An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 236

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 236
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 236
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 236
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 236

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EVOLUTION, Jan. 7. 1883.

Mr. C -:

Dear Sir-As I came across your name in the Truthseeker, I take the liberty of addressing you a

few lines in hopes of giving my "liberal friends" a hitle assistance. I can not enter into details in a short letter, but will give enough to give you an understand- ing of what I wish and will ask you as a gentleman and brother liberal not to make it known outside the liberal League and its members.

I have made a discovery of a gold-bearing conn- try that will give employment to at least 15,000 to 20.000 men. There are two streams that I have pros- pected well : one is sixteen to twenty-five miles long, as near as I can judge: the other twelve to sixteen miles and an average width of sixty to seventy rods . have found gold on three other streams of near the same size, but have not tested them enough to know how they will pay. The two streams I speak of will pay their whole length and probably the most of their tributaries, with an abundance of good timber and water. Bedrock from five to twelve feet. Gold coarse and of good quality. There are two good and natural. town sites where will be built cities represent- ing thousands in less than two years, and the country is traversed with hundreds of mineral bearing lodes of quartz. And now for good reasons which I have not time to explain I would like to see as much of this go into the hands of the liberals as possible, and also see them build a city where they can have their own laws and enough of this vast mining region to sup- port it, which they can do if they will go at it cool and work together. I have spent four years here by myself looking and working it up. I first discovered and located a lode on the Mullan road, and not having much means to open it up, I spent all of my spare time looking for placers, not anticipating finding ex- tensive mines. only something to help me open my lode, but I have found a richer and bigger section than I supposed lay undiscovered in the Rocky range, and now if you will convey the purport of what I give you to as many leagues as you can on this coast. and request them to get together and keep this information to themselves, they can secure the "lion's share." I am in the mountains, fifty miles from a postoffice, and can do but little in winter, for the snow gets from three to four feet deep here. I will give directions how to get there and what is needed. My location 1 call "Evolution," as that is the name of my lode. It is on the old Mullan road to Montana. I am fifty miles east of Fort Cœur d'Alene and twenty-three miles east of the old mission. The Northern Pacific railroad runs within twelve miles of the post, where there is a town called Rathdrum. Parties coming will want pack ani- mals, as the new mines are back from my place on the road forty miles in the mountains, with but poor pack trails yet, as I have not had time to cut them out more than enough to get through. and they will want sup- plies for a month or two, as there will be no chance of getting anything after leaving the post at present. Probably the best place for those that have to buy horses would be to stop at Spokane Falls, Washington Territory, which is thirty miles from the post, and per- haps they might do better in provisions and groceries, tools, etc.

Now. if there are many that conclude to come

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they might leave the impression along the road that they were going to Montana and give as many liberals as possible a chance to get in before they get up an excitement.

I shall be down about the middle of April and that is as soon as they need to get to the post, as they can't get into the mountains until the water runs down, and sometimes it keeps up until the middle of May, so they need not be in a hurry getting an early start. There are but three or four that have a knowledge of it (the discovery of gold) here, and that is merely a suspicion. They have agreed to keep it. I am a little afraid of one of them or I would have waited a little longer, but shall try to get ready. I wanted to pros- pect a little more before a rush commenced, for it will surely come. Now, hoping that my friends may profit by the knowledge I have given them, I remain,

Yours fraternally. A. J. PRICHARD.

Such letters as the foregoing sent to members of Liberal Leagues in Montana, Colorado and elsewhere induced quite a stampede into the gold belt of the Cœur d'Alenes in 1883. The secret was not well kept by the liberal people. The news was spread abroad and soon reached the miners of the Black Hills, who began pouring into the new Mecca of the gold-seeker in June. When they arrived they found that nearly all the valuable placer ground along the creek had been taken by Prichard for his friends through power of attorney. Not to be baffled, they at once began jump- ing the best claims. Prichard, Gelatt, Fisher and Bob- lett saw that their locations for absent persons would not be respected, so they sent to the Palouse country for friends residing in that farming district. At least fifty responded, coming in by every species of convey- ance and soon reaching the gold fields, for they had only a short distance to come. Mr. Horn tells us that about the same time a third district party of twenty or thirty, under the leadership of William Stil- well, Barney McAleer, William Osburn and a man named Eumas, came in and that the three-cornered clash naturally arising out of those conditions was the beginning of the troubles in the gold mining district. At first claims were held by those who could muster the greatest show of force to defend their real or pre- tended rights, but the numerous disputes were later taken into the courts and made the subject of pro- tracted and costly litigation.

The rush of the spring and summer of 1883 was a small affair compared with that of the ensuing fall. winter and spring. Among those whose attention was attracted to the new mining district by the reports circulated in the early months of 1883 and confirmed by subsequent developments was H. C. Davis, of the Northern Pacific railroad, who saw in the Cœur d'Alene mining excitement an opportunity to secure patronage for his line and also perhaps to induce the permanent settlement of a region contigous to his road. He therefore caused the circulation of a pamphlet describing the new mining district in glowing lan- gnage. The Northern Pacific gold circular has be- come famous in the history of the camp as the chief

cause of that great winter rush of 1883-4. It repre- sented that $roo a day to the man were being taken out of the rimrock of the gulches, while in the gulches $25 to $40 per diem per man were being panned.

"The claims are very rich," says this circular, "and are located in the gulches of the north fork of the Cœur d'Alene river, Eagle, Prichard and Beaver creeks, streams running into the Cœur d'Alene river. Rich placer deposits have already been discovered for a considerable distance on Prichard creek and the same distance on Eagle creek, the creeks being known by the latter name from the point where they come to- gether. Nuggets have been found which weigh $50, $100, $166 and $200. An intense excitement has sprung up in regard to the quartz deposits of this dis- trict, the immediate occasion of this being a 'find' of a valuable quartz lode at the head of P'richard creek. The vein has been traced on the surface for a dis- taince of five hundred feet and the outcroppings are very prominent. The ore taken from the vein shows a great amount of free gold, in fact, it fairly glis- tens. * * *

"The most extensive galena belt known at the pres- ent day is being developed on Beaver creek. The vein can be readily traced on the surface for five or six miles, the ore carrying from eighty to ninety ounces of silver and 35 to 40 per cent. lead. * * *

"Such is a brief sketch of the Cœur d'Alene mines, which surpass in richness and volume the most fabu- lous quartz and placers ever discovered, even the famous deposits of 'Potosi' being inferior to those which underlie the mountains of the Cœur d'Alenes. As the mines of the old world, some of which have been worked since the eleventh century, are still em- ploying thousands of men, the conclusion to be drawn in regard to the Cœur d'Alenes, a region far superior in every way, is that they are inexhaustible, and al- though thousands may work then, there will still be room for thousands more."

Unquestionably the many who poured into the Cœur d'Alene country over the crests of snow-clad and forbidding mountain ranges during the memora- ble winter of 1883-4 knew that the statements of the circular were gross exaggerations, but they all thought that without douht a rich mining region had been dis- covered, and they accordingly poured into the country despite the warnings of the press and of experienced men. It was estimated that there were fully one thou- sand men in the district by the middle of February.

Of course, there were ambitious towns in Montana and Washington desirous of gaining as much as pos- sible by the rush and in a very short time numerons routes to the mining districts had been constructed and their promoters were vieing with each other for public favor. As a matter of historical interest, the principal routes of travel may be alluded to briefly.

The Jackass trail was one of the best. In order to take it the traveler left the railroad at Rathdrum, in Kootenai county, traveled by stage to Coeur d'Alene City, thence by steamer to Kingston, where a train of thirty saddle horses were in readiness to convey passengers to Jackass, a point on the Mullan road

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

three miles above Kingston, and from that over the divide to Eagle City by way of Beaver. It was stated that by this route passengers reached their destination in the evening of the day upon which they started from Cœur d'Alene City.

The North Fork route was over a trail used by the Indians long before the foot of white man ever rested on the soil of the Northwest. It was also the high water trail used in early days by packers between Wallula and Helena.

The Thompson Falls route was in course of con- struction in the spring of 1884. It left Thompson Falls, Montana, the most easterly point on the rail- road from which access could be had to the mines, and proceeded up Prospect creek to the summit, thence past the head of Prichard creek and through the towns of Sullivan City, Raven City and Murrayville and down the creek to Eagle.

The Belknap trail was an important route, connect- ing the town in Montana from which it took its name with Eagle City. It became the mail route as soon as a postoffice was established in Eagle, and later a telegraph line between the two towns followed it. The town of Belknap was favored by the wealth and pow- erful influence of the Northern Pacific, which of course advocated the Belknap route.

By no means least in importance, though mentioned last in this review, was the Trout Creek trail. This was referred to by the Eagle as "the great snow trail about which so many columns of description were written during the winter." "Hundreds of people," says that newspaper. "wrote glowing accounts of the perils of the passage to Eagle City by way of Trout creek, but never an accident occurred from the time it was opened until the bottom fell out of it when the snow went off. During the winter it was the main inlet and outlet for the mines, and it is reported that with some little work a good trail and wagon road can be built into Eagle. Trout Creek is a station on the railway midway between Belknap and Thompson Falls and distant from Eagle about thirty-five miles."

The first town laid out in the Cœur d'Alenes was Eagle City. It took its name from Eagle creek, which' was so denominated, it is said, from the fact that from time immemorial a certain tree on its bank near the spot on which the town was built was used by eagles as a nesting place. The tree was a high cottonwood without limb or branch below forty feet. At this height. however. a cluster of limbs branched out, fur- nishing support for the weather-beaten and time-worn nest in which the eagles had reared their young, the Indians said, for at least forty years.

Eagle City was a magic word in the years 1883-4. The history of the town was that of a pioneer mining camp : its decline was as rapid as its rise. We are in- formed that in March. 1884, town property was in great demand, lots bringing from $200 to $2,000 ; also that for one or two established business houses offers of $10,000 were refused. The Cœur d'Alene Nugget March 22, 1884, tells us that twenty new business houses were opened in the mining district during the preceding week. By the same issue we are informed

that stoves were the highest-priced commodities in camp, the Sibley variety, which were nothing more than conical sheet-iron structures, each with a door and place for a stovepipe, selling for from $30 to $40 ; sheet-iron box stoves for from $20 to $80, and ordi- nary cook stoves from $75 to $150; also that Hood & Company, at an enormous expense and in the face of tremendous obstacles, had established the first saw mill in the mines, a steam mill with a capacity of 14,000 feet each twenty-four hours. The mill was brought on sleighs through Fourth of July canyon and by boat up the north fork. It tells us that the Eagle City Bank had the honor of having brought the first safe into the mines; a Herring's fire proof, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds. The safe was dragged in over the Trout Creek trail by two men. In the same number appears a fiat, promulgated by the residents of the district, that no Chinaman shall ever enter the camp on pain of expulsion or death and the expulsion of the person importing such Chinaman. The business directory set forth in its columns is :

Lawyers: S. C. Hyde, W. H. Johnson, Charles WV. O'Neil, French, Woody & Marshall, William Scal- lon, W. T. Stoll. L. H. Prather, L. B. Nash. J. M. Kinnaird, Maloney & Trumbull; real estate agents : L. F. Butler & F. A. Wickersham, A. P. Benton & Company (W. E. Hunt), Charles A. Webster ; gen- cral stores. Mackenzie & Evans, Samuel H. Hays (First and leading merchant ), Shelton & Cunningham ; meat market, Moffitt & Wise ; hardware, H. J. Plume ; Eagle City Bank ; saw mill, Hood & Company : for- warding company, B. C. Eckers & J. F. Wardner : bar- ber shop, Parker & Boyer ; physicians, E. Thiele. Fred Quimby, H. O. Beeson & P. B. Williams, J. B. Patter- son ; restaurants, Matt Brown & Company, the Pioneer, E. Y. Jeffrey, proprietor ; lodging houses, the Coeur d'Alene, Carey & Carlton, proprietors, the Arlington, Kuebler & Vedder, proprietors : paints, L. P. Cough- lin ; builders, D. W. McIntosh, J. A. Rives : mining recorder and justice of the peace. Frank Points : notary public, James F. Topliff : saloons, Cole Brothers, the Daisy, Coy & Hess, proprietors, the Comstock. Fender & Shaw, proprietors.

"The most aggravating evil which vexes this camp at present," says the Nugget, "is not poorly cooked beans, bad whiskey, dead beats nor the dreadful con- dition of our trails. All these are bad in their way, but are glorious when compared to the difficulty and uncertainty of getting our mail. In the early days of the camp a weekly mail was established by the way of Fort Coeur d'Alene. It was brought in on snow shoes. or otherwise, as the conditon of the trail allowed. Those who subscribed certain amounts per month, say $30. received all their mail for this sum. All others paid fifty cents a letter. This system worked very satis- factorily to the public and paid very remunerative wages to the carriers so long as there were only two or three hundred men in camp. Now that thousands are here, and tens of thousands coming, the carriers may be making money, but the public are far from happy. No contracts can now be made by the month and 110 less than fifty cents will secure a letter. This works

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

a great hardship upon business men, who have lately established themselves in the mines. The mail comes very slowly and with perplexing uncertainty, two weeks being frequently required to bring a letter from Spo- kane Falls. But this is not all. There is no postoffice in the mines. Out of mere accommodation and without a cent of remuneration W. J. Shelton & Company have permitted letters to be left at their store. The con- stant interruptions and vexations occasioned of late, however. have caused Mr. Shelton to object, and Kuteb- ler & Vedder have accepted the irksome task of keep- ing and distributing the mail. Something must be clone and that right speedily. Many a poor fellow is in camp who cannot pay fifty cents for a letter ; many a one who could do so cannot get his letters with any degree of promptness or certainty."

But the trouble about mail was of short duration, for in April A. F. Parker received his commission as postmaster. also a mail key, supply of stamps, etc., and by about the 20th a postoffice, known as Eagle, was opened for business. Mail arrived and departed Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week.

The Eagle, another pioneer paper of the district, gives us the following picture of conditions in Eagle City in April, 1884:

At this stage of its growth and development, Eagle presents the appearance of a "hard" place. Its buildings are located on lots from which snow to the depth of four feet has been excavated and dumped into the street, so that be- tween the buildings and the streets there is a solid wall of snow. The buildings are composed of logs and shakes. Great tents with gaudily painted signs loom up in endless variety before the spectator, while from within come the sound of revelry and strains of music, the click of chips and the metallic chink of hard cash as it passes over the bar. The streets and places of public resort are thronged night and day with miners and prospectors waiting for the snow to disappear so they can get off into the mountains on their annual prospecting tour. Then there are the packers and transient population, a tough looking crowd, but very or- derly, who stand around enjoying the luxury of a sun bath. On the corners are knots of men talking mines and mining, and criticizing ore specimens that pass from hand to hand. The stores are thronged discussing the locality and merits of the last new thing in rich strikes; the centers are strewn with specimens of quartz from the different districts ; while on the street there is an ever changing panorama of counte- nances as the crowd diverts itself. The report of a pistol shot will bring a hundred men to their feet for an instant, and the saloons will disgorge twice as many more in the same moment, all on the alert to catch a sensation, which has never occurred yet. Then there are the arrival of pack trains and toboggans, in a more or less advanced stage of di- lapidation from hard usage on the different trails. On all hands carpenters and mechanics are busy erecting shanties for temporary occupancy. but talk with whom you will you find that the utmost confidence is expressed in the outcome of the camp ; that we have the mineral here to make the big- gest camp in America and that the business men are con- servative enough not to be guilty of exaggerating the mineral wealth of our placer fields and quartz ledges in order to encourage a wild stampede. On all hands there is a general disposition to tell the truth, to let the camp sustain itself and to await developments on the more promising quartz prospects before booming the camp. The business men of Eagle include representatives of every state in the union, and it is a promising sign that they are pur- chasing town property and mining ground and are all prepar- ing to erect larger and more commodious places of business

as soon as the material can be procured. This is about the status of Eagle to-day. Every branch of business is well rep- resented. We have two banks, several stores of general mer- chandise and more saloons and lodging houses than you can shake a stick at.

Thousands of dollars worth of real estate transfers are made and recorded daily, and thousands more are being in- vested in substantial buildings and other business . enter- prises. No lawlessness exists.

While in 1883 Eagle City was practically the only town, the influx that winter and in 1884 gave it nu- merous rivals and by the fall of that year Murrayville had gained the lead. Other towns which came into existence during the twelvemonth were: Beaver City, which in April had three stores, two saloons and a number of dwelling houses: Carbon City, six miles further up Beaver creek, near the then famous "Sun- set" galena lode ; Butte City, later named Littlefield, on Prichard creek, about seven miles west of Eagle City, which contained in May about thirty buildings : Raven City, on Prichard creek, six miles above Murray- ville, a way station on the Thompson Falls route, and supplied in April with eleven saloons, three general mer- chandise stores, and a number of restaurants and lodg- ing houses ; and Myrtle, on Trail creek at the inter- section of Placer and Potosi gulches, containing busi- ness establishments owned by Wardner & Company, Coy & Hess, William Osburn, William Buzzard and E. Bolger. It is probable that other towns were also laid out in 1884.

The placer mines of the Coeur d'Alenes were really rich, and while many who flocked in were disappoint- ed. as is invariably true of mining excitements, many others reaped a rich harvest. Perhaps the principal drawback to development was the unfortunate litiga- tion arising out of conflicting claims to the same ground. The United States statutes allowed each man to claim twenty acres of placer ground, and to hold it legally by doing a comparatively small amount of development work each year. Many farmers from the Palouse country and elsewhere and many others whose business was not mining, took advantage of the law to hold rich ground, while they gave much of their attention to other pursuits. Mining men who had come long dis- tances to secure claims and make a stake working them were naturally chagrined at this condition of things and jumped claims without scruple whenever they found the letter of the law had not been complied with. According to established custom among mining men, miners' meetings were held at different times and laws governing the districts were enacted. By this means it was sought to reduce the size of a claim to ten acres. Of course the United States statutes were held para- mount to any local enactments, where disputes were taken into the courts, and the original claimant eventit- ally secured the ground in all cases where the testi- mnony clearly showed priority of location, and a dis- position to comply with the law in good faith.

One claim which became the subject of litigation was especially famous in the early days, not alone for its richness, but because of the wit and humor which grew out of the trouble concerning it. This was the

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"Widow's claim," heretofore mentioned as having been located by A. J. Prichard. It, along with other claims, was jumped by miners. Perhaps the most persistent of the widows who claimed it was Mrs. A. M. Edding- ton, a woman of about forty-five summers. Mrs. Prichard says she was an impostor out and out ; that she had no right whatever to the mining claim and no color of right, and that she sought to secure an interest in it by inducing Mr. Prichard to marry her. This he refused to do. The real widow, the one for whom the claim was taken, was Mrs. Mary H. Lane, of Illi- nois, who came to the mines in 1884 and was an im- portant witness for Mr. Prichard in his various law- suits.

Another subject of litigation was the location of the mining region, jurisdiction over it being claimed orig- inally by both Kootenai and Shoshone counties. At the June term of court the case was decided by Judge Norman Buck in favor of Shoshone county.

The year was one of great activity on the gulches of Prichard and Eagle creeks in developing placer mines, and in all parts of the region in prospecting for both placer and quartz locations. While many claims yielded an ounce of gold a day to the man and some others gave even larger cleanups, it was found that the greatest wealth of the country was beyond the reach of the poor man and could only be garnered by men with capital to install large enterprises. Ac- cordingly, some effort was made to interest capital in ditch schemes and other developments, and a few enter- prises of the kind were begun.

In its issue of May 7, 1884, the Coeur d'Alene Nug- get gave a general view of activities at that time. As affording a glimpse of the golden days, it is here quoted at length :

All the mines have yielded finely this week. The George B. Ives, H. E. Wolf and the Widow continue to yield over an ounce a day to the man. Missoula gulch lacks water, but is recognized as ranking among the best paying claims. Lucky gulch and the Gelatt are getting ready to turn out handsome quantities of dust. This week settles the fact that Eagle creek is as rich as the most sanguine have predicted. Oregon and all the side gulches are giving first-class prospects. Everybody in camp is excited over quartz. Discoveries are reported daily that are too fabulous for belief. The rich- ness of the placers is universally acknowledged and the day of croaking has passed. Many an old prospector, however, will not condescend to look for placer ground, because such magnificent returns are assured from the quartz. Gen. A. P. Curry has interviewed the bankers and business men of Eagle and found that exactly 58 1-3 pounds of gold dust were handled by them in the last two weeks. This is doubtless only a small part of the dust taken out, most miners preferring to keep the dust themselves.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 236

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