> , .
Conservative.
THE HIDDEN TREASURE.
This sketch is meant to show how
slowly the development of the west went
ou in the first half of the century that
is just closed ; how more than fifty years
were suffered to elapse , after it was
known with sufficient certainty that the
Rocky Mountains contained deposits of
the precious metals , before the task of
finding them was gone about in earnest.
One of the grievances of Pope's Poor
Indian was the Christian's thirst for
gold ; but it would appear to have
been a very moderate degree of thirst
with which our fathers were afflicted ,
to have been restrained for half a
century. Is it after all certain , des
pite all that we read of the Anglo-
Saxon's greed for gold , that the men
of our race are more eager for that
substance than they are for beaver-
skins , good crops of corn , or other
means of providing well for themselves
and their families ? Pope had in mind
the performances of the Spanish in
Mexico and Peru. The English-speak
ing settlers of North America were
never led off on any wild-goose chases
after such transparent potentates as el
Dorado. Neither does there appear
anywhere in the American annals such
a transaction as that of Mathieu Sagean ,
who early in the 18th century came to
France with a tale of travels up the
Missouri , and of a King Hagaren , with
a palace of solid gold ; and who actually
interested the minister Ponchartraiii in
his story , insomuch that he returned to
America duly accredited by the French
government for another journey to King
Hagaren's realm.
The Americans knew veiy well that
gold-mines were discovered in mount
aius , and from the time the Rockies
were first heard of , they were naturally
objects of suspicion. That vnst chain
suggests to this day all kinds of pleas
ing mysteries and possibilities to the be
holder. Captain Jonathan Carver wrote
thus of the "Shining Mountains , " from
hearsay , about the beginning of the
Revolution : "this extraordinary range
of mountains" may "probably in future
ages be found to contain more riches in
their bowels , than those of Indostan
and Malabar ; nor will I except even the
Peruvian mines. " At this time , I do
not know that any white man had ever
looked upon the Rocky Mountains ,
north of the Spanish possessions. The
French were beginning to work back
from their new settlement of St. Louis ,
iii pursuit of furs , but very little of
their doings can have been 'known on
the Atlantic coast.
Twenty years later the United States
owned a great part of the range , and
Captains Lewis and Clark were sent out
to explore it. So far as I have observed ,
their journals contain no mention of
any possibility of precious metals.
Neither do those of Sir Alexander
Mackenzie , Major Long , nor Fremont
on his earlier excursions. This begins
to look like deliberate reticence , for the
subject had already been brought before
the public.
When Lieutenant Pike readied Santa
Fe , ho found in captivity there a Ken-
tuckiau named James Pursley , or Pur-
sell , who had spout some time in Colorado
rado between 1802 and 1805. "He as
sured me , " says Pike , "that he had
found gold on the head of La Platte , and
had carried some of the virgin mineral
in his shot-pouch for mouths ; but that ,
being in doubt whether he should ever
again behold the civilised world , he
threw the sample away. He had im
prudently mentioned it to the Spaniards ,
who had frequently solicited him to go
and show a detachment of cavalry the
place ; but , conceiving it to be in our
territory , he had refused , and was
fearful that the circumstance might
create a great obstacle to his leaving the
country. " The steadfastness of this
wandering carpenter may , in fact , have
had a good deal to do with determining
the present map of the United States.
The next mention of gold that I have
noticed , comes twenty years later , and
is a rather obscure tradition of the
Arapaho Indians , told long after. They
were understood to locate it on the
headwaters of the Kansas river on the
plains of eastern Colorado , therefore ,
where gold has never been found yet.
Their story , as it lias come down , was
that somewhere about 1822 a party of
them went on the war-path against
the Pawnees. They had only three
guns , and they were not very good
ones , and everything went wrong.
Presently all their bullets were gone ,
and they had no Pawnee scalps , nor
even anything to eat ; and they thought
they had better go back. Their leader ,
however , on whom the odium of an
unsuccessful expedition would fall , en
couraged them to go a little further ;
liis name is said to have been Whirl
wind. As they sat debating the
question , they espied some yellow stuff
on the surface of the ground , which
they found they could work almost as
easily as lead. This discovery put them
in better spirits ; they made up a stock
of bullets for their three guns of the
new material and proceeded. Soon they
met the Pawnees , and gained a wonder
ful victory. Every one of the yellow
bullets laid out one of the enemy , who
speedily fled appalled at the great med
icine of the Arapahos. They , return
ing , rejoicing , gave all the credit to
their new bullets ; they kept some of
them , and a few of them
were buried with Whirlwind when
he finally died. A white man
saw them on this occasion , and his
judgment was that they were gold.
About 1828 , James Cockrell , a Missourian -
sourian , and an uncle of Senator Cock-
rell's , while trapping in the region be
low Pike's Peak , apparently , found
what he believed to bo silver. The idea
haunted him , and in the summer of
1827 ho formed a party of twenty-five
men to follow up his discovery. They
set out from the neighborhood of Inde
pendence , crossed the plains by ( ho
Arkansas route , and did , in fact , find a
deposit of silver ore. But having found
it , they found also that they did not
know what to do with it when they had
it ; so they trudged back to Missouri ,
very hungry , lame and uncomfortable ,
and , it is said , very much out of humor
with Senator Coclcrell's uncle ; and never
went there again.
The next story .comes from south
eastern Wyoming , in the early BO's. It
is said that an old Frenchman , named
Du Shay , or Duohet , picked up some
where 011 Horse Creek , a rock that he
thought was curious ; it was quite
heavy , with bright yellow specks in it ,
and he put it in his bullet-pouch and
carried it about with him until he got
tired , when he threwit away. Some
time after he emptied his old bullet
poucli in the presence of some wise
Mexicans , who , idly examining its con
tents , amazed the old trapper by asking
where he got some nuggets of virgin
gold that they found. He easily traced
them back to his curious piece of rock ;
but he could never remember where it
was that he found it.
In 1841 , Rufus B. Sage heard that
gold had been found in the sands of the
Chugwater , quite near the scene of the
last-mentioned episode ; he also speaks
of the New Mexican deposits , in the
Taos region. "At present these valua
ble mines are almost entirely neglected
the common people being too ignorant
and poor to work them , and the rich too
indolent and fond of ease. " Josiali
Gregg , also , in 1844 , had heard reports.
"It is asserted that several specimens of
silver ores have been met with on our
frontier , as well as about the Wichita
and the Rocky Mountains. Gold has
also been found , no doubt , in different
places ; yet it is questionable whether it
has anywhere been discovered in suffi
cient abundance to render it worth the
seeking. Some trappers have reported
an extensive gold region about the
sources of the Platte river ; yet , al
though recent search has been made , it
has not been discovered. "
The army kept its eyes and ears open
in 1846. Lieutenant Emory heard two
gold stories one of the Mimbres river
in Now Mexico , the other of the Prieto
in Arizona. "We learned that those
who worked them" ( the former ) "made
their fortunes ; but the Apaches did netlike
like their proximity , and one day
turned out and destroyed the mining
town , driving off the inhabitants. " The
case of the Prieto was much the same.
"Its sands are said to be full of the
precious metal. A few adventurers ,
who ascended this river hunting beaver ,
washed the sands at night when they