An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 253

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 253
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 253
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 253
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 253

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Air is supplied at the mine by two compressors, one of the Ingersoll-Sergeant patent, capacity 900 cubic feet per minute ; the other an Ingersoll, of 800 cubic feet capacity, both of them being double machines. There are two timber hoists in each level, of ten-horse- power each, using 1,500 lineal feet of stull timber per ‹lay, principally red fir. Electrical appliances have been supplied by the General Electric Company of Schnec- tady, New York, including a 2.300-volt dynamo, 300 incandescent and six arc lights. The average ore body is a fifteen-foot ledge; one thousand feet the length of the stope. The total cost of the mine plant was $300,000. The vein lies east and west, with a dip of between sixty-cight and seventy degrees north. The

Campbell tunnel was driven in 1895. At each level is a station twenty feet wide, eighteen feet high and 120 feet long.

The Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine, the "Pandora's Box" of the Coeur d'Alene silver-lead district, is, without doubt, the heaviest single producer in Sho- shone county. About eighty claims are embraced in these properties, lying in the immediate vicinity of Wardner. At all periods of the year over 500 men are employed, and many miles of tunnels have been run into the heart of one of the richest mines in this dis- trict. The early history of these mines was condensed by F. R. Culbertson, in 1897, as follows :

In the fall of 1885 the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines were discovered at Wardner. The surface showings at the discovery were so much larger than anything that had been found up to that time that quite an excitement was created, and numerous other valuable properties were located. Also, during the early part of 1885, the Hunter, Morning and Evening and other properties were discovered at Mullan. The Bunker Hill & Sullivan property was leased by the original locators to Jim Wardner, after whom the town of Wardner was named. Through him some Helena, Montana, parties were interested in the deal, and a contract was entered into with the locators for concentrating 50,000 tons of ore, at $5 a ton, which at this time would be considered an ex- travagant price. The first concentrator in the district was placed on the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine, and was built by A. M. Esler, in the interest of the Helena parties having the 50,000 ton contract, and was of 100 tons capacity. Before the expiration of the contract the property was sold to Sim Reed, of Portland, Oregon, who paid the different parties interested in the property at that time about $625,000, at that period considered an extravagant price. Two-thirds of this money found its way to Spokane, Washington, and helped to build up the town. Following a long course of litigation, in- stituted for the purpose of perfecting the title to the mine, in which a swarm of attorneys are reported to have received an aggregate amount of $100,000, Sim Reed worked the prop- erty for several years, selling out to the present company, who are California parties, and members of the Standard Oil Company. The property is now under the management of F. W. Bradley, with head office at San Francisco, California, and F. Burbidge, of Wardner, is resident manager. company has absorbed all the adjacent claims, and now con- The trols something like forty or fifty locations, adjoining and connecting, and with the exception of the Last Chance, Mining Company's properties, they have about all the desirable loca- tions near Wardner. As a whole it is probably the greatest lead property in the world, exceeding that of the Broken Hills mine in Australia, which, heretofore, had been consid- ered the greatest lead producer.

Many rumors have been current throughout the Cœur d'Alenes concerning the discovery of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine. One of the most insistently urged is to the effect that a 'donkey stumbled in the snow and revealed the ledge. A quietus is put to this myth by United States Senator W. B. Heyburn, who says :

Many fables have been told as to the discovery of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines, and while it is not our inten- tion at this time to go into the matter in detail, it is sufficient to say that the story of the jackass is purely a myth. Kellogg, the discoverer, had been furnished with the jackass to pack his provisions some weeks before the discovery of the Bunker Hill, but the animal was not with him at the time, and the discovery of the Bunker Hill was made by him in the ordinary process of prospecting and tracing the ontcrop of the ledge

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO

from the eastward, across Big Creek, Elk Creek and into Milo sulch.

The night before he discovered the Bunker Hill mine Mr. Kellogg passed at the Polaris cabin, and after breakfast in the morning, assisted by Harry Dennis, who was part owner of the Polaris mine, set up poles along the outerop of the ledge on that claim, and taking a line from these poles he followed this outcrop across Big Creek, Elk Creek and into Milo Gulch, and by so doing found the outerop of the Bunker Hill lode, which showed plainly and needed no uncovering by man or animal. The jackass first came into notoriety in the litigation of Cooper and Peck, against Kellogg, involving a grub stake contest, and the mirth of counsel relative to the outfit which had been furnished him by Cooper and Peck, with which to prospect, was, doubtless the original of the many stories told about this famous animal.

These facts are from one who knows.

Among the more prominent mines on Canyon creek at Burke is the Tiger, first located in 1884, and which has proved a steady producer since 1887. John Carton and Almedos Seymour, the original discovers, bonded the mine to John M. Burke and S. S. Glidden for $35,000. Until September, 1887, the only material de- velopment in this property was a thirty foot tunnel. During the following winter some work was carried on, but owing to the inaccessibility of the mine but lit- tle was accomplished. The property was thoroughly examined in 1885 by Mr. Glidden and F. R. Culbertson, and the latter installed as manager. Trails were cut to the Thompson Falls road, and also to Placer Center, now Wallace and supplies were packed into the mine from the Mission. The result of an eighty-ton ore test at a smelter proved satisfactory and work was prose- cuted on a wagon road from Burke to the Thompson- Murray road at the Summit House. In 1886 a narrow- gange railroad was extended to Wallace and Mr. Glid- clen organized the Canyon Creek Railroad Company in 1890. This line was subsequently sold to Mr. Corbin. He disposed of it to the Northern Pacific Railway Com- pany by whom it is now owned and operated.

In 1887 construction was begun on the Tiger con- centrator, and machinery shipped to Thompson, from whence it was hauled by wagons to Burke. December 15, 1887, the mill was completed and one year later the Cœur d'Alene Railway, now the Northern Pacific, was finished to Wallace. In January, 1888, the initial ship- men of concentrators was made.

Scott McDonald, for himself, W. S. McCune and A. W. Wertenweiter located the Poorman mine, since consolidated with the Tiger, and known as the Tiger- Poorman, one year after the location of the Tiger. Litigation over this location subsequently ensued, hut was amicably adjusted. The right of the Tiger peo- ple to the ground claimed as a discovery by Carten was contested in the courts, involving the best legal talent available. This complication was adjusted by Patrick Clark and Simon Healy bonding the interests of the litigants, and Mr. Clark became manager, remaining as such until the consolidation was effected, October 15. 1895. The Poorman mill was constructed in 1888 and ran continuously until destroyed by fire, in March, 1896. The lower workings of the Tiger-Poorman properties are far better today than they were near the surface. The Tiger and Poorman mines were consol-

idated under the title of the Consolidated Tiger & Poor- man Co., capital $1,000,000 in one million shares, half of which are set aside for the stockholders of the Poorman, and half for S. S. Glidden, present owner of the Tiger. The Morning mine, west of Mullan, was located in 1884 by George Goode. Following the superficial opening it was bonded by Lewis Martin, S. M. Franks and Charles Hussey for twenty-five thousand dollars, the bond maturing in 1889. Later it became the property of Warren and Charles Hussey. About one-half mile below Mullan, on the narrow-gauge railway track, a concentrator of two hundred and fifty tons' capacity was built, ore being conveyed from the mines by a cable tramway. Later in 1890 the prop- erty passed into the hands of Receiver Peter Porter and was purchased by a Milwaukee syndicate. They organized the Morning Mining & Mill Company. The same year a new concentrator was erected and a railroad run to the mine. Two plans of conducting this mine, one of them co-operative, failed financially, and in 1895 the property was leased and bonded from the Morning Mining & Milling Company by Peter Larsen, of Helena, Montana, and Thomas L. Green- ough, of Missoula, Montana. While being worked in connection with the You Like mine it was destroyed by fire April 17, 1898. One week afterward work was commenced on the present mill, and the concen- trator put in operation August 15.

Originally the property consisted of the Morning, Evening, Silver King, Silver Queen and Park mining claims, to which have been added the Grouse, Noon- day Fraction, Iron Crown, Lauren J. Fraction and Iron Crown Fraction mining claims, all contiguous to the Morning group. The average assay of the ore, a silver-lead product, is five per cent. lead and one and a half ounces silver to the ton; the low grade of ore necessitates handling and working in large quanti- ties. It is mined by a series of tunnels, ten thousand feet in length. These are connected with a level of the railway by a tramway, the railway connecting the mines with a concentrator, being two and three-quarter miles in length. It is claimed that this concentrating plant is the largest in the northwest, and is supplied with the latest, costliest and highest improved me- chanical appliances.

What is known as the Paragon group, owned by the Paragon Mining and Manufacturing Company, in- corporated, of which L. W. Stedman is superintendent and manager, consists of six claims and one hundred and twenty acres of land, viz: Paragon, Lavanche, Rhea, Ida, Bertha and Julia, the Paragon having been located in 1890 by Charles Tilden and others. Mr. Stedman located the remainder of the claims from time to time. They were purchased for cash by the com- pany in 1899. At the time the company took over the properties developments consisted of a thirty-two foot shaft and tunnel. Mr. Stedman continued the shaft down several feet. in order to secure the trend of the ledge, and then followed the tunnel until a depth of one hundred and sixty feet had been attained. Thence was run a cross-cut which cut the ledge. The mine was supplied with an air shaft of three hundred

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

and thirty-four feet, and also an exploration shaft. On the old works eighteen hundred feet were con- pleted by Mr. Stedman. In order to secure depth a three-hundred-foot shaft is being sunk, on the com- pletion of which it will be necessary to cross-cut a hundred and forty-five feet to catch the ledge. For shaft purposes the company erected a sawmill and cut their own lumber. The silver and lead ore lies in quartzite and slate, the ledge running north of west and south of east, and dips to the south. The discovery ore averaged seventy-eight per cent. lead, six ounces of silver and a little gold to the ton., At a depth of one hundred and sixty feet the ore ran from twenty to forty ounces of silver. The Paragon mine is located three- quarters of a mile west of the state line, in Shoshone county, at an elevation of four thousand two hundred feet. It is connected with the Thompson Falls road by a private roadway one mile in length constructed by the company. The air line distance from Burke is six miles ; seven by trail. Of this property the Murray Sun of December 7th, 1902, said :

The work now being done, and the extensive improve- ments being made, by the Paragon company, are the natural result of developments made by tunnel in the east side of the mountain. Here exploitation was carried on for several years under Manager Stedman's directions, in a moderate way, until finally it was demonstrated by a cross drift that the company had a ledge fifty feet wide, all but five feet showing concentrating material, with here and there streaks of pure shipping ore. The large extent of the ledge was so clearly proven that the company immediately began ar- rangements for deeper prospecting on a larger and more far- reaching scale. Hence the present preparations for the in- stallment of heavy machinery for sinking to a greater depth than obtained on the north side.

The Paragon company has large holdings on Paragon gulch, practically all the ground along both sides, except a number of claims owned by Charles Manley and his associates, and two owned by Mr. Peterson, Charles W. Tilden and Ole Larson, the latter joining the Paragon on the west. An extension of the Paragon on the northwest reaches the claim of John Broderick, which unites the Beartop mines with the Paragon group. The ore belt is no doubt the same, and continues westward for five miles. All the Paragon claims are heavily timbered and there is ample water for concentrat- ing purposes. The Paragon is an incorporated company. The capital stock is two hundred thousand dollars, divided into two hundred thousand shares. The officers are citizens of prominence in St. Paul and they have all visited the camp the past summer. Dr. G. P. Sandberg is president, Dr. George S. Monson, vice-president. F. O. Hammer, secretary and treasurer, N. W. Dunn, attorney, and L. W. Stedman, local manager.

The Mammoth Mining Company, Ltd., is composed mainly of Coeur d'Alene, Portland, Oregon, and Spo- kane, Washington, capitalists. The mine, of which Richard Wilson is manager and James McCarthy as- sistant, is on Canyon creek, near Mace, between six and seven miles north from Wallace, the mill being located at the mouth of the creek, at the latter place. The Mammoth mine is a silver-lead property, the principal one of twelve claims and fractions. The working tin- nel is three thousand five hundred feet in length, tap- ping the Selkirk, Combination, Etta No. One, Etta No. Two, Fraction, Tariff and Mammoth. All the ore is at present taken from the Mammoth, at a depth of eighteen

hundred feet, the daily output being from three hun- cred and fifty to four hundred tons, and employing one hundred and seventy-five men. At this writing it is a dry tunnel mine, but a shaft is contemplated in the future. Ore' is run by electric motors hauling one. and one-quarter ton cars, and dumped into an ore bin, from which it is transported to the mill, at Wallace, by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's ore line. The mine is provided with two six-drill air compressors, a fifty-horsepower engine to furnish power for locomotives and lights, and a machine shop supplied with lathes, planers, drills, press, pipe-cutting and threading machines, etc. It is the intention of the company to sink a shaft at the terminus of the three thousand five hundred foot tunnel.

The mill at Wallace is driven by water power sup- plied from Canyon creek and the south fork of the Coeur d'Alene river, and produces eighteen hundred tons of concentrates per month, which are disposed of to the American Smelting and Refining Company. The mill was built in 1899, was first operated in January, 1900, and has been in constant use since.

It is provided with the latest inventions in mining devices, and its slime capacity is greater than that of any other mill in the Cœur d'Alenes. Its daily capac- ity is two hundred tons of ore. Work on the structure was begun in 1897, previous to which only crude ore was shipped direct to the smelter. Between 1897 and 1900 the company leased the mill of the Milwaukee Mining Company at Gem. The mine, originally worked in 1890, has been practically developed since then.

The Hunter mine, owned and operated by the Gold-Hunter Mining Company, is one and one-half miles northeast from Mullan, the concentrating mill for the same being on the eastern fringe of the town. The controlling majority of the stock is owned by Messrs. Hennessy and Keeley. Among the great mines of the Cœur d'Alene country it has obtained a prominent standing, and its owners have a good rea- son to feel proud of their sagacious investment in its group of ore bodies. Since the initial period of its operation the Hunter has produced upwards of two hundred thousand tons of lead and one million dollars in silver. Its net profits exceed five hundred thousand dollars. Under control of the company are large tracts of mineral lands, all most favorably located and pat- ented.

One of the best dividend-paying silver-lead propo- sitions in the Cœur d'Alenes is the Empire State, lo- cated in the Wardner district, owned by the Empire State-Idaho Company, which also controls the Tiger- Poorman at Burke. It is said to be a conservative estimate that these two mines, the Empire State and the Tiger-Poorman, produced in 1902 thirty-five thou- sand tons of ore, running 59 per cent. lead and twenty- six ounces of silver. In the production of lead and silver ores the Empire State is quite enterprising. To the careful and conscientious work of Charles Sweeney. who up to a year ago was manager, is due a large share of the success that has attended this mine.

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

The Monarch, owned by the Monarch Mining Company, Ltd., is located five miles east of Murray, on the south fork of Prichard creek. The product is lead and silver ore, the property being a consolida- tion of the Monarch and Barton groups, the new com- pany taking possession in January, 1902. It was lo- cated in the winter of 1897-8. There are six thousand feet of development work, the mines being opened principally by cross-cut tunnels and drifts. There are two veins, the Barton and the Monarch. In Septem- ber, 1902, the twelve-drill, water-power Leyner du- plex compressor was installed. A two-thousand- eight-hundred-foot cross-cut tunnel is now being run, over eighteen feet of which are completed. It is an- ticipated that this will open up the Monarch ore body at a depth of fourteen hundred feet. As outlined by Superintendent E. P. Spalding, the erection of a con- centrator will follow the tapping of this ore.

The Hecla mine, located at Burke, is owned by Finch & Campbell and is at present making a steady and successful record of shipments. The company also controls, in connection with the Hecla, the Katie, May, Consolidated Extension, Ironsides, Mascot, Or- phan Girl, Orphan Boy, Oronogo, Denver, Leadville, Leadville Fraction, Muscatine, Muscatine Fraction, Burlington, Crœsus, Star, Fox, Rooster, Hecla Frac- tion, Climax and Silver Knight. Principal develop- ments are in the Hecla, Oronogo, Orphan Boy and Or-

phan Girl. The Hecla is provided with three tunnels, eight hundred, fifteen hundred and twenty-seven hun- dred feet in length, respectively. The concentrator, situated at Gem, was erected in the winter of 1893-4. Originally it was of one hundred and fifty tons ca- pacity, which has since been raised to six hundred tons, until'it is now the third in size in the Cœur d'Alenes. The mine is run by two ten-hour shifts ; the inill by two twelve-hour shifts; the lowest wages being $3.50 and the highest $5 per diem. The output is seventeen thousand tons per month, the ore running 50 per cent. lead and thirty-five ounces of silver.

The Hercules mine, which has been appropriately called "the Wonder of the Camp," is situated about two miles from Burke. It is one of the new develop- ments of this district, the "strike" having been made July 2, 1901, Up to that date it had been simply an encouraging prospect. Its crude product is the rich -. est in the camp and its ore shoots the largest. For their young bonanza the owners have refused a bond- ing proposition of $2,000,000. The wonderful produc- tion of this mine is given elsewhere. The Hercules was discovered by poor men in this world's goods, and one of the present owners, G. Paulson, is said to have secured a half interest in the property for $750. The mine is owned by H. L. Day, sons Harry, jerome, Eugene, Mrs. E. B. Boyce, G. Paulson, Syl- vester Markwell, C. H. Reeves, L. W. Hutton, Dan Cardoner, H. T. Samuels and F. M. Rothrock, al! residents of the Cœur d'Alenes. The ore is all clean, shipping quality, and is sent direct to the Everett smelter and New Jersey reduction works. The ex- penses for operation for 1892. according to the Cœur d'Alene Mining Record, were : Wages, $50,000 ;

freight and treatment charges, $85,000; fuel, timber, repairs, etc., $15,000 ; total $150,000. This leaves net profits of $170,000, the total gross value of output having been $320,000. This is certainly a grand rec- ord for a new mine-unsurpassed in the history of lead mining. The management is now driving a twenty-five-hundred-foot tunnel that will explore the inammoth ore shoot five hundred feet below the upper workings. It is believed this tunnel will open up ore reserves of the value of $1,500,000, and some local mining experts prophesy that the Hercules "will make a $10,000,000 mine." Harry L. Day, Jr., is the man- ager of the Hercules mine.

On the north fork of the Cœur d'Alene river, twen- ty miles above the mouth of Prichard creek, there are several copper prospects which show up well. These prospects, carrying copper, gold and silver, are being developed. As yet the stratas found are quite small, not over two or three inches, but exceedingly rich. It is believed that with depth obtained these strata will run together. The surrounding country is quite wild and heavily timbered with white pine, tamarack, fir, spruce and cedar, the cedar and pine principally being suitable for lumber. So far this locality has been prospected only to a limited extent, and is unsur- veyed.

In the course of the following resume of the mines and prospects in the Pierce City mining district no attempt is made to recount the history of the early placer diggings discovered in and around Pierce City nearly half a century ago. That interesting story is told elsewhere in this work. Undoubtedly there are millions of dust in the sands and gravel of this famous district. Possibly it may be secured by the indefati- gable industry of future miners. But the present prestige of this district rests mainly upon the rich and extensive quartz ledges. It is of this branch of mod- ern mining that our description principally concerns itself.

The first quartz float was picked up by the carlier placer miners. In those days of primitive mining methods, however, only deposits of free gold were sought, and only these were worked. Many stories are current of fabulously rich float quartz having been found as early as 1864 near the old town of Orofino. As these stories, however, are rather mythical and lacking spissitude, it were best to confine our account within the limits of fact. In 1867 no little excitement was occasioned among placer miners by reported dis- coveries of rich ledges on the divide between Canal gulch and Rhoades' creek, east of Pierce City. For a short time the secret was concealed, but when di- vulged a rush to the locality immediately ensued. More than fifty claims were located, but alas for hi- man hopes! Rich quartz failed to materialize : excite- ment soon wore away; no work was done upon the claims. Now, in this connection, it is interesting to note what those pioneer miners considered "rich quartz." Some of it, forwarded to Dr. Day's assay office in Walla Walla by the Nelson Brothers, assaved a hundred and eighty in silver and thirty-five dollars in gold. Still, with lack of transportation and other

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HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

difficulties to overcome, this assay was not considered sufficiently large to justify working.

Thus remained the status of mining in the Pierce City district until 1893. Auriferous quartz was be- lieved to exist in large bodies, but it had never been discovered in what was considered paying quantities. In 1803 the old Crescent quartz mine, located in the middle sixties by James McCarty, and possessed in turn by Silas W. Moody, who paid $2,000 for it, and subsequently by I. B. Cowan, was by the latter sold to R. N., A. L. and John Dunn, brothers. They imme- diately opened this virtually abandoned property and discovered a pay ledge which showed flatteringly. A two-stamp mill was installed and for five years Dunn Brothers & Carr profitably worked this property, tak- ing out, it is reported, $50,000. The Crescent Con- solidated Mining Company, of which Hon. 'Willis Sweet is president, secured the property in 1897. They erected a five-stamp gravity mill, the stamps weighing nine hundred pounds each. At present the company has abandoned the old shaft, and are driving a tunnel at the mouth of which the mill is to be placed. The tunnel is -down two hundred and fifty feet and will cut the ledge at the depth of three hundred and fifty feet. The vein now being developed is about fourteen inches wide, lies on an incline of about thirty degrees west and carries principally free milling ore. The claims in this group are the Crescent, Bole, Golden, Columbia, Hoodoo, Bond, Twin, Twin Fraction, Washington, Wildcat, Best Chance, Magic, Humbug, and Gem Fraction. They are situated about three miles east from Pierce on Bartlett and Clearwater gulches, tributaries of Rhoades creck.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 253

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