The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-12
BY DR.. HUBERT M. SKINNER.
That single book-a novel at IL


That a single book-a novel at tina.
should cost the people of the United
States the sum of $10,000,000, would
seem almost incredible Yet such is
the fact of history-unwritten history
though it be- The fact has long been
kept from the people, and the whole
affair has been shrouded in mystery.
Had it been a matter Of political cor
ruption or of real sWindling, 1t would
have been exposed long decades ago.
But really there was no corruption
about it--nothing whatever of wrong
doing intended in any quarter 1t
was simply a colossal mistake, which
has avery humorous aspect, despite
it's tremendous cost to the people.
In all the discussion of our various
steps in national expansion, which has
occupied the attention of the people
within recent years, there has been but
one step which was left unexplained.
That one is the Gadsden purchase of
1853. The Louisiana purchase, the Flor
ida cession, the Texan annexation and
the Mexican cession of 1S4S are under
stood by school boys and school girls
everywhere. The Alaska purchase is
best explained by the knowing ones
as having it's cause in the ''unwritten
history" of the war, being the result
of a secret understanding with Russia
at the time when the car lent secret
aid to President Lincoln. But the
Gadsden purchase stands unexplained.
Elderly statesmen never refer to 1T.
Historians do not like to touch it. The
reticence maintained in reference to
this transaction involving an eXpendi-
ture of $10,000,000 is unique in history.
It is akin to the diffidence and tact
turnity exhibited by a man who has
purchased a gold brick Men some
times confess crimes which they have
committed. They do not willingly ad
nit that they have been the victims OF
hoax. One of the results of the Mex
lean war was the development of an
extensive literature relating to the ro-
mantle incidents of frontier life. Capt.
Mayne Reid, a young British subject,
joined our army in that conflict, and
made use of all he observed in nature
and all he heard from hunters and
scouts, for a series of hearty, manly
stories of life in the forest and on the
plain. A Frenchman, Louis de Belle
mare took higher aim, and sought to
produce novel that would rank with
the best models of realistic fiction. He
brought within the range of his story
European history, an acquaintance
with continental languages and courtly
etiquette; and for variety. of romantic
interest, he connected these with the
wild and dangerous experiences of bof-
der life in the new world. He chose
for his title, Les Coureurs des Bots;
GU Les Chercheurs dor"
This has been rendered 'The Wood
Rangers, or The Gold-Seekers." 1t
was published in Paris, in 1850, two
years after the close. of the war.
The story begins with a smuggling
adventure on the Basque coast of
Spain, a generation before. Then the
scene shifts to MeXico-to the least
known regions of Mexico, in the far
north, the great stretch of desert
land which separated civilized Mexico
from the United States.
The plot of the novel centers in the
secret knowledge of a golden valley"
in the arid Wilds of old Sonora where
gold in fabulous quantities could be
scooped up from the surface of the
ground. The secret of the location of
this golden valley is handed down as
a priceless legacy. 1t costs men their
TIC He succeeded in a manner to take
ones breath away. The book was
taken seriously. Every young man in
this country who read it (and the num-
Der of such was very small, for the
book was written in French) felt GER
tain that if he were in Northern So
nora he could find the golden valley
and secure it's wealth. The story was
passed around among certain adven-
turous spirits, and awakened an in
tense desire for the possession Of the
region described.
The Mexican war, from beginning
to end, was a romantic episode in our
commonplace history. The discovery
of gold in California, and the rush of
fortune hunters to that distant coast
was another. But why should one
cross the Rocky Mountains and the
"Great American Desert beyond for
gold, when there was a golden valley
Just beyond the borders of Texas?
There was a trail to New Mexico, over
the .Staked Plains" and this was ia
miliar to the admirers OF Kit carson
throughout the Southwest. ShreWd ao-
venttrers and gold-seekerS determined
to find the golden valley; and with
Bellemares book in hand they started
southwark from Santa Fe.
Ry the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
in 1S4S. New Mexico Gncludlng Ar1zo-
na) had been acquired by the United
States. The southern boundary OF TINS
tract was the ella river. 1t soon pc
came evident that the golden valley
was not north Of the river. Of what
use would it be to find this valley If
it should prove to be in Mexican ter
ritory? Evidently the men who rep
resented us at Guadalupe Hidalgo had
made terrible blunder. Of the two
great gold fields, they had secured but
one California was ours, but the gold
en- valley was still in Mexico. We had
secured California before it was known
that the gold was there. We must Sc
cure the golden valley before the Mex
leans should find out the secret OF its
location, or even of it's existence. Ihere
was much secrecy and cunning exer-
cised in the matter. Statesmen were
ambitious to spring upon the American
people a second California surprise.
Young men sought commissions which