The daily Alaskan., 1913-01-10
THE LURE OF GOLD
Romance and Tragedy of the Old
 Bonanza Trail.
A ROAD TO WEALTH AND CRIME

lt Led to the Richest Deposits of Gold,
 In a Relatively Small Territory, Ever
 pisoOvsrsd-0ays of Strenuous Life
 and Frenzisd Lawlessnsss.
 The Bonanza trail began at Fort Laramie, Wyo. It ran east of the Owl Creek mountains, west of the Big Horn mountains, In a northwest dlrec- ton to Livingston and Bozeman, then forking to the present Helena and Vlr- ginia City. In war and Indian depart ment annals 1t Is known as the Boze- man trail. Immediately, however, 1t was given the more romantic name, and for the best of reasons. 1t led to what were the richest deposits of gold in a relatively small territory, that the world had ever seen.
 Out of Alder gulch and Last Chance gulch. within POO miles of each other in Montana. was taken, in ten short years. considerably more than $500 100000 In pure gold. It was anybOdy's | fortune. and the wonderful luck of the California gold diggers few years be fore reused men to brave every hard ship for these prizes.
 It did not matter at all that these gulches were 2,OOO miles from the nearest railroad and that other gold fields were far easier to reach. Here was the great Fl Dorado, and with out a qualm the gold seekers hurried into the unknown territory, defying Red Cloud and every other Indian, out law, renegade and hOldup man.
 How many lives were sacrificed along this trail to wealth will never be known. All that is certain is that there never was another chapter in the worlds history like this. The long road into the mysterious country and the settlements of mining camps grew up almost in a single night There were only five men in the little party when Bill Fairweather washed" the first pan in Alder gulch and made a dis. covery even more wonderful than any fin the palmy days of California or even in the later era of the hlOndike.
 Two years later Alder gulch, at one of the Bonanza trails two ends, was among the most picturesque places in the country. The world was ransacked for men and women to give perform ances at the theaters, Co offer free en- tertainment to the patrons of the varl- ous resorts. The gold hunters gorged with prosperity, wanted amusements. Fine restaurants were opened and food brought in at great expense from be- yond the seas The smallest money was a twenty-five cent pinch of gold dust. taken from a pouch. It bought less than a copper cent does in any part of the United States today.
 Meantime an intending stream of people poured into the new country It is estimated by some that 9OOOO in all took the trail at Fort Laramie.
 The days of the trail were those of frenzied lawlessneSs, and many are the picturesque stories that have come down. Over the big road disputes about cards were of daily occurrence. The man who started an argument did so with the knowledge that it was bis life or the other mans, for he was call ing into question the honor of the "shark." Swindlers sold mines ' fought with their proposed victims and killed without cOmpunction.
 Armed robbers ran of stock, stole horses from one class of immigrants and sold them to another. As the horse was the sole means of transpor- tatlon and valuable beyond human life, "hOss stealing" was set down by the districts" as a crime punishable by death. There were few courts, and such as there were were miles from the trail. A jury would hence be at once impaneled among those present the man tried and if found guilty hang ed to a tree without ceremony.
 Hotels fiourished and were prosper ous beyond imagining, for every one spent money, and there was much Haunting In the higher grade estab- ushments beverages were served In cut glass; champagne was common. Every resort was crowded with people. The newcomers freQuented these places in quest of information, paid 25 cents for A glass of beer made from barley grown by the Confederate soldiers at Bozeman and sold to the Virginia breweries for cents a pound, and not enough could be received to supply the demand. Table board cost S7 day for the very cheapest, and if one slept fin a chair In the hotel lobby at night, when the rooms were all rented, he paid Sl.5O for the privilege.
 Gold was the only medium of ex- change. A pinch of 1t, between the forefnger and the thumb, as has been said. counted % cents. There would be a tendency with some men to take just a little bit more. When that ten dency was noticed in a man he was given hours to leave town-and 1t was seldom over two hours. The wise man did not stand on ceremony or protest he "vamoosed," in camp veTnacular.
 The newspapers of the city sold for % cents a copy, red hot from the press, and full of news of lynchings, new dig gings. "clean ups" "hold ups" "bad | ,,o,,v opd r.Osstn of n hrpeZy charnc-