An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 239

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 239
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 239
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 239
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 239

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These difficulties and those over the right of way across the reservation were finally overcome, and we are informed that in April, 1889, 2,000 men were en- gaged in pushing grading work on the reservation. On December 9th it made its entrance into Wallace, and needless to say it was received with great re- joicing.

Just one year, and a few days later, or to be more specific, on December 22, 1890, a junction was effected between the Cœur d'Alene Railway & Navigation Company's line, which had passed into the hands of the Northern Pacific Company, and the Missoula cut- off, which it was then thought was intended as the main line of that transcontinental road. This was, indeed, a great day for the Coeur d'Alene country, as it settled in a most satisfactory manner the problem, important everywhere, but especially so to a mining community, of railway transportation. Indeed the dis- trict is to be congratulated on the speed and prompt- ness with which it achieved the boon which other com- munities have sought for decades without success.

The phenomenal growth of the South Fork country

occasioned a movement for the removal of the county seat from Murray, which was then rather quiet, on account of the gradual decline of placer mining, to some point more nearly central to the great body of the population. Agitation began about the year 1888 and continued throughout the next twelvemonth and the next. Several mass meetings were held in differ- ent south fork towns, but as is usually the case in such matters unanimity of opinion or even an approxi- mation thereto, could not be secured. Mr. S. V. W. Osburn made a proposition at one of these meetings that if the seat of government should be located on his land at the junction of the Coeur d'Alene Railway & Navigation Company's line with the Murray wagon road, he would build and rent to the county for ten dollars per annum a suitable building for court house purposes. Osburn seems to have been quite favorably considered by a large number of people at this time.

March 15, 1890, a bill previously passed by both houses of congress was signed by the president, pro- viding that the location of the county seat of Shoshone county, Idaho Territory, be submitted to a vote of the legal voters of said county, at the next general elec- tion. In accordance with the provisions of this act, a vote was taken on the question in October, the result of which was that Murray continued to hold the hon- ors. The vote was as follows: Kellogg, 3; Wallace, 706; Osburn, 982; Murray, 364; Kingston, I ; Gem, I. From this it will be seen that Osburn, the favorite town, lacked 47 votes of having the requisite majority of all votes cast.

The second month of the year 1890 was marked in northern Shoshone by a serious disaster at the Custer mine on Nine Mile creek. Fortunately a few days previous to the accident twenty-five of the forty men employed were laid off work. About twelve of the remainder were at supper on the evening of Feb- ruary 3, in a building on the side of the hill, when an avalanche started from above. It struck the building just high enough to send the broken timbers on the men who were sitting facing the slide, killing three almost instantly. Those on the other side of the table, which was parallel to the mountain side, escaped with a number of bruises. Building and men were carried far down into the gulch. Some of the living suc- ceeded in digging their way out and then went to work vigorously to succor their less fortunate com- rades. So great was the danger of another snow slide that one of the men who came to the rescue took the names of those at work. After about fifteen hours of incessant labor all were recovered. The dead were John Galbraith, foreman : Thomas Sturgeon, miner ; J. Gillbright, miner ; Mike Flynn, cook; Tom Malloy, assistant cook ; Ole Olson, waiter.

This was the most disastrous of a large number of snow slides that had caused loss of life and property in the Coeur d'Alenes during the winter of 1889-90 and previous years. The contour of the country is very favorable to such slides, and their frequency proved a serious drawback to winter mining.

The chief mining excitement of this year on the north fork was that incited by the news of a mammoth

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find of lead carbonates on upper Prichard creek, on the old Thompson road a mile and a half above Raven. Scores rushed to the new district and the entire coun- try surrounding was agitated. Before the fires of ex- citement had begun to subside they received fresh fuel by the discovery of gold quartz in Cement gulch in the same neighborhood. It is stated that the carbon- ate discovery was first made as early as 1884, but was neglected on account of the fact that everyone had the gold fever then. It was relocated in 1889, and later sold for a nominal sum to W. H. Douty and George Chapman, who sank a shaft, discovered some fine ore and then quit operations. Though the secret was carefully guarded, the news eventually reached the ears of George P. Carter, one of the discoverers of the Poorman mine, and Smith Darling, who began prospecting in the vicinity with great earnestness. As a result of their labors showings were made which in- cited the stampede.

Another exciting event of the twelvemonth 110w under review was the jail break at Murray on Novem- ber 17th, the details of which, as nearly as can be ascer- tained, were as follows: When Jailor Ives brought in the evening meal Nicholas Tully, who was in the habit of assisting the authorities, caught Ives in the steel cage, and with the help of another prisoner named Edward Smith, overpowered, bound and gagged him, took his watch. money and keys, and locked him in the cell. He then released four other prisoners, secured two revolvers and prepared for flight. When dark- ness came on the six set out to enjoy their freedom. The escaped prisoners were : Nicholas Tully, held for assault with intent to kill ; Edward Smith, for highway robbery : Thomas Ryan and John McEvoy, for grand larceny ; Henry Goodman, for highway robbery ; and Peter Snowball, for the murder of John Galbraith, at Pottsville.

Ives chewed the rope with which he was gagged, into two, and yelled for aid. Only with great diffi- culty was his release effected, for it was necessary to file some of the bars of the cage. The sheriff was absent at the time. Commissioner Kraus called for volunteers to go out and arrest the escaped prisoners. He received a ready response, William L. Tinker and Will Hooper set out for Thompson; O. D. Jones and George W. Chapman for the south fork. The latter two discovered at Delta that they were on the right track. Pushing on to Beaver Station they saw the fugitives in a field near that point. Securing the aid of Ed. Clough and the Wallace stage driver, they started back to the place where the culprits had been seen. Jones and Chapman rushed ahead and secreted themselves near the road, onto which the fugitives soon emerged from the brush. Jumping up suddenly in front of the sextette, they gave the command to halt and throw up hands. A fight might have ensued had not the two men in the rear come up just then with their shot-guns, arriving in time to satisfy the escaped prisoners that resistance was useless. The desperadoes were easily disarmed and returned to their incarcera- tion.

The United States census of 1890 gives the popu-

lation of Shoshone county by precincts as : Burke, 482; Carbon, 157; Delta, 106; Eagle, 56; Elk, 339; Kellogg, 324; Kingston, 158; Mullan, 818; Murray, 450; Osburn, 269; Pierce, 238; Wallace, 913; Ward- ner, 858; Weippe, 156. Total, 5,882. In 1880 the population of the county was only 469.

On February 16, 1891, a meeting of the mine own- ers and mine managers of the Coeur d'Alenes con- vened at Wallace and resulted in the organization of Mine Owners' Protective Association, claimed to have been the first of its kind in the United States. Its purpose was co-operation in all matters pertaining to mining in the silver-lead district, such as the ad- justment of freight and transportation rates with the railways, the handling of labor, etc. The organization, like the miners' union, which came into being the previous year, was destined to play a prominent part in the history of the region.

Railway activity in the county this year took the form of changing the Northern Pacific cut-off from a narrow to a broad gauge and the effecting of a like change in the Burke branch.

August 19 a terrible accident occurred at the Black Bear mine, on Canyon creek, causing the death of four men. Two hundred pounds of giant powder, at the mouth of the lower tunnel, was exploded acci- dentally, caving the tunnel for a distance of fifty feet. The result was that G. M. Neil, general manager, Will Janse, assistant manager, Robert Blackburn and Alex. Barron, miners, who were working at the breast of the tunnel, were imprisoned and suffocated by the gas before help could reach them. A number of oth- ers were missing, but it later developed that these men were in another tunnel and out of harm's way. No blame attached to anyone.

A few months afterward the first fatal accident in the vicinity of Wardner occurred in the Stemwinder. A cave of twenty tons of rock and ore caught Richard Griffin, a native of Wales, causing his instant death.

Those who were in the Coeur d'Alene country at the time will remember that as the Northern Pacific passenger train was approaching the town of Potts- ville, near the Montana line, on November 19, 1891, Express Messenger R. R. Case had two unwelcome visitors, who requested him to unlock his safe, empha- sizing the request with an ugly looking pistol. After securing $2,800. destined for Mullan, and perhaps much more money, the robbers departed. At the point where the robbery was effected the road makes a long curve and the grade is heavy, necessitating the slowing down of the train. It was thought that the robbers boarded it from ambush, expecting to get the money that was being shipped in from Montana to pay the Gold Hunter's men the next day. The affair was well planned and well executed and the perpetrators of the crime were never apprehended.

The year 1891 is noted as heing the one in which the Coeur d'Alene labor troubles had their origin. Some time in July the Miners' Union at Wardner peti- tioned V. M. Clement, manager of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines, that the existing arrangement whereby the miners paid a dollar a month for medical treatment

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without hospital facilities should cease, and that the same money should be deducted from each man's pay and applied to the maintenance of the Central Miners' Union Hospital at Wallace. Early in August the company posted notices in prominent places about the mine calling an election for the purpose of choosing between these three propositions, viz: To continue the existing arrangement ; to build a new hospital on the company's grounds at Milo, the company to give lumber and sufficient ground for all purposes, condi- tioned on the men's obtaining sufficient money from individuals and other local companies to pay other expenses ; exemption from hospital taxation upon signing a contract with the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining Company, releasing them from all liabilities for

sickness or injury while in their employ. Only a few of the miners voted, and most of these who did favored the Wardner hospital proposition. The result was that the company gave notice of its intention to deduct the dollar a month and that all miners objecting to this plan should call a once for their time. Most of the men went out on a strike, causing the temporary closing of the mine and mill. Strikers demanded $3.50 a day for all candle-bearers and the privilege of sustaining with their dollar a month the Central Union Hospital. Late in December the difficulty was ad- justed by agreement between the local union and central union of the Coeur d'Alenes, denominated the "Consolidated Union," on the one side, and the Bunker Hill company on the other.

CHAPTER III.

CURRENT HISTORY-1892-1903.

The mine owners were in considerable difficulty throughout the entire fall of 1891 and a part of the ensuing year, not only through differences with their employes, but on account of disagreements with the railroad companies about freight rates. By January 15th all the producing mines in the district were closed except the Hunter, at Mullan, and the mines of the north side. The former remained in operation owing to the fact that its contract with the smelter only re- quired its ore to be delivered at the railway. A mine owners' committee was sent to St. Paul and Omaha to arrange, if possible, for lower rates. In March the differences were settled by the railway company's agreeing to return to the 1890 rate, which was $2 a ton lower, and the Mine Owners' Association an- nounced that on April ist the mines would be re- opened. However, they insisted that only $3 a day should be paid to carmen and shovelers, a proviso which did not tend to harmonize the strained relations existing between them and their men.

No attempt will be here made to discuss the rights and wrongs of this controversy, but .that the reader may have some data upon which to found an opinion of his own, the official statements of both sides of the case are, here incorporated. as follows .

SPOKANE, March 27, 1892 .-- As there has been some misrepresentation relative to the proposition of the mine owners of the Coeur d'Alenes as published on the 19th inst., the Association thinks it proper to publish the proposition again and also to give at length for the information of all concerned a summary of the present status of affairs in regard to the question at issue.

The proposition is given below, and what the mine owners intend as a fair, frank statement of the whole case follows. It is commended to the careful consideration of every citizen of the Coeur d'Alene region :

MINE OWNERS STATEMENT.

The Mine Owners' Association of the Coeur d'Alenes takes this public method of informing all former employes of the various mines and mills, as well as the public gen- erally, that having reached a satisfactory settlement of all differences with the railway company relative to freight rates and other matters, that all mines will be ready to resume work on or about April 1, or sooner if a sufficient number of the old hands can get back before that date. In order to give them time to get back it is probable that not more than one or two mines will resume hefore the date stated, and preference will be given to all former employes.

Believing most earnestly that the advance of the wages of carmen and shovelers, which was forced upon the mine owners during the last year, was unjust and unreasonable, for obvious reasons, to both employers and miners, the Asso- ciation begs leave to announce the following scale of wages : For all miners. $3.50 per day of ten hours; for carmen and shovelers, $3 per day of ten hours, except in shaft mines, where carmen and shovelers will be paid $3.50 per day, or carmen working in wet places in tunnel mines where gum clothes are necessary. will be paid $3.50 per day. Where miners or carmen are put on special eight-hour shifts the wages will be the same as for ten hours.

This scale of wages, after much consideration, has been determined upon as liberal and fair by the Association and it is hoped that it may meet the approval of all old employes as well as the public generally. The Association also an- nouinces that in all tunnel mines where a majority of the men desire to avoid working Sunday and Sunday night they may, on giving expression of such desire to the manager, have Sunday and Sunday night off each week.

The above are the wages that were paid at all the Coeur d'Alene mines for several years prior to last year, in fact ever since the mines started. During all those years there were no unions in this country, and there was never a cut in wages nor any strike, shut down or trouble whatever.

While we have no objections to miners' unions if they are governed and conducted by able, sensible, real miners, it is nevertheless a fact that during the year we have had unions in this country. there has been trouble somewhere most of the time; strikes and threats of strikes, committees

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and delegations continually, to the great annoyance and loss not only to the miners, but also to the community generally as well as the mine owners, and we challenge anybody to show in what manner the miners or owners or the commu- nity have been benefited one cent's worth for all the trouble caused, for all the time lost, for all the hard feelings en- gendered, for the many hard-earned dollars which the work- ing miners have contributed to the coffers of the unions, ex- cepting in the matter of the Sisters' hospital, which is a noble institution and worthy of generous support. These are facts which are known to all miners who have been in the country any length of time and too generally known to ad- mit of any contradiction.

The only men who can be said to have been benefited at all are the carmen and shovelers, worthy men, no doubt, but it is well known that any reasonably intelligent men can learn to do this work in tunnel mines in a few days, and can it be said that these men are entitled to the same pay as skilled miners, who have spent years in learning their trade? We have endeavored many times to learn by what reason the unions demanded the same pay for these men that they do for miners, but have failed entirely to get any good reason. The only reasons given were that the carmen and shovelers work under ground and run the same dangers as miners, and also that such was the custom in Butte. The fact is that carmen and shovelers do not run the same risks as miners; for one reason they do not handle powder, and it is well known that more than one-half the accidents in the country have been caused in one way or another by unlooked for explosions of powder. Then, too, they work mostly on the floors and in tunnel levels, while the miner has to work at the front in new ground and often on staging. Even ad- mitting that the danger is equal to both miner and carmen alike, we would ask if the world's work is paid for without regard to skill? Does the locomotive fireman get the same pay as the engineer? Does the brakeman get the same pay as the conductor? They also share the same danger. It is a recognized principle in business everywhere that men must be paid according to the skill necessary in the vocation they follow. Were it otherwise there would be no incentive for men to be anything but laborers.

We have gone into this matter at greater length than we would have done were it not that this question of wages of carmen and shovelers has been the cause of endless trouble between the unions and the mine owners, and it seems to be the main bone of contention at the present time.

It is true that the mine owners raised the wages of car- men and shovelers last year at the demand of the unions, but they did so under protest and with a keen sense of its in- justice. However, at that time lead and silver were much higher than at present, and desiring to get along amicably with the unions and being able to afford it, the wages of carmen and shovelers were raised. Now the conditions have changed ; lead is only four cents and tending downward. Sil- ver is below 90 and going lower, and the mine owners are therefore under the necessity of the strictest economy.

It is entirely a matter of business. The ores of this camp are, as everybody knows, low grade, and it requires the closest management to make the business profitable and when the enormous expense of opening and equipping one of the Coeur d'Alene lead mines is considered it must be evident to anybody inclined to a fair view that it takes a long time-often years- to get back the original investment, before any profit what- ever can be made.

These are facts and we statc them at length for the benefit of the many reasonable, sensible miners of this camp, who, we dare say, seldom hears matters of this sort discussed at all in their union meetings.

We wish to inform them also that our interests are mu- tual; that miners, mine owners and all the people of this Coeur d'Alene region depend solely upon the mines for sup- port. There is nothing else. as everybody knows, and when the mines are stopped everything else must stop.

Now it is equally true that after the prospector, the mine owners were here first and by means of their skill and capital opened and equipped the mines and made it possible for not

only the miners but all of the people of the several towns of this county to live here. Are they not, we would ask in common justice, entitled to some consideration? One would think not to hear the covert threats made by some members of the unions, and some who are not. Threats of running them out of the country, of burning their mills, of blowing up their flumes, of even murdering them, shooting them in their beds, and so on. Supposing these threats were carried out and all the mine owners, or a majority of them, were "killed off," as they say, how would it benefit them of the community at large? Would it start up the mines imme- diately or make business active? Certainly not. Would such a state of anarchy encourage capitalists to come into the country, to buy and develop the many fine prospects that are lying idle? We do not think it would be very encourag- ing. Does this ceaseless strife of coercing men by threats and force to join the unions encourage married men to come in here with their families and build up the country? Does this talk of riot and murder and running people out of the country do anybody any good? It certainly does not, but on the contrary, it does the whole community harm.

What is the cause of it? Simply this: A few agitators, who are not miners (or if they are, never work at their trade), desire to terrorize this whole community and they make these utterances themselves, or induce their friends to do so, with this end in view, their sole purpose being to keep up a contin- uous state of turmoil and strife to the end that tribute may come in one way or another to them. To show how well they have succeeded, we may state that the whole community is terrorized or appears to be so, and in evidence of this is the fact that while the majority of the business men of this country admit that the mine owners' proposition is a fair one, and state among themselves that they are surprised that the unions do not accept it, they dare not say as much in any public place, nor dare any newspaper in this camp to utter one word of comment upon the situation. A few men do all the talking and instead of devoting themselves to a fair dis-

cussion of the vital question of the time and giving every man a chance to be heard, their speeches are for the most part a tirade against capital and full of invective against the mine owners. We would ask if this is sensible and right? Is there any justification for it? Are any higher wages paid in any camp in this or any other country where the condi- tions of living are as favorable as here? Is it not true that much lower wages are paid in many mining sections of this country where the conditions are not as favorable? Take Leadville and Aspen for instance, where the elevation is over 10,000 feet above the sea level, and where the mines are mostly carbonate, and therefore more or less unhealthy. The wages there now and have been since the strike of 1880 $3 per day for miners. It may be said that Butte pays shovel- ers and carmen $3.50 per day, but all the mines in Butte are shaft mines, and in shaft mines here we offer to pay the same wages.

Pay days have always been regular here, the men as well housed and have good board; the altitude is low and the cli- mate pleasant; in short there is not a mining camp in the country where the conditions are more favorable. These are facts that are too well known to be gainsaid; still the cen- tral committee of the niners' union has served formal notice on the mine owners that they will not permit any of the mines to start up on the proposition offered and intimate that they, the committee, mean to dictate the terms, before any more work can be done in this camp. While this is the ulti- matum of the committee, many of the best miners of the coun- try have told several mine owners and others that their prop- osition is a fair one and meets their approval; still they fear to go into the unions and state their honest convictions. As it is with the business men and newspapers, so it is with- the miners themselves. They all fear to state their real opin- ions for obvious reasons. We would ask if this is a desirable condition of things? We hold that this is a free country and that every man in this community is entitled to express his honest convictions without being threatened for doing so. We have an interest in this question, for the living of all depends upon its solution, and we hold that it is not only the

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 239

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