Bismarck Tribune

THE COEUR D'ALENE BUBBLE.

With the regularity of a bill collector, a mining craze periodically breaks out in some portion of the west, and, again like the bill collector, it usually vanishes without accomplishing any very satisfactory results. In nine cases out of ten, these wild stampedes are brought about by men or corporations for their own enrichment, and they usually succeed in filling the greedy maws of their capacious coffers from the pockets of the poor dupes who blindly place their faith in the chimerical stories which flood the columns of the press, and are passed from mouth to mouth, all over the land.

During one of these crazes the actions of those who rush like frightened sheep toward the fabled richness which they fondly hope to share, almost destroys one's confidence in the sanity of man. Good homes, lucrative positions, business enterprises that are realizing handsomely—all are abandoned, and the pushing, eager throng rush forward, fed by but one consuming ambition, a mad thirst for gold and quickly acquired riches. There are no mountains too lofty for them to scale, no obstacles too weighty to be pushed aside, no dangers so formidable as to swerve them from their purpose, on they rush until the objective point reached and the darkening dust of delusion is swept from their eyes by cold, cruel, stern facts. Their dream has vanished, and sick and sore at heart they retrace their steps sadder and poorer, but no wiser men, for when the next excitement sweeps over the land they are again caught up and borne along by its irresistible current.

And what do they find when the fabled diggings are reached? They find there a countless throng of poor dupes like themselves, whose long and anxious faces tell but too plainly the feelings holding masterful sway over their disappointed souls. It may be that paying diggings have been discovered at the spot, but the astounding richness which they believed to exist is found to be but the skillfully concocted story of the speculator and adventurer. What few good claims there are, are all taken, and of the many thousand people who are on the ground but few can secure employment. The traders in provisions and rum reap a golden harvest, the lines of transportation net their owners large gains and the wily speculator increases his capital many fold, but the large majority of those whose dreams of gold flitted through their excited brains clothed in such vivid coloring, find themselves entirely out of employment, far from home, and in the majority of cases almost penniless.

The present Coeur d'Alene excitement is analogous to all of the others that have from time to time set the whole country wild. There may be great richness found there, but the fabulous stories told by wily speculators to further their own fortunes are exaggerations of the most monstrous type. Where one man prospers in the mines in question, a thousand will return destitute and discouraged. Where one poor laborer who left a prosperous home behind succeeds in securing employment at only living wages, hundreds will return on foot and carry their blankets on their weary backs. The writer is not speaking unadvisedly. His assertions are backed up by sore experience gained by pursuing these phantoms ere the bitter truth opened his gold-blinded eyes. The Coeur d'Alene mines when developed may prove to be valuable, but not more so than those of other localities, which had their birth amid just as much excitement and in which, when now at their very best, but comparatively few men can be employed.

There is more money right here in Dakota dirt, than can be wrenched from the rock-ribbed bosoms of the mines of the whole land. A man, no matter how industrious may be his habits, may pursue these chimerical phantoms for years, and his balance sheet will show up but a mere subsistence. The same man can settle upon a claim in our far-famed, fertile domain, and in less time than he spent in his eager chase after the golden will-o'-the-wisp he can gather about him buildings, stock and great stacks of golden grain, and be the proud possessor of a name that will unlock the vaults of the banker when it appears at the bottom of a check. Instead of a vapory phantom he can here pursue a reality, and instead of disappointments and cruel reverses he will here find prosperity ever about him and find himself in possession of a peace of mind and homelike happiness which the golden dreams of a lifetime can never bestow upon him. Our broad, outstretching prairies are but one vast mine of untold wealth, in which the people of every clime are invited to share. As surely as the day succeeds the night, the labors of the industrious will here be crowned with golden results.

Dakota will reap great benefits from this latest craze, but the Tribune would feel that it had not performed its duty as a public journal if it failed to sound a warning cry and endeavor to dispel the illusion which is thus leading good men on to certain disappointment. Thousands of those who go to the mines will return and settle upon our rich lands and will thrive and prosper, and in future when like excitements sweep over the land, they will sit in their comfortable homes, glance around over their possessions, slap their hands suggestively against their well-filled pockets and exclaim with Shakespeare: "What fools these mortals be!"