An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 107

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 107
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 107
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 107
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 107

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As you ascend the river, the scenery becomes more and more grand at least as far up as Goff. Beyond that the personal observation of the writer did not ex- tend, but perhaps the reader may get some idea of the topography of this great river canyon throughout the rest of its course in Idaho county by a perusal of the following from the pen of J. V. Dwyer, who, in de- scribing a hunting trip taken by himself and others last winter, said :

"My brother and myself left Salmon City on the 8th of November on a hunt for big horn sheep, and descending the Salmon river thirty-five miles to the mouth of Indian creek, outfitted at the store of the Kittie Burton Gold Mining Company, which is lo- cated about five miles up Indian creek from the mouth. We there bought a flat boat, 36x10 feet in size, and loading our possessions on this boat, started down the stream for Big creek, where we camped for a number of days, hunting the mountain sheep and deer in the high mountains. We had arranged for Captain Guleke to join us at Big creek before the winter ice had formed, but on Thanksgiving day the storm be- gan in an unmistakable way and we then knew that if we were to make the river trip it would have to be made at once.

"November 29 we started down the stream with- out waiting for Captain Guleke, and reaching Poverty flat about the middle of the afternoon, fifty-five miles below Salmon City, found that the river' for a quarter of a mile was blocked with slush ice. It was right then that trouble began and we surely had enough of it within the next week. Going to the foot of the slush ice gorge we started to clear out a channel through which the boat could be floated, and by the time night had come on, we had cleared the channel with the exception of the last three hundred feet. This we expected to finish within half an hour the next morning, but were disappointed in this, as the next morning we found that the ice flow of the previous night had again choked the channel worse than ever before. Three days we struggled with this ice flow, when we were joined by Captain Guleke and another day was spent in a last effort to remove the obstruction. The Captain then advised that a smaller boat be made, which could be portaged over the gorge on a tobog- gan. The building of this boat occupied two days, the tools in use being a dull saw and hand ax, and the material planks from our larger boat and from the re- mains of a smaller boat we found stranded at Poverty flats. A large portion of the supplies were left in the large boat.

"Once started down the river in the smaller craft, our troubles may be said to have been over, as there was never the least doubt about reaching the mouthi of the river, although on several occasions there seemed to be considerable doubt about our making the trip alive. The first day after leaving Poverty flats and before we reached the mouth of the middle fork of Salmon river, we struck another ice gorge, over which we portaged with little difficulty. The next day from this we entered the Black canyon, which has a length of something over ten miles, and which took

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three days to traverse. During these days the hours were filled with excitement and risk. Seven ice gorges were met and surmounted. In no case was the ice solid, the solid ice reaching out from the shore on each side and leaving in the middle of the stream a channel, which was filled up with shush ice, and enor- mous snow balls, this slush ice and snow sometimes reaching below the surface to a depth of ten or fifteen feet. In this stretch of the river there would be a quiet reach of water, its surface mirroring the en- folding hills, while below this would come a rapid or fall, where the water, a sca green color, would rush down a rocky gorge, on a twenty per cent. grade, or perhaps fall almost perpendicularly for ten or fifteen feet. The channel in these swift places would be plentifully be- sprinkled with huge red and green granite and sand stone boulders, and the waters would be lashed into foam. At the foot of each of these falls would be a combing wave, apparently rushing back up stream, and on several occasions these waves almost swamped the boat. But it was not the rushing waters, alternating with pools of quiet depth, that formed the greatest charm in the scenery.

"The name Black canyon is no misnomer. It was and is a black canyon in very truth. Floating on the quieter stretches of the river and looking toward the heavens, it seemed as though the scene told its own history of the great mountains of granite which had been reft by the giant hand of the Almighty, raised in anger against an unworthy world, leaving here a gash in many places five thousand feet in depth, and which in many places even the erosion of the ages has not more than gently scarred, while in others the evidences of the great convulsion which had split the rocks asunder were apparently as fresh as on the day when the cleft was formed. On either side there would be nothing but the bare rock walls, red and green and blue and brown, with never a blade of grass or shrub, while far above, forming a fringe for the clear blue of the sky, which showed in a thin slit like a silver thread, was the dark blue of the forest, intensified by the dazzling whiteness of the snow that sparkled with all the shades of light that would be given out by a clus- ter of diamonds. The memory of the three days spent in traversing this Black canyon will be with me through the years to come.

"After we had traversed the Black canyon, no other dangers that the river might have in store for us could produce more than a pleasurable excitement, and each rapid and fall was met and conquered with- out the quickening of a single pulse beat. Beautiful scenery, sublime in its loftiness, did not end with the Black canyon, and in many ways the stretch of river between White Bird and the junction of the Salmon with the Snake rivers furnished as beautiful scenery as can be found anywhere on the American conti- nemt. After leaving White Bird, the river, al- though wild in its flow, gave evidence along its banks that man had come here and made this his home. There were a number of little homes, with vineclad porches and orchards back of the house. Occasion- ally there were long stretches where the river ran in

deep gorges and where the sun does not strike the water during eight months of the year. The walls of the canyon here are a chocolate colored basalt, and in many places the columnar basalt stretches from the water's edge for a thousand feet or more into the air, the columns rising like cathedral spires. In other places these cliffs of columnar basalt have been faulted and the columns, in place of soaring skyward, are placed at almost every imaginable angle.

"WVe reached the mouth of the Salmon river Decem- ber 17th, and two days were occupied in reaching Lewiston. After leaving White Bird we had been con- stantly warned to beware of the Wild Goose rapids, and so much had been told us of the dangers of the passage there that we had almost decided to line over the rapids, something we had not done in our whole trip. All during the forenoon we had been keeping a careful watch for the Wild Goose, and finally about noon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, the boat was pulled ashore near a house, and a farmer asked how far it was to the Wild Goose. We were much surprised when told that we had passed the rapids about six miles.'

But we must not allow ourselves to be betrayed into dwelling at too great length upon the topographic features of Idaho county, for scenic beauty, though adding greatly to the charm of any region, is neverthe- less in this practical age secondary in importance to numerous other considerations. Though from an agriculturist's standpoint there seems to be much waste land in central Idaho, yet is the country almost every- where rich in some form of wealth. The palmy days of placer mining have long since passed, but the re- vival of the last decade in quartz mining has brought to light not a few promising prospects and some pro- ducers, the wide distribution of which, considered in connection with the evidence of mineralization in many parts of the intervening country, fosters the belief that Idaho county is some day again to lead the state, as it did in the early 'sixties, in the production of mineral wealth. The season of the year during which this work is being prepared renders it practically impossible to visit the mines in person and our lack of mining ex- perience must of necessity render this description of the mining industry somewhat superficial, but we shall do our best with the information at hand.

Among the mining districts which are today com- manding attention are several the names of which were household words in the golden days of 1861-2-3. Flor- ence, which had such a brilliant early history, enjoyed a very considerable boom in recent years and though interest has subsided somewhat, it is still among the important districts of the county. Situated in the vi- cinity of the Salmon river its environs partake of the picturesqueness which characterize the canyon of that stream and country adjacent to it. The general topo- graphy of the canyon at this point was thus described in 1885 by the gifted pen of A. F. Parker :

"Four miles from Florence we strike the head of the seven mile grade to Salmon river. The descent into hades is not more abrupt and precipitous than the tortuous trail which winds around the face of the

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

mountain and drops the weary traveler finally at the approaches to the wire bridge. From the summit of the Inge spur down which the trail winds, one can look for miles and miles over a sea of mountain and ra- vine, of ragged precipices and stony heights, of barren wastes and pine-crested slopes. Far below yawns the black gorge through which the river runs, dwarfed from our point of view to a mere silver thread. De- scending, we note that the shelving sides of the canyon meet at the bottom until they inclose the turbulent waters of this dangerous stream. The elements act- ing on the sides of the gorge have scraped some parts into precipitous crags and scooped others back, so that the walls present a series of projecting bastions and semi-circular recesses, traversed by innumerable ra- vines. The dark forests of pine that clothe the summits sweep down to the very brink of the river in scattering groves on both sides. Such is a general plan of the place, but it is hardly possible to convey in words a picture of the impressive grandeur of the scene.

"There are those to whom such a scene is the very abomination of desolation, nothing present that is not savage and inhospitable. But to a keen eye it has mani- fold attractions. From the summit the crags and slopes tower upwards in endless variety and form with the weirdest mingling of colors. Much of the granite rock, especially the crumbling slopes, was of a sparkling white that dazzled the eyes, and through this ground- work harder masses of dull scarlet, merging into crag- gy knolls and pinnacles, shot up in vertical walls. In the sunlight of early morning the canyon is a blaze of strange and ever changing color as the shadows recede from the scarred fronts of yellow, red and black, and become illumined with the bright rays of the strength- ening sun. And above all lie the dark folds of pine, sweeping along the crests of the precipices which they crown with a rim of sombre green, while far away in the distant perspective is an endless succession of rng- ged mountains, priest-robed in the snows of eternity, or clothed in the sombre hues of the forest. There may be gorges in the Yellowstone or Yosemite of far more imposing magnitude, but for dimensions large enough to be profoundly striking, yet not too vast to be taken in by the eyes at once, for infinite changes of pictur- esque detail and for brilliancy and variety of coloring, the Salmon river canyon is as striking and impressive as any in America."

The mining district is situated on the north side of the river on a plateatt near the brink of the canyon. Its elevation is approximately 6,000 feet, so that in winter snow falls to a great depth. Lindgren estimates the total production of the camp at between fifteen and thirty millions. "The production from July, 1868, to July, 1869." he says, "had already sunk to $200,000 ; during 1871, only $100,000 were produced ; during 1872, $78,000. From this date the camp is rarely men- tioned in the mint reports, and during many years the Chinese were in undisturbed possession, washing old tailings. The report of 1881 estimates the production at $45,000; in 1882, it was $35,000; in 1884, $40,000 ; in 1885., $44.093 of gold and $803 of silver ; in 1887.

$38,449 of gold and $1.551 of silver. Soon after the camp became practically deserted.

"While it was recognized at an early date that the gold was derived from quartz veins, these were con- sidered of little value. The only quartz vein mentioned in the old reports was the Harpster and Little, located four miles from Florence on the brink of the Salmon river. This was a silver vein containing practically no gold. In 1896 and 1897 quartz mining received a great impetus. Prospecting showed the presence of very many veins and the district was soon covered by loca- tions : several mills were erected and the population in- creased to about 1,000."

The mining revival in the district resulted not alone in the building of mills and developing of quartz pros- pects, but in some attention being paid to placer min- ing by improved modern machinery. Thus in the fall of 1898, a dredge of the dipper variety with a daily capacity of 2,000 yards, was instituted by the Bucyrus Dredge Company, of Milwaukee, at a cost of $50,000. It was operated during two seasons but did not do its work in a satisfactory manner.

The district furnishes a complicated system of gold- bearing quartz veins, upon which in 1897 and 1898, several hundred claims were filed. Assay values are said to range from $18 to $50. The Hi Yu vein on Sand creek is a ledge two to four feet wide and is said by Lindgren to consist of quartz seams separated by altered granite, which yield gold valued at $14 an ounce. The vein, he says, was worked as early as 1872 and in 1897 it had been developed by a drift 175 feet long. A new mill was erected in 1898, and worked continuously for a while, but we are informed that the mine is now in litigation.

A quarter of a mile southeast of the Hi Yu on the south branch of Black Sand creek is the Banner vein, a "vein of glassy, pure quartz up to six feet thick, though ordinarily much less, said to go $50 per ton and to con- tain 21/2 ounces gold, six to seven ounces silver, very little pyrite. Some of the altered granite is also said to be as rich as the quartz. Several minor faults cross the vein. causing it to diverge locally from its course." A Huntington mill was in course of erection in 1897 at the time of Lindgren's visit. It burned in 1899. The mine was patented and allowed to fill with water and remain idle until 1901, when it fell into the hands of the First National Bank of Spokane. John MI. Her- man, of Moscow, organized the Florence Gold Mining Company for its operation, and in 1902 built and equipped two Huntington mills, also fitted up the mine completely, the aggregate expenditure in this manner being $20,000. It is said that the underground work- ings measure unitedly 1,200 feet. The mine closed down last spring and is at present in litigation.

The Gold Bug vein, located a short distance south of the Banner, belongs to the Banner group. It has been opened by means of a tunnel. and it is stated that from it and the Banner, the old Banner company ex- tracted $50,000 worth of ore. The Blossom vein is situated west of old Florence. It consists of altered granite alternating with quartz veins of varying thick-

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ness. "This ledge," says the government report, "is confined between thin layers of soft clayey material, separating it from the hard country rock. Free mill- ing gold is said to occur in the altered granite and the clay-talc, so called .- as well as in the quartz. A con- siderable amount of gold was obtained from this mine in early days by means of crushing in mortars. The Blossom is said to be one of the most persistent veins of the camp, and it can be followed for a considerable dis- tance. The vein is developed by a shaft following it and reaching to a depth of 110 feet from the surface. The shaft extends 58 feet below the tunnel, which is 220 feet in length." A Huntington mill was erected on this property in 1897 by the Blossom Mining and Mill- ing Company. It was never operated, however, and in 1901 became the property of J. M. Herman. The mine was relocated in the summer of 1902 by Walter Bennett of Florence.

The Ozark vein is located near the head of Gold Lake creek, a tributary of Slate creek, at a point about a mile from old Florence. The government report on it says: "The deposits consist of one principal vein averaging 18 inches iu thickness and striking south 84 degrees east. A smaller vein, averaging a foot in width joins the former vein at an acute angle, having a strike north of 88 degrees east. A number of smaller stringers run parallel to the latter. The larger vein cuts off the second as well as its parallel stringers. In all, these stringers form a zone up to 50 feet wide, which is said to contain enough to be milled with profit. The quartz is of the ordinary glassy kind, seemingly characteristic of this camp. It contains but little sul- phurets and shows excellent comb structure. Some of the altered granite along the stringers carries free gold and is crushed with the quartz. The mine is de- veloped by two tunnels 600 feet long, cutting the seam obliquely and striking about north 62 degrees east. A five-stamp mill reduces the ore. The Ozark was in 1897 the only producing mine, with the exception of a small quantity milled at the Hi Yu." It is, however, stated that the mine has not produced any since 1897 and is idle at present. Its owner is M. J. Shields, of Moscow.

About a mile west of Florence is the Waverly, a vein of something near twelve feet width. The develop- ments reported in 1897 consisted of a shaft 116 feet deep. J. M. Herman, we are informed, took an option on it in 1898 and expended $3,000, but gave it back to its original owners because he could not keep the water out of the workings. It is said to be very rich. It is now the property of the Waverly Gold Mining Com- pany, a Moscow corporation, who are not operating it at present. There is a two-stamp mill on the property.

The Poorman vein, three miles southwest of Flor- ence, was in 1897 reported to have been developed by a shaft 120 feet deep and a tunnel, also to consist of quartz similar to that of the other mines of the district except that ruby silver and horn silver were present. A five-stamp mill was erected on this property in 1897, and run a few hours, after which the mine shut down and the mill was sold to the Little Giant Company, of Warren.

The Cubano vein at the head of Miller creek, half a mile west of Florence was opened in early days. It was again located about two years ago by Mrs. Emma Meinart, of Florence, who is engaged in developing it, reducing the ore in a two-stamp mill. It is claimed that the vein is the richest in the camp, the ore assaying $100 and upwards.

The Gilt Edge, adjoining Florence on the east. has been developed by a shaft 200 feet deep. A new steam hoist was installed last summer, and the Gilt Edge Gold Mining Company, recently organized by R. J. McLean, of Mount Idaho, is engaged in extending its shafts and is drifting. The ore is said to assay from $50 to $70, free gold.

The Bullion, of which Henry Wax, of Grangeville, is the present owner, was opened as much as a quarter of a century ago. It was formerly the property of S. S. Fenn, who used to have its rich ore packed to a rail- road and shipped. It is a silver proposition. Six or seven hundred feet of development work have been done on it. It lies eight miles southeast of Florence.

The Whatcheer vein, seven miles south of Florence and two west of the Bullion, is now owned by the Whatcheer Mining Company of Pullman, Washington. The vein is said to be from one to three feet in thick- ness and the development work to aggregate six hun- dred feet. Other valuable veins are the Yakima, four miles south of town, owned by Flint & Reed, of Grange- ville ; Snowshoe, near it, the property of W. A. Bennett and George Connor ; the Coupon and the Candeleria, owned by R. J. McLean, and the Anderson Brothers' mines, a large group, the gold bearing ore from which, it is said, is soon to be treated in a 20-ton mill. The great drawback to mining in the district is the presence of water in such quantities as to flood the workings. Until this is drained off not much progress can be made.

On the south side of the Salmon river canyon about twenty-seven miles from Florence in a southeasterly di- rection is the Warren mining district, the story of the discovery of which, with its early history, has been re- lated heretofore. It is one of the two or three camps in Idaho county which have been noticed in recent geological publications, and concerning it Lindgren's report has this to say :

"Warren is one of the least accessible mining camps in the west, being about one hundred and thirty miles by wagon road from the nearest railroad. In consequence of this, as well as of the short season and bad roads, expenses of mining are necessarily high. The road from Weiser, after leaving the plateau of the Columbia lava at Payette lake, continues up the nar- row canyon of the North Fork of the Payette until, at an elevation of 6,300 feet, it crosses the low and swampy divide between the Salmon and Payette rivers. At this point the character of the country changes. Down toward the brink of the Salmon river canyon extends a heavily forested area of compara- tively gentle relief. The road at first follows the val- ley of Secesh creek, which has a most remarkable course, as will be seen from the map. Rising only a few miles from the great canon of the Salmon, it

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runs in a southeasterly direction, and finally, thirty- five miles from its head, empties into the south fork of the Salmon river, which again empties into the main river fifteen miles northeast of Warren. This peculiar course indicates clearly that the plateau and its drain- age, to the south fork of the Salmon river, are of great antiquity compared with the latter. The road, leav- ing Secesh valley, crosses a ridge and descends into the drainage of Meadow creek, near the head of which Warren is located. The character of the topography about Warren is the same as that of Secesh valley. Gently sloping ridges rise to about a thousand feet above the valley, and a forest of black pine covers everything. The bottoms of the creeks and streams are covered with gravel to a considerable depth, and near the divides little marshes are common. A few miles north of Warren the country slopes precipitously towards the Salmon river."

Warren lias the distinction, notwithstanding its remoteness from transportation facilities, of being the first of the old placer camps in which any considerable attention was devoted to quartz mining. Thus Prof. Lindgren, deriving his information from the Ray- mond and mint reports, tells us that in 1869 the prin- cipal gold and silver veins were known, that the Res- cue yielded $13,000 and was developed by a shaft one hundred and twenty feet deep; that in 1870 the quartz mines were averaging $50.00 per ton while the placer mines averaged $5.90 per day per man during four months; that in 1871, 1,500 tons of ore were ex- tracted, averaging $37.00 ; that from the quartz mines up to that date $125,000 had been extracted and that two hundred and fifty recorded claims were known. "In 1872," continues the extracts, "the gold veins of Res- cue, Charity, Sampson and Keystone were worked; of gold-silver veins, Martinace, Hunt and Washing- ton. In 1873 Rescue and Charity were worked. In 1874 Rescue was idle. In 1875 the placers were near- ly exhausted. Of the quartz mines the following were worked: Hic Jacet, Keystone, Knott, Scott, Al- der, Rescue and Sampson. In 1881 the same mines and several more were worked with good results. In 1882 the Charity, Tramp and Knott quartz veins were operated. In 1884 the Tramp, Knott and Little Giant were worked. In 1897 the Little Giant and Goodenough were worked and many others pros- pected ; placer mining by steam shovel was in pro- gress one mile below Warren. In 1898 the Little Giant and Goodenough were worked. A ten-stamp mill had been erected on the Iola and was in opera- tion."

The largest producer of the Warren district is the Little Giant vein, situated half a mile south-south- east of Warren in Smith gulch. The ore consists of quartz, containing native gold of a rather pale color, also small quantities of tetrahedrite, galena, brown zinc blende, arsenopyrite and pyrite. It is stated in the geological report on the mine that during the fourteen years preceding 1897, the mine produced 1.665 tons of ore, which, being milled, yielded an average of $1I7 per ton. A ten-stamp mill was moved from the Poorman mine in Florence onto this prop-

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 107

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524