CHAPTER XXIV
THE MAGIC BAND OF BEATEN GOLD
The demonetization of silver by the government in 1873, and its great
production, had reduced the value of the white metal one-half, so young
Harris resolved to seek for gold, and began a search, which proved to be
a most romantic success.
At first he hesitated to leave Montana, as its quartz veins and sluice
boxes in twenty-five years had poured out $400,000,000, and its mineral
resources were yet almost wholly unknown. The area of this single
mountainous state could not be blanketed by the six New England States,
and New York, or covered by England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland
combined.
Finally Alfonso determined to follow the great mineral belt in a
southwesterly direction even to the Sierra Nevada Range if need be. At
Livingston he went south by railway through a gateway of the mountains,
and up the fertile Paradise Valley, following the cool green waters of
the Yellowstone alive with trout and equally gamesome graylings.
At Cinnabar Alfonso joined a merry party of tourists, who mounted a
Concord coach, and the four grays were urged to a brisk pace over a
smooth government road towards the great National Park.
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