THE GOLD FEVER.
During the winter of 1858-59 the public generally, throughout the United
States, began to give publicity to a great gold discovery reported to
have been made in the Pike's Peak region of the Rocky Mountains.
From week to week, as time passed, more extended accounts were given,
until the reports became fabulous.
The discovery was reported to have been made in Cherry Creek, at or near
its junction with the South Platte River, and one of the newspapers at
the time, published in Cleveland, Ohio, came out, giving a cut which was
claimed to be a map of the country. Pike's Peak was given as the central
figure. The South Fork of the Platte River was represented as flowing
out from the mountain near its base, and Cherry Creek as coming out of a
gorge in the mountain's side, and forming a junction with the Platte in
the low lands, at which point Denver was designated.
Reports went so far as to state that gold was visible in the sands of
the creek-bed, and that the banks would pay from grass roots to bed
rock.
People became wild with excitement, and a stampede to Pike's Peak
appeared inevitable.
The great question with the excited people was as to the shortest,
cheapest, and quickest way to get to the country, with little thought of
personal safety or comfort, or as to how they should get back in the
event of failure. But the problem was soon believed to have been solved
to the satisfaction of all concerned.
A brilliant idea took possession of the fertile brain of an energetic
Buckeye citizen, and a plan was conceived and to an extent put in
execution. A canal-boat which had been converted into a steam tug was
secured, not only for the purpose of transporting the multitudes from
Cleveland to Denver, but to transport the millions of treasures back to
civilization, or, as it was then put, "to God's country." Passengers
were advertised for at $100 per head; the route given as follows: From
Cleveland, Ohio, via the lake to Chicago, thence via Illinois Canal and
River to the Mississippi River, then to the mouth of the Missouri River
and up the Missouri to the mouth of the Platte River, and, thence up the
Platte to Denver, and it was with pride that this boat was advertised as
the first to form a line of steamers to regularly navigate the last
named stream.
Of course this trip was never made, for in fact, at certain seasons of
the year, it would be difficult to float a two-inch plank down the river
from Denver to the Missouri, and yet this is but illustrative of the
hundreds of visionary, crude and novel plans conceived and adopted by
the thousands of so-called Pike's Peakers who swarmed the plains between
Denver and the border during the early part of 1859.
Having caught the fever, and there being no remedy for the disease equal
to the gold hunter's experience, horses and wagon were secured and, with
traveling companions, the trip was made by land. Many novel experiences
to the participants occurred during that trip.
At Leavenworth one of my companions concluded to economize, which he did
by piloting six yoke of oxen across the plains for me. He drove into
Denver in the morning and drove out of it in the evening of the same
day, fully convinced (as he himself stated) that all reports of the
country were either humbugs or greatly exaggerated, and that he had seen
and knew all that was worth seeing and knowing of that land. I
suggested the advisability of further investigation before moving on,
but not being favorable to delay, and suiting himself to his means, he
secured an ox and cart that had been brought in from the Red River of
the North, and loading it with all necessary supplies headed for Denver,
with a determination so aptly and forcibly expressed in the usual motto,
"Pike's Peak or bust." All went well until he reached the Little Blue
River in Kansas, when he "busted," or at least the cart did, and the
result was the location of a ranch on that stream and an end to his
westward career.
Thus Kansas is largely indebted for her early and rapid settlement to
the discovery of gold in Colorado, and to the misfortunes of many of the
Pike's Peakers who, for some cause, failed to reach the end desired, and
who were thus compelled to stop and become settlers of that now great
State.
Shortly before the time of which I write, June, 1859, Horace Greeley
passed through Leavenworth en route for Denver, and thousands of people
were to be found in every principal town and city, from St. Louis to
Council Bluffs (there was no Omaha at that time), who were awaiting his
report, which was daily expected, and for once, at least, the New York
_Tribune_ was in demand on the borders. I may say here that Horace
Greeley was _dead-headed_ through to California.
In the early part of July came a favorable report in the _Tribune_, and
at that time a shipment of gold was made from Denver and put on
exhibition in one of the banks at Leavenworth.
Thus new life was given to the immigration movement, and soon the towns
along the border were largely relieved of their floating population, and
the plains at once became alive with a moving, struggling mass of
humanity, moving westward in the mad rush for the gold-fields of Pike's
Peak.
Among my friends an association was formed and the following party
organized, viz.: Alfred H. Miles and his wife, their son George T., and
two daughters, Fannie D. and Emma C. Miles, with William McLelland and
P. A. Simmons.
They outfitted with two wagons, four yoke of oxen, two saddle-mules, one
cow, and all supplies presumed to be sufficient for at least one year.
On the first day of August, 1859, they moved out from Leavenworth, happy
and full of "great expectations" for the future. Forty-nine days were
spent in making the drive, and then they landed in Denver on the
eighteenth day of the following month. And here let me say, that I
believe this party of seven proved an exception to the rule, in this,
that every member of it became a permanent settler, and for the last
thirty-three years they have been actively connected with, and
identified in, the various departments of life and business, both public
and private.
All are yet living and residents of the State, except Mrs. Miles, who
recently passed to a higher life, respected and loved by all who knew
her; and I here venture the opinion that no other party of emigrants in
this country, of equal number, can show a better record.
Many novel events occurred on this trip also, but to mention all the new
and novel experiences incident to an expedition of that kind would
require more than the allotted space for a chapter. I will, therefore,
confine the account to one incident alone which will make manifest the
radical changes that are sometimes wrought in the individual lives of
people, in a sometimes radically short space of time. Two of the ladies
of the party before mentioned arrived in Leavenworth about one month
previous to their departure on this trip. They were just graduated from
a three years' course of study in a female seminary, and in thirty days
from that time they were transported from their boarding-school
surroundings to the wilds of the Great American Desert, and after
passing into the timberless portion of the great desert, the great query
with them was as to how and where they were to secure fuel necessary for
culinary purposes; and when informed that it would be necessary to
gather and use buffalo chips for that purpose, their incredulity became
manifest, and their curiosity was rather increased than satisfied. When
called upon to go, gunny-sack in hand, out from the line of travel to
gather the necessary fuel, it was difficult to persuade them they were
not being made the victims of a joke; but when finally led into the
field of "chips," and the discovery made of their character, the
expression upon the face of each would have been a delight to an artist
and amusing to the beholder; and to say that the distance between the
chip-field and the camp was covered by them in the time rarely, if ever,
covered by the native antelope, is to speak without exaggeration.
As before stated, all of the seven members of this party, on their
arrival in Denver, became residents and actively identified in the
various departments of life and business, and to each and every one
there is no spot on the face of this globe that is quite so good, so
grand, and so dear as the Centennial State, of which Denver is the
center of their love.