The stream of new arrivals is a river now, for the old
emigrant road of Platte and Humboldt is delivering an unending
human current. Past the eastern frontier towns of Missouri, the
serpentine trains drag steadily west; their camp fires glitter
from "St. Joe" to Fort Bridger; they shine on the summit lakes of
the Sierras, where Donner's party, beset in deepest snows, died
in starvation. They were a type of the human sacrifices of the
overland passage. Skeletons dot the plains now.
By flood and desert, under the stroke of disease, by the Indian
tomahawk and arrow, with every varied accident and mishap, grim
Death has taken his ample toll along three thousand miles. Sioux
and Cheyenne, Ute and Blackfoot, wily Mormon, and every lurking
foe have preyed as human beasts on the caravans. These human fiends
emulate the prairie wolf and the terrific grizzly in thirst for
blood.
The gray sands of the burning Colorado desert are whitening with
the bones of many who escaped Comanche and Apache scalping knives,
only to die of fatigue.
By every avenue the crowd pours in. Valois has extended his
acquaintance with the leading miners. He is aware of the political
organization about to be effected. He has now about forty thousand
dollars as his share of gold dust.
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