Gold in the Wenatchee, but the Miners Were Told to Leave
Pearson's party returns to Steilacoom after Indians warn them off the new gold fields; a handful of dirt shows a dollar's worth of gold.
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.
Since the publication of Pearson's letter in our issue of last week, we are in receipt of further and more important intelligence from the new gold fields on the Wenatchee and Naches rivers. Two members of Pearson's party called at our office on Monday last and informed us that, owing to the hostile attitude of the Indians, they were compelled to abandon the project of going to Wenatchee River and were not permitted to stay on the Wenatchee. They therefore reluctantly returned; the Indians threatening their extermination if they did not. The party being small—numbering only eighty-two men—and poorly provided with the requisite means either for fighting or for a protracted stay, even without molestation, deemed it prudent to heed the warnings of friendly Indians and returned to await the going of a more numerous company.
Being closely watched by the Indians and forbidden to proceed, they had no opportunity of prospecting satisfactorily, which they were all eager to do, as the country all about them bore unmistakable evidences of being rich in gold. A number of the party, however, washed out some surface dirt in their hands, and in one handful of earth was found a piece of gold worth about one dollar, which is some indication of the richness of the region. This prospecting was done at night, the party being unable to work during the day within view of the Indians. An old California miner in the company unhesitatingly pronounced the country as rich as any in California.
“the country all about them bore unmistakable evidences of being rich in gold.”
The Wenatchee and Naches country was not empty land; it was Indian country, and the “hostile Indians” in this report were defending it. The episode captures a pattern that would define Washington: resource rushes followed by military pressure and Indigenous dispossession. The question of who controls public lands and natural resources still shapes the region.
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