How I got bit by the Gold Bug!

(Alder Gulch, Virginia City Montana is where I first got bit! I wrote these lines in memory of that fateful day.)

The Alder Gulch Virus, or, Why I Chase The Gold

In days gone by, when just a lad

My sister’s spouse did somethin’ bad

A ghostly town we went to see,

That lit a fire within me . . .

Virginia City’s driving force

Was mining gold. You knew of course

That Henry Plummer ruled that town

‘Til vigilantes brought him down.

But his demise is not my goal,

A bug bit me to take its toll.

It bred a fever inside me,

Away down south, in Montanny.

What plague is that, you’ll likely say,

That sickened me that fateful day?

A golden fever, spread in me

And since that day, I ain’t been free.

The bug that bit that special day,

Infected me in every way.

Just let me say, there ain’t no pill,

To cure that sassy fever’s ill.

I’ve tried to lick it, ain’t no fun

That potent fever’s always won.

It’s driven me around the bend,

Up mountain streams, to canyon’s end.

It’s made me search in arctic climes

And in the desert many times.

But nothin’ ever seems to kill

My golden fever’s iron will.

But should I cure it? What the heck?

There’s tougher ways to stretch one’s neck!

There’s booze and parties, speed and weed;

There’s lust and pride. There’s crime and greed.

But blast it all, it seems to me

It ain’t the gold that’s drivin’ me.

The lookin’ for it's got me hooked

That’s why my fevered brain is cooked.

All the best,

Lanny

All the best,

Lanny

Here's some videos of historic Virginia City Montana which holds a special spot in my prospecting heart:

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