Will
their money until it is all gone, then ge
some one to stake them to an outfit an,
again go to the wilderness in search 0
another fortune.
The pioneer prospectOr has nearly
filled his mission in the United States
civilization has encroached on his do
main until he is obliged to travel or
railroads, eat at restaurants and sleer
in beds. This all costs too much none
for the "Old timer" whose habits are as
fixed as the very hills which have SC
many years been his domain. There vii