Evening star., 1915-05-16


turned his face toward the wilderness. A
short time before the chill of fall was felt
in those high attitudes he returned with
enough gold to buy pack animal,
larger supply of food, and again ventured.
The SHOWS fell deep, and it was the
general opinion of his countrymen that he
must have perished, still unsuccessful, but
still an optimist, and still firmly confident
that all things come to those who try
hard enough.
"That found nothing is no reason that
l shall not, he announced. "I shall try
a new route. Then shall find it. If
not, then | shall try again.
TT was later in the spring when that
stampede took place from the part of
the Big Divide where the little band of
foreigners worked. Doubtless there are
some still living who remember it. 1t was
caused by the fact that man had seen
Konrad on the trail late one evening, and
that when the nearest neighbors awoke
the next morning the "Dutchmen's camp"
was smokeless. Some person, wondering
that no one could be seen about his acclls-
toned activities, went across to discover
the cause The camp had all the appear
ance indicative to the trained eye that it
had been abandoned hurriedly.
1t took but little in those days to excite
men, and before noon at least half dozen
men had started and were following the
trail of the Germans led by Konrad. By
midafternoon others were also going, and
before night the parties had increased to
a dozen. Singly and in squads the ad-
venturers arrived at that place. once fa-
nous, now all but forgotten, where Konrad
the industrious had discovered gold, and
whittier he had assembled his friends, that
they too might share his good fortune,
and have the choice of stalking claims.
Dutchmans Gulch became camp over
night, with Konrad the cheerful as its
foremost figure.
There are responsibilities in being the
foremost figure of any mining camp; but
never was there such benign leader as
this. He gave advice to newcomers where
promising ground might be located, lent
the broken ones money, "stood good" for
others at the store that speedily opened,
and was to many a battered and discour-
aged man true benefactor. He was Mig
gard neither in purse nor in encourage
ment, and there are those still alive who
speak of the great, generous heart of him.
For more than year the history of that
camp famed across the page 1t was not
rich enough to make men millionaires, but
good enough to render many comfortable.
And therein lies, perhaps, the cause of
the tragedy to its discoverer; for konrad,
open handed, open hearted, reveled in fame
and fortune, and forgetting that all good
times come to an end, let the gold dust
slip gaily through his fingers. A quaint
old Wells Fargo receipt is still in exist
ence showing that peasant girl back on
the Rhine received-"d dankbar erhahen"-
more than ten thousand dollars, enough
to make her enormously wealthy in that
oldtime peaceful land beside the historic
river. That seems to be all to show what
use Konrad, the erstwhile frugal, made of
his find. But youth is youth, lived but
once, enjoyed but once, and slipping al
most furtively away into the nevermore!
MEN tell yet Of how those care-free
young Germans, still called in COLO
quialism and with fine disregard for To-
cality "The Dutchmen," made tours on
foot as far as Sacramento, to enjoy in gay
extravaganza that for which they had