CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1904-04-28

LEADVILLE'S BIC BOOM
An Interesting Epoch In The His
tory of Canon City. A Period
of ..Strenuousness" Un-
known in The Annals
If the Plodding, Sc
date Communities
of The East.
Although Canon City has passed a
score OF eIcirements and vicissitudes
In the course Of its existence, which
antedates the outbreak Of the Civil
wa., perhaps the most interesting epoch
in its history was during the boom
days at Leadville, from 1878 to 1881, as
IL was here that most of the argonauts
ouifitted that made their way to the
New Eldorado before the d. 4 X. G..
railroad was built through the Royal
Gorge.
Those who have never witnessed the
frenzy and mad rush which seizes up
on people when q new mining camp is
heralded, particularly was this the case
in the old silver days, can have no
adequate idea Of the contagion and
physical insanity which it produces,
unless, may hap, he is from Kansas and
knows by experience something Of the
idiosy ncracies OF human nature as
manifested in the real estate mania
which submerged that state in vortex
u speculative folly quarter OF n
/century age.
The report that rich piacers Of the
yellow metal' had been found on
Clear creek started tide of emigra-
tion to Colorado from the states east
1 OF the Missouri river in 1859 that was
resolute and irresistible as the great
rush TO California decade previously
caused by the discovery of gold at Sut-
ters mill. The determined character OF
the movement towards Colorado forty
five years ago WAS portrayed in popular
motto oofthe,time, pixies Peak or Bust. -
the majority OF the emigrants attain
NIX pohH lnt kphi al4N
piled in their crude, bot expressive.
phrase OF their accepted maxim.
The spirit OF American restl.ssness.
indica,ed for the first time, with the
discovery Of gold on the Pacific coast,
fifty-fve years ago, became an inherit
ed trait a generation later, and, when
announcement was made OF the locn-
tion of great silver lod-s in the Rocky
Mountain region in the 70's, people
focked to the new ''diggins" from all
sections Of the country like blscsbirds
to a wn,srcourse In summer time.
Nomsdic impulses had been easily sc-
quired and many OF these emigrants
refused to stay long in one place unless
pay dirt" WIS abundant and employ
upnt could be had at nm almost fabu-
e6us rnte OF wages.
The celebrated Comstock lode at
trscted many thousands of men to
Virginia City, Nevada, but with its
decline the migratory instinct asserted
Myself and the major part ofthem sought
onthsr fields for exploitation and ad-
venture. The history uf Nirg mia City
was repeated at LePdville and Greed,
Telluride and Cripple Greek, although
there hns not been that exhaustion OF
the precious metals in Colorado camps
that marked the Consolidated Virginia
after IL had made multi-miilion aires OF
several of the great mining operators
OF San Francisc'.
"a modern instance" OF the gold
madness OF the American people wSs
shown in the exodus to Alaska in isss.
when multitudes Of men with the in
sanity to pet-rich-quick upon them
made their way through untold suffer
ing and hardship into the shadow OF
the Arctic circle to dig the nuriferous
TREASURE from the frozen soil Of the
snow covered habitat OF the Esq imaun
ana the Polar bear. wlere the next
great rush will be cannot be predicted,