AURARIA, HIGHLAND AND DENVER CITY,
                                                                           March 22, 1860.
    During the past week the various intelligence from the mines and mountain gold fields is of the most cheering and substantial character. The weather has been as fine as summa; and gold digging, gold washing, and sluicing have been rigorously and profitably carried on throughout all sections of the mines. In Russell's Gulch and Gregory's Diggings thousands are at work quarrying out rich gold-bearing quartz ready for the crushers, and in the Tarryall, Blue River and Headwaters of the Arkansas gold fields, hundreds are vigorously digging and washing out the gold dust, and gold nuggets now and then--some small and some of handsome size. There is a large emigration every day going up from all parts of these valley towns, and I may say in measure, that the spring's work is only commenced. We believe before even two months more there will be astonishing discoveries and the richest gold developments here made that the most sanguine miner here can wish for. Rich leads are daily discovering, rich gulch and patch diggings are daily and weekly made. Every man in the mountain mines is either enthusiastically at work preparing his claim, or else joyfully at work washing out his gulch-box. The arrivals in Gregory's Diggings alone are about fifty per day. The Freeze lead, in the Nevada District, is paying in places five dollars to the pan--on reaching only twenty feet below. Clark and Vandeventer's mill is crushing out the gold daily, with its nine-horse power and six mammoth stampers, and works very satisfactorily. Mr. Vandeventer, the agent of Gates & Co.'s Eagle Works, of Chicago, has received orders for a dozen odd mills of the above manufacture. Your Chicago quartz mill manufactory is highly thought of here, and their machines are considered the very best brought here. Quartz mills worked by water power could be advantageously set up all along Clear Creek, and we think that at least a thousand of them would find sufficient and very profitable employment here as soon as established. Gulch claims in the Blue and Tarryall Diggings, and also in the Norwood District, are now paying from twenty to fifty cents to the pan. In our future correspondence we shall give you more extensive and definite, particularly of the latest actual workings in the mine, every where here--with advice to forthcoming gold diggers.

    A very large and very largely attended fire took place in Auraria last Sunday evening burning down two large frame buildings, occupied as Sumner & Dorset's livery stable, Post & Teat's stable, and other buildings. Great excitement and industry prevailed towards extinguishing the fires. No lives lost or live stock burnt, but a heavy loss was sustained by the householders.

    The political proclivities of Denver City and Pike's Peak Territory at large are largely Republican. We have a small faction of Southern or would-be Southern tendencies, and a miserable moiety of "National Democrats," as they call themselves; also a set of doughfaced Douglasites, here and there holding forth and trying to swell out their bogus proportions into plausible popularity, but the great body of the bone and sinew of the masses--the intelligent, influential, enterprising, law-abiding, respectable masses--is that of the true and triumphant Republican Order. Party lines have not as yet been ostensibly struck out, yet it has been owing to our majestic majority of Republican population that aping Southernites and bogus Douglasites hereabouts have not proclaimed their platforms and swelled and swaggered in the political arena. Their numbers were negative and their moral perceptions--so to speak--caution them to keep still, and near shore, lest the sea of political sentiment should rise and rage and swallow them in the catastrophe, like the whale used up Jonah, without leaving even a grease spot of him! At present there are large public meetings of all parties of the citizens being held all over this Territory, for the purpose of protesting and proclaiming against the idea of those demagogue Congressmen at Washington, lately, who proposed to have this Territory of ours annexed to Eastern Kansas, as a condition to the latter being admitted as a State into the Union. The twenty-odd thousands of this section have boldly stood up against this movement, and per resolution and memorials have pronounced their unanimous and emphatic indignation towards the idea and towards all those shenanaging servants on the floors of Congress, who have dared to insult us and the extent and importance of this Territory, by their trading, underhand movement for popularity and President-making. We ignore the brazen ignorance and impudence of the prime movers of this matter, and before we as a sovereign people here would submit to such a movement, we would rise up to a man and go and beard those bogus lions in their legislative dens, to the extent of our influence, our money and our muscles. The following is the substance of one of the resolutions passed at several of our mass meetings through this Territory: Resolved, That any effort or exertion made to connect in the same government the communities now prospering upon the valleys and among the mountains of the rocky ranges with those residing in the Territory of Kansas, below the 102d degree of west longitude, will prove as unwise and impossible in its direction, as it will be disastrous and destructive of our interests, prospects and welfare as a people. And, separated as we are by a barren and desolate region of country, hundreds of miles in extent, which constitutes a natural barrier to the proposition to extend the Territorial limits of Kansas, so as to include the different communities in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains--it should be considered by the members of our national council as a perpetual warning against the commission of such a fatal error in adjusting a question of such vital importance to the welfare of this people, the cause of freedom and the prosperity of our common country. And for these and other such reasons, we can not, and we shall not consent to, but do now and shall forever protest against a union of laws under the same Territorial or State Government, whether instituted or brought about for honest motives, or perfected by tricksters for buncombe capital and unrighteous ends.

    The intense excitement which prevailed here last week concerning the horrid murderer Wm. West, formerly a housebuilder and respected citizen of Leavenworth, where he has a wife and a large and interesting family, and concerning the hanging of the murderer, Moses Young, formerly of the same city and similar business, is at present date subsided. The former unfortunate citizen was interred last Thursday morning by the orders of Free Masons, Odd Fellows and private citizens, in a very handsome and respectable manner. The Masons numbered some forty or fifty strong, in full regalia and due ceremonies. The hearse was drawn to Mount Prospect cemetery, two miles east of Denver City, by white horses, and the coffin was overlaid with his degree and regalia. The order of Masons will protect his property and effects, until his son, wife or family comes here or advises regarding them.
    The other unfortunate man, Moses Young, who also has been looked upon by many business friends here as a good and enterprising citizen, was fairly, soberly and impartially tried and convicted, by a jury of twelve of our best citizens, of willfully shooting and killing the said Wm. West, with a shot-gun loaded with fourteen or fifteen buck-shot, in the city of Auraria, on the afternoon of the 13th inst. The whole trial, bearing and action of the whole mass of citizens here was that of prudence, fairness, soberness and sympathy alike for the deceased and the prisoner, while at the same time firm and determined to have the ends of justice attended to, between man and man, and for the honor and good name of the community. The prisoner was conveyed from Denver Hall, the place occupied as the Peoples Court-room, to the scaffold, erected on the spot where the murder was committed on the banks of Cherry creek, equi-distant between both their dwelling houses; and was escorted and guarded by the company of "Jefferson Rangers," and other military companies, and a large concourse of citizens. The prisoner was immediately accompanied by ten of his selected and solicited friends, and by the clergyman, on whose arm he leaned. He appeared to be in good deal distressed in mind, while on the scaffold, and during the religious ceremony, in which he participated seriously; he did not feel able or willing to make any particular statement on the stand, further than acknowledging that he had no fault to find, or no blame to give to any person or thing connected with the prosecution or the way it was conducted--that he had a fair, honorable and just trial--that he had killed his best friend; and for what cause the world should never know; that he wanted his memory to be kindly kept and cherished by his friends; nothing to be spoken harsh or extenuated; that he hoped through the mercy of his Maker and a repenting soul, to be a recipient of the Savior's grace, and to meet his father and mother in heaven. After raising his hands by way of giving the large assemblage good-bye, he stood silent and unmoved while the black glazed cap was drawn over his head, the rope adjusted, and his body hanged. The corpse was taken charge of by his friends, and handsomely interred the next day, by his friends and the citizens many of whom had the unpleasant duty of leading him to justice and public execution.

    This new town is beautifully situated in the South Park of the Rocky Mountains, on the Bayou Salado Creek, in the great Graball or Tarryall mining district of Jefferson Territory, eight miles east of the summit of the great natural "Middle Pass," dividing the waters of the Platte from those of the Colorado River. Plenty of water and plenty of the finest building timber is immediately near. This new town is situated in the grand centre of the rich and inexhaustible gold fields of the Headwaters of the Arkansas, the Tarryall districts and near the celebrated Blue River Gold Diggings. The situation is delightful, the climate healthy and very mild--even in the middle of the winter seasons. It is bound to become the great trading centre for all the various mountains mines east and west of the snowy range sections. Emigrants and merchants arriving from the States this year with small stocks can do much better by taking their stores direct up to this new point, buying or procuring a good business lot and erecting a trading store--than in locating in these large cities of the valley, where prices will be lower and competition great during the summer and winter seasons. There will be a permanent mining population and some agricultural population near this new town all through the year, and it is the best point we know of now that affords a grand opening to locate in and make money any way and every way. In a year or two hence, lots and situations there will be as incredibly high perhaps as they are now in our older established towns here.
    Hon. Chief Justice Allison, Hon. J. A. Gray, W. J. Holman, Esq., (formerly President of the Fort Wayne and Louisville R. R.), Capt. E. Moore, late Indian Agent at Omaha, F. R. Ford, Esq., late hotel proprietor of Leavenworth, and others among our very best and most enterprising gentlemen, are proprietors and interested in this new thriving city. Dr. Saville is at present the agent at the place, and will afford and donate valuable advantages to the early settlers and merchants who may reach there to locate. Several blocks of lots are donated for parks, churches, schools and other laudible engines of intelligence, comfort and civilization.

    There is a theatre nightly open at Mountain City, at present under the management of Mrs. Wakely, formerly of your city, assisted by Mlle. Haydee, the Miss Wakelys, Miss Carter, (of Chicago,) and others. Also, cotillion parties and fancy fandangos semi-occasionally, given by the said outfit.
    Many of our business men are yet in the great cities of the west and east, making purchases of goods for this market. Business here and in the surrounding cities of this territory is not very brisk at present--purchasers having a desire to wait a little longer, until new and fresh stocks arrive, hoping to make better selections and strike cheaper bargains. Flour is still worth $16 @ 100 lbs; Coffee, $30; Sugar, $30; Butter, $1 @ lb; Corn Meal, $12 @ 100 lbs; Whisky, $2 @ gal., wholesale, and two bits or shillings per potation, retail; Bacon, 40c @ lb., and Beefsteak, 10 @ 12�c; Washing, 25c @ single piece; Horse-hire, $4 @ 5 P day; Horse, buggy and harness, $10 @ day, and scarce at that. Nails of all kinds and building hardware are very scarce and high as yet, but we look for trains or private teams from the Missouri River shortly, and hope to have a chance of getting supplies at more reasonable rates. Horses, mules, and cattle generally, are about the same prices as in the Western States--perhaps some higher. Labor is high, and the masses are preparing to go up into the mines to prospect or develop their claims already possessed. Business men, merchants, lawyers, land speculators and others, are coming in from week to week per Leavenworth City express coaches, and private ambulance, spring wagons, &c. The arrivals at the Brodwell Hotel number from twenty to forty per week. Property is pretty high here, ranging from $100 to $1,500 for central business lots. Great improvements in buildings for stores, banks, private and public edifices are proceeding from day to day. Every body is doing something and looking out for number one--either in laying plans for future speculations in mining or city matters, pre-empting farms, laying out new town sites, or equipping hands for explorations and prospecting among the auriferous ridges of the northern mountains. In a few weeks more things in the business world here, as well as in the mining fields and on the social stage will be fully opened and shaped out for this season's great campaign--the motto here now being to set and stick deep the stakes for digging the gold, doing a big business or die! The Denver City Union School is re-opened for the instruction of pupils of all ages and sexes, and is prospering finely.
    Emigrants to these gold regions from the great Northwest should not start for here before the middle of April, unless single-handed and per coach or horse teams. They should lay in while at, or starting from, Chicago full supplies of staple provisions, clothing, bedding, mining machines and agricultural implements sufficient for the balance of the year here. Then take the railroad for Atchison, or the Missouri River, to start from.
    Several persons formerly of Chicago and the Sucker State are located hereabouts and in the mountain sections. W. H. Greene, Esq., of your city, is out here and interested heavily in the town of Canon City, of which I will speak hereafter. Mr. John F. Vandeventer left last week for your city to procure ten or twelve more quartz mills of P. W. Gates & Co.'s manufacture. His men are working out here with his mill and are doing very well thereby. Geo. L. Mordy and J. M. Clark, Esqs., formerly engineers of your place, are residing on the Auraria side of this great consolidated triurb metropolis, getting rich by city property, and engineering, and general speculation. J. Wanless, Esq., of the Herald, is enjoying himself here at Pike's Peak, and has made many agreeable acquaintances. He is a first-rate fellow everyway, except that he stands on the wrong side of the line in politics. Mr. Budde, formerly of Quincy, Ill., is here, and in connection with Mr. Jacobs,--firm title Budde & Jacobs--is doing an extensive commission, consignment, storage and auction business in Auraria and Mountain cities. They are reliably good men to transact consignments and commission business here.
    What about that talked of Express line from Chicago to Denver City? Why don't your city and your business men and your manufacturers come up to their duty and the spirit of the times, and work for and identify themselves with the great forthcoming commerce and interests of this great section of country? They might take a stand which would connect their city directly with the commerce of these Pike's Peak cities--build up a tremendous and very profitable trade and manufacture, and control the travel of the Northwest, and by making Chicago a great principal Express station point for supplying outfits and manufactures, which, as it is, are scattered among one-horse towns and "cities" on the Missouri river.
    Scott J. Anthony, Esq., a popular lawyer and a strong and staunch Republican, has just arrived here per Express from Leavenworth to establish himself here and identify himself with this great Rocky Mountain State by next December.
    We have a goodly number of ladies such as they are out here at Pike's Peak, but we want you to try and send us out many more. Let those handsome agreeable Chicago Belles of yours make a trip out here and select themselves, on sight, rich and good looking Pike's Peaker's husbands.
    Gov. Sammedary, of Kansas, is expected out her[e] shortly to locate. He will peradventure try to nurture up a Political nag here on the sly, so as to trot him out in public by the time we are becoming a regular government, but he can't come it, it won't win. We have the track, and we have the people to maintain us. Broken down hacks and spavined racers had better not attempt to "enter their names." We are young and vigorous and shall control the sweepstakes.
                                                                            ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

Source:

Rocky Mountains, "Letter From Pike's Peak," Chicago Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Thursday, 5 April, 1860, Page 2.