Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-02-27

1E4<E-iEz
golden dream, II. T. P. Comstock
came upon them He declared him
the ground before He was determin-
ed he would not give an inch. They
conceded him a half interest. which
he divided with his partner. That
claim afterward became the Ophir
ground.
It's gold-bearing days were short
lived, when an assayer named Mel
vile Atwood came along Struck by
the appearance of the black residue
from the ore, he essayed it and found
that 1t ran three thousand ounces in
silver to the ton. Prior to that the
search had been for gold. Now there
was stampede. Within two years
Virginia City, Nevada, had a popula-
ton OF thirty thousand, and the fam
Gus lode named after Comstock has
produced in gold and silver $3.50, 000,-
200. The mines burrowed down to a
depth Of more than three thousand
feet, and for years fought through a
rain of scalding hot water under
ground.
In the early 70's it began to play
out" The people were panic-stricken
Thousands faced starvation. Then ap-
peared man who seemed to see
through the moutnain'' The great
lode had only been scratched, he de-
clared. John Mackay, with James Fair
and Mnccrc
ed to sink the Consolidated California
and Virginia shaft. Dark days were
on the camp when that shaft went
deeper and deeper without revealing
an indication of ore. Just as the night
was blacklist, and the people filed
with despair. the bottom of the Con-
solidated shaft punctured the top of
the greatest bonanza ever recorded
IN history. Stocks scared The hopes
| OF the people revived. Virginia City
was bedlam of excitement Millions
came out of that hole. In the next
two years the Consolidated paid divi-
| bends at the rate of $4,000, 900 a
month
The Chicken and the Professor.
A chicken was the accidental means
of halting a party of gold hunters, at
point which afterward became a
great city, and the center of the most
| remarka bic mining discoveries ever
! known.
| A group of Georgia miners stopped
on the banks of a sandy creek in west
/ ern Kansas New Years day, 1859.
They had some poultry with them
which they turned loose for a few
| days. They killed one. and in clean
ing it small gold nugget was found
| in the crop.
! Instantly town was born. The
| men were from Auraria Georgia, and
they gave that name to the new place
The stream was called Cherry Creek
They PANIED up and down and within
a few weeks SO many trains of prairie
schooners had stopped there that
quite a community had been estab-
! Gshed. The Pixies Peak boom was on
/ From LeaVenworth the world had
been notified. There were saloons,
! gambling houses, dance halls all the
indulgences of mining town, when
the placer began to wane. The rush
crowded the village But the supply
of gold was scant. Wagons labeled
Pixies Peak or Bust came in daily
Some assembled the peak-seventy-f1
miles to the southland if they could
have found the man who started the
rumor there would have been a hang
ing.
Then John Gregory PANIED down
the creek to the Platte. and followed
it to it's confluence with Clear Creek
Here he obtained better "colors." He
ascended this stream thirty miles to
| the point where it forked. He panned
the gravel on each side, and selected
the North Fork. The next day he
lifted a painful of gravel from a gulch
that will forever bear his name. The
rush that followed changed the name
| of Auraria to Denver. and divorced
from Kansas and Utah enough terri
tority to create Colorado The people
were gold mad
w. Green Russell. another Georgian
went into the next gulch. and almost
the same day that Gregory struck
| it." George Jackson, who had reached
the South Fork of the same creek by
crossing the mountains, added another
district
The gold came so fast that the gov.
| eminent ordered a mint erected at
Denver in 1861 Then evil days fell on
! the new camp. The free gold dis.
| appeared. 1t was now held in the
clasp of iron and sulphur and would
not yield. Thousands faced ruin.
| Not one, but several cities had been
! built in the mountains. Denver had
| grown by leaps and bounds. The
/ people were in a panic. A mass meet
! ing was called. 1t was a gloomy crowd
! that assembled. All agreed that soma
| thing should be done. But what?
| Send for Professor Hill" shouted
/ a man in the rear of the room
Who is Professor HIP" asked the
! chairman.