An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 238

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 238
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 238
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 238
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 238

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In April of this year an important move was made toward giving the Coeur d'Alene country railroad facilities by the organizations of the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company. D. C. Corbin, Gov. S. T. Hauser, A. M. Holter, S. S. Glidden, James F. Wardner, James Monaghan and A. M. Esler were the incorporators and their object was to estab- lish a railway connecting some point on the main line of the Northern Pacific railroad with Coeur d'Alene lake, and a line of steamers to operate between the railway and the head of navigation on the river.

As the season advanced considerable railway activ- ity developed, three companies being in the field and making preparations to build. all of them apparently in earnest. The Coeur d'Alene Railway & Naviga- tion Company. with D. C. Corbin at its head, was ad- vertising for bids for clearing the right of way and for ties : another company, with Armstrong. Turner

and other heavy capitalists of Montana, was pushing preparations, though its line had not yet been definitely located ; and the third, the Spokane & Coeur d'Alene branch of the Northern Pacific railroad, was purpos- ing to build, if practicable, a road to leave the main railway at the Idaho line. Its engineers were in the field in search of a route. J. J. Browne, of Spokane, was president of the company in charge of this work.

Later in the year the O. R. & N. entered the field with its engineers, making a preliminary survey from Farmington to the mouth of the St. Joe river, and on to the Montana line. The survey was stopped in November by the authorities in Washington, D. C., who objected to further work on the Indian reserva- tion until permission should be officially obtained.

Operations were pushed by the Coeur d'Alene Railroad & Navigation Company with unusual energy and before the end of the year 1886 a road was com- pleted between Hauser, a point on the Northern Pa- cific about midway between Rathdrum and the Idaho line, and Kingston. On November 9th the road from Hauser Junction and Coeur d'Alene City was turned over to the operators. Unfortunately, however, the road did not prove a success at first, as appears from the following item from the Murray Sun of December 24, 1886:

"We sincerely regret to learn that communication has not yet been opened up on the Mission-Wardner railroad, and that the prospects are slim for the early running of trains over this road. It seems that much of the iron was laid during the first cold snap in November At the time the embankment was frozen and looked solid enough. Later the Chinooks came, and they have literally melted away much of the road bed, the black loam soil, without gravel for ballast,

996

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

readily yielding. The road, such as it is, is ironed to Milo, but as it stands is useless. One engine is on the track between Pine flat and Mud prairie and an- other between Kingston and the mission, unable to move. Freighting is being done by team and travel by cayuse. The predicament is an unfortunate one."

However, all such misfortunes, when they come to an aggressive company, are temporary, and in a short time the road was ballasted and in operation. The untenanted wilderness of forest, the complex labyrinth of mountain solitudes had been penetrated, three short years after the first great rush of prospectors, by the mighty arteries of the world's commerce.

May. 1886, witnessed the completion of a tele- phone system between Thompson Falls, Montana, and Murray. It was ready for use at 6 o'clock on the evening of the 24th, and shortly after S. Fuller sent the first message, a private one. Later the same year a telephone line was put in between Murray and Delta, with the intention of extending it to Wardner.

It was reported in July that though excellent clean- ups were still being made on Trail and Beaver creeks, the center of interest had shifted to the south fork, that hundreds of people were pouring into that sec- tion and that commercial enterprises there were boom- ing. Wardner was receiving much attention, also the Pine creck country, where. it was reported, a rich silver-lead strike had been made. The original dis- covery was made by William Reineger, and numerous other prospects were soon discovered in the district.

In other parts of the Coeur d'Alenes, also, there was much mining activity during 1886. The second stamp mill in the district was put into operation at the Golden King mine, two miles below Murray, No- vember 7th. It was a ten-stamp mill to be operated in connection with three Duncan concentrators, the first thus completely equipped in the region. On Canyon creek about fifty men were engaged in devel- oping the different lodes, pushing work vigorously. The town of Burke had two stores, one belonging to Stephen S. Glidden, the other to the Armstrong Min- ing Company, both of which were doing a flourishing business. There was one saloon, that of Dick Wilmer. The Tiger. Union, Black Bear. Diamond Hitch and Hidden Treasure were the leading properties at that time. In the Mullan district several of the largest properties, including the Hunter, the Morning and the Evening, were bonded to capitalists, who were devel- oping them steadily, though the attention of many of the holders of undeveloped prospects had been dis- tracted by the Wardner mines. It is stated that the first out-and-out. bona fide sale of a property for a considerable sum was effected this year, though of course many mines had been bonded. This was the transfer of the Sunset mine, near Carbon, from Phil. Markson to J. K. and WV. A. Clark, Oliver Durrant and Alexander H. Tarbet for $17,500.

The greatest sensation of 1886 was the trouble over the Eureka mine, the details of which were given in the Murray Sun of October 10th, as follows :

The trouble with the Crown Point or Eureka mine in Government gulch on the south fork culminated yesterday

morning in a bloody conflict in which Jack McCauley was killed and A. R. Campbell seriously wounded. The facts of the trouble are related by Bill Payne as follows: It appears that Pat Flynn and party obtained possession of the prop- erty last Wednesday, but in what manner is unknown at the present writing. At any rate Pat Flynn, Ed. J. Lavelle, Joe Skeffington and Jack McCauley were holding possession of the mine yesterday morning and were on guard. Early yes- terday morning these four men were on the alert at the mouth of the tunnel. Pat Flynn is said to have declared he saw some one moving in the thick mist up the mountain side and Jack McCauley, with his revolver strapped to his side, climbed the steep hillside to see who it was. Upon arriving. at the place indicated he stopped and, peering about in the semi-darkness evidently discovering no one, turned. as though to return to the mine when a gun exploded in the mist and Mc- Cauley fell. A dozen or more shots from unseen parties quickly followed the first explosion and the three men at the mouth of the Fureka mnine stood by their arms anxiously waiting. Nothing more transpiring they went up and brought down McCauley, who lived about forty minutes. , At this time a constable's posse. hastily summoned at Wardner upon. a rumor of what was going on, and consisting of Bill Payne, Jack Currie and Con. Sullivan, headed by Deputy Sheriff Joe Campbell, rode up to the mine. Payne went up the hill to the spot where the shooting occurred and behind a stump not far from where McCauley fell he found a hat and a gun, which were subsequently discovered to belong to A. R. Camp- bell. formerly of Campbell & Pease, of Murray, who was found at a cabin on the road seriously wounded in the left shoulder. He admitted being in the fight.

A coroner's jury rendered a verdict that Mc- Cauley came to his death at the hands of a party or parties unknown. Shortly after the verdict Pat Flynn swore out a complaint against L. F. Robinson, J. C. Caldwell, Joseph Holly, A. R. Campbell, A. Small and an old man named Fisher, charging them with doing the killing. The affair stirred up a serious factional row on the south fork.

That fall a grand jury indicted J. C. Caldwell, Pat Flynn, Joseph Skeffington and six others on a charge of conspiracy, the offense, it was alleged, being com- mitted in connection with the Crown Point-Eureka mine trouble, but there was failure at the subsequent trial to convict any of the accused.

The wondrous developments in the Coeur d'Alene country were certainly not wrought without great ex- pense. Though Shoshone county was virtually but three years old, it was already in debt, including inter- est, something like $155,000. Three-fifths of this amount, it was estimated, had been expended by the commissioners in the construction of roads expressly demanded by the people. It is related that the Delta- Kingston road cost $100,000. The remaining two- fifths was made up by court expenses and other dis- bursements incidental to the organization of a new community and the installing of the machinery of government. Thus the people of southern Shoshone, who had borne with fortitude the burdens of county government for so many years, burdens necessarily heavy on account of the paucity of their numbers, were . now compelled to pay between four and five per cent. taxes for improvements from which they could derive but little benefit. The only noticeable effect upon them was that their county seat was removed from their midst to the distant town of Murray, which could be reached by them only after long and arduous

997

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

travel. It is not surprising that these people be- came dissatisfied with their political affiliations and be- gan agitating for a change. By this time the popula- tion of southern Shoshone had grown to perhaps 300 or 400. They thought that, few though they still were, they would rather form an independent county than put up with existing conditions, so they began circulating petitions for a new county to include all of Shoshone south of the north fork of the Clearwater. The movement was not successful, nor has any such movement since been.

Unusually heavy snow storms in the early months sf 1887 brought some inconvenience and occasioned a snow slide at Wardner which threatened the lives of several people, but the opening of the year was a most propitious one, notwithstanding. In April there was effected a sale of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines. the Sancho, Important and Bunker Hill fractions, with the concentrator and a contract with A. M. Esler & Company, the price being $1,500,000. Of this Cooper & Peck received $75,000, in consideration of their dropping their suit for an interest. S. G. Reed, of Portland, was the purchaser. Naturally a transfer of such magnitude attracted not a little attention witli- in and without the mining district, those within looking upon it as an evidence of faith in the camp and a favorable portent for its future.

In September following another important sale was made, that of the Poorman mine, at Burke, to Marcus Daly, Patrick Clark, Ben Kingsbury and others of Butte and Helena. The purchase price was $136,000. It was the purpose of the new company to erect, the following spring, a new concentrator to handle the ore, the product of the mine in the meantime to be shipped out for treatment. Much credit was accorded John M. Burke at the time for his zeal in bringing the Canyon creek mines to the front. He, with Vincent and Frank Lelande, Ed. Benjamin, Alexander Caza and others, all poor men, received a small fortune each out of this sale. The costly litigation between this mine and the Tiger, which is situated on the same vein, had been settled previous to the date of this transaction.

The railway situation continued interesting throughout the year of 1887. A war of no small magnitude developed between the Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific, the two great companies operat- ing in the district under different local names or sup- porting local companies. The O. R. & N. Company, the protege of the latter corporation, had been pro- jecting a line from Farmington to the Montana line, passing through the south fork country. It was oper- ating through what was known as the Washington & Idaho Company. The Northern Pacific Company was watching the situation with a jealous eye on ac- count of the coveted Mullan pass. The Coeur d'Alene Railway & Navigation Company, of which Corbin was the leading spirit, but which was doubtless under the protection of the Northern Pacific Company, already had a narrow-gauge road to Wardner Junction and was pushing eastward. By July the road had been extended to Miner's cabin, and the right of way was

cleared to within a few miles of Wallace. The build- ing of this road occasioned the laying out of a new town, first called Georgetown, after Lee George, one of the owners of the town site. It later became known by the pioneer name of Osburn. It was expected that this would be the Carbon, Delta, Myrtle and Murray Junction.

Rapidly work on this narrow-gauge was pushed, and early in September it had reached Wallace, but the jubilation which greeted its entrance into that town was premature, for a temporary injunction was grant- ed by the courts on complaint of the Washington & Idaho Railroad Company, tying up a mile and a half of its track between Osburn and Wallace. This was a disastrous coup not alone for the railway but for the people of the south fork, for the roads in the bottoms were wretched ; winter was coming on ; no ores could be shipped out and enterprises in the upper mining country were suffering. Fortunately, on October 29th the injunction was dissolved by Judge Buck, and this incubus upon industry was removed.

Another important effect of the decision just re- ferred to was that it encouraged vigorous work on the Burke branch. The Canyon Creek Railway Com- pany, of which S. S. Glidden, of the Tiger mine, was president, had been working on this short line since July, but as long as the Corbin road was tied up there was nothing to be gained by its immediate construc- tion. As soon as the tie-up was at an end, however, work was resumed in good earnest, and on December 22d, the iron rails were in Burke. A rousing celebra- tion was held, attended by delegations from all parts of the Coeur d'Alenes.

The events of this year may be summarized as follows : Sale of Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine and effects ; sale of the Poorman and effects ; railway activ- ity on the south fork : phenomenal growth of Wardner, Wallace, Burke and south fork mining camps : placer outputs begin to decline; deep interest is felt all over the United States in the Coeur d'Alene mines ; two noted homicides.

From the report of Governor Stevenson it appears that the population of Shoshone county at this time was 8.500 : that the taxable property amounted to $929.680; that there were twelve concentrators, quartz mills and arrastres in the county : also twelve towns.

"The Treasure Box Company, on the Mother lode," continues the report, "has taken out in six weeks, with an arrastre, $60,000 in gold. Mother's Boy, Golden Chest. Buckeye Boy. Occident and Golden King, on the same vein, are each producing daily out- puts of gold.

"The principal placer mining gulches are the Prichard. Trail, Eagle, Buckskin, Missoula, Pony and Day. Besides these there are hill diggings which are being worked with great success by hydraulics ; and a flume costing $500,000 is now being constructed to work these placer mines."

On January 12, 1888, at five o'clock, began what was classed as the severest storm experienced up to that time in the Coeur d'Alenes. The wind, which came from the northeast, was not especially strong

998

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

and disastrous, but it had sufficient strength to pile the snow up in huge banks in unsheltered places. Next day the wind subsided, then came a cold snap of unprecedented severity. At noon the temperature in Murray had fallen to thirteen degrees below zero: at six o'clock it stood at twenty-three degrees; at mid- night it had reached thirty-four degrees ; and at day- light it was' forty degrees. On the morning of the 15th the thermometer again registered forty degrees, and next morning it fell to that point for the third time. A spirit thermometer is said to have registered forty-four degrees on the morning of the 15th. Such weather was phenomenal in a region, which, though elevated, usually enjoys comparatively mild climate.

In March of this year the Emma, Last Chance and Republican Fraction, located northerly from the Bunker Hill, near Wardner, were sold to a syndicate, of which A. M. Esler. Charles Sweeney and Frank Moore were the leaders. The first two, it is said, were located on the same day, September 17, 1885, by John Flaherty, J. L. Smith, Mike Carlin and John M. Burke.

In the mines generally the year was a prosperous one .. The fortunate jump in the price of lead in August gave a remarkable impetus to operations in all the silver-lead mines and prospects. From $3.75 it rose to $4.75 in two weeks, and it retained its upward tendency until it reached $4.921/2.

According to reports of the United States assay office at Boise, Shoshone's production of minerals from November, 1887, to November, 1888, was: Gold, $350,288 : silver, $1,327,500; lead, $1,794,000; total, $3,471.788. The official figures showed that the value of minerals produced was more than twice as great as that of Lemhi county, the next in rank among the political sub-divisions of Idaho. Lemhi, Boise and Alturas counties were ahead in the production of gold ; Custer was next below in silver, with a produc- tion of $1,061.300 ; and Lemhi was next in lead, with a record of $700,000.

The mining situation in the country was thus ably stimmarized by the Murray Sun of January 1, 1889:

The year just closed has not been unkind to the Coeur d'Alenes. It is true the gold belt has not kept pace with the silver-lead section, yet in the main it has made some progress. and we think the output will approximate $250,000. But there has been no special advance. The main enterprise upon which our people had built some hope, the Prichard creek bedrock flume, did not materialize, and so far as the future may be read by the present state of affairs, there is no likeli- hood that anything will be done in that line during the en- suing year. The next best enterprise, the Coeur d'Alene Alume (Coulter's waterway) has remained in a dormant state, and future prospects are unfavorable. The Idaho mill from which we expected so much, is still closed down and this valuable property is practically a nonentity in the affairs of this camp. The Golden Chest has contributed slightly to the gold output during the year, but has been no material agent in illustrating the quartz possibilities of the north side. The Golden King mill has now something like a small promise before it. However, it is a mill without a mine, although there are eight or ten locations in the group. If a mine can be developed, there is a prospect ahead. The Ophir hill mines have been the backbone of the north side during the year and it seems as if we have to depend upon them

for some time to come, as far as our quartz interests are concerned. Although we have not the exact figures at hand, we estimate the output of the three arastres at about $50,000 during the year With a ten-stamp water power mill the product for the ensuing year will reach over $100,000, and at least thirty men will find steady employment. The California ditch, with a flow of 300 inches for about eight months in the year, has proven one of Murray's best friends. The mines under it have produced steadily. About $10,000 has been expended for labor and supplies.

Mr. Mills's thumes on Eagle creek have been important to our material prosperity during the year in giving employ- ment to many men. The water flume being finished to Fancy gulch, the scene of placer operations, will add largely to our "dust" product and it is also quite probable that the bedrock flume, near the head of East Eagle creek, will be sufficiently advanced by spring to contribute some of the yellow metal and encourage more extensive work by Mr. Mills. These en- terprises have kept Eagle alive.

On Trail and Bear gulches the march of progress has been slow, but steady, and this quite often counts far more than a rush. The placers on Trail have yielded well and their output in 1889 promises to surpass that of former years. The most notable improvement in the district has been made in the quartz belt on Pony gulch, where the Fay Templeton mine and mill erected this year are giving substantial value to locations. Should this mill prove a success, the camp's gold output will be increased $100,000. Sunset peak belongs to the north side, as its entire territory is drained by streams which flow into the north fork. Although these mines are somewhat isolated they have made a sufficiently rich showing to bespeak for them a "boom" when transportation is fur- nished.

The phenomenal silver-lead region has made a steady advance during the year, with nothing to stay its progress and prosperity except the limited transportation facilities. Four concentrating mills have been added to the reduction capacity, making seven in running order with another one at Mullan in the process of construction, and still another one in prospect by April or May. The shipments have averaged 600 tons of ore per week, and this year will run up to 1,000. The extension of one railroad to Mullan and the possibility of the construction of the Washington & Idaho during the year to the same point will infuse life into every ravine and give the camp a lift which will make 1889 memorable in local history.

During the year 1888 postoffices were established in Burke and Mullan and daily mails to all the towns except the latter. Fifty miles of telephone lines were built by the Norman Company, giving Wardner, Wal- lace, Mullan and Burke direct communication with Walla Walla, all Palouse country towns, Moscow, Lewiston and other Idaho points, Fort Spokane and Davenport, in the Big Bend country, and many other points, all through the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany with the entire outside world.

The railroad situation continued interesting throughout the whole of 1888. In February of that year Senator Dolph introduced a bill granting the Washington & Idaho Railroad Company the right of way through the Coeur d'Alene reservation. By about the middle of May it became a law, and on June Ist a special to the Oregonian from Farmington an- nounced that "the first sod of the railway to Spokane Falls and the Coeur d'Alene mines was broken this afternoon by Corey Brothers, contractors at this point. The road to the Coeur d'Alene branches off eastward at a point ten miles north of Farmington and the con- tractors are now on the ground looking over their line for the purpose of bidding on the work."

999

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

By Jtily a large force of graders was at work and grading was being pushed, except through the reser- vation, where a gang of surveyors was engaged in locating the road. It is stated that the company would have built from some other point than Farming- ton if the Indians had not raised serious objections. Many difficulties stood in the way of the road, how- ever, the greatest, perhaps, being the opposition of the Northern Pacific Company. Under date of Aug- ust 7, 1888, the Murray Sun commented on the situa- tion as follows :

Railroad work is not progressing very rapidly on the South Fork lines. The Northern Pacific, or Spokane and Idaho, is said to be doing very little work on the South Fork, and nothing can be learned as to whether it is doing any in Fourth of July canyon to connect the Mission and Coeur d'Alene City by rail. Although the grading contract on the W. & I. to Mullan is to be finished by January 1, 1889, it is thought to be impossible to carry it out by that time unless legal difficulties are settled. Several hundred men are tied up at Farmington and everywhere along the route are small gangs of laborers occupying disputed ground on which they are supposed to work. Everywhere along the route the pioneer's notice that he claims a patent of ground stares the railroader in the face and the W. & I. is, literally compelled to buy every foot of ground it wishes to utilize. The appraisers who have been at work appraising land claimed by the N. P. have finished their labor and handed their report to the court. The good land was appraised at $6 and the poor land at $2.

It must be understood that nearly all the land on the South Fork and for that matter the largest portion of the Coeur d'Alenes is claimed by the Northern Pacific Company as being within their forty-mile grant, and as the Northern Pacific objects to the W. & I. crossing its territory, the court, according to the prayer of the plaintiff, appointed a com- mittee of appraisers to set a value on the land for a right of way. Since the appraisement it has leaked out that the Northern Pacific folks claim that the land has been transferred to the Spokane & Idaho Company, whose line runs from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene City, and that the W. & I. will have to commence proceedings against that company in order to obtain relief. It is alleged that N. P. engineers surveyed that company's land grant here, eighteen months ago, and found it entirely within the boundaries.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 238

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