Horace Greeley Comments on Pikes Peak June 1859

On June 3, 1859, an article was published in the Rockford Daily News in Rockford Illinois.

(Page 3).  New York Tribune, a newspaper founder and editor Horace Greeley, for which the town of Greeley Colorado is named for, had a great deal to say about the gold rush to Pike's Peak.  He knew how to sell newspapers with the sensationalism of the day!  No doubt, this is the kind of talk that encouraged my family to come and seek gold.   They arrived in Boulder on June 20th, 1859.   

Here is what was published...  

Horace Greeley on Pike’s Peak 

Under date of May 22, Mr. Greeley writes from Leavenworth, Kansas, to the Tribune respecting the gold region, in a tone which shows that he has caught the fever in its worst form. It is evident that the white coated philosopher has been sadly humbugged by someone.

Here is what Mr. Greeley says:

1. There is gold at Pike’s Peak.
2. Very little has yet been dug.
3. A considerable though very inadequate amount of prospecting had been done up to the 10^th inst., which is the date of our latest advices.
4. A great deal more will soon be done, as the snow only begins to be fairly melted out of the gorges of the Rocky Mountains, where the rich mines or placers must be found, if anywhere.
5. As yet this prospecting has not yielded enough to pay the board of those employed in it.
6. Yet a few, who have had extra luck, would seem to have done pretty well, and some of them (unless they lie outrageously) are now making $5 to $8 per day to the hand. The board of a rugged, hard-working miner in that region ought to cost $2 per day.
7. It is known to this hour that any extensive placer has been found, and nearly every miners still prospecting for better digging. (sic)
8. Hundreds of those who rushed madkly off on a gold hunt across five hundred miles of uninhabited, foodless country, in February and March, have either died outright of starvation, or have suffered and been famished to the last limit of mortal endurance. And all who have started in their track with but a few days’ provisions and scarcely any other resource but the clothes on their back have probably suffered, or will suffer, everything short of death, and some of them will probably die.
9. There is  as much uncertainty and distrust in the Gold Region as here, and many who have reached Denver City or Auraria have turned back in disgust, which others would do if they could do it in safety.
10. Many who had gone part way have been discouraged by the reports of those they met and are heading towards the States again.
11. There is no demand for labor in any part of the alleged Gold Regions, and many are there idle, who would gladly be hired and set to work.
12. It is not yet decided whether any considerable amount of Gold can be mined with profit in the new Gold Region. Months more of patient and well directed labor may be required to settle that point.
13. As yet, less than $10,000 in all, has been received on this frontier, in Gold, the product of the Pike’s Peak region.
14. It is highly desirable and proper that the capacity of the new Gold Region should be tested and ascertained. Those who are rationally employed in this work deserve well of the country. But there are people enough now in or near the new Gold Region for all reasonable purposes – far too many for the amount of food that now is or can soon be placed there.
15. It is not merely folly – it is criminal madness – to rush off to Pike’s Peak Gold Hunting without ample provision in the shape of food, clothing, blankets, mining implements, and money. He who goes without rushes on a suicide’s fate. H. G.

Related article:  Mr. Skinner hears Mr. Greeley speak at Fort Laramie 

Denver Land Office, 1868

In this photo, you can see the building (on the right side) where the Government Land Office was located in Denver, Colorado Territory in 1868.  This is where the miners came to get land for their homes.  Whether they homesteaded, paid cash, exchanged a military or college script, this is where they came along with their witnesses to back up their claims to the land.

David Bruce Powers supply train from Leavenworth in Denver, 1868.
Western History Collection, Denver Public Library

Click here for a map of the route that the Leavenworth Express Company took to get to Denver.  1859.

How they came - Gold Miner's Maps of '59

How they came...

In 1859 there were no trains to the Pike's Peak gold fields.  There were no roads, only trails that followed along the rivers.  With the exciting reports coming out of the west, many opportunists  published guide books and maps for getting to the Pike's Peak gold fields.  The entire region along the Rocky Mountain front range was considered Pike's Peak, including Boulder City.  These men had to be careful which guidebook they choose.  Sometimes a route was depicted shorter by the map maker, encouraging the potential miner that this guide book offered the best route.  (Anything to make a sale!)

There were basically three routes to the area that is today Denver.  To the north was the Platte River route, to the south the Smokey Hill route, and through the center of the area, the Republican route, all named for the corresponding rivers.  Of these three, the Smokey Hill was the most dangerous.  After the river ended, there was still a long way to travel without water and good grass.  While it was the shortest route, it was the riskiest too.  A fourth route came up from the south from the Sante Fe Trail, which had been a very old and well used trading route.  

The majority of those who came would have traveled along the Platte River which had been established as the route earlier to California and Oregon, also the Mormon's took this route to Utah.  While they continued on along the North Platte River, those headed to Pike's Peak broke off to the south and followed the South Platte River.  This is the route that the Arbuthnot men took.  Traveling roughly 75 days to get from their home in Tama County, Iowa, to arriving in Boulder City, Nebraska Territory on June 22, 1895.

Here are a couple of maps indicating the various route the "Argonauts" would have taken.

6.  Routes to the Gold Regions 1859
Pike's Peak Gold Rush Guidebooks of 1859.
From the collection by Editor, LeRoy R. Hafen,
State Historical Society of Colorado, 1941

7.  Map of the Gold Regions, 1850-1861
Colorado Gold Rush: Contemporary Letters & Reports, 1858-1959.
From the collection edited by LeRoy Hafen
State Historical Society of Colorado, 1941

The 40th parallel on these maps would be the same as Baseline Road today.  Some communities have been renamed, such as the town of Montana is now Golden.

Sources