The Nenana daily news., 1919-02-25
IS ON DECLINE NOW 1
 IN GREAT WEST


 the Fastener who comes to the mountain states expecting to find the picturesque figure of the gold prospector searching the hills in a never ending chase of the precious metal are greeted with a rapid disillusionment. The roughly clad individual, with pack mules, pick and shovel exist now largely in the movies, though occasionally One comes across a survivor of the old days to whom the appeal of hidden treasure remains irresistible.
 With the exception of the years of 1915 and 1916, when disc avery tungsten brought a horde of wealth seekers to the Colorado hills, the search for gold in this and neigh boring states has steadily dimin- ished since the height of the gold rush some twenty-five years. ago. At the time, old mining men say, the mountains were full of pros pectors searching for new veins and placer miners banning the streams for gold deposits. The new gener- ation has not followed in the foot steps of the old and one of the picturesque features of Western life is becoming extinct.
 The explanation is simple Pros pecting doesn't pay. This is the statement from mining men familiar with the situation. The big majority of old prospetcors spent their lives in the hills without winning the fortune they sought They man. aged to eke out bare existence, occasionally making a strike which would tide them over a winter in Denver and give them a start for the next years chase. But they lived and died poor men, most of them finding a resting place in the hills which they made their homes. Discovery of their bodies in their cabins or caves built in the side of the mountains told the tale.
 If good vein is located, the cost of developing is prohibitive. Ex- penSive machinery must be installed. The prospector must interest capital in his find and uncertainty as to whether the vein will fulfill ex- pectations tends to discourage the treasure seeker. '''
 Officials of the state mining com mission are of the opinion that the really big gold strikes already have been made and they attribute the l disappearance of the prospsctor to the almost certain knowledge that his quest will be unsuccessful.
 All over the mountainous region of Colorado small abandoned tun- nels bored into the solid rock bear mute evidence of the shattered hopes of some prospector. Aband- oned sluices and smelters speak of the days that are no longer, and of streams whose deposits of the pre- cious metal have been banned out In certain regions, notably: in tht vicinity of Cripple creek, the or; is mined in paying quantities, bs it is by means of costly machinery that the gold is separated from tht crushed ore. Moneyed interests hav' taken the place of the individual lwho found fortunes here while th' country was yet being developed. I Occasionally, in the winter, on' finds in the cheap lodging house some grizzled veteran of the hill ) whose spirit still is alive with tn : hope of success in the followin, summer. and he sets out in tn spring as trustworthy as he ha ]. started out in to the hills ever spring for a score of years. Blu 7 these are becoming fewer ever l year and the old life of the noun : tain country lives only in the movie