Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-08-10
Last of Gold Camps Conc.

The census report shows that Goldfeld,
the one-time mining centre that shone
most conspicuously in the public eye, has
fallen upon hard times and is rapidly be-
coming only frontier memory, rcmin's-
cent of the dance hall. the desperate who
"shot quick and sure and the claim
jumper who stood ready to grab the ter
ritory of an industrious miner instantly 1t
yielded any gold in paying quantities.
Goldfield was the last of the typical min
ing towns to find place on our map
When the precious metal, from which IT
takes its name, was discovered In that
part of Nevada, there was an immediate
rush, with the thrills and tragedies that
always have occurred in scrambles for
the yellow metal; and there was the grand
dash for the choice sections, then came re-
ports of the enormous treasures takenfrom
the earth.
The doings of the Nevada mining town
held the interest Of the world for long
time, until it was lost sight of when the
reported fabulous deposits of gold had be-
come exhausted.
The truth is, Goldfield was never any
thing like as rich as the boomers led the
country to believe There was consider
able gold found there, to be sure, but OF
| the thousands who rushed into the new
mining country, small indeed was the
percentage of those who got any share oil
| IL r. ,otl foxrr q r.
resistible and those once infected never
| quite recover or regain their equanmity
| sufficiently to turn deaf ear. to the call oi
| the yellow treasure. They go and go
again. only TO be disappointed, as did
many who years ago never gave up the
hope of winning the grand prize in the big
lotteries and spent large sums OF money
and gave many hours of thoughtful
speculation as to how they would invest
the capital when fortune at length brought
them the big purse.
The story Of GoIdfeld illustrates how
persistently We pursue the bauble OF Tor
tune or luck. and how insstent we are in
that will-o' '-the-wisp chase. While the
hundreds and thousands were striving Tor
gold in the Arizona camp, and failing TO
uncover the precious prize, the PLAIN,
matter-of-fact chicken Of the female sex
was quietly going about her occupation,
annually yielding with certainty and
regularity eggs that were more valuable
than all the gold taken from the earthand
streams Of the United States. The iron
mines and mills were producing vastly
more in dollars and cents than the gold
diggings Of the country, and even the
value of the wheat crop more than equal
cd the total gold output. Here were voca-
tion. or chances AZ fortunes wherein one
drew no blanks. They were sure things
and the wonder seeras that anybody would
give up these steady and remunerative
vocations for the chances, the perlls and
the denials that entered into the expert
ence Of all gold-diggers.
Goldheld has written 'hnis' on her
front porch. In the ten years since that
last previous census. she has lost 2lO per
cent Of her population and has shrunk 70
tame. ugly little crossroads village OF
I.55S persons. Her houses for the most
part are given over to decay or TO the
owls and bats that make their lodgings
there. Whereas she once teemed with life
and activity. the widest awake" city IN
the United States. she has descended into
a desolate deserted village, and in an
other decade may have disappeared en-
tirely
As the United States has been 'thor-
oughlv discovered" it is not probable that
there will be new findings OF gold or
other precious metals, and the coming
generations will never be thrilled by the
stories of the uncovering Of great fortunes
that were TO be had for the mere digging
Nor of the accounts of hundreds OF families
picking up their worldly chattels-wife,
children. babies, the farm yard friends, the
favorite cats and dogs-and hlelng thence
in a wagon drawn by two horses, going
hundreds Of miles. inspired and guided by
the unfaltering hope that they would
strike the main lead" and be transform
ed into milhonaires overnight How
many heartbreaks and crushing disap-
pointments came from pursuit of the yell
low fortune probably would be more than
the dollars worth of the gold if they could
be computed.
Instead of gold these later day rushes
are for oil. The opening Of new oil lands
brings scenes similar TO the dashes to
the gold fields. The prizes are more nu-
merous in the new field of chance but while
oil brings surer rewards than did the pur-
suit of gold, it does not have the effect OF
maddening its seekers. or impeping them
TO murder and all sorts Of dastardly
crimes. debauchery and RIGHTEOUSNESS as
the greed for gold always has done.
Senator Cores defeat is perhaps one