The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-20
FvENTFUL LIFE
Of IRA BROWN
Founder of Deadwood, S. D.,
Has Been Actor, Miner, World
Traveller and Speculation.
ONCE LIVED IN SALT LAKE
SKETCH OF CAREER OF PicTUR.
ssoUE WESTERN PIONEER.

Desdwood. :. d, that one-time mys-
t,rlous city OF mining. gambling dens,
saloons and murderers. has boosted in
as time VI having been the meeting
Mace OF many interesting and peculiar
men. but probably &c can claim the rep
utation better through fits founder. Ira
II. Brown, miner, artor, banjoist sing
or world-tiay7eler and spAc'tiasor, EataM
through any other agency.
Mr.. Brown Is at present in Los An
geles, the guest OF Alexander Il. Downe
15 West Thirty-third street. and the
story Of his life reads more like fiction
than truth.
This whife-haired man was in Custer
CITY. & D.. I'm 1876. waiting for some
thing 10 turn up. one day, miner
Thomas Mallory. approached him and
ugked him for private interview. That
night the two talked together in a far
OF corner of a gambling saloon and the
contract was made.
The next night. Mr.. Brown with three
companions, Charley Brown, Ike Lee
and Williams. set cut at midnight.
They travelled until the next day. car
rrinV their baggage on the backs OF
mules. when they arrived az a gulch
which emptied into the Whitewood
river they unpacked their animals and
camped. Great quantities OF dead TIM
beT was laying about and from that
they named the place "Deadwood." The
four sat down on a log and wrote con-
sacutive numbers upon slips OF paper
These represented the town lots. They
placed them in Mr.. Browns hat aud
each drew out a certain number OF
slips. At the time the lots were not
worth a great deal. for wnen one OF
tho party drew lot No. %, he declared
n was too far out or town and he would
not have it,. Mr. Brown offered him 50
and a paddock for the lot, and the man
closed the deal. Mr.. Brown built his
cabin on one Of the lots and that start
cd the town.
Lots Sold Like Magic.
Shacks spr3ng up in a night and The
lots sold ike magic. Mr.. Brown sold
his last piece Of ground to Mann and
Manning for a gambling saloon. and
left with a clean surplus Of $4,000 in
his pocket
He has many Embarrassing experiences
TO tell Of his life i'm these mining camps.
lie earned 800 to $50 per night play
and. like the rest OF the men. he rented
his gambling table by the month and
then used il for a bed at night
One evening large stakes had been
won and lost and the loser vowed ven-
geance on the winner The men slowly
dropped away from the tables. and
et oryone in the place had fallen asleep.
an hour afterward. a loud noise woke
Mr. Brown. He slid quickly from his
table and struck a light. on the next
table 10 him lay one OF the players. his
blood forming a pool under him and
his head almost shot or. The loser had
taken his vengeance. He was never
caught.
Mr.. Brown was born i'm Lock Haven.
Pa. I'm iS41. and had one brother. His
parents. when Ira was still child. left
for st. Joe. Mo. From there with A
iong train Of covered wagons they
started for California. Oxen drew the
wagons and it took six months to get
to their destination.
Life in California.
They pitched their camp at Weaver
Creek. Cal. and Mr.. Brown. who was
ut that time 10 years old. was hired out
with the Meyicans to help herd horses.
California was at that time in the
hands ~ the "forty-niners. and the
only way 10 reach the little mining
camps was by wagon.
In 1884 the family moved again and
the town that sprang up around them
was named Elizabothtown. in honor OF
his mother. Elizabeth Brown. who was
the first white woman to ever so
through those districts.
The gold, foyer kept tlrf BrownsJnev-,
ing. and 1T ~as NOD MANY months be-.
fore they were established at Iowa Hill,
Placer county. Cal. where Mrs. Brown
became a part owner i'm the famous
mines. deep gold diggings
worked by hydraulic processes. Mr..
Brown learned his banjo playing from