Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1906-12-22

GOLDFIELD, New, Dec. 15.-There's
a man over at the Gold Dust saloon
who Is making a book based on the
proposition that this mining camp VIII
be wiped out by fire before spring. lie
regards It as an odds-on chance. Hes
not finding many persons who differ
with him, either.
II Goldfeld escapes the fate that has
sooner or later overtaken every other
big mining camp, 1t won't be because
any adequate precautions have been
taken against It. The character OF It's
architecture is admirably indicated In
a sentence employed by the Goldheld
Tribune I'm describing what happened
when Honolulu Henrys shack burned
up the other day. It looked bad for the
town for a time; but, says the Tribune.
willing hands bore adjoining houses
away from peril"
The menace of the fire is ever present
in the minds of the turbulent popula-
ton. The other day an alarm rang
out In twenty seconds every store and
restaurant and saloon was empty, ana
Broadway-yes, that's what they call
twas packed with an excited mob
galloping to the upper end OF the
town.
at didn't amount to anything, but 1t
reminded one that there are just two
things that will draw all Goldfield
away from it's treasure hunting. One
is fire, the other is shooting
No Laws to Bother Miners
There's never law of God or man
runs far south enough in Nevada to
bother Goldfeld much. There isn't any
government here, and people behave
when they do behave-because they
think it's best for their health. There's
no city or town government, no local
organization, no police, no mayor, no
1ail-nothing but a deputy sheriff OF
the county of Esmeralda.
There are, however enough saloons
to employ 1856 bartenders, and enough
gambling joints to enlist the services
of 1856 faro dealers, roulette operators,
crap experts and such like Tex Rick
ards place. called the Northern, is one
of the biggest of the lot. Larry Sull1-
van, who used to shanghai sailors at
Portland Ore, is the owner of the Pal
ace, while others that are jammed to
the doors every night are the Monte
Carlo, the Del Monte, the Hermitage,
the Bank and the Gold Dust.
This is the wide-openest town IN all
the world. If the gambling fever over
takes you, no matter where you are,
you won't have to take more than ten
steps to get rid of your money. Every
hotel has two or three games running
in the office or in the next room or
back of the bar.
The gambler who can't find game
to suit him here must be hard to please.
He may take his choice of faro, rou-
lette, craps, slough, klondike, stud,
straight poker twenty-one, the wheel
of fortune, fantan or stop. And, II
these arn't enough, every time you
turn around there's new kind of
nickel in the slot machine all ready
to amuse you and take your chicken
feed. Also there are two or three
saloons completely equipped with pool
room layouts, so that the man who has
followed the ponies elsewhere won't
feel lonesome in Goldfield.
Nor will the big gambler have any
reason to feel cramped by the presence
of any stingy limit. A man from Reno
went into the Hermitage night before
last. He had so much coin that it
annoyed him.
They are very obliging at the Her.
mitage, however, and when the Reno
man emerged he left behind him $27 900
in cash. There are several places where,
If a man has the cash there will be
no objection to his placing $50 on a
single number. If it wins, this means
that the house pays him $105O
Two years and half ago the desert
wind rioted among a group of half a
dozen miserable shackS on the site
where now stands Goldfield. Today
there are probably $4,000 persons here,
and heaven only knows how many
more miserable shacks.
Nine-tenths of them cost less than
$500, almost all have paper thin parti
tons, some of them have canvas roofs
and a cellar is the mark of aristocracy.
Yet Goldfeld is today. though not yet
three wears old, the largest town in the
state of Nevada which. while you
could lose a good part of New England
in it, had less than $4,000 inhabitants
when the last census was taken.
The other day the thermometer stood