Stories surrounding the lure of gold and adventures in finding it comprise an important chapter from the annals of early Washington State history. A few remaining old-timers still gather around tables in small town coffee shops to reminisce about the good old days or the time granddad came west to discover gold and a better way of life. Only a generation removed, these gentlemen talk with familiarity about nineteenth century gold strikes at places such as Liberty and Blewett, Rich Bar on the Similkameen, and Ruby Creek in the North Cascades. Through infinite labor and privations, the tide of hardy adventurers reached the promised land. The tide of emigration spread all over the mountain ranges and valleys of the West and in 40 years produced more than $2,000,000,000 in gold and silver, actual money, created and added to our country's resources. It enabled our people to settle a vast country. These grand and beneficent results of precious metal mining stand without parallel in human history.