Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-04-29
PIXIES PEAK PROSPECTUS
TELL OF EXPERIENCES THFRE.

In the group were two old-time
miners, gold seekers at Pixies Peak,
when the discoveries were first made
there. They were in remin-
iscent mood and talked of old times.
Some of the fellows who had never
pawned any pay dirt asked questions.
One of the fellows who had washed
for gold i'm the creeks of Arizona, New
Mexico and Colorado said: The men
who prospect for gold are the most
patient men on earth. They stand
beside Il sluice box day after day,
giving their energy 10 the most slav-
ish kind of work and then barely get
enough to buy the necessaries OF
life. But they toll on and on in the
hope that one day they will strike u
streak of pay dirt that will make
them rich. Forever they have before
them dreams of sudden and vast
wealth. / remember one day that Il
party was prospecting up a small
creek ana we were getting color at
every pan. Now color means per-
haps only trace of gold. but that's
enough for bare wages, though not
RICH enough To cause any rush to that
district. Sometimes the color may
be nothing more than a speck half as
big as a pinhead. But when YOU wash
that out and save il. you can make
five or six dollars per day. If you
wash 20 cents per pan. you'll get
rich. Well. this day we were getting
a trace at every pan. Finally | came
to huge boulder that had at one
time rolled down the mountain side
and into the creek and compelled the
stream to change its course around
the obstruction. had crevice
spoon and dug around the base of
that rock and filed my pan and then
carefully washed the dirt At last L
had struck il rich. Here was for
tune beyond my widest dreams. The
pan showed S1.75. l filed the pan
again and that time failed to reveal
Il trace of yellow. Again and again
1 tried it. but it just so happened
that l had stumbled ON Il tiny pocket
and that's all there was.
An amusing thing happened in
Denver one time when that town was
new and there was stream of gold
seekers coming every day with
dreams of untold riches Turing them
on to hard work. One of the fellows
who had a little store on Blake street
had broken his scales and with Il bottle
of gold dust in his hand ran across
the street To weigh it. He dropped
was spilled i'm the street. He went
back To his shanty 10 get a shovel,
miners pan and a tub of water and
began the work of scooping up the
soil where he had broken the bottle.
He was going To wash it out and save
it. The newcomers stopped To watch
the proceedings. Fora short time
they saw some of the most astonish
ing pans of gold washed out. The re
suits were simply amazing. They
wouldn't believe the story about the
broken bottle and thought that was
a blind TO keep them off of the claims
and actually staked claims in the
street. But the pocket was soon eN-
hausted and the excitement died out.
Talking about stalking claims in
the streets reminds me of some queer
given the towns i'm Colorado.
Did YOU ever hear why the town of
had been given that name?
Well. first there was a place called
Graball. Some fellows struck what
they thought was going to be rich
diggingS and they took everything i'm
sight-'grabbed il all When new
corners arrived they found that the
schemers had claimed everything.
One of the party would take up "A
claim and sell out to one of the
others. He would repeat that per-
formance without end. The other
fellows did the same. The gang gave
that town the name of Graball. The
next town that was started was call
ed Fairplay. as a rebuke TO the other
town and as an indication that all
If the men who came would have u
fair deal. But the towns played out.
The gold i'm the gulches was soon eN-
and the miners sought other
fields"
One of the former gold seekers