Gold Hunter's Experience-Chalkley J. Hambleton

0:00Toyota's easy choice sales event is on. Whether you're looking for the performance of a camera, the versatility of Arab 4, the efficiency of a Corolla, or all electric driving in the BZ. There's a Toyota that's just right for you. And with great deals across the lineup, now's the time to find yours. But hurry, these deals won't last long. Toyota's easy choice sales event end soon. We make it easy. Toyota, let's go places. McDonald's is putting value back on the menu. Whether you're craving a Big Mac, McNuggets are sausage egg and cheese McGrittle's, make it a meal and save. Your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too. Extra value meals are back. Get a big something extra with a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets, fries and a medium Coke, all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Toyota's easy choice sales event is on.

1:04Whether you're looking for the performance of a camera, the versatility of Arab 4, the efficiency of a Corolla, or all electric driving in the BZ. There's a Toyota that's just right for you. And with great deals across the lineup, now's the time to find yours. But hurry, these deals won't last long. Toyota's easy choice sales event end soon. We make it easy. Toyota, let's go places. Preface and part one of a Goldhunter's experience. This is the LibraVox recording. All LibraVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or a volunteer, please visit LibraVox.org. Recording by Sue Anderson. A Goldhunter's experience by Chalkley J. Hamilton. Preface, 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

2:06and partly from old letters written at the time to my sister in the East, C.J.H. End of Preface. A Goldhunter's experience by Chalkley J. Hamilton, Part 1. 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 region for 70 miles to the north was called Pike's Peak. Others in the East heard of the gold discoveries and went west the next spring.

3:08So 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 minds 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, Inos Ares, T.R. Stubbs, John Solet and myself, formed a partnership, raised about $9,000, and went to work to purchase the necessary outfit for gold mining. Mr. Ares furnished a larger share of the capital than any of the others

4:10and was not to go with the expedition, but might join us the following year. Mr. Stubbs and I were both to go. While Mr. Solet was to be represented by a substitute, a relative whose name was also John Solet and who had been a farmer and butcher and was supposed to know all about oxen, Mr. Stubbs was a good mechanic and 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 equipment understood to be necessary for extracting gold from the rock, including mining tools, powder, quick silver, copper, plate and chemicals. Also a supply of provisions for a year, the staple articles of the ladder were flour, beans, salt, pork, coffee, and sugar. Then we had rice, cornmeal, dried fruit, tea, bacon, and a barrel of syrup

5:11besides a good supply of hard tack, 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 14 wagons necessary to carry them across the plains. Then all were shipped by rail to St. Joseph, Missouri, where the oxen were to be purchased. The entire outfit, when loaded on the cars, weighed 24 tons. I stayed in Chicago to the last to help purchase and forward the outfit and supplies while Stubbs and Solic, the substitute, went to St. Joe to receive and load them on the wagons and to purchase the oxen. On the first day of August, all was ready, and we ferried our loaded wagons and teams across the Missouri River in DeCanzus 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 a favorable

6:16location and then to meet the train when it arrived at Denver. Solid 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 businessman of the expedition, had full power of attorney from Mr. Ares to represent and manage his interests, and hence I had the control and responsibility in my hands and practically decided all important questions relating to the business. The 14 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 won a young dentist.

7:16Another was a 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 planes. He deliberately pitched them into a loft where they were left. Another was a young Illinois farmer called 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 2nd, all were busy yoking Oxen and hitching them to the

8:17wagons, but as most of the drivers were green at the business and did not know off of G 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 14 wagons, a driver for each, 40 yoke of Oxen, one yoke of cows, and one pony with a Mexican saddle and a raw hide larry at 30 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 bark and back and refuse to pull their loads up the hills and the new drivers were non-plussed 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

9:21made 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 offside while the- This is Matt Rodgers from Lost Culture East. This is Matt Rodgers in Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. This is Matt Rodgers in Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. And wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. You want with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo? Will the answer egg yolks? Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it.

10:25Whatever you're eating, Cupid hit. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. Back or 10-piece McNuggets, fries and a medium coke all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Ba da ba ba ba. Toyota's easy choice sales event is on. Whether you're looking for the performance of a camera, the versatility of Arab 4, the efficiency of a Corolla, or all electric driving in the BZ. There's a Toyota that's just right for you. And with great deals across the lineup, now's the time to find yours.

11:27But hurry, these deals won't last long. Toyota's easy choice sales event ends soon. We make it easy. Toyota, let's go places. 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 solid road ahead, picked out a camping place, and directed the drivers to halt and on yoke as they reached it. But when it became dark, three or four teams were still 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 as shower came up and it drizzled a good part of the night, the last rain

12:27we 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 downhill and upset. One axle, two wagon tongues, one yoke and some chains were broken. Solid 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.

13:29Experience 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 yoke 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 playing cook. His utensils consisted of some large boiling pots and kettles, a tin bake oven, two or three frying pans, a two-ballon coffee pot, and a few other unusual articles.

14:33Each 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. Pants 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 despeptic and had not tasted pork for years. Soon I could devour it in a manner that would have shocked my vegetarian friends, and for

15:34the 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 felt a myelot. 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.

16:37Hyawathic Kansas and a few scattered caverns 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 effect. 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 was 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. The heat was very trying and debilitating to the oxen. They would pant, lull their tongues out of their mouths, refuse to pull and lie down in

17:42their 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 someone rolled up in his blanket and startled him with a howl. But with all their noise these perry 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.

18:43Soon 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 court of strong court. This is Matt Rodgers from Lost Cultures, thus with Matt Rodgers and Bowen Yang.

19:44This is Bowen Yang from Lost Cultures, thus Matt Rodgers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. And wow, the feedback we're getting! I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff! You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid! And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo? Will the answer? Egg yolks. Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise.

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21:46In this hot weather, the oxen with their heavy loads did not make more than a mile an hour went on the march. So with the numerous delays, it was nearly two weeks before we reached Mary'sville 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, Missouri, and passed near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The inhabitants had the reputation of being mostly outlaws, black legs 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.

22:47This compelled solid 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 Mary'sville, 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. Solid rode ahead much of the time to pick out the road.

23:49Our course for several days was now along the little blue in a northwest direction toward Fort Keirney on the plat. To avoid the side gullies and beveens which were water courses in the spring, though now dried up, we frequently circled off two or three miles onto 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. Solid mounted him and rifle in hand rode off to the long beast. One approach to begin 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.

24:53Then he charged after the horse and rider again. When the horses turned to chase came next, the buffalo received a third shot and soon fell dead. This was quite exciting sport for us tender feet who had never seen a buffalo hunt. The bullet, 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 riverbed.

25:53When 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 pales 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 plant river before the oxen were famished from thirst. Earlier in the season, before the streams dried up, this was a favorite root of travel, but it was not so at this time of year, and we saw very few passing teams. My daylight next morning, the oxen were yoked and hitched up, and we commenced a forced

26:57march for water and salvation. The old trails 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 plant 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 of 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 sagebrush 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 headwands were ready to start on.

28:02Solid rode a head to explore and pick out the road, carrying his rifle on the saddle, as we reliable at any time to meet bands of treacherous pillaging ponies, whose haunts were on the lower plant. 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 solid rode back with the cheering news that he had seen the stars and stripes waving overfort Keirney 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 logeriating in the clear running water of the plant. The next fornoon 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 20 days on the road from St. Joe.

29:08At the fort was a post office, 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 a joining was a strong stockade for horses and oxen. There were a few United States troops here, just outside the fort grounds where some ranches, stores, saloons, and trading posts. The tomb is orient. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Cubime mail for a minute now, Bowen. Wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cubie. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cubie?

30:08Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mail? Well, the answer? Egg yolks. Cubie is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles, chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cubie hit. So if you haven't tried Cubie yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. Cubie, the original Japanese mayonnaise. McDonald's is putting value back on the menu. Whether you're craving a Big Mac, McNuggets are sausage egg and cheese, McGrittle's, make it a meal and save. Your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too. Extra value meals are back. Get a big something extra.

31:10With a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets, fries and a medium coke all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. McDonald's is putting value back on the menu. Whether you're craving a Big Mac, McNuggets are sausage egg and cheese, McGrittle's, make it a meal and save. Your favorite is now your wallet's favorite too. Extra value meals are back. Sun rises, prices fall. Get a sausage McMuffin with egg or sausage egg and cheese, McGrittle's small hot coffee and hash frowns for just $6. Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. Proceeded fourth with to get dead drunk and it took them till next day to sober up. By way of apology, they said the whiskey tasted so good after being so long without it. We had no whiskey on our train. It was one of the very few that crossed the plains in those days without that so considered

32:13essential article in Frontier Life. Personally, through the entire period of my Pike Speak experience, I adhered strictly to my custom of not tasting spiritual 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 Kirini was a favorite place for them to stop over a day and rest. Our course now lay along the south side of the plat, Cludardinver, 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 plat is a sandy plain, nearly level, extending westward for hundreds of miles from Kirini, bounded on the north and the south by low bluffs, some four or

33:13five miles apart. Back of these, by the more elevated, dry plains extending to great distances. Winding through this valley is the plat river, a half 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 camp near Kirini, 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 of rifle and went toward him, stooping or going on my hands and knees through the

34:13wet 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 animals 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 sports than shooting down oxen. I was neither a sufficiently expert-breder nor hunter to chase and shoot them on horseback. The one I shot was carved by solid and one of the men, and furnished us fresh meat for

35:17breakfast and several meals thereafter. During the day we passed a ranch occupied by a man and his son, 12 or 14 years old. The boy had eight or ten Buffalo calves and 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 drop 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 a straze and buying for a song, those that were foot sore and sick, keeping them till in condition and then selling them to passing trains that were in need.

36:17We 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 Keirney, 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.

37:21The great herd had probably started northward from the Arkansas in the spring, and had now reached the plant 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, with thousands of wolves collected from the distant plains to feast upon the young and the weekly, 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

38:25the same time. Pandemonium seemed to rain. The two boys got nervous, then frightened, and finally panicked 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. Someone upstream, some down, and some back along the road we had come. The bias and myself waited 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. Waiting 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.

39:30By noon after this thorough search we had collected all of our oxen but two which could not be found. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. We've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, and wow, the feedback we're getting! I mean, so many of you all love this stuff! You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid! And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. You'll ask what makes it different from basic mayo, will the answer? Egg yolks. Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates

40:35everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles, chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid hit. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand, Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. Things had been taken by some ranchman or passing train. I believe they had gone off with a buffalo and that when they wanted to 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.

41:38In 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. You and I 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 one free, nor could they graze a part of the night as was their habit. Whenever we looked off to the south or southwest, we could see dozens and dozens of the small

42:38droves 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 port of a gun, the barking of a dog, or some imaginary enemy, and would start on a run which soon became a furious stampede. They hinder most following those before them, and in their blind fury crowding them forward

43:40with 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 until 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 one to

44:44a dozen or more buffalo. The result was that the plane 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 Platt Valley. We always estimated their numbers by the million. Footnote, the estimate was probably not an exaggeration. In the late work it is stated on the authority of railroad statistics that in the 13 years from 1868 to 1881, in Kansas alone, there was paid out $2,500,000 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 100 carcasses to make one ton of bones.

45:46The price paid averaging $8.00 a ton. Although the above-coded, enormous sum represented the skeletons of over 31 millions of buffalo, the old Santa Fe Trail by Colonel Henry Inman, page 203. The author further states, in the autumn of 1868, I wrote with General 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 Fort's harker and haze 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. Forest Greeley crossed the plains in 1859 in the stagecoach, and as stated in his published

46:47letters, he saw a herd of buffalo that he estimated to contain over five millions. End of footnote. 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 until they became extinct in their wild state. 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. Charity with them, as with the Indians, destroyed all the poetry and romance about them.

47:48They were not a thing of beauty. An old buffalo bowl 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 hole covered with dirt and patches of dried mud, presented a picture that was supremely ugly. On the journey from St. John to Cureney, 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 plant there was practically no wood to be had. For 150 miles we did not see a single tree, but the buffalo supplied us with a good fuel

48:48called buffalo chips, which was scattered over the plains in abundance, and which in this dry country burned freely and made a very hot fire. On approaching camp in the evening, the drivers would pick up arms full 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 fork sticks into the ground, one on each side of the fire, placed a cross stick on them, and then hung his pots and kettles 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.

49:49While eating and during the early evening, talking, storytelling, 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 pikes 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 horseback and in wagons drawn by horses, mules, and oxen, and many of them were a sorry ragged looking lot. Judging from the requests from us, their most pressing wants were tobacco and husky. In those days western towns were full of enthusiastic, sanguine, roving men, who were

50:50ever 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 road 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.

51:50Some of these chaps showed a humorous vein in the models painted on the sides of their wagons. On one was pikes, peaks, or bust, evidently written on going out. Under it was written, busted. On another was, ho for pikes, peaks, and 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

52:52was to appear bold and strong, while a sure 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 shotgun 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 went back to their camp. They were evidently making observations. After 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

53:56on the ground in a circle, while the smaller ends were fastened in a bunch at the top, with a covering of dressed buffalo skin 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 whiskey, powder and tobacco. Instead we gave them a little cold grub.

54:58They looked over all the wagons in 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 squas were seated on the ground at the openings of their lodges, visibly 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 squas in their teens round and plump, their faces be doped with red paint, toned down with dirt, squatted on the ground and grinned with delight when gazed at by our crew

55:59of young men. We all traded something for moccasins and for the rest of the trip were them, instead of shoes. Curious to see inside of the lodges, I took a cup of sugar and went into two or three under the pretense of trading it for moccasins, their belongings were lined 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 squas for the pony. A pony was the usual price of a wife with these western Indians. They exhibited no hostility whatever towards us. It might have been otherwise had we been a weak party of two or three possessing something that they coveted. They asked if we saw any buffalo. When we told them that at a distance of two or three days travel, the planes 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

57:01were out for their yearly buffalo hunt to supply them. This is Matt Rogers from Los Cultures, thus with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Cultures, thus Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. And wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo? Well, the answer? Egg yolks. Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Cupid's use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid hit. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's

58:02talking about. You'll understand Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. I was with meat for the winter. In moving, they tied one end of their large poles in bunches to their ponies and let the other end spread out and drag upon the ground. And on these dragging poles, they piled their skins and other possessions. The young children and old squas would often climb up on these and ride. Cacti splints 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,

59:07then 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 the 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 and 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.

1:00:10The white sand reflected the sun's rays and made it unpleasantly hot. The wheel 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 worrisome. Being 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 with the sky above and the ground below, one felt as if his only friends and companions were his knife and his pistol.

1:01:15In 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 anything. 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 would 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 very 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

1:02:21in 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, to bias and the German volunteered to stay.

1:03:24We 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. To bias 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, solid, ever suspicious, came to me quite agitated with the tale of gloomy foreboding.

1:04:25He 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 solid, occasioned by some rough words or treatment they had received. Solid was honest and faithful in many things very efficient, but was devoid of tact and agreeable ways towards 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

1:05:28of the train to the exclusion of solid. 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, solid told me that he thought one of the masurians 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 splines of all of them were in a high state of inflammation. I did not, however, understand that the oxen got their ailment from the masurians. 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 until 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

1:06:30nearer, which was rather discouraging. Small flocks of antelope, fleet and graceful were frequently seen gliding over the plane. 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 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 plate. It was built about twenty-five years before by Saran, St. Vrain and Old Trapper and Indian Traitor. These Adobe walls, standing well preserved in this climate, it seemed to me would be leveled

1:07:31to the ground by one or two good Eastern Equinoxial Storms. End of Part One. Part Two of a Goldhounder's Experience. This is the Libravox Recording. All Libravox Recortings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org, recording by Sue Anderson. A Goldhounder's Experience by Chalkley J. Hamilton. Part Two. 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.

1:08:34He had been in Denver about 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. One 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, foot sore, limping, and begrined with sweat and dirt, and teamsters in clothes, faded, soiled, and ragged. His pride sank to a new low, and he did not want to go into town with the wagons.

1:09:39The train did not tarry, but crossed cherry creek, then entirely dry, though often a torrent, drove up the plate a mile or so, and camped for the day on the south or east side of the stream. Stubbs and eyes 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. Forest, 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.

1:10:42Others more discouraged or tired of gold hunting to stay for good. When I went to the camp in the afternoon, solid and all the drivers wanted to go back to the town to look at 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 from the direction of the mountains, damp and cold. When I was enveloped in a dense fog and could see by 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

1:11:47find me. When night came, it grew so dark that I could not see my hand a foot for my eyes, and could only keep with the cattle by the noise they made in walking and grazing. After 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 laying 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.

1:12:49During the night the oxen strolled more than a mile from camp. In morning came I was relieved by the min, 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 23 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 plant 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 solid took 12 yoke of oxen with two drivers and started back for the four wagons and the 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

1:13:55their agreement, but most of them were glad to stay with us for a while 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. This is Matt Rogers from Los Cultures, thus with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Cultures, thus with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. Wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid. And if you're thinking, wait what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what you start seeing it everywhere, people ask what makes it different from basic mayo? Will the answer egg yolks? Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates

1:14:55everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles, chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. 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

1:16:00through 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 Goldfields was to the north of Clear Creek by Golden City to Black Hawk and then to Mountain City. Stubbs selected a route further south because there was a fine camping place with good grass about 15 miles or halfway up to the Goldfields 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 solid started back, the wagons were gradually taken up to this mountain camp while he was back on the plains and stubs and eye were looking over the gold region to decide on a final location.

1:17:01To whether it 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 going on over a large section of the mountains but the principal part of the load 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. Footnote. 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 loads was prospecting. Taking 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.

1:18:03Sinking a shaft into the top dirt of a hillside in search of a new load or into the load when discovered to see if gold could be found there was prospecting and manipulating a specimen of quartz by pulverizing and the use of quick silver to see if it contained gold was also prospecting in a footnote. There were 50 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 loads 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. The most of these mills were located about mountain city and black hawk and indivada

1:19:08and rustles 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 black hawk. 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. This 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 that 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.

1:20:08There 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. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. We'll ask what makes it different from basic mayo.

1:21:22After looking over the fields a number of days, carrying our blankets and sleeping in empty miners' cabins, stubs 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 loads said to be rich and 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 courts to crush. Several parties were Gulch mining there with apparent success and during the short time

1:22:27that I watched one man washing out the dirt and gravel from the bottom of a 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. Stubs was a good mechanic and took charge of the construction. Stubs were cutting down trees, hauling and squaring logs and framing and placing timbers to support the heavy mill machinery. As soon as solid 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.

1:23:30In 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 the load. Then down a mountainside so precipituous that four wheels of each wagon would have to be deadlocked with chains to keep them from overrunning the oxen. Then they would go along mountain streams full of rocks and boulders and upsetting wagon was quite a common occurrence. By some one of our provision wagons turned 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.

1:24:34One 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 foothills and come out in good condition in the spring. The distance was some 25 or 30 miles. Early one bright November morning I started down there on foot to make arrangements with a ranch man to look after them. The air was so bracing and stimulating to the energies that I felt as if a 50 mile walk would be mere recreation. Being mostly downhill I arrived at the ranch about noon, did my business, got a dinner

1:25:37of 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. Being 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 plotted along toward home for a few hours and came to a cabin occupied by a lone prospector

1:26:38who got me up a meal of coffee, tough beef, and wheat flour bread baked in a frying pan with a tin cover over it. When after finishing the meal I felt sick and very weak and was unable to proceed on my journey to late in the afternoon when I went ahead and reached home long after dark. Leavenworth Gulch was crossed by dozens of loads of gold bearing quarts, generally running in a north-easterly and south-westernly direction. In this district the discoverer of a load was entitled to claim and stake off 200 feet in length than 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

1:27:39the Gulch all over with hundreds of holes from 10 to 30 feet deep, partly through top dirt and partly through rock. A few would find or 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 loads, 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 or, which according to the prevailing belief would widen out and pay richly as soon as they were down through the cap-rock.

1:28:44While 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 windless, turned by a lone stranger, who I sometimes feared might let me drop. I listened to glowing descriptions by the owners, examined the crevices 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 quick silver 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. Footnote 3 In testing quartz by specimens, green horns were sometimes deceived by loaded quick silver, that is, by that which had some gold in it, and would leave a color whenever evaporated.

1:29:50I knew one miner who worked away in his mind, 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 crushing in the spring, his quartz did not pay, the bottle of quick silver he had used all winter was found to be loaded and of footnote 3. I could soon talk ghibli of blossom rock. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Boan Yang. This is Boan Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Boan Yang. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Boan Yang.

1:31:10This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Boan Yang. Kupi, the original Japanese man is. Quartz mills were nearly all run by steam, and the fuel was pine wood cut from the mountain sides, everyone taking from these public domains whatever he wanted. The principal features of our mill were 12 large pestles or stamps, weighing 500 pounds each, which were raised up about 18 inches by machinery, and dropped into huge iron mortars

1:32:15onto 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. Corsair grains of gold would lodge in the blankets, owing to their weight, while the small particles

1:33:21of 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 condensed 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 vertigree 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 quarts of other miners together with that which we would take out ourselves from our own minds. A large well or underground sister was dug under the mill house, which was fed by copious springs, and promised to furnish an abundant supply of water.

1:34:22To 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 Levinworth 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 sea-page 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.

1:35:24It 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 look forward to the next summer for the golden harvest. Perhaps Billus 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 dormitory. A corner of the ladder 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.

1:36:29In 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 stubs 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 and 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

1:37:30over a hundred miles away. Sometimes for days they were covered with shifting clouds, which seemed far below us. One and 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 to 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 fallen winter, almost every day local snowstorms and blizzards were seen plain over this great basin, and on the sides of the distant range. Our location was some nine or ten thousand feet above the sea.

1:38:34The lightness of the air gave some inconvenience, and many surprises to newcomers. 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 sixteen dollars and 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.

1:39:39No laws were enforced or observed except miners' laws made by the people of the different districts. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. Wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo? Well, the answer? Egg yolks. Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles, chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid hit.

1:40:39So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. On 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

1:41:43our 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. One after we came to the mountains at their miners meeting, a man was convicted for some offense and sentenced to receive 30 lashes from a heavy horse whip. 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 solid, went to the whipping, stubs and eyes 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

1:42:48mining 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. One of Part 2 Part 3 of a Goldhounders Experience. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. And by Sue Anderson. A Goldhounders Experience by Chalkley J. Hambleton Part 3. When it was found that the mill could not run during the winter, we discharged all the men except the cook and two others who were kept to help to do a little mining on two of the claims that we had secured by trade and purchase.

1:43:52A shaft about three feet by six was sunk in each, which followed the vein of minimal quartz down to a depth of 35 to 50 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 were richer as it went down. This hope was never realized. The other shaft was on a load 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 minimal 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,

1:44:57blasting, and picking out the pay streak. Then I spent a good deal of time looking around among other mines and the mills there 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 it 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

1:45:59bees around a honeydish. These families united and had a party on Christmas Eve. Three cottages were used for the occasion, one to receive the guests in, hours 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 altogether 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 lines, car-lou s works, a few histories, and several novels. The almost universal amusement with the miners and others was card-playing, confined to Euker and Poker. Every miner had a pack of cards in his cabin, if not in his pocket, and generally so soil

1:47:03and 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. Plain 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 Levinworth 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 General's store near Mountain City. He lived much of this winter in a cabin near the mill, and wrote 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 wrote the mule.

1:48:05He 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 in much evidence about Mountain City this winter was Jerome B. Chaffey, 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

1:49:08in the land of pie, did the article taste so good. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. Wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know what, you start seeing it everywhere. You'll ask what makes it different from basic mayo, will the answer? Egg yolks. Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles, chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid hit. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's

1:50:10talking about. You'll understand Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. Within a hundred yards of our mill lived and worked the Gulch Blacksmith, named Switzerland. 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 bowing 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, Switzerland fell dead, and we had to find another black Smith. No notice was taken of the affair by the authorities. Solid 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

1:51:12me. 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 stubs from noon till midnight. None of the rock was found rich enough to pay for mining and milling.

1:52:16That tried in one or two other mills was no better. General discouragement followed, and everybody stopped mining in our Gulch. Someone to work for wages in other mines to get a fresh supply of provisions, etc. One off prospecting and Gulch mining in the newer gold regions. Our neighbor Farron moved his mill 70 miles away to California Gulch near where Leadville now is. A mill party erected near our mill site and owned by a Mr. Bradley and a Mr. H. H. O'Nour, 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, hoped departed, and for a few days was replaced by feelings

1:53:19of disappointment and depression of spirits, not often experienced by me. Others 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 plant at Denver, piled in his provisions and effects, launched it in the river and started downstream, hoping to reach Omaha in that way. The mill 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. Solet, afterwards sold out their interest in the enterprise to Mr. Ayers for a small consideration. Even a few days I got over the dumps and spent a week or two visiting the newer gold fields

1:54:23up the south branch of Clear Creek, about Idaho, Georgetown, Empire, and Fall River, where new loads 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 loads. I had some staked off for myself by some men who had worked for us. George M. Pullman wanted to experiment on a load of the ore from our noted Keystone load 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 load, as I knew the owner and had formally 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,

1:55:29and that mostly silver. Thus the gleam of hope quickly vanished also. 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. The few tracks of mountain lion were seen in the afternoon. The trees grew smaller and smaller, to the last scene were all 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

1:56:30with 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 30 or 40 miles away, and surrounding the

1:57:37great 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. In 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 sunrise, made a breakfast of bread and

1:58:39sugar 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 and 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 beaver's houses, partly underwater and rising if you feet above. Many of the logs cut off by the beavers to form the dams and the stumps on the shore where they had nod down the trees were 12 to 15 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-bows, and over it a small shelter with branches

1:59:43of trees cut with a 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. When 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 headwaters of South Clear Creek, once we had an easy trail

2:00:44downhill most of the way home. Though far away from the seat of the Civil War we did not escape its excitement. 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 brought up all the guns they could get in the mountains. In 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 captured 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 Oberland male coached to Julesburg near the Forks of the Plant, and by pony expressed from there to Denver.

2:01:46St. Louis papers were eight days old, and Chicago papers ten days old when received. One of the best known minors 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 Levinworth and other gauches. 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.

2:02:49In July, when most of the other minors had left our gauch, 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 cartloads 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. Rogers from Lost Culture East, with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East, with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Cupid male for a minute now, Bowen. And wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Cupid. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Cupid? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle.

2:03:51Once you know what you're starting to sing and everywhere. You'll ask what makes it different from basic mayo, will the answer? Egg yolks. Cupid is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles, chefs use it, restaurants use it, people who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Cupid hit. So if you haven't tried Cupid yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand Cupid, the original Japanese mayonnaise. The result of the cleanup 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 the 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 minds.

2:04:52It was related to him that he went to Philadelphia one winter to try and sell shares in his minds and that he wore a suit of quaker clothes, used the plain language, attended friends' meetings, and had good success in selling shares. Of those 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 mind 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.

2:05:52The 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 to 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 for carrying supplies and superintending everything. Some runs proved the courts 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 courts 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, 18 inches deep, extending far eastward over the plains, completely blockading teams and transportation.

2:06:52A famine was threatened, and people became panic-stricken. Flower rows as high as $50 a sack, and one day a small quantity sold for 80 cents a pound. Coffee and other things also advanced in price. We were on our last sack of flower, and I decided that when that was gone, the min 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 courts, 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

2:07:53time to return east if I were going back there to settle down. Not the first of June, Mr. Ayer's 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 gays 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. This 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 courts 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 success was very moderate. About mid-summer, Mr. Ayer's bought out my interest in the enterprise, with the understanding

2:08:56that I would remain till fall and assist him. He wanted to give the business a further trial. I determined to return to Chicago and tried to take advantage of the tide of prosperity then beginning to rise in the east. Mr. Ayer's 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, $100 in gold, bringing $260 in legal tender currency. Mr. Ayer's offered his plant for sale, went to New York in the summer, and disposed of

2:09:59it 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 Levinworth 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 site however remained. A load or so of black, rich looking ore was lined upon the ground, unused and uncured for at the shaft of the Keystone. On the 22nd of October, 1862, I left the mountains and gave up the mining business forever. 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's Conson after spending two years

2:10:59in 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 would 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 largest setup near our trail. The only thing to do was to drive boldly ahead.

2:12:03The 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 meet us 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 days experienced saved too much of danger to allow the hunters to go out of sight of the wagon again. We passed two or three camps of Sue Indians along the plant, but they gave us no trouble.

2:13:06When 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 Pony warriors who stopped us and in broken English asked where we were going, where we came from, if we saw any Sue 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 wrote westward doubtless to make a raid on their enemies, the Sue. The weather was now getting cold. We approached the settlements and enjoyed the haystacks. One night while camping near an Indian settlement on the plant, 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 birth till morning. We reached Omaha in twenty days from Denver. There I said goodbye to my traveling companions and took stage for Iowa City, when I could

2:14:12go 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 loads in the newer gold fields of the Clear Creek region. Some I had preempted and some I had bought in job lots from miners who were broke or were about to leave the mountains.

2:15:14Some had prospect holds 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. Sometime 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 a 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 shals, in the long list of high sounding, useless presents, the present of a gold mine would

2:16:16have 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 pervations and about five hundred dollars 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 be set 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?

2:17:17And a part three, end of a gold-hundreds experience.