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Show THE WILDERNESS AND MONEY. I Hfl When Lewis and Clark made their winter rIfHfl camp high up on the Missouri on their way West L llsfl in 1804, the news was carried North by Indians iJjffijHfl and fur traders that a company of men from the 1 BlH United States were on the way to find the Col- ilfl umbla. Simon Praser, far to the north, heard InH the story and determined to forestall them and SSH save that river and its banks for his king. When iSI the next autumn, Lewis and Clark made their IBM camp near the mouth of the Columbia, Praser H made his winter quarters at the Rocky Mountain iwflfl Portage, and the next summer floated down the iiralSfl Praser believing it was the Columbia. In 1807 SIbSh Manuel Lisa, the great Spanish fur trader, pene- liffiflfl trated the wilderness and built a fort at the mouth HMmIM of the Big Horn. Then regular fur trade com. fflXSfl panies were formed and all the northwest was ex- flffllMfl plored. The Russians, too, were busy over the ISB3 same ground, and even made one settlement on JHUhMB Russian river, California. Before Lewis and Clark jUj9H went overland the fur and whole ships of New niHlH England were frequent up and down the north- ISmbtH west coast. Premont pushed his way, blazing a 9HHI new trail to the Pacific. Regular trade was car- iHmfll ried on between Leavenworth and New Mexico flnjjJIH for years, California was thickly settled In places HwSH and the cattle men rode over all the valleys of flj'fjfiffll the Golden State for years. But during more than iHmPm forty years, while this transition was going on, iUHfl not one explorer ever seemed to have thought that fluufl possibly in the mountains and along the streams uJbmH gold or silver might be found. It was most mar- iHH velous. Many of the explorers were scientific BwlUBI men, but their eyes were closed to the fact that wlfflH for a thousand miles long and a thousand miles h1m wide there lay the richest mineral country in the iwm world. They talked of fish and furs, of timber and lill$lfffl agricultural lands; they described the fauna and fiifflH fuma of the vast area, told of the possibilities hHH for settlers to make homes, but there was no hint UHH that the rivers ran over golden sands to the sea SmHI or that, perhaps, the very desolation of the desert BSS and the stony mountains might be a guard for IHirTRfBffi mmm I inestimable treasures. It was not until the Mex- i ican war was fought and the men of the United States had peaceable possession of California that i the first gold was found in the race of Sutter's old mill. Surely the discovery was held back for a purpose. Then when found for ten years the wealth of the placers, while making a transformation transforma-tion in trade and credit and prestige of our country, coun-try, still nearly all drifted away to Europe, to pay old debts and to make a nucleus around which rtm m m greater debts could be built. But just when the ;jH I I stage was being set for the opening act of the jjifl 8 I great tragedy of the civil war, on almost the very .rH' 8 V i day tha BroderIclc was kled, the Comstock was ')':$ IS discovered, that marvelous Comstock that sup- '""iB I ' I plied the government the means to meet its inter- i' iff 1 GS accoun an maintain its credit during that r Iff k I mighty travail of the nation in the throes of a seo- ' jf 1 ff in ' ond birth. It would be incredible if the truth was HI I not so well known that within five years after ntHffli t i I that war closed and when the nation was strug- 'tfiflHjIi I I gling under a debt which wa.s equal to 20 per cent M JBijt S of all the property values of the country, the w B11 f f i merciless money changers began to plot to destroy H HIk' ! i silver as money, that three years later they ob- i jjHlfp j ' tained the needed legislation to compass their de- iflffii1! sires and that with their money they were able i fBBlfj ! ' to so debauch public sentiment that the public frlfffllfj opinion of the country sustained them. But off iSflKif ' : across the sea in a small area one-half of the ItjiWl ! world's population Is crowded, one-half the world's JnH r j j workers are there and nine out of ten of them KM !,,!' even in prosperous years, live from hand to mouth, Ijsff 3ij j and most of them on food which a white man's BH 4 M ' stomach would reject in a moment. They might 128 !' e made to llve useful lives, might contribute im- i IB J I mensely to the world's wealth, if they could -hove iflff hm their labor electrified by a little money. There I jiff m 1 Is but one substance that will serve that purpose. I 111 'H W That is silver. Could all that has been dug from "f iftffiH 1 American and Mexican mines during the past half j jgffl W m century be given them it would not amount to $3 IIHiIk per caP" Our 8reat masters of transportation, HIH El our merchants, and manufacturers cannot see why !a great trade cannot be built up with those peo- ; pies. If they would stop to reflect they would see napjllj m that the only lubricating fluid of commerce and SifffijBJ i I m trade is money, and those wretches are helpless Iffff 111 ": l m because of the want of it. The first explorers of hHH I I this Sreat West "went back and told of its possl- Mffiff j: bilities, but no transformation was made until fwlil ij .1 sold was found in California. There is a wilder- ffEIIj I V ness of people beyond the Pacific, but it waits 1H1I regeneration for want of money. |
