The Gold Rush Mania: A Cautionary Tale for Settlers
As disheartened miners return from the upper Columbia, the Standard warns local farmers and mechanics that steady work at home is worth more than the speculative, dangerous 'El Dorado' scramble.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
We are now beginning to witness the effects of the mania which a few months ago seemed to seize upon a portion of our people and cause hundreds to abandon paying employments to engage in the general scramble for gold. Almost every steamer from the upper Columbia brings scores of disheartened men who were eagerly wending their way to the 'new El Dorado.' It unfortunately happened that this rush occurred just at the time when all kinds of business could have been pursued with the most profit. Had many of those who were carried away by the excitement remained at home and pursued with renewed energy their usual employments, they would have been in a position, should the mines yield anything like a rich harvest, to have reaped the advantages resulting therefrom. It is said that Oregon and Washington will not produce enough this year for the wants of their own people, and the cause is attributable to the large exodus to the mines. If this be true, it will not be long until these staples will command prices placing them beyond the reach of those who return 'strapped' from the mines. We have delayed condemning the systematic exaggerations of the extent and richness of the Salmon mines, but now, when we have the testimony of hundreds of returning broken-down miners, we deem it to be our duty to warn the people that they may not 'go and do likewise.'
“They will find that all which glitters is not gold, and that surer and better 'diggings' are to be found in the rich soil of our valleys.”
The economic tension between the 'get-rich-quick' allure of speculation and the stability of traditional industries remains a constant in the Pacific Northwest. Just as 1862 saw the lure of the gold rush distract from local agriculture, modern boom cycles frequently strain the affordability and labor base of Olympia's core sectors.
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