Dodge City times. [volume], November 06, 1880, Image 3

About Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892

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THE DODGE CITY TIMES.
SlESCEimOT: g'OOrrTMr, la Arfeaarr.
NICHOLAS iI.KL'aINC, -' Editor.
'FOKTr-MSE.
The "Remarkable Year of Ihe Fre.eat On
tarjr Mareh r the Anronaut Their Muf
ferlaK C'rolnr the 1'lMln Pioneer .Iub
tlee Kude ISut Trader llerey Chivalry
While the real Argonauts of 1848
were wandering among the hills and
pilches that Hank the western slope of
the Sierra Nevada, armed with pan,
spoon and butcher-knife, testing the
scope and capabilities of the gold
Mines, the news of the discovery was
speeding on its way to the Eastern
States by two routes simultaneously. It
reached the frontier of Missouri and
Iowa by the Mormon scouts and roving
trappers about the same time that ves
sels sailing round Cape Horn took it to
New York and Boston; which was in
the late autumn of 1818. The first re
ports, repeatedly conlirmed and en
larged upon, threw the whole country
into the wildest excitement. In the
City of New York and the extreme
Western States the fever was hottest.
The year 1849 was in some other re
spects the most remarkable year of the
present century. It. lounu franco a
licmiblic, with a Bonaparte President
r r ; r
W
a a
iat h
T-rf-
crand
assembled
souri from early in March to late in
May, 1849. They represented all
elites, an states ana
not all ages. Out of every hundred it
would have been hard to pick one man
over forty; and to every five hundred
F
41-
armyof California pioneers that are you going, to" do?'' 'MVhyre are
tled alons the banks of the Mis- vou from?" cl"Will vn'iftjof ' here
k . . .. ..... I-.. ... .- , I
it you wpem u','1 ou auoruse.j
luruisu Ik. 3Ck.Ul Ul) Wild suimih
Nations,,, slri of imip, 'and all " conic and board
trades, callings and rTOfessnons'tfut-lat your "house." Tno 'hfleri was
gladly accepted., vwith- sach . rude,
thanks ns-.bonustjgnurdn.i c in nuer,
In less than six months after this event
men there; was hardly one woman.,1! 1'Pike." his wife and biliy dtqurted
There were young fellows of twenty.
iresn irom college, young Lawyers,
young doctors, joung preachers., oung
farmers, young invalids. Some were
in wagons by pairs, trios, quartets;
some mounted on mules, ponies or
horses, with an extra animal to pack
tho necessary provisions; and some
few were bold and hardy enough to un
dertake the adventure afoot, trusting to
the rille for their supplies. One of
these latter, an Irishman, carrying a
pack heavy enough to hare killed a
mule in a fortnight, was picked up on
the Platte, four hundred and fifty miles
out from St. Jo, and brought through
train as far as Thou-
Valley, where ho was
expelled for misconduct. Ho worked
his way on foot to Sacramento, and,
after accumulating 5,000 in the mines,
returned to a Western city, where he
became an Alderman and a capitalist,
with millions at his command. He was
last seen on the road near tho sink of
the Humboldt, cuttimr the throat of a
mired horse and feeding himself upon
sand rpnngs
.r j
by popular election. All Germany was ! choice bits of the carcass. The pas-
aac iiuiu wiu jiuuuua iif lira kjaiia-
mento occupied from one hundred to
one hundred and thirty days. Gener
ally the provision was made for but
ninety days, and this mistake caused a
scarcity of supplies. The cholera fol
lowed the trail, as plague pursues the
pilgrims to Mecca, and the graves of its
victims were thicker than mile-stones
on the highway. There was no time
for a waste of sympathy on the dead or
tenderness on the'dvinz. They were
buried in haste, without stone or epi-
m armed revolt against kingcratt.
Hungary was in rebellion against the
Austrian Emperor. There was revolt
in Lombardy against the Austrian yoke;
in Naples and Palermo against the
King of the two Sicilies. The people
forced the rulers of Tuscany, Modena
and Parma to grant Constitutions.
There was rank revolution in Ireland
under tho lead of Smith O'Brien,
Mitchell and Meagher. The Chartists
were seriously moving in England for
universal suflrajre. Fierce war raged
in Northern Italy between the Italians taph to mark the spot, and hunger or .
and Austria; and the year opened with fear of the pestilence hurried the sur-
nLllllll I1IIIMIV. Iit-l.ll III1II Illllllll-:il. VII i " vo ... ...... r.vwwa ...
speed
ble all over the
noli
via world.
Cholera,
The aggregate
that frightful contribution of Asia to anny has been variously estimated at
from that camp on a stage And sis. and
In tine style, with a, purse of SJ.OOO- 1
J.ney returned to tbo western states,
and were never again heard of by their
benefactors: The slightest insnlt to a
woman was resented on the spot with
out regard to her character, education
or condition The, man who cheated a
woman in his board or wash bill was
treated as a thief and driven out of
camp as a pariah. There are unrecord
ed deeds of mercy and charity dono in
thoso early days, tho simple truth of
which would shame all dramatic effort.
Mr. and Mrs. were among the
early arrivals by the Panama route.
They had opportunities of doing well at
San" Francisco and Stockton; but the
husband hail started for the mines."
and, like thousands of others, he could
not be satisfied short of seeing them.
He possessed the instincts, education
and manners of a gentleman. The
wife, a delicate, warm-hearted, intelli
gent and very motherly littlo New En
gland woman, was in all respects fit to
bo tho friend and companion of such a
man. They brought their only child
a girl of live or six years, as "beautiful
as a fawn, and tho. life of tho family
circle, which was soon cn'arged by
beardcrs. Mr. was physically un
able to work in the mines." Mrs.
cheerfully supported him in his illness
(Panama fever), hoping for his ulti
mate recovery, which never came.
Within a month or six weeks after his
arrival ho died, and the Argoniuts
kindlv and tenderly laid him away
in his eternal rest. The brave
hearted wife attended to her
duties as usual, until ono morning lit
tle Ella's flushed check and languid cx-
nmeitnn inilir.itf.it that c!i tnn V41
01 tne granu wanted on llie oilier sale ol the river.
modern Europe, more terrible than the
ancient plague, was raging on the con
tinent and advancing toward America,
where the terrors it inspired in 1832-3
were soon to be redoubled in a grand
harvest of dcathanddcsolation through
out the cities and towns of the Missis
sippi Valley, and all along the thorough
fares (a! yet hardly explored), to tho
shores of the Pacific. The extreme
western limit of the white settlements
in 1849 was the States of Missouri, Iowa
and the Territory of Minnesota. Beyond
that there lay a terra incognita known
as " Missouri Territory" and tho " In
dian Territory" south of it. Between
the lines of Iowa and Missouri and the
Kocky Mountains there were not, all
told, over live hundred whites. What
few there were included missionaries
among the Delawarcs and Shawnecs,
Wyandottcs. Pottowattomies. Senecas,
Osages, and Indian agents with their as
sistants and servants at the various
agencies. The Pawnees were still a
formidable tribe. The wigwams of the
Sioux and tho hunting camps of the
Comanches lined the Platte, Arkansas,
Missouri and their tributary streams for
nunureus ol miles in what Is now the
richest and most productive agricultural
regions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa,
and Dakota, with its population of more
than two millions.
The people of the frontier States
were in that happiest of all earthly
conditions without wealth, without
poverty a community of small farmers
and traders. There were then no largo
towns. St. Louis was a place of 55.000.
Chicago was of less importance than
Sacramento or Omaha now, and Kan
sas City contained a few log huts and
some 300 population. The National
census, completed a year later, gave
Iowa less than 200,000 and Minnesota
but 6,000 white Jnhabitants. Twenty
miles out from Council Bluffs and forty
from Independence brought the.luinter
to the buflalo range. Beyond thai to
ward the setting sun stretched a limit
less prairie far on and on into what was
then supposed to be a " desert," and
so marked on the nlaps, but what is
now proved to be a very fertile part of
tne continent, sloping grauuauy upwaru
toward the Black Hills and, the' Rocky
range, where it is, watered by innumer
able clear, .cold streams from Ihe
heights of" everlasting&uotf; Through
this unexplored wilderness lay" the
i routes (for there were several) of the
from 50.000 to 80.000. The latter num
ber is perhaps nearest the mark. The
first arrivals were as early as July. The
mainbodv came in from the 10th to the
25th of August. They all headed for
butter s lort (Sacramento). liut dur
ing the winter and spring preceding
their coming the discoveries in EI Do
rado County had extended from Colo-
mo along the American, w eber Creek,
Mathenas Creek and Hangtown Creek,
as far eastward as Weavertown (now
as much a lost place as Babylon or Nin
eveh) and Hangtown, now .known as
Flacerville. These towns or camps aro
directly on the line of route from Car
son Valley to Sacramento, and thou
sands of the grand army stopped and
tried their fortunes there. In the
spring of 1850 the County of El Dorado
contained a greater population than
San Francisco or Sacramento, nine
tenths of it being engaged at placer
mining.
There was no organized civil Govern
ment on the American plan till the 13th
of November. 1849, when Peter H.
Burnett was elected Governor and John
McDongall Lieutenant-Governor.
Among the Argonauts chivalrous re
spect for woman was carried to the ut
most extremity, and often to the ludi
crous; as a single instance will explain.
In the spring and summer of 1850 some
two hundred miners, nearly all Ameri
cans, were working on one of the many
dry creeks" in tho foot-hills, forty
five to fifty miles to the eastward of the
Sacramento valley. They were "do
ing well," that is, those who worked
faithfully ten or eleven hours a day
were making' from $1C to $20. outofj
which they had to pay expenses say
three to four dollars, a day for wear
and tear of tools, clothes, board, medi
cines, etc. ; every miner in those times
washing his own shirts and undercloth
ing, which were of gray, blue or red
flannel. TlieyJSvediii cabins ygroops
of twos, threes, fours and lives. One
dar a cart, to which a sinzlo old cow
was harnessed, drove. up tot hi trading
post in the neighborhood. A sloucby
looking " Pike" was the driver. In the
curious craft sat a very plain-looking
and saaly-dpjectcu woman. Homing in
Night and day tho mother hung over
tho fading form of her darling, alter
nately hoping, fearing, despairing.
And night and day the Argonauts
gathercdabout to cheer, comfort, assist
and encourage. At last the supreme
hour came, and the sweet little llower
that had delighted and humanized the
rough natures of so many homeless,
childless and wifeless men" closed its
leaves and faded awav into a memory.
With little Ella's death the light of
life perished from the eyes and heart of
the mother. Her utter loneliness and
melancholy was sadder than death itself.
Sho was left in destitute circumstances.
The miners divined as much, and in less
than a fortnight after the burial of the
child the widowed mother was started
nn her wav back to her New
England home with $1,000 and a
through ticket in her purse. This is
but one instance of thousands. The
demands upon benevolence were fre
quent and always pressing, but the Ar
gonauts, though their avarice must be
conceded, albeit among the meanest of
passions, brought hearts with them
which on occasion could glow with all
the warmth of a California summer
sun.
It has gone abroad with the brand of
popular indorsement that there is for
literature in the annals and traditions
ot early life in this State nothing worth
contributing but humor of the broadest
and lowest type. This is a grave mis
judgment of the case; and no man fa
miliar with the inner life of those times
will assent to it. There was to be
sure, a humorous and a ridiculous,
mocking side to it; but by-comparison
with the serious, earnest, dramatic side,
it is as the laughing rill to the mighty
river. Every camp, bar, ravine, which
has materially helped to swell the vol
ume of gold produced here suice Jan
uary 19, 184$, has been the"scene" of a
tragedy, and no considerable civilized
State has ever. .in i so short: a,,tinje;)
yielded as lar?e a-harvest of-bliht4-
hopes, broken hearts,ac(rnnefl ambi
.tions and, famil'tie severed1 as, this.
uur namor. HKft uiaLoi. tne "Hani in
King Lear, 'in the mam derives it in
spiration irom calamity.-and has a I
touch of the srim mockervj of a. orin..
her lap Mj infant chiM., IiVjless tisi nins.skeleton. The NorthraAnierWai
fifteen muHftes a prowd'of u,orsixlflf PielBitr," ,whb,Ii .H&JieefiJ;
vonne men collected about the can.
Most of them had not seen a woman
for sir hfohth's." TJagerlnquiries' wire
showered upon the strangers. What
dim ml
ir
ft. T
;PERS05AI, ABB LITER!.
Miss iBkaddox's new novel is entitled
'rJust as I Am." . t x rn
Kilo da Bkocohtox has been making
stndies in Oxford.ngland, for a novel
rfnniversitylife.' """ """"" " ln
Tub mimbeT"oTvolum"csTnlieTr!P""'
tional Library ot Paris is 2,078,000; andcx
in the British Museum only 1,000,0001
Geoboe Macdonalu's next novel Is '
to be called"MaTT Mai'siuu." and- it
will illustrate certain interesting phases
of modern English life.
The population of what Is known as
the Gunnison country is now as large' as
tho entire white population of Colorado
when the Denver-Pacific was built.
BARTLEr Camtbell, the American
playwright, called on Mr. Carlyle in.
Scotland, and is said to have found tho
latter distinguished gentleman engaged
in killing a rat with a poker.
Lucr Larcom writes to the Marble
head (Mass.) Messenger that her poem.
"Hannah Binding shoes," had no real
foundation in fact; that she knew many
Hannahs in Beverly hut none in Mar
blchead. and that tho poem was sug
gested by the glimpse of a woman sit
ting at a window binding shoes, which
she had on a drivo through Swampscott,
Marblehead and Salem.
An autobiography of Lady Bulwer
has lately appeared in London, whlclv
if it bo not suppressed, is likely to make
a sensation. It is a long- story of al
leged abuses on the part of the late and '
tbo present Lord Luton, and abounds
in the most violent language. It is said
to contain a very gross and uniadvlike
attack on the Queen, and to bo various
ly improper and not to be endured. But
all this, of course, will make evervbody
want to read it,
Jacques Offenbach, tho opera
lioulle composer who died recently at
Paris, was born of Jewish parents at
Cologne, Germany, on the 21st of June,
1819, and was therefore sixty-one years
old. The bright and sparkling music of
his operas is familiar to lovers of amuse
ments in every city of this country and
Europe, his best known works perhaps
being, "La Grande Duchess," "La
Belle Helene" and "Barbe Bleu."
His latest and last work, "La Filio du
Tambour Major," met with great suc
cess in London and Paris, and is now
being played in New York at two thea
ters in French and in English.
HUMOROUS.
Twain'! .inimitable-' vJettplawv-Froel
story, ff the,trnthiBotto!6T.ofihfiha
curlew. San'Francisco Call. '
The man who will convince a tin
smith that two joints of stove-pipe ot
exactly the same sizo won't go together
as easy as grease has a medal awaiting
him in this locality. Exchange.
Another poet comes forward and
says: "And I hear the hiss of a scorch
ing kiss." Beats all what a man can
hear if he is only mean enough to listen.
Aro Haven Hcgiiler.
And right in the middle of an impor
tant campaign, women are unpatriotic
enough to insist that the country shall
remain unsaved while a store is pat
up in the sitting room. Lockport
Onion.
Bjobnson Bjaernson, the Swedish
novelist, is in the country. His name
is pronounced It-yernstyairneh B-ycrn-sohn,
so it will bo seen that it is as eas
ily pronounced as spelled. Boston Tost.
Now that the coming frosts will
soon ripen tho nut crop every newspa
per should warn its readers against eat
ing chestnuts in the dark. It is not only
unwise, but it is cruelty to insects. '
Philadelphia Chroniclc-llerald.
One of our landlords writes his own
bills of fare, in order to save a printer's
bill. The last one announces; "CoiTey,
supe, roste befe, fride hamm. boyled
and bakt pertaters, fride could pndden.
ruins pyea, matting chops, reele cul
verts, ,hasch, and crusified chickens."
Tyrone (ib.) Timet.
Tukt can instantaneously photograph, ,
an'express train going at sixty miles an ,
boor; so that It looks. smoke-'andaH," as'
if it were taken 'at standstill. And
-yot-they can't, or won't; paotegnpk.'aLtjt
man sitting in a chair wjthoutscreviag j
his head round in a rise , Jiko'a movable
tdolU amT,;eepiriy hiinr!6oklna ""' r
smuagaon iD0wjiriui m njrop- -ao'dJoisneyas:
water. acd,hkpWant.d
UtUcvsneeub ha meant to .think tout.,, .,,.
iSS85aK$ra3sssfcv-
4l BJumelesB'eeno' Ktwy-piwuir" "- -
history as sad as tIsrjAarounaed;f ; fe., jears .tenW,ttcaWafoJi?rW-A3)t.
Boston PosL
a r