Читать книгу Vigilante Days and Ways. The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho онлайн

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Men of this class are numerous in all gold-mining regions. Their very occupation makes them maniacs. They lose all relish for society, and think of nothing but the success they are one day to meet with in the pursuit of gold. Frequent as their discoveries often are, and promising as many of them proved to be, the one they are in search of lies still farther onward. Abandoning to those who follow them discoveries which would assure them all the wealth they need, they lead on and on into the mountain labyrinth, pioneering the path of empire, to die at last alone, unfriended, and destitute, beyond its utmost boundaries. It is to such men that we owe the discovery of all the gold regions which have contributed to our wealth since the days of Marshall, the discoverer of gold in California in 1848.

Gold had been discovered west of the mountains in several portions of Washington Territory previous to this time. As early as the year 1852, H. M. Chase found it on a creek which flowed into the Grand Ronde River. He exhibited it at Portland, and such was the excitement it occasioned that several parties of discovery were organized, and plunged into the mountain recesses of that portion of Washington which afterwards became Idaho. Among others was one Pierce, who became infatuated with the idea that the river sands of this unexplored region were filled with diamonds. He searched for them very thoroughly, but the traditions of the time fail to inform me that he found anything more valuable than gold. An unimportant camp of the early miners, which received his name, has served to transmit his memory and mania to the present period. These early explorations, leading deeper and deeper into the mountain wilderness, finally resulted in the discovery of the Florence and Oro Fino mines.