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Gold

[GENERALITIES.]

TRAVELER, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1879 - FRONT PAGE.

GOLD IN KANSAS.

A special from Winfield, Kansas, to the Topeka Commonwealth, says that gold has been discovered in five different places in Cowley county. The metal is said to be very pure. An immense rush of people has been the result of the discovery.

[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, APRIL 2, 1879.]

The deed to eighty acres of the gold mine, for which a fabulous price was paid, reads: "The south half of the northwest quarter of section 14, township of Nennescah, range thirty-one east. That locates it somewhere in Missouri.

The whole thing is one grand swindling humbug and our only wonder is that the Press of Winfield so long delay in showing the matter up. We advise people to remain away from such traps as Goldhole. More than one chap has been burnt in just such a place.

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[MORE PERSONALS: TRAVELER, APRIL 2, 1879.]

"GOLDORE" is the name for the new city supposed to be starting nine miles north and four miles west of Winfield. It derives its importance from the statements in regard to quartz bearing gold on section 11, township 31, range 3 east, and the facts as we condense them from all the reports we will lay before our readers.

In the early part of January Kimbrough, owner of a portion of section 11, who is an old miner, was digging a well, and at a depth of twenty-six feet sent up a bucketfull of stone and dirt which he ordered them not to empty, as he thought there was gold quartz there. Kimbrough came up and picked up several specimens of what he called rich bearing quartz. Some of this was brought to parties in Winfield and assayed and pronounced very rich. Correspondence was commenced with a New York party by the name of Schatz, and a specimen of the ore sent. Next upon the scene appears Schatz and a lawyer from Chicago, named Seybold. Schatz and Seybold leased five acres of land for ninety days for one hundred dollars. They dug a well thirty-six feet deep, about two hundred yards from the first well dug, and when they left, filled it up. Next, work is progressing under the name of the New York Company: F. J. Seybold, the Chicago lawyer, manager, and director. It is now reported that the first man, Kimbrough, has sold at a big figure.

Reliable parties from our city visited the ground last Saturday, and their report is a small hotel building and a few men sinking a shaft; visitors and all on the ground thirty-two. They have no belief in any gold discovery whatever.

We attempt to give simply the facts. Our readers must form their own conclusion. It is certain that money is being spent, and extensive advertising being done, but the object has yet to appear.

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[GENERALITIES.]

TRAVELER, APRIL 9, 1879 - FRONT PAGE.

THE GOLD FIND IN KANSAS.

A correspondent writing from the vicinity of the reported gold discovery in Cowley county, Kansas, reports a general distrust of the "find" by the people in that neighborhood. He says that about three weeks ago a farmer was digging a well on the bank of Walnut creek, only a few rods from the stream, when he came upon a rock formation. He got through that by blasting and found directly under it something that looks a little like iron pyrites. He sent a specimen of the mineral to New York to have it assayed. He never heard anything from it. A few days ago two men drove up to his place in a buggy and said they wanted to buy a farm. He suspected that they knew something about the mineral he had sent to be assayed, and was in no haste to sell. They then went to an adjoining quarter section and leased it. Since then another adjoining quarter section has been sold for $7,000--a big price for it for farming purposes--but nothing has been heard from the assayer.

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[PERSONALS.]

TRAVELER, APRIL 9, 1879.

One of our boys from Wichita reports seeing the engine at Wichita that is to be used for crushing quartz at Goldore City.

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[PERSONALS.]

JANUARY 29, 1880.

Some cheap jewelry frauds were operating on the street last week, and, as usual, found enough victims to make it profitable.

The prosperity of the past year can be seen no better than in the new and improved houses which may be seen in every direction throughout the county.

The gold fever in the eastern part of the county has caused no small number of claim-holders to deed their farms. "It is an ill wind that blows no good."

Cowley County Historical Society Museum