Year: 1879




What He Says About the Place.


Mr.. II. S. Brooks is disgusted with
the latest mining wonder, Leadville.
Col, toward which thousands are rush
ing in the hope to win a speedy fortune,
and writes as follows concerning it to
his paper, the Elmira On. " Gazette:


Nothing but desire to please my
friends and give them reliable and
trustworthy report could induce me to
ride seventy-fve miles in a narrow
gauge car, stage it fifteen or twenty, sit
patiently in n lumber-box wagon while
crossing the range, wade through six or
eight miles of snow and land in such a
town rs this. And | don't believe an
eighth interest in the best-paying mine
here could induce me to do it again. |
could not conscientiously come as far as
Denver and not let you know the exact
situation of things here as seen by one
who has no "salted mine " to sell, no
big hotel to pay for and no particular
interest in swindling the people out of
their hard-earned savings by getting
them out here on wild-goose chase tor
wealth. Leadville to-day is the most
corrupt, uninviting and over-crowded
city on the face of the earth. Ever since
the news was telegraphed all over the
world that two poor young men had
struck a silver mine out here thousands
have been pouring in the place until now
Leadville and the surrounding country
contains no less than thirty thousand
souls. This was only last summer, but
since then every foot of ground has been
surveyed, staked off and recorded, and
the man who journeys thousands Of
mi Inc WI ith fho hr,,n &C ah &c
available ground to "squat" on will
either have to go up on the mountain or
else buy it at an exorbitant price. The
first fellows here have reaped q rich
harvest. The time is now past for
comes now with the expectation of get
ting anything but a days labor and poor
living will return sadder but wiser
man. with less money than he came here
with, but enough knowledge to last him
lifetime.


The mining law provides that a
"squatter" who strikes mineral" of
any kind can have his claim surveyed
and recorded, and from that time hence
forth it is his-provided he puts 800
worth of improvements on it annually.
The first corners went to work with
w liz uliS uoNh IL ullbil IllCG SUluCh
eral, +" recorded their claim. went up on
the mountain and repeated the operation,
until some of them now have twenty
claims ON their hands, which they are
very anxious to dispose of to " tender
feet" Gas they call the fellow from the
EasD anxious to make u fortune in for
ty-eight hours. Denver and Leadville
are both full of ''agents y and owners Of
"claims.n They button-hole every fell
low who looks as if he had more money
than hrnine. ""d thnsr toll hi..I StO.i~'
about how poor man can make money
without work-by simply buying an in
terest in their "claim." Those who
came out here early have a prospect Of
making something. Those who have
not already started had better stay home,
rob hen roosts, run for some fat office or
do anything equally respectable rather
than come here with the expectation OF
getting rich. There are two classes of
men who can get along here-laborers
who are viking to work in the mines,
leave whisky alone and live on most
anything, and capitalists who have lots
of money to invest. When a fortune
is made you invariably hear of it.;
when hundred poor men lose every
cent they have the newspapers out here
overlook the fact. In conversation with
an old New Yorker who has ten claims
that he is very anxious to dispose of
asked him confidentially what he would
advise those coming to Leadyille to do.
Assuming sort of staggering air pc
culiar to the people out this way he
rather emphatically remarked that if
they had money to invest tell them to
come" but if Hhey were looking for
work, " they'd better go elsewhere than
hunt for it here" Briefly summed up,
would say: Capitalists, come here;
invest your money; develop the hidden
treasures and give employment to labor.
| A poor man has no business here! Those
who have the fever beyond hope of re-
covery should go further on, settle at
Gunison. Carbonateville. junction City,
| KokOmo, Robinson or some of the yet
undeveloped regions and patiently wait
for the excitement to reach these locali-
ties. Leadville is rightly called "The
Poor Mans Countryr There are more
"poor men" here to the square inch
than you can find in any other part OF
the world. In fact, every nine men out
of ten you meet on the street looks as
if square meal was stranger to them
and good nights rest something they
hadn't had since they left the States.
Men out of employment here are thicker
than sewing machine agents East, and
the hotels are full of fellows glad to get
work at starvation wages. No one not
accustomed to the climate can stand il
to work in the mines, and even resi-
dence in Leadville is almost sure tc
undermine mans health unless he is
acclimated before he comes here
Pneumonia is carrying off the popula.
admit, and no death notices are published
for fear of frightening away new
comerS.