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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29335-h.zip b/29335-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a76e19c --- /dev/null +++ b/29335-h.zip diff --git a/29335-h/29335-h.htm b/29335-h/29335-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ac268d --- /dev/null +++ b/29335-h/29335-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2125 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Gold Hunter's Experience, by Chalkley J. Hambleton. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's A Gold Hunter's Experience, by Chalkley J. Hambleton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Gold Hunter's Experience + +Author: Chalkley J. Hambleton + +Release Date: July 6, 2009 [EBook #29335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GOLD HUNTER'S EXPERIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>A GOLD HUNTER'S EXPERIENCE</h1> + +<h2>BY CHALKLEY J. HAMBLETON</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 70px;"> +<img src="images/i003.png" width="70" height="80" alt="decorative symbol" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">CHICAGO<br /> +PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION<br /> +1898</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>I have often been asked to write an account of my +Pike's Peak Expedition in search of gold. The following +attempt has been made up partly from memory and partly +from old letters written at the time to my sister in +the east.</i></p> + +<p style="text-align: right;">C. J. H.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="A_Gold_Hunters_Experience" id="A_Gold_Hunters_Experience"></a>A Gold Hunter's Experience</h2> + + +<p>Early in the summer of 1860 I had a bad attack of gold fever. In Chicago +the conditions for such a malady were all favorable. Since the panic of +1857 there had been three years of general depression, money was scarce, +there was little activity in business, the outlook was discouraging, and +I, like hundreds of others, felt blue.</p> + +<p>Gold had been discovered in the fall of 1858 in the vicinity of Pike's +Peak, by a party of Georgian prospectors, and for several years +afterward the whole gold region for seventy miles to the north was +called "Pike's Peak." Others in the East heard of the gold discoveries +and went West the next spring; so that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> during the summer of 1859 a +great deal of prospecting was done in the mountains as far north as +Denver and Boulder Creek.</p> + +<p>Those who returned in the autumn of that year, having perhaps claims and +mines to sell, told large stories of their rich finds, which grew larger +as they were repeated, amplified and circulated by those who dealt in +mining outfits and mills. Then these accounts were fed out to the public +daily in an appetizing way by the newspapers. The result was that by the +next spring the epidemic became as prevalent in Chicago as cholera was a +few years later.</p> + +<p>Four of the fever stricken ones, Enos Ayres, T. R. Stubbs, John Sollitt +and myself, formed a partnership, raised about $9,000 and went to work +to purchase the necessary outfit for gold mining. Mr. Ayres furnished a +larger share of the capital than any of the others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> and was not to go +with the expedition, but might join us the following year. Mr. Stubbs +and I were both to go, while Mr. Sollitt was to be represented by a +substitute, a relative whose name was also John Sollitt, and who had +been a farmer and butcher and was supposed to know all about oxen. Mr. +Stubbs was a good mechanic, an intelligent, well-read man, and ten years +before had been to California in search of gold.</p> + +<p>Our outfit consisted of a 12-stamp quartz mill with engine and boiler, +and all the equipments understood to be necessary for extracting gold +from the rock, including mining tools, powder, quicksilver, copper plate +and chemicals; also a supply of provisions for a year. The staple +articles of the latter were flour, beans, salt pork, coffee and sugar. +Then we had rice, cornmeal, dried fruit, tea, bacon and a barrel of +syrup; besides a good supply of hardtack,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> crackers and cheese for use +while crossing the plains, when a fire for cooking might not be found +practicable. These things were all purchased in Chicago, together with +the fourteen wagons necessary to carry them across the plains. Then all +were shipped by rail to St. Joseph, Mo., where the oxen were to be +purchased. The entire outfit when loaded on the cars, weighed +twenty-four tons.</p> + +<p>I stayed in Chicago till the last to help purchase and forward the +outfit and supplies, while Stubbs and Sollitt (the substitute) went to +St. Joe to receive and load them on the wagons and to purchase the oxen.</p> + +<p>On the 1st day of August, all was ready, and we ferried our loaded +wagons and teams across the Missouri River into Kansas to make a final +start next morning into regions to us unknown. Stubbs started the same +day by stage for the mountains, to prospect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> and look out for a +favorable location and then to meet the train when it arrived at Denver. +Sollitt was to be trainmaster, which involved the oversight and +direction of the teams and drivers, and the duty of frequently going +ahead to pick out the best road and select a favorable place to camp at +night, where water and grass could be had. I was the general business +man of the expedition, had full power of attorney from Mr. Ayres to +represent and manage his interest, and hence I had the control and +responsibility in my hands and practically decided all important +questions relating to the business.</p> + +<p>The fourteen ox-drivers were all volunteers, who drove without +pay—except their board—for the sake of getting to the gold regions to +make their fortunes there. Most of them were from Chicago—three married +men who left families behind, and one a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> young dentist. Another was the +son of a prominent public woman who was a rigid Presbyterian, and when I +left Chicago his father gave me a satchel full of religious books to +give to him in St. Joe to read on the plains. He deliberately pitched +them into a loft, where they were left. Another was a young Illinois +farmer, named Tobias, a splendid fellow. Among those we secured in St. +Joe were one German and two Missourians.</p> + +<p>The principal article in the outfit of each individual, aside from his +ornaments in the shape of knives and pistols, was a pair of heavy +blankets. One of the Missourians first appeared without any, but next +morning he had a quilted calico bed cover, stuffed with cotton, borrowed +probably from a friendly clothesline, and which, at the end of the +journey, presented a very dilapidated appearance.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning of August 2d<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> all were busy yoking oxen and +hitching them to the wagons, but as most of the drivers were green at +the business and did not know "haw" from "gee," and a number of the oxen +were young and not well broken, it was several hours before our train +was in motion and finally headed for "Pike's Peak." The train consisted +of fourteen wagons, a driver for each, forty yoke of oxen, one yoke of +cows and one pony with a Mexican saddle and a rawhide lariat thirty feet +long, with an iron pin at the end to stick in the ground to secure the +animal.</p> + +<p>For the first two or three miles, while crossing the level valley, all +went well, but when we reached the bluffs and ravines that bounded the +river valley on the west, the green oxen began to balk and back and +refused to pull their loads up the hills, and the new drivers were +nonplused and helpless. The better teams went ahead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> and were soon out +of sight, while the poorer ones had to double up, taking one wagon up a +hill and then going back for another, and consequently made slow +progress. Instead of riding or walking along like a "boss" at ease, I +soon found myself fully occupied in whipping up the poorly broken oxen +on the off side, while the green drivers whipped and yelled at those on +their side of the team. It was surprising how soon the nice city boys +picked up the strong language in use by teamsters on the Western plains. +The teams got separated, and the train stretched out two or three miles +long. Then Sollitt rode ahead, picked out a camping place, and directed +the drivers to halt and unyoke as they reached it; but when it became +dark three or four teams were still from a quarter of a mile to a mile +behind, and in trouble, so they unhitched the oxen and let them run in +their yokes for the night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> Our lunch and our supper that day consisted +of crackers and cheese, as we had no time to cook.</p> + +<p>About dark a shower came up, and it drizzled a good part of the +night—the last rain we met with for many weeks. We rolled ourselves up +in our blankets on the ground, under the wagons or in a small tent we +had, for sleep. At daylight next morning we all started in different +directions through the wet bushes that filled the ravines to find the +scattered oxen, and before noon they were all collected at camp. We had +hot coffee and some cooked things for breakfast. But several accidents +had occurred. The cows had fallen into a gully with their yoke on and +broken their necks, one load of heavy machinery had run down hill and +upset, one axle, two wagon tongues, one yoke and some chains were +broken. Sollitt, with two or three of the drivers who were mechanics, +went to work to repair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> damages. As we seemed short of oxen, I rode back +to St. Joe and bought two yoke more, spending the last of our money +except about fifty dollars.</p> + +<p>By next morning we were ready for a new start. Experience had already +taught us something, and we adopted more system and some rules. All the +teams were to keep near together, so as not to leave the weaker ones +behind in the lurch. Our cattle were to be strictly watched all night by +two men on guard at a time—not together, but on opposite sides of the +herd. Two would watch half the night and then be relieved by two others +who stood guard till morning. We all took our turns except the cook, who +was relieved from that duty and from yoking and hitching up his own +team, as cooking for sixteen men while in camp was no sinecure. The man +chosen for cook was one of the drivers from Chicago named Taylor, who +had cooked for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> campers and for parties at work in the woods. He was +really a good plain cook. His utensils consisted of some large boiling +pots and kettles, a tin bake oven, two or three frying pans, a +two-gallon coffeepot and a few other usual articles.</p> + +<p>Each person had a tin plate, a pint tin cup with a handle, and an iron +knife, fork and spoon. The food was placed in the dishes and cups on the +ground, and while eating we stood up, sat on the ground or reclined in +the fashion of the ancient Romans, according to our individual tastes. +The article of first importance at a meal was strong coffee and plenty +of it. Next came boiled beans with pork, whenever there was time to cook +them; and that could generally be done during the night. Then we had +some kind of bread, cake or crackers, and sometimes stewed dried fruit.</p> + +<p>About the third day out our open air<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> prairie appetites came, and it +seemed as if we could eat and digest anything. I had been a little out +of health for some time, was somewhat dyspeptic, and had not tasted pork +for years. Soon I could devour it in a manner that would have shocked my +vegetarian friends; and for the next two years I was conscious of a +stomach only when hungry.</p> + +<p>The third day the teams went a little better, but we had to double up +sometimes to pull the wagons up the hills and out of the deep gullies we +had frequently to cross, so we only made seven or eight miles. In a few +days we got out on the level prairie and went along faster. But every +morning for a week, one or more of our cattle would be lost from the +herd. They would sneak away during the night and hide in the bushes and +ravines, or start back toward home. As I had no special duties in camp, +or in yoking up in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> morning, hunting them fell to my lot. If not +found in the first search before starting time, I would ride back on the +pony for miles, scour the country and hunt through the gullies and +bushes for hours till the lost animal was found; then drive him along +until the train was overtaken. That could easily be followed by the +tracks of the wheels on the prairie. Hiawatha, Kansas, and a few +scattered cabins some miles to the west of it were about the last signs +of settlement and civilization that we saw.</p> + +<p>That season was a very dry one in Kansas and on the Western plains. The +prairies were parched and looked like a desert, except a fringe of green +along the water courses. The heat was intense and the distant hills and +everything visible seemed quivering from its effects. The dry ground and +sand reflected the sun's rays into our faces, till a few with weak eyes +were seriously affected. The iron about the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> wagons, and the chains were +blistering to the touch. The southwest wind was like a blast from a +heated furnace. It was worse than stillness, and I frequently took +shelter behind a wagon to escape its effects.</p> + +<p>This heat was very trying and debilitating to the oxen. They would pant, +loll their tongues out of their mouths, refuse to pull, and lie down in +their yokes. Sometimes we were compelled to keep quiet all day, and +drive in the early evening and morning, and during the night when we +could find the way. The most important thing was to find water near +which to camp. Wolves began to surround our camp and the herd of oxen at +night, and break the silence by their piercing howls. After we had gone +to sleep, they would sneak into camp to pick up scraps left from supper, +then come within a few feet of some one rolled up in his blanket and +startle him with a howl. But with all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> their noise these prairie wolves +were great cowards, and would run from any movement of a man.</p> + +<p>Soon after starting out one evening for a night drive, after a very hot +day, one of the weak oxen lay down and refused to go. That the train +might not be delayed, they tied his mate to a wagon, and I concluded to +stay behind with him till morning to see if he would recover. Soon after +dark the wolves seeming to divine his condition and the good meal in +store for them, collected around us a short distance off, and seated on +their haunches, with howls of impatience waited for the feast. They were +plainly visible by their glaring, fire-like eyes. I varied the monotony +of the long night by walking around, sitting down, lying upon the +ground, and occasionally falling asleep beside the sick ox. Then the +wolves emboldened by the stillness, would sneak up close to us and break +out in piercing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> howls, but they would instantly vanish when I got up +and threw something at them.</p> + +<p>Daylight came at last; the ox had grown worse instead of better, and I +left him to his fate and the wolves, and followed the wagon tracks till +I overtook the train in camp, early in the day, with an appetite for a +quart of strong coffee and something to eat.</p> + +<p>In this hot weather the oxen with their heavy loads did not make more +than a mile an hour when on the march, so with the numerous delays it +was nearly two weeks before we reached Marysville on the Big Blue River. +This was a small settlement on the verge of civilization, with a few +ranches, saloons and stores, situated on that branch of the old Oregon +trail which started northward from Westport, Mo., and passed near Fort +Leavenworth, Kan. The inhabitants had the reputation of being mostly +outlaws,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> blacklegs and stock thieves. Their reputation inspired us with +such respect for them that we kept extra watch over our cattle and +possessions while in the vicinity.</p> + +<p>About a week after starting, one of the drivers got homesick, +discouraged and disgusted with the trip, left us and started back home +on foot. This compelled Sollitt and me to drive his team. One of our +wagons not being made of properly seasoned wood, became shaky from the +effects of the heat and dry air of the plains. At Marysville I traded it +off to a ranchman for a yoke of oxen and had the load distributed on the +other wagons so that again we had as many drivers as teams. I also +traded some of our younger, weaker oxen for old ones that served our +purpose better, though they were of less market value.</p> + +<p>We learned that between this place and the Little Blue, there was no +water to be found to enable us to camp for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> night, so we were +compelled to make the trip—some twenty miles—at a single drive. As the +weather was hot we started late in the afternoon, drove all night, and +arrived early next day, at that small river, where we found water and +grass. Sollitt rode ahead much of the time to pick out the road.</p> + +<p>Our course for several days was now along the Little Blue in a northwest +direction, toward Fort Kearney on the Platte. To avoid the side gullies +and ravines, which were water courses in the spring, though now dried +up, we frequently circled off two or three miles on to the level +prairie, but had to return near the stream when we camped, in order to +get water.</p> + +<p>One day, off to the west, a mile or two away, we saw a single buffalo +which had probably been outlawed and driven from the herd to wander in +solitude over the plains. Our pony had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> crossed the plains before and +was well used to buffalo. Sollitt mounted him, and, rifle in hand, rode +for the lone beast. When approached he began to run, but the horse soon +overtook him, and he received a bullet. Then he turned savagely on the +horse and rider, and, with head down, chased them at high speed before +trying to escape. The horse overtook him a second time and he received +another bullet. Then he charged after the horse and rider again. When +the horse's turn to chase came next, the buffalo received a third shot +and soon fell dead. This was quite exciting sport for us "tenderfeet" +who had never seen a buffalo hunt.</p> + +<p>Sollitt, who was a butcher by trade, was now in his glory. He rode back +to camp, sharpened his knives and with the help of one or two of the men +carved up the animal and brought back a supply of fresh meat. This +proved rather tough as the animal was an old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> bull, nevertheless the +tongue and the tenderloin were relished, after having eaten only salt +pork for three weeks.</p> + +<p>The small stream of water in the Little Blue grew less and less as we +approached its source, and the last night that we camped near it, there +was no running water at all. The little that was to be seen stood in +stagnant pools in the bottom of the river bed. When we would approach +these pools, turtles, frogs and snakes in great variety, that had been +sunning themselves on the banks, would tumble, jump and crawl into the +water, and countless tadpoles wiggled in the mud, at the bottom, so that +the water was soon black and thick. Its taste and smell were anything +but appetizing. The oxen, though without water since morning, refused to +drink it, even after we had dipped it up in pails and allowed it to +settle. We boiled it for the coffee, but the odor and flavor of mud +still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> remained. The situation had become serious and our only hope was +to reach the Platte river before the oxen were famished from thirst. +Earlier in the season, before the streams dried up, this was a favorite +route of travel, but it was not so at this time of year and we saw very +few passing teams.</p> + +<p>By daylight next morning the oxen were yoked and hitched up and we +commenced a forced march for water and salvation. The old trail seemed +still to follow the course of the dried-up stream, bearing much to the +west. We concluded to leave it and steer more to the north with the hope +of striking the Platte at the nearest point. The prairie was hard and +level, the day not excessively hot, and everything was favorable for a +long drive. The rule for keeping together was ignored and each team was +to be urged to its best speed, in the hope that the strong and the swift +would reach the goal though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> the weak and the weary might fall by the +way.</p> + +<p>Before noon the teams were much separated. They halted for a nooning; +the oxen browsed a little on sage brush and dried grass; the men lunched +on crackers, cold coffee and the remnants of breakfast, but our water +keg was empty. By the time the last team was at the nooning place, the +head ones were ready to start on.</p> + +<p>Sollitt rode ahead to explore and pick out the road, carrying his rifle +on the saddle, as we were liable at any time to meet bands of +treacherous, pillaging Pawnees, whose haunts were on the lower Platte. I +formed the rear guard with the hindmost wagon, so that it would not be +deserted and alone in case of accident. Each team was always in sight of +the next one ahead of it, though the train was stretched out some three +miles long. Late in the afternoon Sollitt rode back with the cheering +news that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> he had seen the Stars and Stripes waving over Fort Kearney to +the west and that he had picked out a camping ground near the river a +few miles below. Soon after dark the last team was in camp and the men +and beasts were luxuriating in the clear running water of the Platte.</p> + +<p>The next forenoon we drove on to the fort and camped a mile or two west +of it for a day's rest. This was on the 20th of August, so we had been +out twenty days on the road from St. Joe. At the fort was a postoffice +and here we received letters from our friends in the East, and spent a +good part of the day in writing, in response to them. Letters were +brought here by the coaches of the overland express which carried the +United States mail to California.</p> + +<p>The fort consisted of a few buildings surrounded by a high adobe wall +for protection; and adjoining was a strong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> stockade for horses and +oxen. There were a few United States troops here. Just outside the fort +grounds were some ranches, stores, saloons and trading posts. The two +Missourians proceeded forthwith to get dead drunk and it took them till +next day to sober up. By way of apology they said the whisky tasted "so +good" after being so long without it. We had no whisky on our train. It +was one of the very few that crossed the plains in those days without +that, so considered, essential article in frontier life.</p> + +<p>Personally, through the entire period of my "Pike's Peak" experience, I +adhered strictly to my custom of not tasting spirituous or malt liquors, +nor using tobacco in any form.</p> + +<p>We were now on the main central route of travel from the States to the +mountains, Salt Lake, California and Oregon. We saw teams and trains +daily going in both directions, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Kearney was a favorite place for +them to stop over a day and rest. Our course now lay along the south +side of the Platte, clear to Denver; and with the prospect of level +roads and plenty of grass and water, we looked forward hopefully to a +pleasant trip the rest of the way. The valley of the Platte is a sandy +plain, nearly level, extending westward for hundreds of miles from +Kearney, bounded on the north and the south by low bluffs, some four or +five miles apart. Back of these lie the more elevated, dry plains +extending to great distances.</p> + +<p>Winding through this valley is the Platte river, a half a mile or more +wide, with water from an inch to two feet deep, running over a sandy +bottom and filled with numberless islands of shifting sand. The banks +were lined with willows and cottonwood bushes and bordered in many +places by green, grassy meadows, but trees were a rarity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> and for some +two hundred miles we did not see one larger than a good sized bush.</p> + +<p>The day we camped near Kearney we began to see buffalo in small groups +off a few miles to the south and west. When I awoke next morning, soon +after daylight, I saw a lone one quietly eating grass about half a mile +from camp. I got out a rifle and went toward him, stooping or going on +my hands and knees through the wet grass, till within good rifle shot. I +then stood up, took deliberate aim just behind the shoulder, and fired. +He gave a quick jump, looked around and started toward me on the run +with head down, in usual fashion, for a charge. My thought was that I +had hit, but not hurt him. I dropped into the grass and made my way on +hands and knees as fast as possible toward camp, a little agitated. +Losing sight of me the animal soon stopped, stood still a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> minutes +and then suddenly dropped to the ground. He had been shot through the +heart.</p> + +<p>This was my first and last buffalo, as sneaking up to them and shooting +them down did not seem much more like sport than shooting down oxen. I +was neither a sufficiently expert rider nor hunter to chase and shoot +them on horseback. The one I shot was carved by Sollitt and one of the +men, and furnished us fresh meat for breakfast and several meals +thereafter.</p> + +<p>During the day we passed a ranch, occupied by a man and his son, twelve +or fourteen years old. The boy had eight or ten buffalo calves in a pen, +which he said he had caught himself and intended to sell to parties +returning to their homes in the East. He had a well-trained little pony, +which he would mount, with a rope in hand that had a noose at the end, +and ride directly into the midst of a small drove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> of buffalo, and while +they scattered and ran would slip his rope about the neck of a calf and +lead it back to the ranch. The calf would side up to the pony and follow +it along as if under the delusion that it was following its mother. The +man traded in cattle by picking up estrays and buying, for a song, those +that were footsore and sick, keeping them till in condition and then +selling them to passing trains that were in need.</p> + +<p>We now began to see buffalo quite plentifully off to the southwest, in +small groups, and in droves of twenty or more. Sometimes hunters on +horseback, who had camped near Kearney, were indulging in the excitement +of the hunt, chasing and shooting, and in turn being chased by the +enraged animals. That evening we camped on the verge of the great herd +that extended some sixty or seventy miles to the westward, and blackened +the bluffs to the south,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> and the great plains beyond as far as the eye +could reach. This great herd was not a solid, continuous mass, but was +divided up into innumerable smaller herds or droves consisting of from +fifty to two hundred animals each. These kept together when grazing, +marching or running, the bulls on the outside and the cows and calves in +the center. Sometimes these small herds were separated from each other +by a considerable space.</p> + +<p>This great herd had probably started northward from the Arkansas in the +spring and had now reached the Platte, where they lingered for water and +the better grass that was found along the river. Following in the wake +and prowling on the outskirts of this slowly moving host, were thousands +of wolves, collected from the distant plains, to feast upon the young +and the weakly, and the carcasses of those that were killed by accident +or the hunter's gun.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>The turn for watching the cattle the first half of that night fell to +the lot of two of the boys from Chicago. The cattle were grazing in a +good meadow off toward the river, half a mile from camp. At dusk the +boys went off to take charge of them. After dark the wolves began to +howl in all directions and sometimes it sounded as if a hundred hungry +ones were fighting over a single carcass. Then the buffalo bulls chimed +in with the music and bellowed, apparently by thousands, at the same +time. Pandemonium seemed to reign. The two boys got nervous, then +frightened and finally panic-stricken, and long before midnight came +rushing into camp declaring that they were surrounded by droves of +hungry wolves and furious buffalo. The cattle were also disturbed and +inclined to scatter and wander off.</p> + +<p>Next morning early, all of us, except the cook, started off to hunt them +up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Some went up stream, some down, and some back along the road we had +come. Tobias and myself waded the river to the north side to hunt them +there, but we found neither cattle nor cattle tracks. We did find a huge +rattlesnake, which we killed. The river was about three-quarters of a +mile wide, and in no place over two feet deep. Wading it was easy enough +if one kept moving, but if he stood still he would gradually sink into +the quicksand till it was difficult to extricate his feet.</p> + +<p>By noon, after this thorough search, we had collected all of our oxen +but two, which could not be found. Sollitt was very suspicious of cattle +thieves, and, whenever an ox was lost, his first opinion was that it had +been stolen. Mine was that it had strayed off and hidden in some ravine +or clump of bushes. He decided that these two lost ones had been taken +by some ranchman or passing train. I believed they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> had gone off with +the buffalo and that when they wanted drink badly they would come back +to the river. I therefore concluded to let the train go on, while I, +with the pony and some food, would stay behind and patrol the river for +a day or two. I rode back eastward along the river's edge, searching in +the bushes, and at night came to a ranch, near which I picketed the pony +and slept on the ground. Next morning, after first examining the +ranchman's cattle, I started westward again, making another thorough +search as I went along. In the afternoon I found the stragglers quietly +eating grass near the river, and then drove them along as fast as +possible till the train was overtaken.</p> + +<p>We were now right in the midst of the great herd, through which we +journeyed for nearly five days. The anxiety they gave us was greater +than that of any of our previous troubles. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> avoid having the oxen +stampeded, or run off with the buffalo at night, we wheeled our wagons +into a circle when camping at the end of a day's drive, and thus formed +a corral, into which we put as many oxen as it would hold, for the +night, and chained the rest in their yokes to the wagon wheels on the +outside. This was hard on the oxen, as they could not rest as well as +when free, nor could they graze a part of the night, as was their habit. +Whenever we looked off to the south or southwest, we would see dozens +and dozens of the small droves of one or two hundred buffalo moving +about in all directions. Some of the droves would be quietly eating +grass, some marching in a slow, stately walk, and others on the run, +going back and forth between their grazing grounds and the river. But +each separate drove kept in quite a compact body.</p> + +<p>Sometimes they would keep off from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the trail along which we traveled, +for several hours at a time and not trouble us. At other times they +would be going in such great numbers across our route, passing to and +from the river, that we had to wait hours for them to get out of our +way. Often a drove would get frightened at a passing wagon, the report +of a gun, the barking of a dog, or some imaginary enemy, and would start +on a run which soon became a furious stampede, the hindermost following +those before them, and in their blind fury crowding them forward with +such irresistible force that the leaders could not stop if they would. +If they came suddenly to a deep gully the foremost would tumble in till +it was full, and thus form a bridge of bone and flesh over which the +rest would pass. Several times these frightened droves passed so near +our wagons as to be alarming.</p> + +<p>One drove came within a few yards of one of our wagons, and some of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +drivers peppered them with bullets from their pistols. Though these +frightened droves could not be stopped, they would shy to the right or +left if an unusual commotion was made in time in front of them. When a +drove, at some distance, seemed to be headed toward our train, we often +ran toward it, yelling, firing guns, and waving articles of clothing. +The leaders would shy off, and that would give direction to the whole +body, and thus relieve us from danger for the time being.</p> + +<p>Every teamster, traveler and hunter that crossed the plains felt that he +must kill from one to a dozen or more buffalo. The result was that the +plain was dotted and whitened with tens of thousands of their carcasses +and skeletons. With this general slaughter and the increase of travel +induced by the discovery of the Pike's Peak gold fields, no wonder that +this was the very last year that these animals appeared in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> large +numbers in the Platte valley. We always estimated their numbers by the +million.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> For some years after they appeared in large numbers in some +parts of the great plains of the West, but they rapidly declined in +number till they became extinct in their wild state.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The estimate was probably not an exaggeration. +</p><p> +In a late work it is stated on the authority of railroad statistics that +in the thirteen years from 1868 to 1881 "in Kansas alone there was paid +out <i>two millions five hundred thousand dollars</i> for their bones +gathered on the prairies to be utilized by the various carbon works of +the country, principally in St. Louis. It required about one hundred +carcases to make one ton of bones, the price paid averaging eight +dollars a ton; so the above quoted enormous sum represented the +skeletons of over thirty-one millions of buffalo."—<i>The Old Santa Fe +Trail, by Col. Henry Inman p. 203.</i> +</p><p> +The author further says, "In the autumn of 1868 I rode with Generals +Sheridan, Custer, Sully and others for three consecutive days through +one continuous herd, which must have contained millions. In the spring +of 1869 the train on the Kansas Pacific railroad was detained at a point +between Forts Harker and Hays from nine o'clock in the morning until +five in the afternoon in consequence of the passage of an immense herd +of buffalo across the track." +</p><p> +Horace Greeley crossed the plains in 1859 in a stage coach, and as +stated in his published letters, he saw a herd of buffalo that he +estimated to contain over five millions.</p></div> + +<p>While in their midst we not only had fresh meat at every meal, but we +cut the flesh in strips and tied it to the wagons to dry and thus +provided a small supply of "jerked" meat. In the dry, pure air of this +region, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> in the heat of August, fresh meat did not spoil but +simply dried up, if cut in moderate sized pieces. This was also found to +be the case with fresh beef in the mountains. We felt relieved and +heartily glad when the last drove of buffalo was left behind. +Familiarity with them, as with the Indians, destroyed all the poetry and +romance about them. They were not a thing of beauty. An old buffalo bull +with broken horns and numerous scars from a hundred fights, with woolly +head and shaggy mane, his last year's coat half shed and half hanging +from his sides in ragged patches and strips flying in the breeze, the +whole covered over with dirt and patches of dried mud, presented a +picture that was supremely ugly.</p> + +<p>On the journey from St. Joe to Kearney we found, along the water courses +and ravines, enough of dry wood and dead trees to supply us plentifully +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> fuel for cooking and occasionally to light up the camp in the +evening. To make sure of never being entirely out of wood, a small +supply was carried along on the wagons. Along the Platte there was +practically no wood to be had. For one hundred and fifty miles we did +not see a single tree, but the buffalo supplied us with a good fuel +called "buffalo chips," which was scattered over the plains in +abundance, and which in this dry country, burned freely and made a very +hot fire. When approaching camp in the evening, the drivers would pick +up armsfull of fuel for the use of the cook and for the evening camp +fire, and place it in a pile as they came to a halt.</p> + +<p>As soon as we reached camp and while others were taking care of the +oxen, the cook built a fire, drove two forked sticks into the ground, +one on each side of the fire, placed a cross stick on them, and then +hung his pots<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> and kettle over the blaze. A big pot of beans with pork +was boiled or warmed over. Coffee was prepared, and dough made of flour +and baking powder was baked either in the tin oven or a Dutch oven. +Frequently some of the men were seated on the ground around the fire, +stick in hand with a piece of pork on the end of it, held near the coals +to toast. While eating and during the early evening, talking, story +telling and ironical remarks about the prolonged picnic—as the trip was +called—were indulged in.</p> + +<p>We were now on the main route of travel between the East and the Pike's +Peak gold fields. Horse and mule teams going West, and traveling faster +than our ox train could go, passed us frequently, and gave us the latest +general news from the States. We also began to meet the vanguard of the +returning army of disappointed gold seekers. They came on foot, on +horse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> back and in wagons drawn by horses, mules and oxen, and many of +them were a sorry, ragged looking lot. Judging from their requests from +us, their most pressing wants were tobacco and whisky. In those days +Western towns were full of enthusiastic, sanguine, roving men who were +ever ready for any new enterprise, and they were the first to rush to +the gold regions in the spring. But lacking pluck, perseverance and the +staying qualities, they were the first to rush back when the +difficulties and discouragements of the undertaking appeared in their +way.</p> + +<p>These returners told sad stories about life in the mountains, the +prospects and the danger from Indians on the road. They said that there +was but little gold to be found, that very few of the miners were making +expenses, that food was scarce, and that before we reached our +destination, nearly everybody there would be leaving for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> home. Besides, +they said, there were hundreds of Indians along the route, robbing and +murdering the whites. Such stories had a discouraging effect on some of +our drivers and I was very fearful that a few of them would leave us and +join the homeward procession.</p> + +<p>Some of these chaps showed a humorous vein in the mottoes painted on the +sides of their wagons. On one was "Pike's Peak or bust," evidently +written on going out; under it was written, "Busted." On another was, +"Ho for Pike's Peak;" under it was, "Ho for Sweet Home."</p> + +<p>Each exaggerated account of the Indians made by these people, brought us +nearer and nearer to them and made them seem more and more dangerous. +Finally one morning as we reached the top of a gentle swell in the +plain, a large band of them suddenly appeared in full view, camped at +the side of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> our road about half a mile ahead of us. From all +appearances there were five or six hundred or more of them. They +belonged to the western branch of the Sioux tribe. We stopped a few +minutes to consider the situation. We had heard and read enough about +Western Indians to know that the safest thing to do was to appear bold +and strong, while a show of weakness and timidity was often dangerous. +So we placed in our belts all our ornaments in the shape of pistols and +ugly looking knives, and those who had rifles carried them. Then we +drove boldly forward toward the camp. I rode the pony beside the driver +of the foremost wagon with my old shot gun in hand. Soon two or three of +their mounted warriors or hunters rode at full speed toward us and then +without stopping circled off on the plain and back to their camp. They +were evidently making observations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>Off to the north several hundred shaggy ponies were grazing in a green +meadow near the river, and the greater part of their men seemed to be +there with them. The camp was made up of some forty lodges, which looked +like so many cones grouped on the plain.</p> + +<p>These lodges were formed of poles, some fifteen feet long, the larger +ends of which rested on the ground in a circle, while the smaller ends +were fastened in a bunch at the top, with a covering of dressed buffalo +skins stitched together. On one side was a low opening, which served for +a door.</p> + +<p>As we approached we were first greeted by a lot of dirty, hungry looking +dogs, which barked at us, snarled and showed their teeth. Then there was +a flock of shy, naked, staring children who at first kept at a safe +distance, but came nearer as their timidity left them. The boys with +their little bows and arrows were shooting at targets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>—taking their +first lessons as future warriors of the tribe.</p> + +<p>When we got near the edge of the camp several of the old men came +forward to greet us with extended hands, saying "how! how! how!" and we +had to have a handshake all around. Some of them knew a few words of +English. They asked for whisky, powder and tobacco. Instead, we gave +some of them a little cold "grub." They looked over all the wagons and +their contents, so far as they could, and were particularly interested +in the locomotive boiler which was placed on the running gear of a wagon +without the box, and with the help of a little rude imagination, +somewhat resembled a huge cannon. I told them it was a "big shoot," and +that seemed to inspire them with great respect for it. They looked under +it and over it and into it with much interest.</p> + +<p>The greater part of the squaws were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> seated on the ground at the +openings of their lodges, busily at work. Some were dressing skins by +scraping and rubbing them, some making moccasins and leggings for their +lazy lords, some stringing beads and others preparing food. The oldest +ones, thin, haggard and bronzed, looked like witches. The young squaws, +in their teens, round and plump, their faces bedaubed with red paint +toned down with dirt, squatted on the ground and grinned with delight +when gazed at by our crew of young men. We all traded something for +moccasins and for the rest of the trip wore them instead of shoes.</p> + +<p>Curious to see inside of the lodges, I took a cup of sugar and went into +two or three under pretence of trading it for moccasins. Their +belongings were lying around in piles, and the stench from the partly +prepared skins and food was intolerable.</p> + +<p>One old Indian seemed to think that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> I was hunting a wife, for he +offered to trade me one of his young squaws for the pony. A pony was the +usual price of a wife with these Western Indians. They exhibited no +hostility whatever toward us. It might have been otherwise, had we been +a weak party of two or three possessing something that they coveted.</p> + +<p>They asked us if we saw any buffalo. When we told them that at a +distance of two or three days' travel the plains were covered with them, +they seemed greatly interested and before we got away began to take down +some of their lodges and start off. They were out for their yearly +buffalo hunt to supply themselves with meat for the winter. In moving +they tied one end of their lodge poles in bunches to their ponies and +let the other ends spread out and drag upon the ground, and on these +dragging poles they piled their skins and other possessions. The young +children and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> old squaws would often climb up on these and ride.</p> + +<p>Cactus plants in hundreds of varieties grew in great abundance on these +dry plains. They were beautiful to the eye, but a thorn in the flesh. As +we walked through them their sharp needles would run through trousers +and moccasins and penetrate legs and feet. We often ate the sickishly +sweet little pears that were seen in profusion.</p> + +<p>Prairie dogs by the million lived and burrowed in the ground over a vast +region. The plains were dotted all over with the little mounds about two +feet high that surrounded their holes. On these mounds the little +animals would stand up and bark till one approached quite near, then +dart into the holes. In places the ground was honeycombed with their +small tunnels, endangering the legs of horses and oxen, which would +break through the crust of ground into them. I shot at many of them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +but never got a single animal, as they always dropped, either dead or +alive, into the hole and disappeared from sight.</p> + +<p>Many small owls sat with a wise look on top of these little mounds, and +rattlesnakes, too, were often found there. When disturbed the owls and +snakes would quickly fly and crawl into the holes. It was a saying that +a prairie dog, an owl and a rattlesnake lived together in peace in the +same hole. Whether the latter two were welcome guests of the little +animal, or forced themselves upon his hospitality, in his cool retreat, +I never knew.</p> + +<p>One day we came to a wide stretch of loose dry sand, devoid of +vegetation, over which we had to go. It looked like some ancient lake or +river bottom. The white sand reflected the sun's rays and made it +unpleasantly hot. The wheels sank into the sand and made it so hard a +pull for the oxen that we had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> to double up teams, taking one wagon +through and going back for another, so we only made about three miles +that day.</p> + +<p>The unexpected was always happening to delay us. The trip was dragging +out longer than was first reckoned on, and the early enthusiasm was +dying out. Walking slowly along nine or ten hours a day grew monotonous +and tiresome. Then, after the day's work, to watch cattle one-half of +every third night was a lonely, dreary task, and became intolerably +wearisome. Standing or strolling alone, half a mile from camp, in the +darkness, often not a sound to be heard except the howling of the +wolves, and nothing visible but the sky above and the ground below, one +felt as if his only friends and companions were his knife and his +pistol.</p> + +<p>In the early part of September violent thunderstorms came up every +evening or night, with the appearance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> of an approaching deluge. Very +little rain fell, however, but the lightning and thunder were the most +terrific I ever saw or heard. There being no trees or other high objects +around, we were as likely to be struck as any thing. For a few wet +nights I crawled into one of the covered wagons to sleep, where some +provisions had been taken out, and right on top of twelve kegs of +powder. I sometimes mused over the probable results, in case lightning +were to strike that wagon. We passed one grave of three men who had been +killed by a single stroke of lightning. Graves of those who had given up +the struggle of life on the way, were seen quite frequently along the +route. They were often marked by inscriptions, made by the companions of +the dead ones on pieces of board planted in the graves.</p> + +<p>Now we came to extensive alkali plains, covered with soda, white as new +fallen snow, glittering in the sunshine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> No vegetation grew and all was +desolation. An occasional shower left little pools of water here and +there, strongly impregnated with alkali, and from them the oxen would +occasionally take a drink. From that cause, or some other unknown one, +they began to die off rapidly, and within three days one-third of them +were gone. The remainder were too few to pull the heavy train. The +situation was such that it gave us great anxiety.</p> + +<p>What was to be done? Either leave part behind and go on to Denver with +what we could take, or else keep things together by taking some of the +wagons on for a few miles and then go back for the rest. The conclusion +was to leave four loads of heavy machinery on the plains and go on with +the other wagons as fast as possible. I asked the drivers if any of them +would stay and guard those to be left. Tobias and the German volunteered +to stay.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>We selected a camping spot a mile away from the usually traveled road so +as to avoid the scrutiny of other pilgrims and look like a small party +camping to rest. Then we left them provisions for two or three weeks and +went ahead. We guessed that we were then about 150 miles from Denver. +The two left behind had no mishaps, but found their stay there all alone +for two weeks very dreary and lonesome.</p> + +<p>Tobias was for over a year one of my most valuable and agreeable +assistants. The German, when in the mountains a short time, lost his +eyes by a premature blast of powder in a mining shaft. I helped provide +funds to send him East to his friends.</p> + +<p>A few days before this misfortune of the death of our oxen and when the +drivers were in their most discontented mood, Sollitt, ever suspicious, +came to me quite agitated with a tale of gloomy forebodings. He said he +had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> overheard fragments of a talk between the Missourians and some +others who were quite friendly with them, which convinced him that a +conspiracy was hatching to terminate the tiresome trip, by their +deserting us in a body, injuring or driving off the oxen, or committing +some more tragic act. He thereupon armed himself heavily with his small +weapons, and advised me to do the same.</p> + +<p>Instead of following the advice, I became more chatty and friendly with +the men and talked of our trials and our better prospects. I discovered +in a few a bitter feeling toward Sollitt, occasioned by some rough words +or treatment they had received. Sollitt was honest and faithful and in +many things very efficient, but was devoid of tact and agreeable ways +toward those under his control, especially if he took a dislike to them. +One man urged me to assert my reserved authority and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> take direct charge +of the whole business of the train to the exclusion of Sollitt. I had no +longings for the disagreeable task of a train master, and simply poured +oil on the troubled waters, and went ahead.</p> + +<p>When the oxen began to die off, Sollitt told me that he thought one of +the Missourians had poisoned them and he disemboweled a number of the +dead animals to see if the cause of death could be discovered. He found +no signs of poison and nothing that looked suspicious in the stomachs; +but he said, the spleens of all of them were in a high state of +inflammation. I did not, however, understand that the oxen got their +ailment from the Missourians.</p> + +<p>One evening we saw the clear cut outline of the Rocky Mountains, +including Long's Peak. We differed in opinion, at first, as to whether +it was mountain or cloud and could not decide the question till next +morning, when,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> as it was still in view, we knew it was mountain. For +several days, though traveling directly toward the mountains, we seemed +to get no nearer, which was rather discouraging.</p> + +<p>Small flocks of antelope, fleet and graceful, were frequently seen +gliding over the plain. They were very shy, and kept several gunshots +away. But their curiosity was great, and if a man would lie down on the +ground and wave a flag or handkerchief tied to a stick till they noticed +it, they would first gaze at it intently and then gradually approach. In +this way they were often enticed by hunters to come near enough for a +shot.</p> + +<p>Forty or fifty miles below Denver we came in view of one picturesque +ruin—old Fort St. Vrain—with its high, thick walls of adobe situated +on the north side of the Platte. It was built about twenty-five years +before, by Ceran St. Vrain, an old trapper and Indian trader.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> These +adobe walls, standing well preserved in this climate, it seemed to me, +would be leveled to the ground by one or two good eastern equinoxial +storms.</p> + +<p>We reached Denver on the 18th of September about noon, being forty-nine +days out from St. Joe. Stubbs met us five or six miles out on the road. +This gave him and me a chance, as we walked along, to talk over the +condition of things and our plans for the immediate future. He had been +in Denver over a week waiting for us and had had no tidings of the train +since I wrote him from Fort Kearney. He had considerable liking for +display and had evidently told people in Denver that he was waiting for +the arrival of a large train of machinery and goods in which he was +interested. He thought it would be a scene to be proud of to see +fourteen new wagons, heavily loaded and drawn by forty yoke of oxen, +come marching into town in one close file.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> When he saw only nine wagons +straggling along over the space of a mile, covered with dust that had +been settling on them for weeks, with oxen lean, footsore, limping and +begrimed with sweat and dirt, and teamsters in clothes faded, soiled and +ragged, his pride sank to a low level, and he did not want to go into +town with the wagons. The train did not tarry, but crossed Cherry +Creek—then entirely dry, though often a torrent—drove up the Platte a +mile or so and camped for the day on the south or east side of the +stream. Stubbs and I spent a couple of hours looking over the town and +calling on some acquaintances and then went to the camp.</p> + +<p>Denver was at that time a lively place, with a few dozen frame and log +buildings, and probably a thousand or more people. Most of them lived +and did business in tents and wagons. A Mr. Forrest, whom I had known +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> Chicago, was doing a banking business here in a tent. The town +seemed to be full of wagons and merchandise, consisting of food, +clothing and all kinds of tools and articles used in mining. Many people +were preparing to leave for the States, some to spend the winter and to +return, others, more discouraged or tired of gold hunting, to stay for +good.</p> + +<p>When I went to the camp in the afternoon Sollitt and all the drivers +wanted to go back to the town to look it over and make a few purchases. +I told them I would look after the oxen till evening, when the herders +for that night would come and relieve me. The afternoon was clear and +warm, though the mountains to the west were carpeted with new-fallen +snow. I went out in my shirt sleeves, without a thought of needing a +coat. The oxen wandered off quite a distance from camp in search of the +best grass, and I leisurely fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>lowed them. Late in the afternoon, and +quite suddenly, the wind sprang up and came directly from the mountains, +damp and cold. Soon I was enveloped in a dense fog, and could see but a +few yards away. I lost all sense of the direction of the camp or town, +and the men at camp did not know where or how to find me. When night +came it grew so dark that I could not see my hand a foot from my eyes, +and could only keep with the cattle by the noise they made in walking +and grazing. Later the fog turned into a cold rain, with considerable +wind, and was chilling to the bone, so I was booked for the night in a +cold storm without supper or coat. To keep the blood in circulation I +would jump and run around in a circle for half an hour at a time. +Sometimes I would lean up against one of the quiet old oxen on his +leeward side, and thus get some warmth from his body and shelter from +the wind. When the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> oxen had finished grazing and had lain down for the +night, I tried to lie down beside one of them to get out of the wind, +but the experiment was so novel to the ox that he would get up at once +and walk off. During the night the oxen strolled off more than a mile +from camp. When morning came I was relieved by the men and was ready for +breakfast, and especially for the strong coffee. In times of exposure +and extra effort, coffee was the greatest solace we found.</p> + +<p>When on a visit to Denver, twenty-three years afterwards, I tried to +find out just where I spent that night. An old settler of the place +decided with me that it was on the elevated ground now known as Capitol +Hill. During the day we crossed the Platte and went forward with the +train to the foot of the mountains, and camped some two or three miles +south of where Clear creek leaves the foot-hills. Next morning Sollitt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +took twelve yoke of oxen with two drivers, and started back for the four +wagons and two men that had been left behind on the plains. Our +teamsters, who had volunteered to drive oxen to the mountains without +pay, had now fulfilled their agreement, but most of them were glad to +stay with us for awhile at current wages—about a dollar and a half a +day. The prospect was not as golden, and the men were not as anxious to +get to mining as they had been when a thousand miles further east.</p> + +<p>Stubbs had spent a month among the mines and mills, and his observations +made him rather blue. The accounts he gave me were most discouraging. He +was inclined to think that the best thing for us to do was to go into +camp for the winter, look around, watch the developments, and in the +spring decide where to locate, if at all, or whether to sell out, give +up the en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>terprise and go home. The proposition was not a bad one, by +any means; but I was too full of determination to do <i>something</i>, to +think of sitting down and quietly waiting six months, after all we had +gone through, to get there. I thought we would all be better satisfied +if we were to pitch in and make a vigorous effort, even if we failed in +the end, rather than to quit at this early stage of the hunt.</p> + +<p>The usual route from Denver to the gold fields, was to the north of +Clear creek, by Golden City to Blackhawk, and then to Mountain City. +Stubbs selected a route further south, because there was a fine camping +place, with good grass, about fifteen miles, or half way up to the gold +fields, from the foot of the mountains. The roads were quite passable up +to this camp, though the hills were steep. With the drivers and oxen +that were left after Sollitt started back, the wagons were gradu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>ally +taken up to this mountain camp, while he was back on the plains and +Stubbs and I were looking over the gold region to decide on a final +location. The weather was pleasant and rather warm during the day, but +frosty at night. We still slept in the open air, and our blankets were +often frozen to the ground in the morning.</p> + +<p>There was more or less gulch mining and prospecting<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> going on over a +large section of the mountains, but the principal part of the lode +mining, and most of the mills that had been located, were confined to a +field not over five or six miles in extent, the center of which was +Mountain City, now Central City. There were fifty or more mills already +up and in running order. They varied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> in capacity from three to twenty +stamps. Some were running day and night crushing quartz that was +apparently rich in gold; some were running a part of the time, +experimenting on a variety of quartz taken out of different lodes and +prospect holes, and generally not paying, and some were idle, the owners +discouraged, "bust," and trying to sell, or else gone home for the +winter to get more money to work with.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Prospecting" included the searching for gold in almost any +way that was experimental. Going off into the unexplored mountains to +hunt new fields of gold, whether in gulches or lodes was prospecting. +Digging a hole down through the dirt and loose stones in the bottom of a +gulch to see if gold could be found in the sand was prospecting. Sinking +a shaft into the top dirt of a hillside in search of a new lode, or into +the lode when discovered to see if gold could be found there was +prospecting. And manipulating a specimen of quartz by pulverizing and +the use of quicksilver to see if it contained gold was also +prospecting.</p></div> + +<p>The most of these mills were located about Mountain City and Blackhawk +and in Nevada and Russell's gulches. The rest of them were scattered in +other small gulches or mountain valleys in the vicinity. The richest +mines being worked were the Bobtail, Gregory, and others, in Gregory +gulch between Mountain City and Blackhawk. The other principal gold +diggings were some seventy miles further south, near the present site of +Leadville. These I did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> not then visit. Nearly all of these mills had +been brought out and located during the year 1860. Ours was about the +last one to arrive that season. It was evident that the business was not +generally paying. The reasons given were, that the mills did not save +the gold that was in the quartz, and that those at work in the mines +were nearly all in the "cap rock" which was supposed to overlie the +richer deposits below. The theory was that the deeper they went the +richer the quartz. There were just enough rich "pockets" and streaks +being discovered and good runs made by the few paying mines and mills to +keep everybody hopeful and in expectation that fortune would soon favor +them. So they worked away as long as they had anything to eat, or tools +and powder to work with.</p> + +<p>After looking over the fields a number of days, carrying our blankets +and sleeping in empty miners' cabins, Stubbs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> and I concluded to locate +at the head of Leavenworth gulch, which was about a mile and a half +southwest of Mountain City, between Nevada and Russell's gulches. The +side hills were studded all over with prospect holes and mining shafts. +Several lodes, said to be rich in gold, had recently been discovered, +and a nice stream of water ran down the gulch. Only three mills were in +operation there, and a number of miners who were developing their own +claims strongly encouraged us to come, promising us plenty of quartz to +crush. Several parties were gulch mining there with apparent success, +and during the short time that I watched one man washing out the dirt +and gravel from the bottom of the gulch he picked up several nice +nuggets of shining gold, which was quite stimulating to one's hopes. I +afterwards learned that these same nuggets had been washed out several +times before, whenever a "ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>derfoot" would come along, who it was +thought might want to buy a rich claim.</p> + +<p>As soon as we located and selected a mill site, we went vigorously to +work, and all was preparation, bustle and activity. Stubbs was a good +mechanic and took charge of the construction. Others were cutting down +trees, hauling and squaring logs, and framing and placing timbers to +support the heavy mill machinery. As soon as Sollitt returned from the +plains, he, with a few of the drivers, went to work to get the wagons, +machinery and provisions from the mountain camp up to our location. In +many places, at first glance, the roads looked impassable. They went up +hills and rocky ledges so steep that six yoke of oxen could pull only a +part of a load; then down a mountain side so precipitous that the four +wheels of each wagon would have to be dead-locked with chains to keep +them from overrunning the oxen; then they would go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> along mountain +streams full of rocks and bowlders, and upsetting a wagon was quite a +common occurrence. I saw one of our provision wagons turn over into a +running stream, and, among other things, a barrel of sugar start rolling +down with the current.</p> + +<p>As soon as everything was brought up to our final location, I sold some +of the wagons, some oxen and the pony, thus securing cash to pay help +and other expenses. I traded others off for sawed lumber, shingles, +etc., for use in building the mill-house and a cabin. Grass was very +scarce in the mining regions. One of the faithful, well-whipped oxen was +killed for beef (a little like eating one of the family). In this dry, +pure air the meat kept in perfect condition for many weeks till all +eaten up, and it was an agreeable change in our diet.</p> + +<p>When we had finished the hauling of timber and other things, we sent +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> oxen, still on hand, down to the foot of the mountains where there +was grass during the winter; for cattle would pick up a living among the +foot-hills, and come out in good condition in the spring. The distance +was some twenty-five or thirty miles. Early one bright November morning +I started down there on foot to make arrangements with a ranchman to +look after them. The air was so bracing and stimulating to the energies +that I felt as if a fifty-mile walk would be mere recreation. Being +mostly down hill, I arrived at the ranch before noon, did my business, +got a dinner of beef, bread and coffee, and felt so fine that soon after +two o'clock I concluded to start for home, thinking that in any event I +would reach one of the two or three cabins that would be found on the +latter part of the road. Walking up the mountains was slower business +than going down, and long before I reached the expected cabins it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +became dark and I was completely tired out. I found a small pile of +dried grass by the roadside which had been collected by some teamster +for his horses. I covered myself up with this as well as I could, and +being very tired, was soon asleep, without supper or blanket. On +awakening in the morning, I found myself covered with several inches of +snow, and felt tired, hungry and depressed. I plodded along toward home +for a few hours, and came to a cabin occupied by a lone prospector, who +got me up a meal of coffee, tough beef and wheat flour bread, baked in a +frying pan with a tin cover over it. Soon after finishing the meal I +felt sick and very weak, and was unable to proceed on my journey till +late in the afternoon, when I went ahead and reached home long after +dark.</p> + +<p>Leavenworth gulch was crossed by dozens of lodes of gold-bearing quartz, +generally running in a north-easterly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> and south-westerly direction. In +this district the discoverer of a lode was entitled to claim and stake +off 200 feet in length, then others could in succession take 100 feet +each, in either direction from the discovery hole, and these claims, in +order to be valid, were all recorded in the record office of the +district. Owners of these various claims, to prospect and develop them, +had dug the side hills of the gulch all over with hundreds of holes from +ten to thirty feet deep, partly through top dirt and partly through +rock. A few would find ore rich enough to excite and encourage all the +rest. More would find rich indications that would stimulate them to work +on as long as they had provisions or credit to enable them to go ahead, +hoping each day for the golden "strike." A large majority of these +prospect holes came to nothing. Many of the miners had claims on several +different lodes, and although they might have faith in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> their richness, +they wanted to sell part of them to get means to work the rest. We had +plenty of chances to buy for a few hundred dollars in money or trade +mines partly opened, showing narrow streaks of good ore, which, +according to the prevailing belief, would widen out and pay richly as +soon as they were down through the "cap rock."</p> + +<p>While work was progressing on the mill I spent considerable time in +looking over these mines, and I went down numerous shafts by means of a +rope and windlass, turned by a lone stranger, who I sometimes feared +might let me drop. I listened to glowing descriptions by the owners, +examined the crevises and pay streaks, and took specimens home to +prospect. This was done by pounding a piece of ore to powder in a little +hand mortar, then putting in a drop of quicksilver to pick up the gold, +and then evaporating that fluid by holding it in an iron ladle over a +fire. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> richness of the color left in the cup would indicate the +amount of gold in the quartz.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> I could soon talk glibly of "blossom +rock," "pay streaks," "cap rock," "wall rock," "rich color," and use the +common terms of miners. I bought two or three mines, traded oxen and +wagons for two or three more, and furnished "grub stakes" to one or two +miners—that is, gave them provisions to live on while they worked their +claims on terms of sharing the results.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> In testing quartz by specimens, "greenhorns" were sometimes +deceived by "loaded" quicksilver, that is by that which had some gold in +it and would leave a "color" whenever evaporated. I knew one miner who +worked away in his mine, taking out quartz all winter, and was in good +spirits as he tested a specimen of his ore every day or two and always +found a rich color. When crushed in the spring his quartz did not "pay." +The bottle of quicksilver he had used all winter was found to be +"loaded."</p></div> + +<p>Quartz mills were nearly all run by steam and the fuel was pine wood cut +from the mountain sides, every one taking from these public domains +whatever he wanted. The principal features of our mill were twelve large +pestles or stamps, weighing 500 pounds each, which were raised up about +eighteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> inches by machinery and dropped into huge iron mortars onto +the small pieces of rock which were constantly fed into them by a man +with a shovel. A small stream of water was let into the mortars, and as +the rock was crushed into fine sand and powder it went out with the +water, through fine screens in front, and passed over long tables, a +little inclined, and then over woolen blankets. The tables were covered +with large sheets of brightly polished copper. On these polished plates, +quicksilver was sprinkled and it was held to the copper by the affinity +of the two metals for each other. As the water and powdered rock passed +over the tables, the quicksilver, by reason of its chemical attraction +for gold, would gather up the fine particles of that metal and, as the +two combined, would gradually harden and form an amalgam, somewhat +resembling lead. Coarser grains of gold would lodge in the blankets, +owing to their weight,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> while the small particles of rock would pass +over with the water. The amalgam was put into a retort and heated over a +fire, when the quicksilver would pass off in vapor through a tube into a +vessel of water, and then condense, to be again used, while the gold +would be left in the retort, to be broken up into small pieces and used +as current money. In order to save as much of the gold as possible, +these copper plates required close watching, constant care and much +rubbing to remove the verdigris that would form.</p> + +<p>About the first of November our mill was completed, and we expected to +operate it a good part of the winter with the quartz of other miners, +together with that which we would take out ourselves from our own mines. +A large well, or underground cistern, was dug under the mill house, +which was fed by copious springs, and promised to furnish an abundant +supply of water. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> furnish water for the numerous mills about Mountain +City and in Nevada gulch a large ditch had been dug, which started up in +the mountains near the Snowy range, and wound like a huge serpent around +promontories and the sides and heads of numerous gulches, with a slight +incline, for some fifteen miles. It passed around the hills which +bordered Leavenworth gulch, a few hundred yards above our mill site. +About the time the mill was completed the water was turned off from this +ditch on account of freezing weather and the near approach of winter. +Very soon after, the beautiful springs which supplied our tank and the +gulch with water, all dried up. They had been fed by seepage from the +big ditch. With the disappearance of the water vanished all prospect of +running the mill before spring, when the melting snow would furnish a +supply. It seemed like a bad case of "hope deferred." But the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> bracing +air and climate, outdoor life, constant exercise, coarse food and pure +water were too invigorating and stimulating to the feelings and hopes to +allow one to feel much depressed or discouraged. We looked forward to +the next summer for the golden harvest.</p> + +<p>Stubbs built us a one-and-a-half-story-cottage out of sawed lumber, +boards and shingles, with one room below for living, eating, cooking and +storing provisions in, and one above for a dormitory. A corner of the +latter was partitioned off into a small room for him and me, with a bunk +for each, under which we stored our twelve kegs of powder, as being the +safest place we had for it. We slept on beds of hay with our blankets +over us, and in very cold weather piled on our entire stock of coats and +some empty provision sacks. In the room below was a good cook stove, and +there was wood in abundance, so we kept comfortable, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> the house +was neither plastered nor sheeted, and considerable daylight came in +through cracks in the siding. We had a table and benches made of boards, +and Stubbs made me an armchair and a desk for my account books, papers +and stationery. What a luxury, after four months camping out, to be able +to sit down in a chair, eat from a table, sleep on a bed, write at a +desk, read by a candle at night and have regular, well-cooked meals.</p> + +<p>To a lover of the picturesque in scenery our location was ideal. +Immediately around us was a semicircle of high, steep, pine-covered +hills spotted with prospect holes. To the east, through an opening in +the intervening mountain ranges, the plains were in full view over a +hundred miles away. Sometimes for days, they were covered with shifting +clouds which seemed far below us. Then an east wind would drive the +clouds and mist slowly up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> into the mountains, swallowing up first one +range and then another, till only a few peaks would stand out, above an +ocean of fog, and finally we would be enveloped ourselves. Ascending a +hill a few hundred yards above our house and looking westward over a +great depression or mountain valley, one had in full view the Snowy +range over twenty miles away, with its crests and peaks covered with +perpetual snow, and Mount Gray still further in the distance. In the +fall and winter almost every day local snowstorms and blizzards were +seen playing over this great basin and on the sides of the distant +range. Our location was some nine or ten thousand feet above the sea. +The lightness of the air gave some inconvenience and many surprises to +new comers. They would get out of breath in a few minutes in walking up +a hill. I would wake up several times in a night with a feeling of +suffocation, draw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> deep breaths for a few minutes and thus get relief +before going to sleep again. It took ten minutes to boil eggs, two to +three hours for potatoes, and beans for dinner were usually put on the +fire at supper time the day before.</p> + +<p>Coin and bank bills were seldom seen. The universal currency was +retorted gold, broken up into small pieces, which went at $16 an ounce. +Every man had his buckskin purse tied with a string, to carry his "dust" +in, and every store and house had its small scales, with weights from a +few grains to an ounce, to weigh out the price when any article from a +newspaper to a wagon was purchased. No laws were in force or observed +except miners' laws made by the people of the different districts. When +a few dozen miners, more or less, settled or went to work in a new place +they soon organized, adopted a set of laws and elected officers, +usu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>ally a president, secretary, recorder of claims, justice of the +peace and a sheriff or constable. Appeals from the justice, disputes of +importance over mining claims, and criminal cases were tried at a +meeting of the miners of the district. We were in the district of +Russell's gulch. Sometimes we had a meeting of the residents of our own +gulch. One chap there stole a suit of clothes. The residents were +notified to meet at once, and the same day the culprit was tried and +found guilty, and a committee, of which I was one, was appointed to +notify him to leave our locality within two hours and not to return, on +penalty of death. He went on time. Had he been stubborn and refused to +go, I don't know what course the committee would have taken. This member +of it would have been embarrassed. An adjoining district was made up +mostly of Georgians. They had their own tastes and preju<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>dices. Soon +after we came to the mountains, at their miners' meeting a man was +convicted for some offence and sentenced to receive thirty lashes from a +heavy horsewhip. The day for the execution of the sentence was regarded +as a kind of holiday and the miners collected from all the country +around. All our men, including Sollitt, went to the whipping. Stubbs and +I stayed at home. We had no relish for that sort of amusement. A thief +was more sure of punishment than a murderer. There was so much property +lying around in cabins unguarded, while the owners were off mining or +prospecting, that stealing could not be tolerated, while the loss of a +man now and then by killing or otherwise did not count for much.</p> + +<p>When it was found that the mill could not be run during the winter, we +discharged all the men except the cook, and two others, who were kept to +help<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> do a little mining on two of the claims that we had secured by +trade and purchase. A shaft about three feet by six was sunk in each, +which followed the vein of mineral quartz down to a depth of thirty to +fifty feet. In one, the vein was quite rich in places, but only two or +three inches wide, and it would not pay to work it; but the hope that +kept us, like hundreds of others at work, was, that the vein would widen +out when we got a little deeper and grow richer as it went down. This +hope was never realized. The other shaft was on a lode called the +Keystone, and developed a wide vein of black pyrites of iron that much +resembled that which was being taken out of the best paying mines, and +most of the miners that examined it declared that we had a bonanza. Of +course we were in good spirits, but we did not care to run in debt in +order to take out more mineral than we got in sinking the shaft, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +which there were several cords. I worked a part of each day in the +shafts, with the others, to learn the details, drilling, blasting and +picking out the "pay streak." Then I spent a good deal of time looking +around among other mines, and the mills that were at work, to learn what +I could. Quite a number of other miners were at work in the gulch +sinking shafts on their best claims and taking out ore to be crushed in +the spring. To some of these we furnished provisions to enable them to +keep at work. Most of the roving, restless, fickle people had gone home +in the fall and those who stayed were men of grit and determination. +Some of them were well educated and intelligent. Every little while +somebody would strike a small pocket, or a streak of very rich ore, +which would help to make everybody else feel hopeful. And so the winter +wore away.</p> + +<p>There were four families in the gulch this winter, including that number +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> women, several children and three young ladies. The young men buzzed +around the homes of the latter like bees about a honey dish. These +families united and had a party on Christmas Eve. Three cottages were +used for the occasion, one to receive the guests in, ours for the supper +room, and another with a floor for dancing. We regarded this as the +"coming out" of the youngest of the young ladies. Several ladies from +Russell's and other gulches came to the party. Among those living here +were quite a number who brought a few books with them. No one person had +many, but all together they made quite a library and were freely lent. I +remember borrowing and reading by the light of a candle, in these long +winter evenings, some works on mines, Carlyle's works, a few histories +and several novels. The almost universal amusement with the miners and +others was card playing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> confined to euchre and poker. Every miner had +a pack of cards in his cabin if not in his pocket, and generally so +soiled and greasy that one could not tell the jack from the king. +Gambling was common and open in Denver and Mountain City, and not +unusual elsewhere. Playing for gain was never practiced in our cottage. +When poker was played, beans were put in the jackpot instead of money.</p> + +<p>Near the junction of Russell's and Leavenworth gulches, and about a +third of a mile from our location, was a mill owned and run by George M. +Pullman, then a comparatively obscure man, but later known to the world +as the great sleeping car magnate. He also had an interest in a general +supply store near Mountain City. He lived much of this winter in a cabin +near the mill, and rode back and forth to town almost daily on an old +mule. He wore common clothes like the rest of us, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> only sign of +greater importance that he exhibited was, that while I walked to town, +he rode the mule. He left the mountains the next summer for Chicago, and +entered upon his sleeping-car enterprise, which led to fame and fortune.</p> + +<p>Another young miner that was much in evidence about Mountain City this +winter was Jerome B. Chaffee, who afterwards made a fortune in mines, +took an active interest in local politics and became a United States +Senator.</p> + +<p>In Mountain City there was an enterprising chap who started a pie bakery +and did an extensive business. Miners from all the country around, when +they came to town, crowded his shop for a delightful change from the +usual cabin fare. I went to town every few days for letters and papers, +or to visit the mills, and always indulged in this one dissipation. I +went to his bakery and feasted on pie. He had peach, apple,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> mince, +berry, pumpkin and custard pie, and never since I was a boy in the land +of pie did the article taste so good.</p> + +<p>Within a hundred yards of our mill lived and worked the gulch +blacksmith, named Switzer. He sharpened our drills and did our smith +work generally. He had a bitter feud with a gambler in Mountain City, +which resulted in each vowing to shoot the other on sight. They carried +loaded revolvers for the occasion for nearly a month, and then happened +to meet in broad daylight in the principal street of the town. The other +fellow was the quicker—Switzer fell dead and we had to find another +blacksmith. No notice was taken of the affair by the authorities.</p> + +<p>Sollitt became ill with what the doctors pronounced scurvy, and went +East before April. Stubbs and he disliked each other from the first, and +whatever one suggested the other opposed. This made it easier for me to +decide some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> questions, as I never had both of them against me. The +people here were generally very healthy. I increased much in strength +and vigor, and weighed 175 pounds for the first and only time in my +life. November was windy, stormy and cold, but in December the weather +was settled and pleasant. During the winter the mercury a few times went +below zero; otherwise the climate was delightful. The warm sunshine of +the last half of April melted the snow, thawed the ground and brought a +supply of water for the mill, even before the big ditch began to run. We +soon began crushing the piles of quartz that had been taken out during +the winter by various miners, and tried our own rich-looking black stuff +from the Keystone. The mill was run day and night. I took charge from +midnight till noon and Stubbs from noon till midnight. None of the rock +was found rich enough to pay for mining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> and milling. That tried in one +or two other mills was no better. General discouragement followed, and +everybody stopped mining in our gulch. Some went to work for wages in +other mines, to get a fresh supply of provisions, etc. Some went off +prospecting and gulch mining in the newer gold regions. Our neighbor, +Farren, moved his mill seventy miles away, to California gulch, near +where Leadville now is. A mill partly erected near our mill site, and +owned by a Mr. Bradley and a Mr. H. H. Honore, the father of Mrs. Potter +Palmer, was moved away to other parts, and our mill was left alone. The +gulch was soon almost deserted. Mines and mills seemed to be of no use +or value. Our whole enterprise had apparently collapsed, and the golden +halo, that for ten months had surrounded it, had vanished. Hope +departed, and for a few days was replaced by feelings of disappointment +and depression of spirits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> not often experienced by me. Stubbs abandoned +the business and decided to go home and leave me to hold the fort and +look after the wreck, as he called it, to see what could be saved.</p> + +<p>He built a boat, had it hauled down to the Platte at Denver, piled in +his provisions and effects, launched it in the river and started down +stream, hoping to reach Omaha in that way. All went well for about a +hundred miles, when the water grew so shallow that he was stranded amid +the small islands and shifting sands. He got ashore, abandoned his boat +and took passage in an eastward-bound mule wagon. He and the principal, +Mr. Sollitt, afterwards sold out their interest in the enterprise to Mr. +Ayres for a small consideration.</p> + +<p>In a few days I got over the "dumps," and spent a week or two visiting +the newer gold fields up the south branch of Clear creek, about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> Idaho, +Georgetown, Empire and Fall river, where new lodes were being discovered +almost daily. Not much gold was being taken out, but everybody was full +of hope and expectation and busy prospecting and staking off claims on +newly discovered lodes. I had some staked off for myself by some men who +had worked for us.</p> + +<p>Geo. M. Pullman wanted to experiment on a load of the ore from our noted +Keystone lode, as it looked so rich. When it was going through the mill, +the amalgam piled up so fast on the copper plates and appeared so rich +that he at once came up to see me and proposed that we buy, on joint +account, the adjoining claim on the same lode, as I knew the owner and +had formerly had an option on its purchase. A few hours later, when they +had cleaned up and retorted the amalgam he came galloping up again on +the old mule to stop proceedings, as they got very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> little of value from +the amalgam, and that mostly silver. Thus that gleam of hope quickly +vanished also.</p> + +<p>Late in June, with Tobias as a companion, I took a trip of observation +over the range into the wild regions of Middle park. We carried our +blankets, flour, bacon, coffee and sugar to last a week, also tin cups, +plates and spoons, a frying pan, gun, pistol, hatchet and belt knives. +Walking the first day slowly up the slopes through the pine forests, +around the head of Nevada gulch, and along the high ridge south of +Boulder valley, we camped for the night just below the timber line so as +to have fuel for a fire. A few tracks of Mountain lion were seen in the +afternoon. The trees grew smaller and smaller till the last seen were +old ones covered with moss and only a few feet high. After leaving the +line of timber growth, the ground for some miles was thickly carpeted +with mountain moss,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> then in full bloom in rich colors of red, white, +blue and yellow. In the afternoon we reached the top of a high peak on +the crest of the range where all was desolation, and nothing grew. The +peak was a vast pile of broken rocks and stones partly covered with +snow. To the North Long's Peak stood out above everything else. To the +East one had a grand view over a wilderness of mountain ranges and peaks +to the great plains in the dim distance. To the South, beyond a range of +other snow-capped peaks, towered Mount Gray. Within a mile of us in full +view, were seven mountain lakes from ten to a hundred acres in size, and +one of them, which was screened from the sun's rays by a steep rocky +ledge, was still solid ice from the freeze of the last winter. To the +west was visible a circle of mountain tops, thirty or forty miles away, +and surrounding the great basin, a mile below us in elevation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> which +constituted Middle park. The afternoon was bright and pleasant, and we +decided to spend the night on the peak, to see the sunrise and enjoy the +view in the clear morning air. We made a bed with flat stones and rolled +up in our blankets for sleep. Then the wind blew over us and up through +the crevices in the rocks under us and soon our teeth were chattering +and we were chilled through and through. To keep from freezing we +climbed in the darkness, over the rocks and down the mountain side to a +sheltered nook, then rolled up and went to sleep. During the night I was +awakened by some animal sniffing about my head and pulling at my +blanket. A yell, a start and two or three stones thrown after him, sent +him off among the rocks, and I never knew what it was. At daylight we +again climbed up the peak, saw the sun rise, made a breakfast of bread +and sugar as we had no fuel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> to make a fire, and then started down the +mountain. The little streams and pools coming from the melting snows the +day before were now all frozen up.</p> + +<p>By ten o'clock we were down where the vegetation was luxuriant, the +flowers in bloom and the butterflies flitting about them. Along the +stream that we descended to the westward, was a series of beaver dams +continuing for several miles, covering two or three acres each, with +breasts four or five feet high formed of logs and brush. Out in the +middle of the dams were the beavers' houses, partly under water and +rising a few feet above. Many of the logs, cut off by the beavers to +form the dams, and the stumps on the shore where they had gnawed down +the trees, were twelve to fifteen inches through. Further on we saw bear +tracks in the mud along the stream. When we camped at night we made a +bed of pine boughs, and over it a small shelter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> with branches of trees +cut with the hatchet. We built a fire on the side hill above our +sleeping place beside a fallen tree. In the night it burned through and +a log rolled down the hill over us, and we awoke with a sudden start. I +thought of bears and instantly seized my hatchet and knife for defense, +before realizing the true situation. Old skulls and bones of buffalo +were plentiful, showing that the animals had once occupied these fertile +valleys. On starting back we followed an old animal trail, the general +course of which was headed toward the range, though it wound around the +mountain sides and gulches in all directions. We felt sure it would lead +over the Snowy range at the easiest passage. After following it two +days, often climbing over and creeping under fallen trees, it brought us +through a low pass to the head waters of South Clear creek, whence we +had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> an easy trail down hill most of the way home.</p> + +<p>Though far away from the seat of the civil war we did not escape its +excitements. The Southerners were numerous in the mountains, and of +course all sided with the South. They and the Northerners were very +suspicious of each other, and each party bought up all the guns they +could get in the mountains. During the summer of 1861 much fear was felt +that a rebel force might march up the Arkansas and, with the help of +their friends here, capture the whole settlement. But when the Southern +troops were defeated and driven out of New Mexico by the Union forces in +the following spring, all danger was over and "Pike's Peak" was loyal. +The Southerners gradually left to join the rebel army. We got news from +the East in six days, by telegraph to Omaha, the overland mail coach to +Julesburg, near the forks of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> the Platte, and by pony express from there +to Denver. St. Louis papers were eight days old and Chicago papers ten +days old when received.</p> + +<p>One of the best known miners in our region was Joe Watson, who came from +near Philadelphia, in 1859, and he came to stay. Though quiet and +unassuming he was nervy, determined, persevering and persistent. He +discovered, staked off, owned and worked many claims in Leavenworth and +other gulches. Sometimes he had streaks of luck and often the reverse. +When lucky he would hire men to help him, when "broke" he would put more +patches on his clothes, sharpen his own tools, borrow a sack of flour +and work away. Some years later he discovered a really rich gold mine, +then worked a silver mine in Utah and became a millionaire. During the +spring of 1861 and the winter previous, he prospected in several of his +claims, but fortune was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> against him. In July, when most of the other +miners had left our gulch, he came back and quietly went to work in a +claim that he owned on the hillside a few hundred feet above our +cottage. In two or three weeks he took out from a narrow crevice two +cart loads of top quartz which looked like rusty iron (not having got +down to the pyrites), and he persuaded me to start up the mill and crush +it. Very soon the amalgam began to pile up on the copper plates as I had +never before seen it. The result of the "clean up" and retorting was +$1,000 worth of shining gold. The next run, out of the same mine, +produced but little gold, a good example of how that metal was found in +streaks and pockets. Watson paid his debts, got a new suit of clothes, +laid in a stock of provisions, and went to work again developing his +mines. It was related of him that he went to Philadelphia one winter to +try and sell shares in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> mines, and that he wore a suit of Quaker +clothes, used the plain language, attended Friends' meetings, and had +good success in selling shares. Of these early workers I might name a +few more who attained wealth or prominence; but the great +majority—those who hoped and struggled and toiled without success, are +forgotten.</p> + +<p>The rich strike in Joe's mine made quite an excitement. Some others were +inspired with renewed hopes and many visited the gulch to see the rich +mine they had heard of. There was a small army of miners marching +through the mountains constantly, going in all directions, leaving one +place for some other where rich strikes were reported.</p> + +<p>I concluded to make one more trial in the Keystone, dig a little deeper +and see if the ore was any richer there. The result was a pleasant +surprise, and gold enough to more than pay expenses. I hired a gang of +men to work the mine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> night and day, and thus kept the mill going till +the water gave out in the fall. As I had no skilled assistant I had to +work at least sixteen hours a day in running the mill, procurring +supplies and superintending everything. Some runs proved the quartz to +be quite rich, though it varied greatly. We still believed in the theory +that it would grow richer as we went deeper. I arranged to mine all +winter and pile up the quartz for spring crushing.</p> + +<p>In April, 1862, when provisions were nearly used up in the mountains and +the early spring supply trains from the East were about due, there came +an unusual fall of snow, eighteen inches deep, extending far eastward +over the plains, completely blockading teams and transportation. A +famine was threatened and people became panic-stricken. Flour rose as +high as $50 a sack, and one day a small quantity sold for eighty cents a +pound. Coffee and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> other things also advanced in price. We were on our +last sack of flour, and I decided that when that was gone the men must +all quit work and start eastward to meet the supplies on the plains. But +the incoming trains soon began to arrive in Denver, and provisions were +plentiful at usual prices.</p> + +<p>When the mill was started up in the spring our hopes were dashed by +finding that the quartz taken out during the winter did not pay as well +as that of the previous season. The mine was down about a hundred feet, +and the last taken out did not pay expenses, so I discharged the miners +again. I was getting tired and disgusted with the whole business, and +realized that it was about time to return East if I were going back +there to settle down.</p> + +<p>About the first of June, Mr. Ayres came out to spend the summer. He was +so delighted with the beauty of the scenery and novelty of the business<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +that he talked of sending for his family. The mountain sides were gay +with wild flowers in full bloom in gorgeous colors. The shining gold +that he could see taken out by several successful plants, delighted his +eyes and stimulated his imagination nearly up to the point of genuine +gold fever. His coming was of course a great relief to me by dividing +the responsibility and work about the mill. We ran the mill night and +day, crushed all the quartz that could be got and worked over a large +pile of tailings that had accumulated below the mill, which paid a small +profit. The summer's success was very moderate. About midsummer Mr. +Ayres bought out my interest in the enterprise, with the understanding +that I would remain till fall and assist him. He wanted to give the +business a further trial. I determined to return to Chicago and try to +take advantage of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> the tide of prosperity then beginning to rise in the +East.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ayres remained till late in the fall, then went to Chicago for the +winter and returned to the mountains early in the spring of 1863, to +give the business a further trial. But he did not do much mining or +milling. During that spring and the following summer a fever of +speculation prevailed all over the East, brought about by the war and +the deluge of greenbacks. It extended to mining stocks, and especially +to gold mines, as gold was then selling at a high premium—one hundred +dollars in gold bringing $260 in legal tender currency. Mr. Ayres +offered his plant for sale, went to New York in the summer and disposed +of it in Wall street for $30,000. The mill was never afterwards run and +I believe, none of the mines ever worked. Twenty years later I visited +Leavenworth gulch. The mill and all the houses and cabins of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> former +days there had disappeared, and most of the old prospect holes and +mining shafts had caved in. One familiar sight, however, remained. A +load or so of black, rich looking ore was lying upon the ground unused +and uncared for at the shaft of the Keystone.</p> + +<p>On the 22nd of October, 1862, I left the mountains and gave up the +mining business for ever. The next day at Denver I took passage for +Omaha, in a two-horse covered wagon, with a man and his wife who were +returning to their home in Baraboo, Wis., after spending two years in +the gold fields with only moderate success. Another man also took +passage making a party of four. Leaving the wagon to the man and his +wife, my fellow passenger and I slept on the ground in our blankets, +except occasionally, when near some ranch or settlement, we could enjoy +the luxury of a haystack. When two or three days<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> out of Denver we had a +"cold snap" which froze the vegetables in the wagon and made sleeping +out very uncomfortable. The woman did the cooking and the men collected +the fuel. The other two men had guns and supplied us with small game. We +saw a few dozen buffalo, but they were too far off to shoot. One day the +two men went off on an all-day hunt among the distant hills, the +arrangement being to meet us in camp at evening. I drove the team, and +in the afternoon we came in sight of a camp of Indians with their lodges +set up near our trail. The only thing to do was to drive boldly ahead. +The woman sat on a seat well back in the wagon, and I sat forward with +my feet out on a front step. I hung up a blanket close behind me across +the wagon, so that the Indians could not see how many persons were in +it. As we approached the camp about a dozen of them came out on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +trail in front of us, motioning to me to stop and calling out, "Swap, +swap, swap," meaning for us to stop and trade with them, but intending +doubtless to find out how many were in the wagon, and rob us if they +dared. Suddenly, when within a few yards of them, I whipped the horses +with all my might, and drove furiously past and away from the camp. When +our party met at night, all agreed that the day's experience savored too +much of danger to allow the hunters to go out of sight of the wagon +again.</p> + +<p>We passed two or three camps of Sioux Indians along the Platte, but they +gave us no trouble. When driving through the trees and bushes in a +lonely spot about a day's journey below Fort Kearney, we suddenly met a +band of mounted Pawnee warriors, who stopped us and in broken English +asked where we were going, where we came from, if we saw any Sioux +Indians, how big the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> bands were, if they had many ponies and how many +days' journey they were away. We answered their inquiries, and they told +us to go ahead. They rode westward, doubtless to make a raid on their +enemies, the Sioux.</p> + +<p>The weather was now getting cold; we approached the settlements and +enjoyed the haystacks. One night, while camping near an Indian +settlement on the Platte, I crawled well into the middle of a small rick +of hay. The Indians were tramping around it and over it and howling and +yelling all night, but I kept my berth till morning. We reached Omaha in +twenty days from Denver. There I said good-by to my traveling companions +and took stage for Iowa City, whence I could go by rail to Chicago. The +stage trip was two days and nights of continuous travel, except short +stops to change horses and get something to eat. We were packed three on +a seat, with no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> chance to stretch out our limbs, and no opportunity for +sleep, except such as could be obtained sitting upright and jolting over +the rough roads.</p> + +<p>After an absence of about two and a third years, I reached Chicago in +the middle of November, 1862, a wiser if not a richer man.</p> + +<p>After selling out my interest in the joint enterprise, I still had left +some fifty claims on various lodes in the newer gold fields of the Clear +creek region. Some I had pre-empted, and some I had bought in job lots +from miners who were "broke" or were about to leave the mountains. Some +had prospect holes dug in them and some were entirely undeveloped. They +may have been worthless, and they may have contained untold millions. +But I had given up the mining business. Some time after returning to +Chicago I was making a real estate trade, and we were a little slow in +adjusting the dif<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>ference in values and closing the deal, and finally as +"boot" to make things even I threw in these fifty gold mines. Perhaps +this was a mistake and a squandering of wealth and opportunities. Had I +only kept them, and gotten up some artistic deeds of conveyance, in +gilded letters, what magnificent wedding presents they would have made. +And the supply would have been as exhaustless as that of Queen +Victoria's India shawls. In the long list of high-sounding, useless +presents, the present of a gold mine would have led all the rest.</p> + +<p>In summing up the losses and gains of the expedition, I have to charge +on one side two years and four months of time devoted to hard work, with +many privations, and about $500 in cash which I was out of pocket. On +the other side, I had built up a fine constitution, increased in +strength and endurance, gained valuable business<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> experience, learned in +a measure to persevere under difficulties, and to bear with patience and +fortitude the back-sets, reverses and disappointments that so often +beset us, and, finally, had learned enough not to be taken in by the +schemers who are constantly enticing eastern people to invest in gold +and silver mines. Did the enterprise pay?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + + + + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 3em;">PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY<br /> +AND SONS COMPANY AT THE<br /> +LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gold Hunter's Experience, by +Chalkley J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Gold Hunter's Experience + +Author: Chalkley J. Hambleton + +Release Date: July 6, 2009 [EBook #29335] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GOLD HUNTER'S EXPERIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +A GOLD HUNTER'S EXPERIENCE + +BY CHALKLEY J. HAMBLETON + + +CHICAGO +PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION +1898 + + + + +I have often been asked to write an account of my +Pike's Peak Expedition in search of gold. The following +attempt has been made up partly from memory and partly +from old letters written at the time to my sister in +the east. + + C. J. H. + + + + +A Gold Hunter's Experience + + +Early in the summer of 1860 I had a bad attack of gold fever. In Chicago +the conditions for such a malady were all favorable. Since the panic of +1857 there had been three years of general depression, money was scarce, +there was little activity in business, the outlook was discouraging, and +I, like hundreds of others, felt blue. + +Gold had been discovered in the fall of 1858 in the vicinity of Pike's +Peak, by a party of Georgian prospectors, and for several years +afterward the whole gold region for seventy miles to the north was +called "Pike's Peak." Others in the East heard of the gold discoveries +and went West the next spring; so that during the summer of 1859 a +great deal of prospecting was done in the mountains as far north as +Denver and Boulder Creek. + +Those who returned in the autumn of that year, having perhaps claims and +mines to sell, told large stories of their rich finds, which grew larger +as they were repeated, amplified and circulated by those who dealt in +mining outfits and mills. Then these accounts were fed out to the public +daily in an appetizing way by the newspapers. The result was that by the +next spring the epidemic became as prevalent in Chicago as cholera was a +few years later. + +Four of the fever stricken ones, Enos Ayres, T. R. Stubbs, John Sollitt +and myself, formed a partnership, raised about $9,000 and went to work +to purchase the necessary outfit for gold mining. Mr. Ayres furnished a +larger share of the capital than any of the others and was not to go +with the expedition, but might join us the following year. Mr. Stubbs +and I were both to go, while Mr. Sollitt was to be represented by a +substitute, a relative whose name was also John Sollitt, and who had +been a farmer and butcher and was supposed to know all about oxen. Mr. +Stubbs was a good mechanic, an intelligent, well-read man, and ten years +before had been to California in search of gold. + +Our outfit consisted of a 12-stamp quartz mill with engine and boiler, +and all the equipments understood to be necessary for extracting gold +from the rock, including mining tools, powder, quicksilver, copper plate +and chemicals; also a supply of provisions for a year. The staple +articles of the latter were flour, beans, salt pork, coffee and sugar. +Then we had rice, cornmeal, dried fruit, tea, bacon and a barrel of +syrup; besides a good supply of hardtack, crackers and cheese for use +while crossing the plains, when a fire for cooking might not be found +practicable. These things were all purchased in Chicago, together with +the fourteen wagons necessary to carry them across the plains. Then all +were shipped by rail to St. Joseph, Mo., where the oxen were to be +purchased. The entire outfit when loaded on the cars, weighed +twenty-four tons. + +I stayed in Chicago till the last to help purchase and forward the +outfit and supplies, while Stubbs and Sollitt (the substitute) went to +St. Joe to receive and load them on the wagons and to purchase the oxen. + +On the 1st day of August, all was ready, and we ferried our loaded +wagons and teams across the Missouri River into Kansas to make a final +start next morning into regions to us unknown. Stubbs started the same +day by stage for the mountains, to prospect and look out for a +favorable location and then to meet the train when it arrived at Denver. +Sollitt was to be trainmaster, which involved the oversight and +direction of the teams and drivers, and the duty of frequently going +ahead to pick out the best road and select a favorable place to camp at +night, where water and grass could be had. I was the general business +man of the expedition, had full power of attorney from Mr. Ayres to +represent and manage his interest, and hence I had the control and +responsibility in my hands and practically decided all important +questions relating to the business. + +The fourteen ox-drivers were all volunteers, who drove without +pay--except their board--for the sake of getting to the gold regions to +make their fortunes there. Most of them were from Chicago--three married +men who left families behind, and one a young dentist. Another was the +son of a prominent public woman who was a rigid Presbyterian, and when I +left Chicago his father gave me a satchel full of religious books to +give to him in St. Joe to read on the plains. He deliberately pitched +them into a loft, where they were left. Another was a young Illinois +farmer, named Tobias, a splendid fellow. Among those we secured in St. +Joe were one German and two Missourians. + +The principal article in the outfit of each individual, aside from his +ornaments in the shape of knives and pistols, was a pair of heavy +blankets. One of the Missourians first appeared without any, but next +morning he had a quilted calico bed cover, stuffed with cotton, borrowed +probably from a friendly clothesline, and which, at the end of the +journey, presented a very dilapidated appearance. + +Early in the morning of August 2d all were busy yoking oxen and +hitching them to the wagons, but as most of the drivers were green at +the business and did not know "haw" from "gee," and a number of the oxen +were young and not well broken, it was several hours before our train +was in motion and finally headed for "Pike's Peak." The train consisted +of fourteen wagons, a driver for each, forty yoke of oxen, one yoke of +cows and one pony with a Mexican saddle and a rawhide lariat thirty feet +long, with an iron pin at the end to stick in the ground to secure the +animal. + +For the first two or three miles, while crossing the level valley, all +went well, but when we reached the bluffs and ravines that bounded the +river valley on the west, the green oxen began to balk and back and +refused to pull their loads up the hills, and the new drivers were +nonplused and helpless. The better teams went ahead and were soon out +of sight, while the poorer ones had to double up, taking one wagon up a +hill and then going back for another, and consequently made slow +progress. Instead of riding or walking along like a "boss" at ease, I +soon found myself fully occupied in whipping up the poorly broken oxen +on the off side, while the green drivers whipped and yelled at those on +their side of the team. It was surprising how soon the nice city boys +picked up the strong language in use by teamsters on the Western plains. +The teams got separated, and the train stretched out two or three miles +long. Then Sollitt rode ahead, picked out a camping place, and directed +the drivers to halt and unyoke as they reached it; but when it became +dark three or four teams were still from a quarter of a mile to a mile +behind, and in trouble, so they unhitched the oxen and let them run in +their yokes for the night. Our lunch and our supper that day consisted +of crackers and cheese, as we had no time to cook. + +About dark a shower came up, and it drizzled a good part of the +night--the last rain we met with for many weeks. We rolled ourselves up +in our blankets on the ground, under the wagons or in a small tent we +had, for sleep. At daylight next morning we all started in different +directions through the wet bushes that filled the ravines to find the +scattered oxen, and before noon they were all collected at camp. We had +hot coffee and some cooked things for breakfast. But several accidents +had occurred. The cows had fallen into a gully with their yoke on and +broken their necks, one load of heavy machinery had run down hill and +upset, one axle, two wagon tongues, one yoke and some chains were +broken. Sollitt, with two or three of the drivers who were mechanics, +went to work to repair damages. As we seemed short of oxen, I rode back +to St. Joe and bought two yoke more, spending the last of our money +except about fifty dollars. + +By next morning we were ready for a new start. Experience had already +taught us something, and we adopted more system and some rules. All the +teams were to keep near together, so as not to leave the weaker ones +behind in the lurch. Our cattle were to be strictly watched all night by +two men on guard at a time--not together, but on opposite sides of the +herd. Two would watch half the night and then be relieved by two others +who stood guard till morning. We all took our turns except the cook, who +was relieved from that duty and from yoking and hitching up his own +team, as cooking for sixteen men while in camp was no sinecure. The man +chosen for cook was one of the drivers from Chicago named Taylor, who +had cooked for campers and for parties at work in the woods. He was +really a good plain cook. His utensils consisted of some large boiling +pots and kettles, a tin bake oven, two or three frying pans, a +two-gallon coffeepot and a few other usual articles. + +Each person had a tin plate, a pint tin cup with a handle, and an iron +knife, fork and spoon. The food was placed in the dishes and cups on the +ground, and while eating we stood up, sat on the ground or reclined in +the fashion of the ancient Romans, according to our individual tastes. +The article of first importance at a meal was strong coffee and plenty +of it. Next came boiled beans with pork, whenever there was time to cook +them; and that could generally be done during the night. Then we had +some kind of bread, cake or crackers, and sometimes stewed dried fruit. + +About the third day out our open air prairie appetites came, and it +seemed as if we could eat and digest anything. I had been a little out +of health for some time, was somewhat dyspeptic, and had not tasted pork +for years. Soon I could devour it in a manner that would have shocked my +vegetarian friends; and for the next two years I was conscious of a +stomach only when hungry. + +The third day the teams went a little better, but we had to double up +sometimes to pull the wagons up the hills and out of the deep gullies we +had frequently to cross, so we only made seven or eight miles. In a few +days we got out on the level prairie and went along faster. But every +morning for a week, one or more of our cattle would be lost from the +herd. They would sneak away during the night and hide in the bushes and +ravines, or start back toward home. As I had no special duties in camp, +or in yoking up in the morning, hunting them fell to my lot. If not +found in the first search before starting time, I would ride back on the +pony for miles, scour the country and hunt through the gullies and +bushes for hours till the lost animal was found; then drive him along +until the train was overtaken. That could easily be followed by the +tracks of the wheels on the prairie. Hiawatha, Kansas, and a few +scattered cabins some miles to the west of it were about the last signs +of settlement and civilization that we saw. + +That season was a very dry one in Kansas and on the Western plains. The +prairies were parched and looked like a desert, except a fringe of green +along the water courses. The heat was intense and the distant hills and +everything visible seemed quivering from its effects. The dry ground and +sand reflected the sun's rays into our faces, till a few with weak eyes +were seriously affected. The iron about the wagons, and the chains were +blistering to the touch. The southwest wind was like a blast from a +heated furnace. It was worse than stillness, and I frequently took +shelter behind a wagon to escape its effects. + +This heat was very trying and debilitating to the oxen. They would pant, +loll their tongues out of their mouths, refuse to pull, and lie down in +their yokes. Sometimes we were compelled to keep quiet all day, and +drive in the early evening and morning, and during the night when we +could find the way. The most important thing was to find water near +which to camp. Wolves began to surround our camp and the herd of oxen at +night, and break the silence by their piercing howls. After we had gone +to sleep, they would sneak into camp to pick up scraps left from supper, +then come within a few feet of some one rolled up in his blanket and +startle him with a howl. But with all their noise these prairie wolves +were great cowards, and would run from any movement of a man. + +Soon after starting out one evening for a night drive, after a very hot +day, one of the weak oxen lay down and refused to go. That the train +might not be delayed, they tied his mate to a wagon, and I concluded to +stay behind with him till morning to see if he would recover. Soon after +dark the wolves seeming to divine his condition and the good meal in +store for them, collected around us a short distance off, and seated on +their haunches, with howls of impatience waited for the feast. They were +plainly visible by their glaring, fire-like eyes. I varied the monotony +of the long night by walking around, sitting down, lying upon the +ground, and occasionally falling asleep beside the sick ox. Then the +wolves emboldened by the stillness, would sneak up close to us and break +out in piercing howls, but they would instantly vanish when I got up +and threw something at them. + +Daylight came at last; the ox had grown worse instead of better, and I +left him to his fate and the wolves, and followed the wagon tracks till +I overtook the train in camp, early in the day, with an appetite for a +quart of strong coffee and something to eat. + +In this hot weather the oxen with their heavy loads did not make more +than a mile an hour when on the march, so with the numerous delays it +was nearly two weeks before we reached Marysville on the Big Blue River. +This was a small settlement on the verge of civilization, with a few +ranches, saloons and stores, situated on that branch of the old Oregon +trail which started northward from Westport, Mo., and passed near Fort +Leavenworth, Kan. The inhabitants had the reputation of being mostly +outlaws, blacklegs and stock thieves. Their reputation inspired us with +such respect for them that we kept extra watch over our cattle and +possessions while in the vicinity. + +About a week after starting, one of the drivers got homesick, +discouraged and disgusted with the trip, left us and started back home +on foot. This compelled Sollitt and me to drive his team. One of our +wagons not being made of properly seasoned wood, became shaky from the +effects of the heat and dry air of the plains. At Marysville I traded it +off to a ranchman for a yoke of oxen and had the load distributed on the +other wagons so that again we had as many drivers as teams. I also +traded some of our younger, weaker oxen for old ones that served our +purpose better, though they were of less market value. + +We learned that between this place and the Little Blue, there was no +water to be found to enable us to camp for a night, so we were +compelled to make the trip--some twenty miles--at a single drive. As the +weather was hot we started late in the afternoon, drove all night, and +arrived early next day, at that small river, where we found water and +grass. Sollitt rode ahead much of the time to pick out the road. + +Our course for several days was now along the Little Blue in a northwest +direction, toward Fort Kearney on the Platte. To avoid the side gullies +and ravines, which were water courses in the spring, though now dried +up, we frequently circled off two or three miles on to the level +prairie, but had to return near the stream when we camped, in order to +get water. + +One day, off to the west, a mile or two away, we saw a single buffalo +which had probably been outlawed and driven from the herd to wander in +solitude over the plains. Our pony had crossed the plains before and +was well used to buffalo. Sollitt mounted him, and, rifle in hand, rode +for the lone beast. When approached he began to run, but the horse soon +overtook him, and he received a bullet. Then he turned savagely on the +horse and rider, and, with head down, chased them at high speed before +trying to escape. The horse overtook him a second time and he received +another bullet. Then he charged after the horse and rider again. When +the horse's turn to chase came next, the buffalo received a third shot +and soon fell dead. This was quite exciting sport for us "tenderfeet" +who had never seen a buffalo hunt. + +Sollitt, who was a butcher by trade, was now in his glory. He rode back +to camp, sharpened his knives and with the help of one or two of the men +carved up the animal and brought back a supply of fresh meat. This +proved rather tough as the animal was an old bull, nevertheless the +tongue and the tenderloin were relished, after having eaten only salt +pork for three weeks. + +The small stream of water in the Little Blue grew less and less as we +approached its source, and the last night that we camped near it, there +was no running water at all. The little that was to be seen stood in +stagnant pools in the bottom of the river bed. When we would approach +these pools, turtles, frogs and snakes in great variety, that had been +sunning themselves on the banks, would tumble, jump and crawl into the +water, and countless tadpoles wiggled in the mud, at the bottom, so that +the water was soon black and thick. Its taste and smell were anything +but appetizing. The oxen, though without water since morning, refused to +drink it, even after we had dipped it up in pails and allowed it to +settle. We boiled it for the coffee, but the odor and flavor of mud +still remained. The situation had become serious and our only hope was +to reach the Platte river before the oxen were famished from thirst. +Earlier in the season, before the streams dried up, this was a favorite +route of travel, but it was not so at this time of year and we saw very +few passing teams. + +By daylight next morning the oxen were yoked and hitched up and we +commenced a forced march for water and salvation. The old trail seemed +still to follow the course of the dried-up stream, bearing much to the +west. We concluded to leave it and steer more to the north with the hope +of striking the Platte at the nearest point. The prairie was hard and +level, the day not excessively hot, and everything was favorable for a +long drive. The rule for keeping together was ignored and each team was +to be urged to its best speed, in the hope that the strong and the swift +would reach the goal though the weak and the weary might fall by the +way. + +Before noon the teams were much separated. They halted for a nooning; +the oxen browsed a little on sage brush and dried grass; the men lunched +on crackers, cold coffee and the remnants of breakfast, but our water +keg was empty. By the time the last team was at the nooning place, the +head ones were ready to start on. + +Sollitt rode ahead to explore and pick out the road, carrying his rifle +on the saddle, as we were liable at any time to meet bands of +treacherous, pillaging Pawnees, whose haunts were on the lower Platte. I +formed the rear guard with the hindmost wagon, so that it would not be +deserted and alone in case of accident. Each team was always in sight of +the next one ahead of it, though the train was stretched out some three +miles long. Late in the afternoon Sollitt rode back with the cheering +news that he had seen the Stars and Stripes waving over Fort Kearney to +the west and that he had picked out a camping ground near the river a +few miles below. Soon after dark the last team was in camp and the men +and beasts were luxuriating in the clear running water of the Platte. + +The next forenoon we drove on to the fort and camped a mile or two west +of it for a day's rest. This was on the 20th of August, so we had been +out twenty days on the road from St. Joe. At the fort was a postoffice +and here we received letters from our friends in the East, and spent a +good part of the day in writing, in response to them. Letters were +brought here by the coaches of the overland express which carried the +United States mail to California. + +The fort consisted of a few buildings surrounded by a high adobe wall +for protection; and adjoining was a strong stockade for horses and +oxen. There were a few United States troops here. Just outside the fort +grounds were some ranches, stores, saloons and trading posts. The two +Missourians proceeded forthwith to get dead drunk and it took them till +next day to sober up. By way of apology they said the whisky tasted "so +good" after being so long without it. We had no whisky on our train. It +was one of the very few that crossed the plains in those days without +that, so considered, essential article in frontier life. + +Personally, through the entire period of my "Pike's Peak" experience, I +adhered strictly to my custom of not tasting spirituous or malt liquors, +nor using tobacco in any form. + +We were now on the main central route of travel from the States to the +mountains, Salt Lake, California and Oregon. We saw teams and trains +daily going in both directions, and Kearney was a favorite place for +them to stop over a day and rest. Our course now lay along the south +side of the Platte, clear to Denver; and with the prospect of level +roads and plenty of grass and water, we looked forward hopefully to a +pleasant trip the rest of the way. The valley of the Platte is a sandy +plain, nearly level, extending westward for hundreds of miles from +Kearney, bounded on the north and the south by low bluffs, some four or +five miles apart. Back of these lie the more elevated, dry plains +extending to great distances. + +Winding through this valley is the Platte river, a half a mile or more +wide, with water from an inch to two feet deep, running over a sandy +bottom and filled with numberless islands of shifting sand. The banks +were lined with willows and cottonwood bushes and bordered in many +places by green, grassy meadows, but trees were a rarity and for some +two hundred miles we did not see one larger than a good sized bush. + +The day we camped near Kearney we began to see buffalo in small groups +off a few miles to the south and west. When I awoke next morning, soon +after daylight, I saw a lone one quietly eating grass about half a mile +from camp. I got out a rifle and went toward him, stooping or going on +my hands and knees through the wet grass, till within good rifle shot. I +then stood up, took deliberate aim just behind the shoulder, and fired. +He gave a quick jump, looked around and started toward me on the run +with head down, in usual fashion, for a charge. My thought was that I +had hit, but not hurt him. I dropped into the grass and made my way on +hands and knees as fast as possible toward camp, a little agitated. +Losing sight of me the animal soon stopped, stood still a few minutes +and then suddenly dropped to the ground. He had been shot through the +heart. + +This was my first and last buffalo, as sneaking up to them and shooting +them down did not seem much more like sport than shooting down oxen. I +was neither a sufficiently expert rider nor hunter to chase and shoot +them on horseback. The one I shot was carved by Sollitt and one of the +men, and furnished us fresh meat for breakfast and several meals +thereafter. + +During the day we passed a ranch, occupied by a man and his son, twelve +or fourteen years old. The boy had eight or ten buffalo calves in a pen, +which he said he had caught himself and intended to sell to parties +returning to their homes in the East. He had a well-trained little pony, +which he would mount, with a rope in hand that had a noose at the end, +and ride directly into the midst of a small drove of buffalo, and while +they scattered and ran would slip his rope about the neck of a calf and +lead it back to the ranch. The calf would side up to the pony and follow +it along as if under the delusion that it was following its mother. The +man traded in cattle by picking up estrays and buying, for a song, those +that were footsore and sick, keeping them till in condition and then +selling them to passing trains that were in need. + +We now began to see buffalo quite plentifully off to the southwest, in +small groups, and in droves of twenty or more. Sometimes hunters on +horseback, who had camped near Kearney, were indulging in the excitement +of the hunt, chasing and shooting, and in turn being chased by the +enraged animals. That evening we camped on the verge of the great herd +that extended some sixty or seventy miles to the westward, and blackened +the bluffs to the south, and the great plains beyond as far as the eye +could reach. This great herd was not a solid, continuous mass, but was +divided up into innumerable smaller herds or droves consisting of from +fifty to two hundred animals each. These kept together when grazing, +marching or running, the bulls on the outside and the cows and calves in +the center. Sometimes these small herds were separated from each other +by a considerable space. + +This great herd had probably started northward from the Arkansas in the +spring and had now reached the Platte, where they lingered for water and +the better grass that was found along the river. Following in the wake +and prowling on the outskirts of this slowly moving host, were thousands +of wolves, collected from the distant plains, to feast upon the young +and the weakly, and the carcasses of those that were killed by accident +or the hunter's gun. + +The turn for watching the cattle the first half of that night fell to +the lot of two of the boys from Chicago. The cattle were grazing in a +good meadow off toward the river, half a mile from camp. At dusk the +boys went off to take charge of them. After dark the wolves began to +howl in all directions and sometimes it sounded as if a hundred hungry +ones were fighting over a single carcass. Then the buffalo bulls chimed +in with the music and bellowed, apparently by thousands, at the same +time. Pandemonium seemed to reign. The two boys got nervous, then +frightened and finally panic-stricken, and long before midnight came +rushing into camp declaring that they were surrounded by droves of +hungry wolves and furious buffalo. The cattle were also disturbed and +inclined to scatter and wander off. + +Next morning early, all of us, except the cook, started off to hunt them +up. Some went up stream, some down, and some back along the road we had +come. Tobias and myself waded the river to the north side to hunt them +there, but we found neither cattle nor cattle tracks. We did find a huge +rattlesnake, which we killed. The river was about three-quarters of a +mile wide, and in no place over two feet deep. Wading it was easy enough +if one kept moving, but if he stood still he would gradually sink into +the quicksand till it was difficult to extricate his feet. + +By noon, after this thorough search, we had collected all of our oxen +but two, which could not be found. Sollitt was very suspicious of cattle +thieves, and, whenever an ox was lost, his first opinion was that it had +been stolen. Mine was that it had strayed off and hidden in some ravine +or clump of bushes. He decided that these two lost ones had been taken +by some ranchman or passing train. I believed they had gone off with +the buffalo and that when they wanted drink badly they would come back +to the river. I therefore concluded to let the train go on, while I, +with the pony and some food, would stay behind and patrol the river for +a day or two. I rode back eastward along the river's edge, searching in +the bushes, and at night came to a ranch, near which I picketed the pony +and slept on the ground. Next morning, after first examining the +ranchman's cattle, I started westward again, making another thorough +search as I went along. In the afternoon I found the stragglers quietly +eating grass near the river, and then drove them along as fast as +possible till the train was overtaken. + +We were now right in the midst of the great herd, through which we +journeyed for nearly five days. The anxiety they gave us was greater +than that of any of our previous troubles. To avoid having the oxen +stampeded, or run off with the buffalo at night, we wheeled our wagons +into a circle when camping at the end of a day's drive, and thus formed +a corral, into which we put as many oxen as it would hold, for the +night, and chained the rest in their yokes to the wagon wheels on the +outside. This was hard on the oxen, as they could not rest as well as +when free, nor could they graze a part of the night, as was their habit. +Whenever we looked off to the south or southwest, we would see dozens +and dozens of the small droves of one or two hundred buffalo moving +about in all directions. Some of the droves would be quietly eating +grass, some marching in a slow, stately walk, and others on the run, +going back and forth between their grazing grounds and the river. But +each separate drove kept in quite a compact body. + +Sometimes they would keep off from the trail along which we traveled, +for several hours at a time and not trouble us. At other times they +would be going in such great numbers across our route, passing to and +from the river, that we had to wait hours for them to get out of our +way. Often a drove would get frightened at a passing wagon, the report +of a gun, the barking of a dog, or some imaginary enemy, and would start +on a run which soon became a furious stampede, the hindermost following +those before them, and in their blind fury crowding them forward with +such irresistible force that the leaders could not stop if they would. +If they came suddenly to a deep gully the foremost would tumble in till +it was full, and thus form a bridge of bone and flesh over which the +rest would pass. Several times these frightened droves passed so near +our wagons as to be alarming. + +One drove came within a few yards of one of our wagons, and some of the +drivers peppered them with bullets from their pistols. Though these +frightened droves could not be stopped, they would shy to the right or +left if an unusual commotion was made in time in front of them. When a +drove, at some distance, seemed to be headed toward our train, we often +ran toward it, yelling, firing guns, and waving articles of clothing. +The leaders would shy off, and that would give direction to the whole +body, and thus relieve us from danger for the time being. + +Every teamster, traveler and hunter that crossed the plains felt that he +must kill from one to a dozen or more buffalo. The result was that the +plain was dotted and whitened with tens of thousands of their carcasses +and skeletons. With this general slaughter and the increase of travel +induced by the discovery of the Pike's Peak gold fields, no wonder that +this was the very last year that these animals appeared in large +numbers in the Platte valley. We always estimated their numbers by the +million.[1] For some years after they appeared in large numbers in some +parts of the great plains of the West, but they rapidly declined in +number till they became extinct in their wild state. + +[Footnote 1: The estimate was probably not an +exaggeration. + +In a late work it is stated on the authority of railroad +statistics that in the thirteen years from 1868 to 1881 +"in Kansas alone there was paid out _two millions five +hundred thousand dollars_ for their bones gathered on +the prairies to be utilized by the various carbon works +of the country, principally in St. Louis. It required +about one hundred carcases to make one ton of bones, the +price paid averaging eight dollars a ton; so the above +quoted enormous sum represented the skeletons of over +thirty-one millions of buffalo."--_The Old Santa Fe +Trail, by Col. Henry Inman p. 203._ + +The author further says, "In the autumn of 1868 I rode +with Generals Sheridan, Custer, Sully and others for +three consecutive days through one continuous herd, +which must have contained millions. In the spring of +1869 the train on the Kansas Pacific railroad was +detained at a point between Forts Harker and Hays from +nine o'clock in the morning until five in the afternoon +in consequence of the passage of an immense herd of +buffalo across the track." + +Horace Greeley crossed the plains in 1859 in a stage +coach, and as stated in his published letters, he saw a +herd of buffalo that he estimated to contain over five +millions.] + +While in their midst we not only had fresh meat at every meal, but we +cut the flesh in strips and tied it to the wagons to dry and thus +provided a small supply of "jerked" meat. In the dry, pure air of this +region, though in the heat of August, fresh meat did not spoil but +simply dried up, if cut in moderate sized pieces. This was also found to +be the case with fresh beef in the mountains. We felt relieved and +heartily glad when the last drove of buffalo was left behind. +Familiarity with them, as with the Indians, destroyed all the poetry and +romance about them. They were not a thing of beauty. An old buffalo bull +with broken horns and numerous scars from a hundred fights, with woolly +head and shaggy mane, his last year's coat half shed and half hanging +from his sides in ragged patches and strips flying in the breeze, the +whole covered over with dirt and patches of dried mud, presented a +picture that was supremely ugly. + +On the journey from St. Joe to Kearney we found, along the water courses +and ravines, enough of dry wood and dead trees to supply us plentifully +with fuel for cooking and occasionally to light up the camp in the +evening. To make sure of never being entirely out of wood, a small +supply was carried along on the wagons. Along the Platte there was +practically no wood to be had. For one hundred and fifty miles we did +not see a single tree, but the buffalo supplied us with a good fuel +called "buffalo chips," which was scattered over the plains in +abundance, and which in this dry country, burned freely and made a very +hot fire. When approaching camp in the evening, the drivers would pick +up armsfull of fuel for the use of the cook and for the evening camp +fire, and place it in a pile as they came to a halt. + +As soon as we reached camp and while others were taking care of the +oxen, the cook built a fire, drove two forked sticks into the ground, +one on each side of the fire, placed a cross stick on them, and then +hung his pots and kettle over the blaze. A big pot of beans with pork +was boiled or warmed over. Coffee was prepared, and dough made of flour +and baking powder was baked either in the tin oven or a Dutch oven. +Frequently some of the men were seated on the ground around the fire, +stick in hand with a piece of pork on the end of it, held near the coals +to toast. While eating and during the early evening, talking, story +telling and ironical remarks about the prolonged picnic--as the trip was +called--were indulged in. + +We were now on the main route of travel between the East and the Pike's +Peak gold fields. Horse and mule teams going West, and traveling faster +than our ox train could go, passed us frequently, and gave us the latest +general news from the States. We also began to meet the vanguard of the +returning army of disappointed gold seekers. They came on foot, on +horse back and in wagons drawn by horses, mules and oxen, and many of +them were a sorry, ragged looking lot. Judging from their requests from +us, their most pressing wants were tobacco and whisky. In those days +Western towns were full of enthusiastic, sanguine, roving men who were +ever ready for any new enterprise, and they were the first to rush to +the gold regions in the spring. But lacking pluck, perseverance and the +staying qualities, they were the first to rush back when the +difficulties and discouragements of the undertaking appeared in their +way. + +These returners told sad stories about life in the mountains, the +prospects and the danger from Indians on the road. They said that there +was but little gold to be found, that very few of the miners were making +expenses, that food was scarce, and that before we reached our +destination, nearly everybody there would be leaving for home. Besides, +they said, there were hundreds of Indians along the route, robbing and +murdering the whites. Such stories had a discouraging effect on some of +our drivers and I was very fearful that a few of them would leave us and +join the homeward procession. + +Some of these chaps showed a humorous vein in the mottoes painted on the +sides of their wagons. On one was "Pike's Peak or bust," evidently +written on going out; under it was written, "Busted." On another was, +"Ho for Pike's Peak;" under it was, "Ho for Sweet Home." + +Each exaggerated account of the Indians made by these people, brought us +nearer and nearer to them and made them seem more and more dangerous. +Finally one morning as we reached the top of a gentle swell in the +plain, a large band of them suddenly appeared in full view, camped at +the side of our road about half a mile ahead of us. From all +appearances there were five or six hundred or more of them. They +belonged to the western branch of the Sioux tribe. We stopped a few +minutes to consider the situation. We had heard and read enough about +Western Indians to know that the safest thing to do was to appear bold +and strong, while a show of weakness and timidity was often dangerous. +So we placed in our belts all our ornaments in the shape of pistols and +ugly looking knives, and those who had rifles carried them. Then we +drove boldly forward toward the camp. I rode the pony beside the driver +of the foremost wagon with my old shot gun in hand. Soon two or three of +their mounted warriors or hunters rode at full speed toward us and then +without stopping circled off on the plain and back to their camp. They +were evidently making observations. + +Off to the north several hundred shaggy ponies were grazing in a green +meadow near the river, and the greater part of their men seemed to be +there with them. The camp was made up of some forty lodges, which looked +like so many cones grouped on the plain. + +These lodges were formed of poles, some fifteen feet long, the larger +ends of which rested on the ground in a circle, while the smaller ends +were fastened in a bunch at the top, with a covering of dressed buffalo +skins stitched together. On one side was a low opening, which served for +a door. + +As we approached we were first greeted by a lot of dirty, hungry looking +dogs, which barked at us, snarled and showed their teeth. Then there was +a flock of shy, naked, staring children who at first kept at a safe +distance, but came nearer as their timidity left them. The boys with +their little bows and arrows were shooting at targets--taking their +first lessons as future warriors of the tribe. + +When we got near the edge of the camp several of the old men came +forward to greet us with extended hands, saying "how! how! how!" and we +had to have a handshake all around. Some of them knew a few words of +English. They asked for whisky, powder and tobacco. Instead, we gave +some of them a little cold "grub." They looked over all the wagons and +their contents, so far as they could, and were particularly interested +in the locomotive boiler which was placed on the running gear of a wagon +without the box, and with the help of a little rude imagination, +somewhat resembled a huge cannon. I told them it was a "big shoot," and +that seemed to inspire them with great respect for it. They looked under +it and over it and into it with much interest. + +The greater part of the squaws were seated on the ground at the +openings of their lodges, busily at work. Some were dressing skins by +scraping and rubbing them, some making moccasins and leggings for their +lazy lords, some stringing beads and others preparing food. The oldest +ones, thin, haggard and bronzed, looked like witches. The young squaws, +in their teens, round and plump, their faces bedaubed with red paint +toned down with dirt, squatted on the ground and grinned with delight +when gazed at by our crew of young men. We all traded something for +moccasins and for the rest of the trip wore them instead of shoes. + +Curious to see inside of the lodges, I took a cup of sugar and went into +two or three under pretence of trading it for moccasins. Their +belongings were lying around in piles, and the stench from the partly +prepared skins and food was intolerable. + +One old Indian seemed to think that I was hunting a wife, for he +offered to trade me one of his young squaws for the pony. A pony was the +usual price of a wife with these Western Indians. They exhibited no +hostility whatever toward us. It might have been otherwise, had we been +a weak party of two or three possessing something that they coveted. + +They asked us if we saw any buffalo. When we told them that at a +distance of two or three days' travel the plains were covered with them, +they seemed greatly interested and before we got away began to take down +some of their lodges and start off. They were out for their yearly +buffalo hunt to supply themselves with meat for the winter. In moving +they tied one end of their lodge poles in bunches to their ponies and +let the other ends spread out and drag upon the ground, and on these +dragging poles they piled their skins and other possessions. The young +children and old squaws would often climb up on these and ride. + +Cactus plants in hundreds of varieties grew in great abundance on these +dry plains. They were beautiful to the eye, but a thorn in the flesh. As +we walked through them their sharp needles would run through trousers +and moccasins and penetrate legs and feet. We often ate the sickishly +sweet little pears that were seen in profusion. + +Prairie dogs by the million lived and burrowed in the ground over a vast +region. The plains were dotted all over with the little mounds about two +feet high that surrounded their holes. On these mounds the little +animals would stand up and bark till one approached quite near, then +dart into the holes. In places the ground was honeycombed with their +small tunnels, endangering the legs of horses and oxen, which would +break through the crust of ground into them. I shot at many of them, +but never got a single animal, as they always dropped, either dead or +alive, into the hole and disappeared from sight. + +Many small owls sat with a wise look on top of these little mounds, and +rattlesnakes, too, were often found there. When disturbed the owls and +snakes would quickly fly and crawl into the holes. It was a saying that +a prairie dog, an owl and a rattlesnake lived together in peace in the +same hole. Whether the latter two were welcome guests of the little +animal, or forced themselves upon his hospitality, in his cool retreat, +I never knew. + +One day we came to a wide stretch of loose dry sand, devoid of +vegetation, over which we had to go. It looked like some ancient lake or +river bottom. The white sand reflected the sun's rays and made it +unpleasantly hot. The wheels sank into the sand and made it so hard a +pull for the oxen that we had to double up teams, taking one wagon +through and going back for another, so we only made about three miles +that day. + +The unexpected was always happening to delay us. The trip was dragging +out longer than was first reckoned on, and the early enthusiasm was +dying out. Walking slowly along nine or ten hours a day grew monotonous +and tiresome. Then, after the day's work, to watch cattle one-half of +every third night was a lonely, dreary task, and became intolerably +wearisome. Standing or strolling alone, half a mile from camp, in the +darkness, often not a sound to be heard except the howling of the +wolves, and nothing visible but the sky above and the ground below, one +felt as if his only friends and companions were his knife and his +pistol. + +In the early part of September violent thunderstorms came up every +evening or night, with the appearance of an approaching deluge. Very +little rain fell, however, but the lightning and thunder were the most +terrific I ever saw or heard. There being no trees or other high objects +around, we were as likely to be struck as any thing. For a few wet +nights I crawled into one of the covered wagons to sleep, where some +provisions had been taken out, and right on top of twelve kegs of +powder. I sometimes mused over the probable results, in case lightning +were to strike that wagon. We passed one grave of three men who had been +killed by a single stroke of lightning. Graves of those who had given up +the struggle of life on the way, were seen quite frequently along the +route. They were often marked by inscriptions, made by the companions of +the dead ones on pieces of board planted in the graves. + +Now we came to extensive alkali plains, covered with soda, white as new +fallen snow, glittering in the sunshine. No vegetation grew and all was +desolation. An occasional shower left little pools of water here and +there, strongly impregnated with alkali, and from them the oxen would +occasionally take a drink. From that cause, or some other unknown one, +they began to die off rapidly, and within three days one-third of them +were gone. The remainder were too few to pull the heavy train. The +situation was such that it gave us great anxiety. + +What was to be done? Either leave part behind and go on to Denver with +what we could take, or else keep things together by taking some of the +wagons on for a few miles and then go back for the rest. The conclusion +was to leave four loads of heavy machinery on the plains and go on with +the other wagons as fast as possible. I asked the drivers if any of them +would stay and guard those to be left. Tobias and the German volunteered +to stay. + +We selected a camping spot a mile away from the usually traveled road so +as to avoid the scrutiny of other pilgrims and look like a small party +camping to rest. Then we left them provisions for two or three weeks and +went ahead. We guessed that we were then about 150 miles from Denver. +The two left behind had no mishaps, but found their stay there all alone +for two weeks very dreary and lonesome. + +Tobias was for over a year one of my most valuable and agreeable +assistants. The German, when in the mountains a short time, lost his +eyes by a premature blast of powder in a mining shaft. I helped provide +funds to send him East to his friends. + +A few days before this misfortune of the death of our oxen and when the +drivers were in their most discontented mood, Sollitt, ever suspicious, +came to me quite agitated with a tale of gloomy forebodings. He said he +had overheard fragments of a talk between the Missourians and some +others who were quite friendly with them, which convinced him that a +conspiracy was hatching to terminate the tiresome trip, by their +deserting us in a body, injuring or driving off the oxen, or committing +some more tragic act. He thereupon armed himself heavily with his small +weapons, and advised me to do the same. + +Instead of following the advice, I became more chatty and friendly with +the men and talked of our trials and our better prospects. I discovered +in a few a bitter feeling toward Sollitt, occasioned by some rough words +or treatment they had received. Sollitt was honest and faithful and in +many things very efficient, but was devoid of tact and agreeable ways +toward those under his control, especially if he took a dislike to them. +One man urged me to assert my reserved authority and take direct charge +of the whole business of the train to the exclusion of Sollitt. I had no +longings for the disagreeable task of a train master, and simply poured +oil on the troubled waters, and went ahead. + +When the oxen began to die off, Sollitt told me that he thought one of +the Missourians had poisoned them and he disemboweled a number of the +dead animals to see if the cause of death could be discovered. He found +no signs of poison and nothing that looked suspicious in the stomachs; +but he said, the spleens of all of them were in a high state of +inflammation. I did not, however, understand that the oxen got their +ailment from the Missourians. + +One evening we saw the clear cut outline of the Rocky Mountains, +including Long's Peak. We differed in opinion, at first, as to whether +it was mountain or cloud and could not decide the question till next +morning, when, as it was still in view, we knew it was mountain. For +several days, though traveling directly toward the mountains, we seemed +to get no nearer, which was rather discouraging. + +Small flocks of antelope, fleet and graceful, were frequently seen +gliding over the plain. They were very shy, and kept several gunshots +away. But their curiosity was great, and if a man would lie down on the +ground and wave a flag or handkerchief tied to a stick till they noticed +it, they would first gaze at it intently and then gradually approach. In +this way they were often enticed by hunters to come near enough for a +shot. + +Forty or fifty miles below Denver we came in view of one picturesque +ruin--old Fort St. Vrain--with its high, thick walls of adobe situated +on the north side of the Platte. It was built about twenty-five years +before, by Ceran St. Vrain, an old trapper and Indian trader. These +adobe walls, standing well preserved in this climate, it seemed to me, +would be leveled to the ground by one or two good eastern equinoxial +storms. + +We reached Denver on the 18th of September about noon, being forty-nine +days out from St. Joe. Stubbs met us five or six miles out on the road. +This gave him and me a chance, as we walked along, to talk over the +condition of things and our plans for the immediate future. He had been +in Denver over a week waiting for us and had had no tidings of the train +since I wrote him from Fort Kearney. He had considerable liking for +display and had evidently told people in Denver that he was waiting for +the arrival of a large train of machinery and goods in which he was +interested. He thought it would be a scene to be proud of to see +fourteen new wagons, heavily loaded and drawn by forty yoke of oxen, +come marching into town in one close file. When he saw only nine wagons +straggling along over the space of a mile, covered with dust that had +been settling on them for weeks, with oxen lean, footsore, limping and +begrimed with sweat and dirt, and teamsters in clothes faded, soiled and +ragged, his pride sank to a low level, and he did not want to go into +town with the wagons. The train did not tarry, but crossed Cherry +Creek--then entirely dry, though often a torrent--drove up the Platte a +mile or so and camped for the day on the south or east side of the +stream. Stubbs and I spent a couple of hours looking over the town and +calling on some acquaintances and then went to the camp. + +Denver was at that time a lively place, with a few dozen frame and log +buildings, and probably a thousand or more people. Most of them lived +and did business in tents and wagons. A Mr. Forrest, whom I had known +in Chicago, was doing a banking business here in a tent. The town +seemed to be full of wagons and merchandise, consisting of food, +clothing and all kinds of tools and articles used in mining. Many people +were preparing to leave for the States, some to spend the winter and to +return, others, more discouraged or tired of gold hunting, to stay for +good. + +When I went to the camp in the afternoon Sollitt and all the drivers +wanted to go back to the town to look it over and make a few purchases. +I told them I would look after the oxen till evening, when the herders +for that night would come and relieve me. The afternoon was clear and +warm, though the mountains to the west were carpeted with new-fallen +snow. I went out in my shirt sleeves, without a thought of needing a +coat. The oxen wandered off quite a distance from camp in search of the +best grass, and I leisurely followed them. Late in the afternoon, and +quite suddenly, the wind sprang up and came directly from the mountains, +damp and cold. Soon I was enveloped in a dense fog, and could see but a +few yards away. I lost all sense of the direction of the camp or town, +and the men at camp did not know where or how to find me. When night +came it grew so dark that I could not see my hand a foot from my eyes, +and could only keep with the cattle by the noise they made in walking +and grazing. Later the fog turned into a cold rain, with considerable +wind, and was chilling to the bone, so I was booked for the night in a +cold storm without supper or coat. To keep the blood in circulation I +would jump and run around in a circle for half an hour at a time. +Sometimes I would lean up against one of the quiet old oxen on his +leeward side, and thus get some warmth from his body and shelter from +the wind. When the oxen had finished grazing and had lain down for the +night, I tried to lie down beside one of them to get out of the wind, +but the experiment was so novel to the ox that he would get up at once +and walk off. During the night the oxen strolled off more than a mile +from camp. When morning came I was relieved by the men and was ready for +breakfast, and especially for the strong coffee. In times of exposure +and extra effort, coffee was the greatest solace we found. + +When on a visit to Denver, twenty-three years afterwards, I tried to +find out just where I spent that night. An old settler of the place +decided with me that it was on the elevated ground now known as Capitol +Hill. During the day we crossed the Platte and went forward with the +train to the foot of the mountains, and camped some two or three miles +south of where Clear creek leaves the foot-hills. Next morning Sollitt +took twelve yoke of oxen with two drivers, and started back for the four +wagons and two men that had been left behind on the plains. Our +teamsters, who had volunteered to drive oxen to the mountains without +pay, had now fulfilled their agreement, but most of them were glad to +stay with us for awhile at current wages--about a dollar and a half a +day. The prospect was not as golden, and the men were not as anxious to +get to mining as they had been when a thousand miles further east. + +Stubbs had spent a month among the mines and mills, and his observations +made him rather blue. The accounts he gave me were most discouraging. He +was inclined to think that the best thing for us to do was to go into +camp for the winter, look around, watch the developments, and in the +spring decide where to locate, if at all, or whether to sell out, give +up the enterprise and go home. The proposition was not a bad one, by +any means; but I was too full of determination to do _something_, to +think of sitting down and quietly waiting six months, after all we had +gone through, to get there. I thought we would all be better satisfied +if we were to pitch in and make a vigorous effort, even if we failed in +the end, rather than to quit at this early stage of the hunt. + +The usual route from Denver to the gold fields, was to the north of +Clear creek, by Golden City to Blackhawk, and then to Mountain City. +Stubbs selected a route further south, because there was a fine camping +place, with good grass, about fifteen miles, or half way up to the gold +fields, from the foot of the mountains. The roads were quite passable up +to this camp, though the hills were steep. With the drivers and oxen +that were left after Sollitt started back, the wagons were gradually +taken up to this mountain camp, while he was back on the plains and +Stubbs and I were looking over the gold region to decide on a final +location. The weather was pleasant and rather warm during the day, but +frosty at night. We still slept in the open air, and our blankets were +often frozen to the ground in the morning. + +There was more or less gulch mining and prospecting[2] going on over a +large section of the mountains, but the principal part of the lode +mining, and most of the mills that had been located, were confined to a +field not over five or six miles in extent, the center of which was +Mountain City, now Central City. There were fifty or more mills already +up and in running order. They varied in capacity from three to twenty +stamps. Some were running day and night crushing quartz that was +apparently rich in gold; some were running a part of the time, +experimenting on a variety of quartz taken out of different lodes and +prospect holes, and generally not paying, and some were idle, the owners +discouraged, "bust," and trying to sell, or else gone home for the +winter to get more money to work with. + +[Footnote 2: "Prospecting" included the searching for +gold in almost any way that was experimental. Going off +into the unexplored mountains to hunt new fields of +gold, whether in gulches or lodes was prospecting. +Digging a hole down through the dirt and loose stones in +the bottom of a gulch to see if gold could be found in +the sand was prospecting. Sinking a shaft into the top +dirt of a hillside in search of a new lode, or into the +lode when discovered to see if gold could be found there +was prospecting. And manipulating a specimen of quartz +by pulverizing and the use of quicksilver to see if it +contained gold was also prospecting.] + +The most of these mills were located about Mountain City and Blackhawk +and in Nevada and Russell's gulches. The rest of them were scattered in +other small gulches or mountain valleys in the vicinity. The richest +mines being worked were the Bobtail, Gregory, and others, in Gregory +gulch between Mountain City and Blackhawk. The other principal gold +diggings were some seventy miles further south, near the present site of +Leadville. These I did not then visit. Nearly all of these mills had +been brought out and located during the year 1860. Ours was about the +last one to arrive that season. It was evident that the business was not +generally paying. The reasons given were, that the mills did not save +the gold that was in the quartz, and that those at work in the mines +were nearly all in the "cap rock" which was supposed to overlie the +richer deposits below. The theory was that the deeper they went the +richer the quartz. There were just enough rich "pockets" and streaks +being discovered and good runs made by the few paying mines and mills to +keep everybody hopeful and in expectation that fortune would soon favor +them. So they worked away as long as they had anything to eat, or tools +and powder to work with. + +After looking over the fields a number of days, carrying our blankets +and sleeping in empty miners' cabins, Stubbs and I concluded to locate +at the head of Leavenworth gulch, which was about a mile and a half +southwest of Mountain City, between Nevada and Russell's gulches. The +side hills were studded all over with prospect holes and mining shafts. +Several lodes, said to be rich in gold, had recently been discovered, +and a nice stream of water ran down the gulch. Only three mills were in +operation there, and a number of miners who were developing their own +claims strongly encouraged us to come, promising us plenty of quartz to +crush. Several parties were gulch mining there with apparent success, +and during the short time that I watched one man washing out the dirt +and gravel from the bottom of the gulch he picked up several nice +nuggets of shining gold, which was quite stimulating to one's hopes. I +afterwards learned that these same nuggets had been washed out several +times before, whenever a "tenderfoot" would come along, who it was +thought might want to buy a rich claim. + +As soon as we located and selected a mill site, we went vigorously to +work, and all was preparation, bustle and activity. Stubbs was a good +mechanic and took charge of the construction. Others were cutting down +trees, hauling and squaring logs, and framing and placing timbers to +support the heavy mill machinery. As soon as Sollitt returned from the +plains, he, with a few of the drivers, went to work to get the wagons, +machinery and provisions from the mountain camp up to our location. In +many places, at first glance, the roads looked impassable. They went up +hills and rocky ledges so steep that six yoke of oxen could pull only a +part of a load; then down a mountain side so precipitous that the four +wheels of each wagon would have to be dead-locked with chains to keep +them from overrunning the oxen; then they would go along mountain +streams full of rocks and bowlders, and upsetting a wagon was quite a +common occurrence. I saw one of our provision wagons turn over into a +running stream, and, among other things, a barrel of sugar start rolling +down with the current. + +As soon as everything was brought up to our final location, I sold some +of the wagons, some oxen and the pony, thus securing cash to pay help +and other expenses. I traded others off for sawed lumber, shingles, +etc., for use in building the mill-house and a cabin. Grass was very +scarce in the mining regions. One of the faithful, well-whipped oxen was +killed for beef (a little like eating one of the family). In this dry, +pure air the meat kept in perfect condition for many weeks till all +eaten up, and it was an agreeable change in our diet. + +When we had finished the hauling of timber and other things, we sent +the oxen, still on hand, down to the foot of the mountains where there +was grass during the winter; for cattle would pick up a living among the +foot-hills, and come out in good condition in the spring. The distance +was some twenty-five or thirty miles. Early one bright November morning +I started down there on foot to make arrangements with a ranchman to +look after them. The air was so bracing and stimulating to the energies +that I felt as if a fifty-mile walk would be mere recreation. Being +mostly down hill, I arrived at the ranch before noon, did my business, +got a dinner of beef, bread and coffee, and felt so fine that soon after +two o'clock I concluded to start for home, thinking that in any event I +would reach one of the two or three cabins that would be found on the +latter part of the road. Walking up the mountains was slower business +than going down, and long before I reached the expected cabins it +became dark and I was completely tired out. I found a small pile of +dried grass by the roadside which had been collected by some teamster +for his horses. I covered myself up with this as well as I could, and +being very tired, was soon asleep, without supper or blanket. On +awakening in the morning, I found myself covered with several inches of +snow, and felt tired, hungry and depressed. I plodded along toward home +for a few hours, and came to a cabin occupied by a lone prospector, who +got me up a meal of coffee, tough beef and wheat flour bread, baked in a +frying pan with a tin cover over it. Soon after finishing the meal I +felt sick and very weak, and was unable to proceed on my journey till +late in the afternoon, when I went ahead and reached home long after +dark. + +Leavenworth gulch was crossed by dozens of lodes of gold-bearing quartz, +generally running in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction. In +this district the discoverer of a lode was entitled to claim and stake +off 200 feet in length, then others could in succession take 100 feet +each, in either direction from the discovery hole, and these claims, in +order to be valid, were all recorded in the record office of the +district. Owners of these various claims, to prospect and develop them, +had dug the side hills of the gulch all over with hundreds of holes from +ten to thirty feet deep, partly through top dirt and partly through +rock. A few would find ore rich enough to excite and encourage all the +rest. More would find rich indications that would stimulate them to work +on as long as they had provisions or credit to enable them to go ahead, +hoping each day for the golden "strike." A large majority of these +prospect holes came to nothing. Many of the miners had claims on several +different lodes, and although they might have faith in their richness, +they wanted to sell part of them to get means to work the rest. We had +plenty of chances to buy for a few hundred dollars in money or trade +mines partly opened, showing narrow streaks of good ore, which, +according to the prevailing belief, would widen out and pay richly as +soon as they were down through the "cap rock." + +While work was progressing on the mill I spent considerable time in +looking over these mines, and I went down numerous shafts by means of a +rope and windlass, turned by a lone stranger, who I sometimes feared +might let me drop. I listened to glowing descriptions by the owners, +examined the crevises and pay streaks, and took specimens home to +prospect. This was done by pounding a piece of ore to powder in a little +hand mortar, then putting in a drop of quicksilver to pick up the gold, +and then evaporating that fluid by holding it in an iron ladle over a +fire. The richness of the color left in the cup would indicate the +amount of gold in the quartz.[3] I could soon talk glibly of "blossom +rock," "pay streaks," "cap rock," "wall rock," "rich color," and use the +common terms of miners. I bought two or three mines, traded oxen and +wagons for two or three more, and furnished "grub stakes" to one or two +miners--that is, gave them provisions to live on while they worked their +claims on terms of sharing the results. + +[Footnote 3: In testing quartz by specimens, +"greenhorns" were sometimes deceived by "loaded" +quicksilver, that is by that which had some gold in it +and would leave a "color" whenever evaporated. I knew +one miner who worked away in his mine, taking out quartz +all winter, and was in good spirits as he tested a +specimen of his ore every day or two and always found a +rich color. When crushed in the spring his quartz did +not "pay." The bottle of quicksilver he had used all +winter was found to be "loaded."] + +Quartz mills were nearly all run by steam and the fuel was pine wood cut +from the mountain sides, every one taking from these public domains +whatever he wanted. The principal features of our mill were twelve large +pestles or stamps, weighing 500 pounds each, which were raised up about +eighteen inches by machinery and dropped into huge iron mortars onto +the small pieces of rock which were constantly fed into them by a man +with a shovel. A small stream of water was let into the mortars, and as +the rock was crushed into fine sand and powder it went out with the +water, through fine screens in front, and passed over long tables, a +little inclined, and then over woolen blankets. The tables were covered +with large sheets of brightly polished copper. On these polished plates, +quicksilver was sprinkled and it was held to the copper by the affinity +of the two metals for each other. As the water and powdered rock passed +over the tables, the quicksilver, by reason of its chemical attraction +for gold, would gather up the fine particles of that metal and, as the +two combined, would gradually harden and form an amalgam, somewhat +resembling lead. Coarser grains of gold would lodge in the blankets, +owing to their weight, while the small particles of rock would pass +over with the water. The amalgam was put into a retort and heated over a +fire, when the quicksilver would pass off in vapor through a tube into a +vessel of water, and then condense, to be again used, while the gold +would be left in the retort, to be broken up into small pieces and used +as current money. In order to save as much of the gold as possible, +these copper plates required close watching, constant care and much +rubbing to remove the verdigris that would form. + +About the first of November our mill was completed, and we expected to +operate it a good part of the winter with the quartz of other miners, +together with that which we would take out ourselves from our own mines. +A large well, or underground cistern, was dug under the mill house, +which was fed by copious springs, and promised to furnish an abundant +supply of water. To furnish water for the numerous mills about Mountain +City and in Nevada gulch a large ditch had been dug, which started up in +the mountains near the Snowy range, and wound like a huge serpent around +promontories and the sides and heads of numerous gulches, with a slight +incline, for some fifteen miles. It passed around the hills which +bordered Leavenworth gulch, a few hundred yards above our mill site. +About the time the mill was completed the water was turned off from this +ditch on account of freezing weather and the near approach of winter. +Very soon after, the beautiful springs which supplied our tank and the +gulch with water, all dried up. They had been fed by seepage from the +big ditch. With the disappearance of the water vanished all prospect of +running the mill before spring, when the melting snow would furnish a +supply. It seemed like a bad case of "hope deferred." But the bracing +air and climate, outdoor life, constant exercise, coarse food and pure +water were too invigorating and stimulating to the feelings and hopes to +allow one to feel much depressed or discouraged. We looked forward to +the next summer for the golden harvest. + +Stubbs built us a one-and-a-half-story-cottage out of sawed lumber, +boards and shingles, with one room below for living, eating, cooking and +storing provisions in, and one above for a dormitory. A corner of the +latter was partitioned off into a small room for him and me, with a bunk +for each, under which we stored our twelve kegs of powder, as being the +safest place we had for it. We slept on beds of hay with our blankets +over us, and in very cold weather piled on our entire stock of coats and +some empty provision sacks. In the room below was a good cook stove, and +there was wood in abundance, so we kept comfortable, though the house +was neither plastered nor sheeted, and considerable daylight came in +through cracks in the siding. We had a table and benches made of boards, +and Stubbs made me an armchair and a desk for my account books, papers +and stationery. What a luxury, after four months camping out, to be able +to sit down in a chair, eat from a table, sleep on a bed, write at a +desk, read by a candle at night and have regular, well-cooked meals. + +To a lover of the picturesque in scenery our location was ideal. +Immediately around us was a semicircle of high, steep, pine-covered +hills spotted with prospect holes. To the east, through an opening in +the intervening mountain ranges, the plains were in full view over a +hundred miles away. Sometimes for days, they were covered with shifting +clouds which seemed far below us. Then an east wind would drive the +clouds and mist slowly up into the mountains, swallowing up first one +range and then another, till only a few peaks would stand out, above an +ocean of fog, and finally we would be enveloped ourselves. Ascending a +hill a few hundred yards above our house and looking westward over a +great depression or mountain valley, one had in full view the Snowy +range over twenty miles away, with its crests and peaks covered with +perpetual snow, and Mount Gray still further in the distance. In the +fall and winter almost every day local snowstorms and blizzards were +seen playing over this great basin and on the sides of the distant +range. Our location was some nine or ten thousand feet above the sea. +The lightness of the air gave some inconvenience and many surprises to +new comers. They would get out of breath in a few minutes in walking up +a hill. I would wake up several times in a night with a feeling of +suffocation, draw deep breaths for a few minutes and thus get relief +before going to sleep again. It took ten minutes to boil eggs, two to +three hours for potatoes, and beans for dinner were usually put on the +fire at supper time the day before. + +Coin and bank bills were seldom seen. The universal currency was +retorted gold, broken up into small pieces, which went at $16 an ounce. +Every man had his buckskin purse tied with a string, to carry his "dust" +in, and every store and house had its small scales, with weights from a +few grains to an ounce, to weigh out the price when any article from a +newspaper to a wagon was purchased. No laws were in force or observed +except miners' laws made by the people of the different districts. When +a few dozen miners, more or less, settled or went to work in a new place +they soon organized, adopted a set of laws and elected officers, +usually a president, secretary, recorder of claims, justice of the +peace and a sheriff or constable. Appeals from the justice, disputes of +importance over mining claims, and criminal cases were tried at a +meeting of the miners of the district. We were in the district of +Russell's gulch. Sometimes we had a meeting of the residents of our own +gulch. One chap there stole a suit of clothes. The residents were +notified to meet at once, and the same day the culprit was tried and +found guilty, and a committee, of which I was one, was appointed to +notify him to leave our locality within two hours and not to return, on +penalty of death. He went on time. Had he been stubborn and refused to +go, I don't know what course the committee would have taken. This member +of it would have been embarrassed. An adjoining district was made up +mostly of Georgians. They had their own tastes and prejudices. Soon +after we came to the mountains, at their miners' meeting a man was +convicted for some offence and sentenced to receive thirty lashes from a +heavy horsewhip. The day for the execution of the sentence was regarded +as a kind of holiday and the miners collected from all the country +around. All our men, including Sollitt, went to the whipping. Stubbs and +I stayed at home. We had no relish for that sort of amusement. A thief +was more sure of punishment than a murderer. There was so much property +lying around in cabins unguarded, while the owners were off mining or +prospecting, that stealing could not be tolerated, while the loss of a +man now and then by killing or otherwise did not count for much. + +When it was found that the mill could not be run during the winter, we +discharged all the men except the cook, and two others, who were kept to +help do a little mining on two of the claims that we had secured by +trade and purchase. A shaft about three feet by six was sunk in each, +which followed the vein of mineral quartz down to a depth of thirty to +fifty feet. In one, the vein was quite rich in places, but only two or +three inches wide, and it would not pay to work it; but the hope that +kept us, like hundreds of others at work, was, that the vein would widen +out when we got a little deeper and grow richer as it went down. This +hope was never realized. The other shaft was on a lode called the +Keystone, and developed a wide vein of black pyrites of iron that much +resembled that which was being taken out of the best paying mines, and +most of the miners that examined it declared that we had a bonanza. Of +course we were in good spirits, but we did not care to run in debt in +order to take out more mineral than we got in sinking the shaft, of +which there were several cords. I worked a part of each day in the +shafts, with the others, to learn the details, drilling, blasting and +picking out the "pay streak." Then I spent a good deal of time looking +around among other mines, and the mills that were at work, to learn what +I could. Quite a number of other miners were at work in the gulch +sinking shafts on their best claims and taking out ore to be crushed in +the spring. To some of these we furnished provisions to enable them to +keep at work. Most of the roving, restless, fickle people had gone home +in the fall and those who stayed were men of grit and determination. +Some of them were well educated and intelligent. Every little while +somebody would strike a small pocket, or a streak of very rich ore, +which would help to make everybody else feel hopeful. And so the winter +wore away. + +There were four families in the gulch this winter, including that number +of women, several children and three young ladies. The young men buzzed +around the homes of the latter like bees about a honey dish. These +families united and had a party on Christmas Eve. Three cottages were +used for the occasion, one to receive the guests in, ours for the supper +room, and another with a floor for dancing. We regarded this as the +"coming out" of the youngest of the young ladies. Several ladies from +Russell's and other gulches came to the party. Among those living here +were quite a number who brought a few books with them. No one person had +many, but all together they made quite a library and were freely lent. I +remember borrowing and reading by the light of a candle, in these long +winter evenings, some works on mines, Carlyle's works, a few histories +and several novels. The almost universal amusement with the miners and +others was card playing, confined to euchre and poker. Every miner had +a pack of cards in his cabin if not in his pocket, and generally so +soiled and greasy that one could not tell the jack from the king. +Gambling was common and open in Denver and Mountain City, and not +unusual elsewhere. Playing for gain was never practiced in our cottage. +When poker was played, beans were put in the jackpot instead of money. + +Near the junction of Russell's and Leavenworth gulches, and about a +third of a mile from our location, was a mill owned and run by George M. +Pullman, then a comparatively obscure man, but later known to the world +as the great sleeping car magnate. He also had an interest in a general +supply store near Mountain City. He lived much of this winter in a cabin +near the mill, and rode back and forth to town almost daily on an old +mule. He wore common clothes like the rest of us, and the only sign of +greater importance that he exhibited was, that while I walked to town, +he rode the mule. He left the mountains the next summer for Chicago, and +entered upon his sleeping-car enterprise, which led to fame and fortune. + +Another young miner that was much in evidence about Mountain City this +winter was Jerome B. Chaffee, who afterwards made a fortune in mines, +took an active interest in local politics and became a United States +Senator. + +In Mountain City there was an enterprising chap who started a pie bakery +and did an extensive business. Miners from all the country around, when +they came to town, crowded his shop for a delightful change from the +usual cabin fare. I went to town every few days for letters and papers, +or to visit the mills, and always indulged in this one dissipation. I +went to his bakery and feasted on pie. He had peach, apple, mince, +berry, pumpkin and custard pie, and never since I was a boy in the land +of pie did the article taste so good. + +Within a hundred yards of our mill lived and worked the gulch +blacksmith, named Switzer. He sharpened our drills and did our smith +work generally. He had a bitter feud with a gambler in Mountain City, +which resulted in each vowing to shoot the other on sight. They carried +loaded revolvers for the occasion for nearly a month, and then happened +to meet in broad daylight in the principal street of the town. The other +fellow was the quicker--Switzer fell dead and we had to find another +blacksmith. No notice was taken of the affair by the authorities. + +Sollitt became ill with what the doctors pronounced scurvy, and went +East before April. Stubbs and he disliked each other from the first, and +whatever one suggested the other opposed. This made it easier for me to +decide some questions, as I never had both of them against me. The +people here were generally very healthy. I increased much in strength +and vigor, and weighed 175 pounds for the first and only time in my +life. November was windy, stormy and cold, but in December the weather +was settled and pleasant. During the winter the mercury a few times went +below zero; otherwise the climate was delightful. The warm sunshine of +the last half of April melted the snow, thawed the ground and brought a +supply of water for the mill, even before the big ditch began to run. We +soon began crushing the piles of quartz that had been taken out during +the winter by various miners, and tried our own rich-looking black stuff +from the Keystone. The mill was run day and night. I took charge from +midnight till noon and Stubbs from noon till midnight. None of the rock +was found rich enough to pay for mining and milling. That tried in one +or two other mills was no better. General discouragement followed, and +everybody stopped mining in our gulch. Some went to work for wages in +other mines, to get a fresh supply of provisions, etc. Some went off +prospecting and gulch mining in the newer gold regions. Our neighbor, +Farren, moved his mill seventy miles away, to California gulch, near +where Leadville now is. A mill partly erected near our mill site, and +owned by a Mr. Bradley and a Mr. H. H. Honore, the father of Mrs. Potter +Palmer, was moved away to other parts, and our mill was left alone. The +gulch was soon almost deserted. Mines and mills seemed to be of no use +or value. Our whole enterprise had apparently collapsed, and the golden +halo, that for ten months had surrounded it, had vanished. Hope +departed, and for a few days was replaced by feelings of disappointment +and depression of spirits not often experienced by me. Stubbs abandoned +the business and decided to go home and leave me to hold the fort and +look after the wreck, as he called it, to see what could be saved. + +He built a boat, had it hauled down to the Platte at Denver, piled in +his provisions and effects, launched it in the river and started down +stream, hoping to reach Omaha in that way. All went well for about a +hundred miles, when the water grew so shallow that he was stranded amid +the small islands and shifting sands. He got ashore, abandoned his boat +and took passage in an eastward-bound mule wagon. He and the principal, +Mr. Sollitt, afterwards sold out their interest in the enterprise to Mr. +Ayres for a small consideration. + +In a few days I got over the "dumps," and spent a week or two visiting +the newer gold fields up the south branch of Clear creek, about Idaho, +Georgetown, Empire and Fall river, where new lodes were being discovered +almost daily. Not much gold was being taken out, but everybody was full +of hope and expectation and busy prospecting and staking off claims on +newly discovered lodes. I had some staked off for myself by some men who +had worked for us. + +Geo. M. Pullman wanted to experiment on a load of the ore from our noted +Keystone lode, as it looked so rich. When it was going through the mill, +the amalgam piled up so fast on the copper plates and appeared so rich +that he at once came up to see me and proposed that we buy, on joint +account, the adjoining claim on the same lode, as I knew the owner and +had formerly had an option on its purchase. A few hours later, when they +had cleaned up and retorted the amalgam he came galloping up again on +the old mule to stop proceedings, as they got very little of value from +the amalgam, and that mostly silver. Thus that gleam of hope quickly +vanished also. + +Late in June, with Tobias as a companion, I took a trip of observation +over the range into the wild regions of Middle park. We carried our +blankets, flour, bacon, coffee and sugar to last a week, also tin cups, +plates and spoons, a frying pan, gun, pistol, hatchet and belt knives. +Walking the first day slowly up the slopes through the pine forests, +around the head of Nevada gulch, and along the high ridge south of +Boulder valley, we camped for the night just below the timber line so as +to have fuel for a fire. A few tracks of Mountain lion were seen in the +afternoon. The trees grew smaller and smaller till the last seen were +old ones covered with moss and only a few feet high. After leaving the +line of timber growth, the ground for some miles was thickly carpeted +with mountain moss, then in full bloom in rich colors of red, white, +blue and yellow. In the afternoon we reached the top of a high peak on +the crest of the range where all was desolation, and nothing grew. The +peak was a vast pile of broken rocks and stones partly covered with +snow. To the North Long's Peak stood out above everything else. To the +East one had a grand view over a wilderness of mountain ranges and peaks +to the great plains in the dim distance. To the South, beyond a range of +other snow-capped peaks, towered Mount Gray. Within a mile of us in full +view, were seven mountain lakes from ten to a hundred acres in size, and +one of them, which was screened from the sun's rays by a steep rocky +ledge, was still solid ice from the freeze of the last winter. To the +west was visible a circle of mountain tops, thirty or forty miles away, +and surrounding the great basin, a mile below us in elevation, which +constituted Middle park. The afternoon was bright and pleasant, and we +decided to spend the night on the peak, to see the sunrise and enjoy the +view in the clear morning air. We made a bed with flat stones and rolled +up in our blankets for sleep. Then the wind blew over us and up through +the crevices in the rocks under us and soon our teeth were chattering +and we were chilled through and through. To keep from freezing we +climbed in the darkness, over the rocks and down the mountain side to a +sheltered nook, then rolled up and went to sleep. During the night I was +awakened by some animal sniffing about my head and pulling at my +blanket. A yell, a start and two or three stones thrown after him, sent +him off among the rocks, and I never knew what it was. At daylight we +again climbed up the peak, saw the sun rise, made a breakfast of bread +and sugar as we had no fuel to make a fire, and then started down the +mountain. The little streams and pools coming from the melting snows the +day before were now all frozen up. + +By ten o'clock we were down where the vegetation was luxuriant, the +flowers in bloom and the butterflies flitting about them. Along the +stream that we descended to the westward, was a series of beaver dams +continuing for several miles, covering two or three acres each, with +breasts four or five feet high formed of logs and brush. Out in the +middle of the dams were the beavers' houses, partly under water and +rising a few feet above. Many of the logs, cut off by the beavers to +form the dams, and the stumps on the shore where they had gnawed down +the trees, were twelve to fifteen inches through. Further on we saw bear +tracks in the mud along the stream. When we camped at night we made a +bed of pine boughs, and over it a small shelter with branches of trees +cut with the hatchet. We built a fire on the side hill above our +sleeping place beside a fallen tree. In the night it burned through and +a log rolled down the hill over us, and we awoke with a sudden start. I +thought of bears and instantly seized my hatchet and knife for defense, +before realizing the true situation. Old skulls and bones of buffalo +were plentiful, showing that the animals had once occupied these fertile +valleys. On starting back we followed an old animal trail, the general +course of which was headed toward the range, though it wound around the +mountain sides and gulches in all directions. We felt sure it would lead +over the Snowy range at the easiest passage. After following it two +days, often climbing over and creeping under fallen trees, it brought us +through a low pass to the head waters of South Clear creek, whence we +had an easy trail down hill most of the way home. + +Though far away from the seat of the civil war we did not escape its +excitements. The Southerners were numerous in the mountains, and of +course all sided with the South. They and the Northerners were very +suspicious of each other, and each party bought up all the guns they +could get in the mountains. During the summer of 1861 much fear was felt +that a rebel force might march up the Arkansas and, with the help of +their friends here, capture the whole settlement. But when the Southern +troops were defeated and driven out of New Mexico by the Union forces in +the following spring, all danger was over and "Pike's Peak" was loyal. +The Southerners gradually left to join the rebel army. We got news from +the East in six days, by telegraph to Omaha, the overland mail coach to +Julesburg, near the forks of the Platte, and by pony express from there +to Denver. St. Louis papers were eight days old and Chicago papers ten +days old when received. + +One of the best known miners in our region was Joe Watson, who came from +near Philadelphia, in 1859, and he came to stay. Though quiet and +unassuming he was nervy, determined, persevering and persistent. He +discovered, staked off, owned and worked many claims in Leavenworth and +other gulches. Sometimes he had streaks of luck and often the reverse. +When lucky he would hire men to help him, when "broke" he would put more +patches on his clothes, sharpen his own tools, borrow a sack of flour +and work away. Some years later he discovered a really rich gold mine, +then worked a silver mine in Utah and became a millionaire. During the +spring of 1861 and the winter previous, he prospected in several of his +claims, but fortune was against him. In July, when most of the other +miners had left our gulch, he came back and quietly went to work in a +claim that he owned on the hillside a few hundred feet above our +cottage. In two or three weeks he took out from a narrow crevice two +cart loads of top quartz which looked like rusty iron (not having got +down to the pyrites), and he persuaded me to start up the mill and crush +it. Very soon the amalgam began to pile up on the copper plates as I had +never before seen it. The result of the "clean up" and retorting was +$1,000 worth of shining gold. The next run, out of the same mine, +produced but little gold, a good example of how that metal was found in +streaks and pockets. Watson paid his debts, got a new suit of clothes, +laid in a stock of provisions, and went to work again developing his +mines. It was related of him that he went to Philadelphia one winter to +try and sell shares in his mines, and that he wore a suit of Quaker +clothes, used the plain language, attended Friends' meetings, and had +good success in selling shares. Of these early workers I might name a +few more who attained wealth or prominence; but the great +majority--those who hoped and struggled and toiled without success, are +forgotten. + +The rich strike in Joe's mine made quite an excitement. Some others were +inspired with renewed hopes and many visited the gulch to see the rich +mine they had heard of. There was a small army of miners marching +through the mountains constantly, going in all directions, leaving one +place for some other where rich strikes were reported. + +I concluded to make one more trial in the Keystone, dig a little deeper +and see if the ore was any richer there. The result was a pleasant +surprise, and gold enough to more than pay expenses. I hired a gang of +men to work the mine night and day, and thus kept the mill going till +the water gave out in the fall. As I had no skilled assistant I had to +work at least sixteen hours a day in running the mill, procurring +supplies and superintending everything. Some runs proved the quartz to +be quite rich, though it varied greatly. We still believed in the theory +that it would grow richer as we went deeper. I arranged to mine all +winter and pile up the quartz for spring crushing. + +In April, 1862, when provisions were nearly used up in the mountains and +the early spring supply trains from the East were about due, there came +an unusual fall of snow, eighteen inches deep, extending far eastward +over the plains, completely blockading teams and transportation. A +famine was threatened and people became panic-stricken. Flour rose as +high as $50 a sack, and one day a small quantity sold for eighty cents a +pound. Coffee and other things also advanced in price. We were on our +last sack of flour, and I decided that when that was gone the men must +all quit work and start eastward to meet the supplies on the plains. But +the incoming trains soon began to arrive in Denver, and provisions were +plentiful at usual prices. + +When the mill was started up in the spring our hopes were dashed by +finding that the quartz taken out during the winter did not pay as well +as that of the previous season. The mine was down about a hundred feet, +and the last taken out did not pay expenses, so I discharged the miners +again. I was getting tired and disgusted with the whole business, and +realized that it was about time to return East if I were going back +there to settle down. + +About the first of June, Mr. Ayres came out to spend the summer. He was +so delighted with the beauty of the scenery and novelty of the business +that he talked of sending for his family. The mountain sides were gay +with wild flowers in full bloom in gorgeous colors. The shining gold +that he could see taken out by several successful plants, delighted his +eyes and stimulated his imagination nearly up to the point of genuine +gold fever. His coming was of course a great relief to me by dividing +the responsibility and work about the mill. We ran the mill night and +day, crushed all the quartz that could be got and worked over a large +pile of tailings that had accumulated below the mill, which paid a small +profit. The summer's success was very moderate. About midsummer Mr. +Ayres bought out my interest in the enterprise, with the understanding +that I would remain till fall and assist him. He wanted to give the +business a further trial. I determined to return to Chicago and try to +take advantage of the tide of prosperity then beginning to rise in the +East. + +Mr. Ayres remained till late in the fall, then went to Chicago for the +winter and returned to the mountains early in the spring of 1863, to +give the business a further trial. But he did not do much mining or +milling. During that spring and the following summer a fever of +speculation prevailed all over the East, brought about by the war and +the deluge of greenbacks. It extended to mining stocks, and especially +to gold mines, as gold was then selling at a high premium--one hundred +dollars in gold bringing $260 in legal tender currency. Mr. Ayres +offered his plant for sale, went to New York in the summer and disposed +of it in Wall street for $30,000. The mill was never afterwards run and +I believe, none of the mines ever worked. Twenty years later I visited +Leavenworth gulch. The mill and all the houses and cabins of my former +days there had disappeared, and most of the old prospect holes and +mining shafts had caved in. One familiar sight, however, remained. A +load or so of black, rich looking ore was lying upon the ground unused +and uncared for at the shaft of the Keystone. + +On the 22nd of October, 1862, I left the mountains and gave up the +mining business for ever. The next day at Denver I took passage for +Omaha, in a two-horse covered wagon, with a man and his wife who were +returning to their home in Baraboo, Wis., after spending two years in +the gold fields with only moderate success. Another man also took +passage making a party of four. Leaving the wagon to the man and his +wife, my fellow passenger and I slept on the ground in our blankets, +except occasionally, when near some ranch or settlement, we could enjoy +the luxury of a haystack. When two or three days out of Denver we had a +"cold snap" which froze the vegetables in the wagon and made sleeping +out very uncomfortable. The woman did the cooking and the men collected +the fuel. The other two men had guns and supplied us with small game. We +saw a few dozen buffalo, but they were too far off to shoot. One day the +two men went off on an all-day hunt among the distant hills, the +arrangement being to meet us in camp at evening. I drove the team, and +in the afternoon we came in sight of a camp of Indians with their lodges +set up near our trail. The only thing to do was to drive boldly ahead. +The woman sat on a seat well back in the wagon, and I sat forward with +my feet out on a front step. I hung up a blanket close behind me across +the wagon, so that the Indians could not see how many persons were in +it. As we approached the camp about a dozen of them came out on the +trail in front of us, motioning to me to stop and calling out, "Swap, +swap, swap," meaning for us to stop and trade with them, but intending +doubtless to find out how many were in the wagon, and rob us if they +dared. Suddenly, when within a few yards of them, I whipped the horses +with all my might, and drove furiously past and away from the camp. When +our party met at night, all agreed that the day's experience savored too +much of danger to allow the hunters to go out of sight of the wagon +again. + +We passed two or three camps of Sioux Indians along the Platte, but they +gave us no trouble. When driving through the trees and bushes in a +lonely spot about a day's journey below Fort Kearney, we suddenly met a +band of mounted Pawnee warriors, who stopped us and in broken English +asked where we were going, where we came from, if we saw any Sioux +Indians, how big the bands were, if they had many ponies and how many +days' journey they were away. We answered their inquiries, and they told +us to go ahead. They rode westward, doubtless to make a raid on their +enemies, the Sioux. + +The weather was now getting cold; we approached the settlements and +enjoyed the haystacks. One night, while camping near an Indian +settlement on the Platte, I crawled well into the middle of a small rick +of hay. The Indians were tramping around it and over it and howling and +yelling all night, but I kept my berth till morning. We reached Omaha in +twenty days from Denver. There I said good-by to my traveling companions +and took stage for Iowa City, whence I could go by rail to Chicago. The +stage trip was two days and nights of continuous travel, except short +stops to change horses and get something to eat. We were packed three on +a seat, with no chance to stretch out our limbs, and no opportunity for +sleep, except such as could be obtained sitting upright and jolting over +the rough roads. + +After an absence of about two and a third years, I reached Chicago in +the middle of November, 1862, a wiser if not a richer man. + +After selling out my interest in the joint enterprise, I still had left +some fifty claims on various lodes in the newer gold fields of the Clear +creek region. Some I had pre-empted, and some I had bought in job lots +from miners who were "broke" or were about to leave the mountains. Some +had prospect holes dug in them and some were entirely undeveloped. They +may have been worthless, and they may have contained untold millions. +But I had given up the mining business. Some time after returning to +Chicago I was making a real estate trade, and we were a little slow in +adjusting the difference in values and closing the deal, and finally as +"boot" to make things even I threw in these fifty gold mines. Perhaps +this was a mistake and a squandering of wealth and opportunities. Had I +only kept them, and gotten up some artistic deeds of conveyance, in +gilded letters, what magnificent wedding presents they would have made. +And the supply would have been as exhaustless as that of Queen +Victoria's India shawls. In the long list of high-sounding, useless +presents, the present of a gold mine would have led all the rest. + +In summing up the losses and gains of the expedition, I have to charge +on one side two years and four months of time devoted to hard work, with +many privations, and about $500 in cash which I was out of pocket. On +the other side, I had built up a fine constitution, increased in +strength and endurance, gained valuable business experience, learned in +a measure to persevere under difficulties, and to bear with patience and +fortitude the back-sets, reverses and disappointments that so often +beset us, and, finally, had learned enough not to be taken in by the +schemers who are constantly enticing eastern people to invest in gold +and silver mines. Did the enterprise pay? + + + + +PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY +AND SONS COMPANY AT THE +LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Gold Hunter's Experience, by +Chalkley J. 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