Seth of Colorado - James Otis |
It was somewhere near Pikes Peak, as I remember, that our people of Lawrence believed they might find, after a few days' search, enough of the yellow metal to make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. The entire population, men, women, and even children, talked of gold and dreamed of gold. They seemed, indeed, to have given up every desire in life save the one of taking from the earth vast riches.
It is not to be supposed that I failed to catch this fever. When I heard rumored wondrous tales of those who had gone into that country and found more gold than they could carry away, the thought came to me that here was my opportunity: that I might go out there and after digging a few weeks, or perhaps months, get enough gold to carry out my father's plans for my future.
Our people of Lawrence were making it a costly undertaking to journey as far as Pikes Peak. They outfitted themselves with huge wagons, drawn by three, four, or even five yoke of cattle, and large enough to carry all their household goods.
For me such an outfitting was of course an impossibility, and for a time I was busy devising schemes by which to become a regular member of one of the companies, believing that there was no other way by which a lad of my age could succeed in winning his way so surely and so speedily to the goal he had set.