CONCLUSION 



411 



on coming. If the strike is really worth anything, or thought 

 to be so, a town is built in a year ; every house contains a saloon 

 which is always open. Phonographs and pianofortes enliven 

 the scene, and rows of drunken men, mingled with the shrieks 



MR. MANLEYS LARGE HOTEL. 



of half-drunken dance-house girls, are heard by night as well as 

 by day. 



But all these people will disperse as quickly as they came if 

 the strike turns out to be valueless ; the newly-made log cabins 

 will be left empty, and the litter of broken sledges and numerous 

 odds and ends will remain to tell of one more broken hope, a 

 mute evidence of man's foolhardiness and credulity. 



Such is the story of most " strikes," but there are cases where 

 the report is true, where gold really exists, and in such cases the 

 town will last for years. The mining camp near Sullivan Creek 

 was not very large. yet ; it was not certain that there was much 

 gold there, though some men had been very lucky. However, 

 Sullivan Creek will never be a regular town. Mr. Manley's 

 large hotel at the Hotsprings is so close that most of the 

 touring, dancing, and drinking will go on there, as it is only about 

 eight miles away. I had heard much of this place, but I must 



