Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1905-04-18
THE lA.l0 OF GOLD.


Tonepah Now Passis From it, Boom
Stage.
sTOnopah, New, April 15.-ln some
respects this il the most peculiar min
ing camp you ever saw. 1t 10 . COM
binatiQn of boom camp and solid bus
mess center.s or rather it would be
more to the point to say that it Is In
a state of transition form the one t.
the other. Ire old days when to-
tunes were won or lost. in the mines
or at the gaming table in day or a
night has passed away forever. Thu
mines where once the leaser held
sway have been consolidated and in
corporated and. like all the good
things of this earth, have passed into
the hands of captains Of industry"
of the far east. who have their tena-
cles spread out over the civilized earth
seeking investments where they caa
increase their immense wealth.
However, 1t is not my intention t.
mofalize. but to tell you of Tonopah,
the land of gold, as I see +. To begin
with, the railway journey. after thu
train leaves, Carson City, is about the
dreariest and certainly the most tire
some ever experienced. Leaving
Reno at 8 o'clock, you get to Tonopah
shortly before midnight, if the train Is
on time. which never happens. You
change cars twice. and travel across
a desert so forbidding and menacine
that its aspect readily answers the
oft-heard question. why wasn't
Tonopah discovered ages ago." The
wonder is why it was ever discovered
for the railroad was built only afte,
the mines were proven and peopi7
flocked here in such numbers tina!
some means must be devised to feed
them. The owners of the Original
TonOpah mine built the road. 1t is siz
ty miles long, narrow-guage (now be
ing made standard), cost $3.50, 900, ant
has paid for itself in the ten months
it has been in operation.
The town of Tonopah lies in broad
gulch and the main thoroughfare i:
closely lined for half a mile with res
taurants, hotels, saOlons and stores
The entrance to all the hotels Il
through either the restaurant or thu
bar. In every barroOm in town is :
roulette wheel. and through the win
dow or open door Of every gamblin.
house the games in full swing can b
seen from the sidewalk at any hour @
the day or night. Roulette seems t.
be the favorite game, and l happene'
to be lounging in the door of q popu
Tar hostelry the first Sunday I spen
here when one of the pioneer leaser
Of the camp came in and commence:
playing the wheel" He made mol
est Cd bets of 81 to a number at first
but soon became interested in "sys
TEN" and increased to IS.
At the end of less than an hour
play he called for his markers,
counted up has losses. which amour
ed to $4,000, wrote a check for tn
amount and walked away
The wheels are said to be WHINE
all the way form $50 900 to 5000, 0O
and when leasers were working tn
camp many of them had daily pla
Of 100000 to $4,000. The popula
games of faro and poker also hav
their adherents. and doubled eagle
are hazard as freely as ever they we,
during the palmy days of the Cor
SUCK. Yet with all these bets. Of
der prevails; drunken man is rare
seen on the streets. and woman
treated with perfect respect. Eve
the ladies" who play the piano
many Of the resorts are immune fro
or disagreeable attentions from hab
ueS OF the place.
OF course there Is a red light" d
trict, with its cribs and dance hal
but even here there is little rowG
ism and almost an entire absence
violence
Great Business Center.
AS a business town the place be
4ars description should say tn
$1,OOO,O 900 is 2 conservative estims
of the merchandise in stock. and t
railroad yards are full of all sorts
stun all the time. Every store y
enter is crowded to the ceiling a
thousands of dollars worth of merch,
disc is piled on the sidewalks and i
there, day and night, until room c
he made for Il within Thefts are r: