[CHAPTER IX]
THE STORY OF A STREAK OF YELLOW
If "the love of money is the root of evil," it is, as well, the germ of progress. It was the imaginary glitter of the yellow metal that lured De Soto across the continent to the Mississippi and beyond; it enticed De Balboa to the shores of the Pacific, led Cortez through the land of the Aztecs, and its magnetism drew Alvarado down into Central America and carried Pizarro to the conquest of Peru; it dragged Coronado across the arid plains of Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona in search of the fabled land of Cibola, and, in fact, its gleaming has explored and exploited the Americas from Alaska to Cape Horn. It has led man to brave the perils of the desert, and as the result prosperous towns have sprung up in that dread region, and millions of dollars of wealth have been wrested from its treasure-house. Just what this continent would now be, had it not been for the glitter of the yellow dust, it is hard to estimate. It is probable that the dusky savage would still hold dominion over the land.
THE PROSPECTOR SETS FORTH
From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
The prospector is the advance agent of progress, civilization, and prosperity. He has spied out the country,—with the aid of his faithful burro,—and has marked every trail, preceded every stage route and railroad, and founded the greater number of towns on the western half of this United States.
He it is who has unlocked the treasure-house of the continent and poured into the coffers of this Republic the golden stream which has made her the first nation on the globe. It is for the sight of a yellow streak in his pan that he has been tempted to endure the fatigue, cold, and hunger of the mountains, and the heat, thirst, and horror of the desert.