Arizona state miner., 1925-11-28
BY Eli Norton Richardson

BY Eli Norton Richardson
In 1908 it was that gold strike in
the hills east of Reno, Nevada, started
a mad rush across the desert to that
dismal home of coyotes and sidewind-
ers. A town sprang up almost over
night. They called it Rawhide. The
town was well named-it was raw"
and no place for the man with ten
der hide. Came the prospectors
with their strings of burros and their
pots and pans, closely followed, as
always, by the promoters-the get
rich-quick" boys, and the ong-fingered
gamblers with their roulette wheels
and faro layouts.
A motley crowd it was that gath
cred in Rawhide and pitched their
tents and built their rough shacks on
the rock-ribbed hillsides, where at
night the coyotes howled their pro-
test of this invasion of their domain.
1t was the same old crowd that al
ways found it's way to all boom min
ing camps in pre-Volstead days, not
bad lot when you knew them; a
code of honor they had and they u.s.
ually played square, with each
other; it was, of course, open sea-
son" for the tenderfoot, the man new
to HARVEST ways, and more particu-
larly the ways of Nevada mining
camp. Now and then the tenderfoot
proved not so tender; when this hap
pened it can be truthfully said that
there never was any howl from these
gamblers of earlier days; they were
good losers.
h.
acterS to drift to Rawhide was Tex
Rlckard. Rickard bought corner lot
for $4,000 and hauled lumber in by
mule team to build another Northern
saloon and gambling club, planned as
duplicate of the famous Northern
OF Nome and Goldfeld. Sixty days
after the news went out that an i'm
mense body of gold had been struck
IN the Royal Tiger, Rawhide was
city of between ten and twelve thous-
and
1t was daytime all night in Raw
hide; the hum of the little ball as it
spun around the roulette wheel never
ceased; when one player dropped out
there was always another to take his
place. 1t was around the faro table,
however, where most of the old-timers
might be found as long as they had
dollar with which to buy chips In
the back rooms poker games, some
times with thousands of dollars on
the table, were always in progress.
Gambling in some form was the chief
industry" around an early day boom
camp. Men from the east, who never
gambled in their lives, after a few
weeks in Nevada mining camp,
might be seen, eyes glistening, put
ting down their bets and watching
the dice roll or the little ball spin.
later to graduate to faro bank. where
they would sit for hours as the deal
er, in voice that never changed,
monotonously announced "The ace
wins and the seven loses, or what
ever the winning and losing cards
might be. These nightly scenes were
much alike, but there came one night
that was different. a night that the
old-timers will long remember. It
was the night that Charley Gates
came to Rawhide
Word came that the millionaire
plunger would pay Rawhide a. visit
came at time when the excitement
had begun to subside. The promot
"AS 6OCCAAAS hungry IOr money.
Even Bath House Pete, at whose
place, at the lower end of Main street.
one might enjoy a plunge in bat
tered iron tub for the modest sum of
$5, complained that "the durn suck-
ers amt bitin' like they orter."
But all groom disappeared as by
magic when the man, whose name in
those days was synonym of mon
ey, allghted from the wheezy car that
had brought him from Schurz and
walked briskly up Rawhide Avenue.
his ever present Secretary at his side
The boys were all in from the hills
with their spe linens, specially nick
ed and polished for the occasion. and
their rough pencil-drawn maps show
ing all the rich lodges and dykes all
headed directly through their particu
lar claims. The promoters donned
their best wild and woolly west"
attire and the barkeeps polished M
their diamonds and put on freshly
Numbered aprons. The Northern and
Moss place, just across the street.
were both crowded to overflowing
The boys spent their money freely
that night And why not? They
would soon have plenty more. Was
not Charley Gates there? What was
he there for if not to invest some
of his millions in Rawhide? They
did not know GatoS-al lwavc huntino