Tales of the Colorado Pioneers. Alice Polk Hill

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      CHAPTER IV.

      STAMPEDERS.

       Many of the new arrivals were mere surface deposits, having come with Utopian ideas in regard to the wealth of the country, expecting to find great nuggets of yellow metal lying around loose, and streams burdened' with liquid silver. These romantic fortune-seekers soon returned East, anathematizing the country and declaring Pike’s Peak to be an unmitigated swindle, and under the inscription, “Pike’s Peak or Bust,” was written, in larger, blacker letters, “Busted, by Thunder.” The plains for six hundred miles were the theatre of a restless, surging wave of humanity. D. C. Oakes had published a pamphlet, describing and lauding the country. It was the means of inducing many to emigrate. He had returned to the States, and was on his way back with a saw-mill, when he met the stampeders. They said he had “sworn deceitfully”—in other words, had told outrageous falsehoods, which they spelled with three letters, and they threatened to hang him and burn his mill. He met them bravely, by stating the fact of his having invested every dollar he was worth in that mill, which ought to be proof conclusive of his faith in the country. They gave him his life, but had the satisfaction of pelting him with execrating epithets. A little farther on he came to a new- made grave, and on the headstone, which was the storm- polished shoulderblade of a buffalo, was written the fol¬ lowing epitaph:

      “ Here lies the body of D. C. Oakes,

      Killed for aiding the Pike’s Peak hoax.”

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      28 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.

       Mr. Oakes has not yet crossed the range, but still lives to tell of being buried in effigy, and says he felt rather shaky, for “ let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly; ” and they are certainly convinced by this time that they were, to put it mildly, egregiously mistaken.

       One of these returning pilgrims, a wag in his way, in¬ formed his friends at home that nothing but unpardon¬ able ignorance stood in the way of his making a fortune in those days. If he had only given the subject a thought he would have known, of course, that domestic animals are always scarce in new countries; but he did not think, and it was another and a wiser man who was foresighted enough to bring hither a cat which he had taught to fol¬ low him. The cat easily sold for five dollars, and then it followed its master and was sold again and again, as the story goes. The returned pilgrim always insisted that if he had brought out a load of cats in his emigrant wagon, he would have made his fortune. He also told a story of one of their party who turned back. He was a man of family, and what is commonly termed a “great homebody,” but he had a thirst for wealth, and he, too, started for the new Eldorado. It was not long before he became very homesick, and one day when they arrived in their wagon at a town on the outskirts of civilization, where it was hoped letters from home would be found awaiting them, finding none, the poor man withdrew to a secluded spot and “lifted up his voice and wept,” so loudly that his companions at a distance heard, and hearing, were filled with great alarm. It sounded to them like the voice of some terrible monster of the plains. One of the party, gifted with more bravery than the rest, sug-

      SALTING A MINE. 29

      gested that it might be a buffalo calf; whereupon they traced the noise to its source, to the relief of all concerned, except the mourner himself. By common consent, the afflicted man was granted permission to leave the organization. “He stood not upon the order of going,” but went at once, and remains at home to the present day, a very contented being, with no desire ever again to roam to the “far ends of the earth.”

       The army of “go-backs” grew greater than the advancing host, and they did many a tale unfold, declaring there was not a thimbleful of gold in the country; it was all a delusion and a snare. They warned the brave and bold who pushed forward to beware of the man who had buckskin patches on his pants; he was a thief, a liar and a villain; he was here, there and everywhere, like the Scriptural adversary, “seeking whom he might devour.” Forewarned is forearmed, and the pilgrims harassed their minds devising how they would avoid this scoundrel of the Rockies. “ Lo and behold,” said my informer, “upon our arrival every man in the mountains wore the confounded rogues’ patches.”

      ___________

      CHAPTER V.

      SALTING A MINE FOR HORACE GREELEY.

       In May, 1859, a lone prospector pushed his way into the mountains and made a trail to the now famous Central City region, which until then had “slumbered like a sleeping child.”

      “And gold he found in ample store.

      But not the solid form it wore;

      Twas in the rock, where sweat and toil

      Must delve it from its mother soil.”

      30 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.

       Gregory Gulch was the name given to the new find. It continues to be a great treasure-house of precious metals. This discovery gave the country another boom.

       Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, had been making a trip through California and Nevada, and was on his return to the States when he heard of the gold strike in Colorado. He determined to feast his eyes on some of the “paltry stuff” that was creating such a furor throughout the land.

       When he arrived in Denver he was received with all the honor that the infant city could command. He said he didn’t intent to be deceived in this matter, that seeing was believing, and he wanted to wash out some of the dirt himself. So the men put their heads together to see how they could “come it” over the old gentleman. They themselves were satisfied as to the richness of Gregory Gulch, it was no intention to deceive, but Solomon says “there is a time for all things,” and they wanted a “good one” on Horace Greeley. So they sent a message to the camp that Horace was coming, and to salt a mine.

       The boys took down an old shotgun and fired gold dust

      into a hole for all it was worth.

       Bright and early the next morning a spanking team was rigged up, and the distinguished gentleman started for the gulch, accompanied by some of the most plausible, entertaining and versatile talkers of the country. They escorted him over the diggings, related all the interesting events in the history of its discovery, showed him specimens of the dirt and the pure gold that had been washed out. Mr. Greeley’s soul was in arms, and, eager for the task, he called for a shovel and pan, rolled up his sleeves, and went down into the pit. They gave