An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day, Part 78

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Idaho > An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day > Part 78

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The mines of Elmore county, at Rocky Bar and Atlanta, have produced, according to the records of Wells, Fargo & Company's express, of bullion hauled by them alone. $58,800,000; the Monarch lode, $4,000,- 000; the Elmore, $5,000,000, and the Vishnue. $1.500,000.

In the Custer country the Charles Dickens has a record of four million dollars before a stick of tim- ber was put in the mine or a candle burned. The Montana, in Estes mountains, paid one thousand dol- lars a foot while simply a common prospect shaft. and yielded in going five hundred feet $380,000. The Custer has a record of seven million five hundred thousand dollars. The Lucky Boy has fifteen feet of twenty-five dollar free-gold ore, and has paid hun- dreds of thousands. The De Lamar mine was sold to an English company for $2,500,000 after Captain De- Lamar had taken out several millions. Since that time she has paid in dividends to the English sharc- holders the amount of the purchase price, and becn running on velvet for two years. So the yield must be from this one mine about ten million dollars.

The Wood river country was always supposed to be a lead and silver country, and has produced mil- lions of dollars' worth. The Minnie Moore has a record of $6,500,000, but since silver was demonetized attention has been paid to gold mining, and now a gold belt has been found-in fact, two of them-that

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

may prove to be more valuable than her silver mines in the palmy days. The Camas No. 1 and 2 show great bodies of ore and the Croesus, at or near Hailey, has ore that is running from one hundred to two thousand dollars per ton in gold, and has just been sold to a big company.

Up the Boise river from Boise city, in the last two years, the bars of gravel have all been located. The old timers have ridden over them day after day, but they were found to be rich in gold by some ten- derfoot, and big companies are formed to work them. The Twin Springs Company, of which Mr. Ander- son is superintendent, have expended two hundred thousand dollars in opening their ground, and last fall struck an old river channel upon the side of the mountain that out-rivals Klondike, going as high as twenty-five dollars per yard. Other companies, one of which Major F. R. Reed is managing, will be in successful operation in the spring.

The Sheep Mountain country contains without doubt the largest and richest silver mines in the west. The Bull Dog mine shows an unbroken vein thirty feet wide for six thousand feet in length and runs from twenty to five hundred ounces silver, and gold from two dollars and fifty cents to eighty dollars per ton. Ore shipped from J. Earley's Birdie ledge all went from three hundred and seventy-five to three thousand ounces silver, and from twenty to eighty dollars gold. This is an unprospected country. Lack of roads and trans- portation has been the greatest drawback to the min- ing industry. There is not a mine in Idaho but has had to pay its own way for all roads, machinery and everything for the successful operation of the mine from the start.

The Snake river valley, cold and uninviting as it may look, is lined with a ribbon of gold. Hundreds of miners are working the bars along its banks. They cannot save all the gold, but, then, they save enough to make it a good thing. Some men, by the most primitive methods of working, are making from ten dollars to fifty dollars per day, others good wages, while some of the big companies who have capital to put in requisite plants, are making fortunes. I

know one company that banked to their credit for September, 1898, nine thousand dollars' worth of gold.

One of these days the great kaolin and kaolinite beds will be worked, which extend for miles along the banks. There are fine beds of gypsum and fire clays, magnesium, lime and lithographic stone every- where, and the opal mines of Opaline produce opals that are equal to those found in any country, and -in quantity. They took the prize at the World's Fair. Opals weighing three hundred and seventy-five carets, irridescent, such as would make a Hungarian opal blush with envy, have been found, while in Long Val- ley a sapphire was found that weighed upwards of one thousand carets. It was perfect, without a flaw, and the largest in the world.

Every mining camp will see the greatest activity the coming season. The great mines of the Coeur

d'Alene in 1898, produced in galena 112,500 tons aver- aging sixty per cent. lead and about thirty-five ounces silver per ton, making 67,500 tons of lead and 3,937,500 ounces of silver. The Bunker Hill, Sullivan and Gem mines, all have records to their credit of producing upwards of ten million dollars each. Can it be beat?

Pierce City, or Oro Fino, was one of the early camps of Idaho, and yielded upwards of thirty mil- lion dollars in placer gold. In the last few years quartz prospectors have gone back to the old deserted camps and opened up some wonderful quartz veins. A number of companies have been organized, and mills and machinery put in; three new mills having been built in the past year. The district is fast mak- ing a name for itself and will soon take a front seat as a producer. Elk City is another of the old placer camps that gave to the world in its placer days twenty million dollars of gold. Great veins of quartz have been found in her hills,-veins of ore from ten to forty feet in width, and milling upwards of twenty dollars per ton free on an average. Two years ago these mines were prospects, but they have been prospected by shaft and tunnel for hundreds of feet. and the great ore bodies improve with depth, and modern gold mills of twenty stamps were erected last year. There is no question as to the future of this district, and it is scarcely prospected. In sight of the little camp are whole mountain ranges that have never had a prospecting pick stuck in them.

The Dixie district is another new camp opened up in the last year. It lies south from Elk City, and is on the head waters of the south fork of the Clear- water. The ores are of high value, and ledges carry- ing every character of ore are found,-lead, iron, cop- per, zinc, antimony, gold and silver. The great Buf- falo Hump district lies in the center of a triangle, with Florence, Elk City and Dixie at the three cor- ners of the angle.

Florence was probably the richest camp ever dis- covered, according to its size. The first pan of dirt in the discovery yielded eight hundred dollars. Last year prospecting for quartz was prosecuted extensively, and five new mills built. The yield per ton of her quartz is wonderful. In the early days this camp yielded thirty-eight million dollars gold from her plac- ers. Warrens, the sister camp to Florence, is also a scene of great activity. In the last few years three new mills have been built. The ore is very rich, some of it milling (from the Riebolt mine) two thousand dollars per ton. This camp in the early days pro- duced upwards of twenty-five million dollars.

In most of our sister states the big mines are in the hands of big capitalists and close corporations, while the prospects and anything that has a chance to make a mine are in the hands of middlemen who load the property so heavy that capital has to take uneven chances, while here capital has every show. What the country needs more than anything is pros- pecting and developing capital. There is not a dis- trict in the state but where will be found plenty of

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good prospects, which have promise and merit, be- longing to poor men who have no money to prose- cute work on them, or the means or ability to call the attention of capital to "what they have got.

Idaho is the least prospected of any state in the west. It has scarcely been run over, let alone being prospected. Take any of the old-settled camps, for instance, and the minute you get outside of the im- mediate camp a prospect hole is a curiosity. Only the veins cropping out bold and plain are looked at. and even not one in a hundred then. Just think of the great mother vein in Buffalo Hump, standing out of the ground for twenty-five feet in height in places, and a well beaten trail crossing it half-a-dozen times, over which hundreds of prospectors have ridden seek- ing fortunes, when if they had only gotten off their horses and broken one piece of the ore they would have had the great bonanza. And there it lay un- claimed, with the trail running over it for thirty-five years.

Within site of Boise, Idaho's capital, ledges have been discovered in the last year or so that milled free gold from eighty to one hundred and twenty dol- lars per ton. Let the prospector go where he will, -to the right of him, to the left of him, to the front of him, behind him,-there is but little choice, for it is everywhere. There are hundreds of camps and dis- tricts not mentioned,-like Pine Grove, Bonaparte, Cassia, Neal, Black Hornet, Willow Creek, Banner, Mineral, Flint and hundreds of others.

The future of Idaho reads like an open book. It ï's plain as the open day, and he who runs may read. Already the gigantic discoveries made in the last year are astounding the world with the story of their wealth. The dawning season marks a new era in the history of Idaho. She will march on steadily and will soon forge ahead and take the lead as the greatest gold, silver, lead and copper producing country in the world. It is here in the treasure vaults of her hills. The magic wand of capital and labor shall soon touch it. Cities, towns and hamlets, connected with bands of steel, shall find shelter in the lap of her mountains. The silent canyons shall give echo back of a thousand stamps, and her hills shall be lit in a hundred places by night by the glow of her smelters.

THE COEUR D'ALENE MINING DISTRICT.

This article, as well as that following, con- cerning the lead belt of the district, is contributed by F. R. Culbertson, under date of July 9, 1898:

The Coeur d'Alene mineral belt of northern Idaho, in area about twenty miles square, first came into prominence as a gold-placer camp in the summer and fall of 1883. Placer gold was first discovered on Pritchard creek, near Eagle City, now a deserted camp in Shoshone county. Fabulous reports of the rich- ness and extent of this gold soon spread and attracted the attention of the outside world. In the spring of

1884 there was quite a stampede into the Coeur d'Alene district, being somewhat similar to the present excite- ment over Klondike. Prospectors for the Coeur d'Alenes from the west outfitted at Spokane and pro- ceeded thence by rail to Rathdrum, by stage to Coeur d'Alene city and from this point on by the old Mul- lan road (built by the government as a military road) to Evolution, about twenty miles above the Mission; and from this point ou by trail to Eagle City. Pros- pectors from the east left the main line of the North- ern Pacific at Herron and Trout Creek and contin- ued from there by trail into the mines. The stories told by the old prospectors of the difficulties of get- ting into the country over these trails remind one of the description and accounts of the Skaguay trail.

In the spring of 1884 Eagle City had grown to be a town of two thousand people and became a full- fledged mining camp with all the accessories, includ- ing dance halls, gambling houses, restaurants, etc., where the prospector paid from one to two dollars for a meal consisting of bacon and beans, and one dollar for a bed, which meant the privilege of fur- nishing your own blankets, which were laid on the floor, the landlord furnishing the tent. It was dur- ing the year 1884 that the town of Murray, about five miles up the creek from Eagle City, was laid out, and this new camp soon superseded Eagle and for sev- eral years was the main town of the Coeur d'Alenes. It was during this year that the town of Thompson Falls, on the Northern Pacific Railroad, was laid out, and a trail from there to Murray was built, this be- ing the shorter distance from the railroad, and it was the main outfitting point for the prospectors from this time on. A wagon road was built out from Thompson Falls a distance of fifteen miles to what was known as the Mountain House; a stage line was run to this point; and from there to Murray, a dis- tance of fifteen miles further, a trail was built and the traveler either footed it or took a cayuse (Indian pony, so called from tribe of that name). It was also during this year, 1884. that Captain I. B. San- born, C. B. King and John Monohan built the steamer Coeur d'Alene to ply between Coeur d'Alene City and the Old Mission, a distance of sixty miles. Nel- son Bennett put on a stage line between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene City, and considerable travel and freight were brought in by this route. During this same year from four to five thousand people had come into camp and had prospected Pritchard creek from mouth to . source, including the tributaries, and considerable placer gold was taken out up to this time. Pros- pectors in this year began to branch out and look for new fields. Several prospectors found their way over to Canyon creek during this year and Canyon creek, near the town of Burke, was first located, for an extent of several miles, with placer locations, and considerable work was done but no gold found in paying quantities.

In September, 1884. John Carton and Almedos Sey- mour, while looking for placers on Canyon creek,

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discovered some float, which they followed up and, discovering the source, located the Tiger quartz lode. The next day the Poorman quartz lode was discovered by Scott McDonald. These two claims, both on the same ledge, were the first quartz discoveries found in the lead belt of the Coeur d'Alenes. Other quartz discoveries soon followed on Canyon creek,-the Ore- Or-No-Go, Diamond Hitch, Black Bear, Badger, Frisco, Gem and others of less importance soon fol- lowing. Very little work of any consequence was done on any of these properties during the year 1884, except on the Tiger, which was bonded in the month of October to John M. Burke and by him to S. S. Glidden, at that time in Thompson Falls, Montana, Mr. Glidden being engaged in the wholesale grocery business in St. Paul and having a branch wholesale house in Thompson Falls. To Mr. S. S. Glidden, now president of the Old National Bank of Spo- kane, as much, if not more, credit is due as to any other single individual for the development of the quartz interests of the Coeur d'Alenes. Mr. Glidden took hold of the Tiger mine in October, 1884, and has been connected with it up to the recent date, now being president of the Consolidated Tiger & Poor- man Mining Company, one of the principal mining companies in this district and one of the largest pro- ducers. Development work on the Tiger was carried on during the winter of 1884. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Glidden closed out his grocery business at St. Paul and Thompson Falls and devoted his entire time and energies to the development of the Tiger mine. Trails were built by him to connect with the Thomp- son Falls and Murray roads, also to connect at Placer Center, now Wallace, with the old Mullan wagon road. During the summer and fall of 1885 development work was carried on at the Tiger, and the value of the property sufficiently determined to take up the bond for thirty-five thousand dollars, this being the price the property was originally bonded for.

In the fall of 1885 the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines were discovered at Wardner. The surface show- ings at the discovery were so much larger than any- thing that had been found up to that time that quite an excitement was created at that place, and numer- ous other valuable quartz properties were located. Also during the early part of this year the Hunter, Morning, Evening, and other quartz properties were discovered at Mullan. The Bunker Hill and Sulli- van property was leased by the original locators to Jim Wardner, after whom the town was named. Through him some Helena parties were interested in the deal and a contract entered into with the locat- ors for concentrating fifty thousand tons of ore at five dollars per ton, which at this date would be considered a very extravagant price to pay. These locations all coming to the front, and with a boat. running between the Mission and Coeur d'Alene City, Mr. Glidden turned his attention to interesting par- ties in the building of a railroad up the South Fork from Spokane to Burke. A company was organized

for this purpose, and of this Mr. Glidden was one of the first promoters. The first company organized fell through, and afterward D. C. Corbin became in- terested in the project and organized the Coeur d'Alene Railway & Navigation Company, buying out the boat and building a narrow-gauge railroad from Mission to Wardner. About this time the Washington & Idaho, now the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, commenced building from Pendleton to Spokane, with a branch from Tekoa into the Coeur d'Alenes. Neither of the roads at that time would entertain the idea of building up Canyon creek, and Mr. Glidden organized the Canyon Creek Railroad Company and built a nar- row-gauge railroad from Burke to Wallace, to meet the other two roads which were heading for that point. This road was built by Mr. Glidden and afterward sold by him to D. C. Corbin, of the Coeur d'Alene Railway & Navigation Company, who later disposed of the same to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, who had started to build into the country from the main line of their road at De Smet, about six miles west of Missoula. The Northern Pacific also built a branch from Hauser Junction to Coeur d'Alene City, making a rail, river and lake route from Burke to Hauser Junction. The Washington & Idaho reached Wallace a short time afterward, giving the camp two transcontinental railroads, and reducing the freight rates on ore shipment routes.

The first concentrator in the district was placed on the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine, at Wardner, and was built by A. M. Esler, in the interests of Helena parties having the fifty-thousand-ton contract, and it was of one-hundred-tons capacity. Before the expira- tion of this contract this property was sold to Sim Read, of Portland, who paid the different parties in- terested in the property at that time about six hun- dred and twenty-five thousand dollars, which was con- sidered at that time a very extravagant price for the property. Two-thirds of this money found its way to Spokane and helped to build up the town. The title to the property was in litigation at the time of the sale and numerous interests had to be bought out to perfect the title. The principal parties interested at that time, and the amounts that they were sup- posed to have received for their interests, were: Noah S. Kellogg, $100,000; Goetz & Bear, now of Spokane, $150,000; Cooper & Peck, $75,000; Phil O'Rourke, $75,- 000; Con Sullivan, $50,000. The Helena parties inter- ested in the lease were paid fifty thousand dollars and the cost of their concentrating plant, to cancel the lease; the different lawyers interested in the litigation received about one hundred thousand dollars out of the deal, and the balance went to other parties, who had smaller interests. Sim Read worked the prop- erty for several years, afterward selling out to the present company, who are California parties and mem- bers of the Standard Oil Company. This property is now under the management of F. W. Bradley, with head office at San Francisco, California, and F. Bur- bidge as resident manager at Wardner. The com-

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pany have been gradually absorbing all the adjacent claims, and now have control of something like forty or fifty locations adjoining and connecting, and, with the exception of the Last Chance Mining Company's property, they have about all the desirable mining property in Wardner. As a whole, it is probably the greatest lead property in the world, exceeding that of Broken Hills mine in Australia, which has always been heretofore considered the greatest lead producer.

The company have extensive improvements and are now operating a seven-hundred-ton concentrating plant, producing about three thousand tons of shipping ore per month. The property could probably produce double this quantity of shipping ore by enlarging their concentrating plant, without making any serious in- roads on their ore reserves. They give employment to about four hundred men and are now constructing a tunnel two miles in length from their mill at Kel- logg to their mine at Wardner, which will cut their ledge at seven hundred and fifty feet vertical depth below their lowest workings and, with the incline of the ledge, will give them about one thousand five hun- dred feet of stoping ground. £ This tunnel will be used for drain purposes and bringing ore from the mine to the mill; it will require about fifteen months for completion, and when completed will give them a large amount of ore which can be taken out without any pumping, and no doubt at that time the capacity of the mill will be enlarged.

The Last Chance Company has several valuable claims at Wardner. They are operating a one-hundred- and-fifty-ton concentrator and producing seven hun- dred and fifty to nine hundred tons of concentrates per month. Plans have been drawn for enlarging the mill and the property can easily be made to produce double the present quantity of ore that is now being taken out. Unfortunately, for several years the prop- erty has been handicapped with more or less litiga- tion, which has had the effect of retarding the devel- opment to that extent which the property would war- rant. There are other valuable properties in Ward- ner, but at present none are being worked to any great extent.

Between Wardner and Wallace on the South Fork there are several promising prospects, from which con- siderable ore has been shipped, the principal value of the ore being silver; and with an increase in the price of silver considerable work would be done on them.

From Wallace, which is now the main town of the Coeur d'Alenes, diverge Placer creek, Nine Mile creek, Canyon creek, and the continuation of the South Fork above Mullan. There are quite a number of prospects on Placer creek, but no extensive devel- opment work has been done. On Nine Mile are sit- uated the Custer and Granite mines, both of which properties have concentrating plants and have been heavy producers, but neither of which are being at present operated. Development work is being carried on in both properties with good showings and fair

prospects of resuming milling operations. Numerous other properties are situated on this creek, and con- siderable development work is now being done. Sun- set Peak, on which are situated some of the largest surface-showings in the camp, is reached from this canyon, and with a railroad up the canyon from Wal- lace, the roadbed of which has already been graded, the Nine Mile properties would be brought to the front in a short time.

At Mullan, seven miles up the South Fork from Wallace, are situated the Hunter, Morning, Evening. You Like, and numerous other properties. The Hun- ter Mining Company had the misfortune to lose their mill by fire this summer and at the present the prop- erty is not being operated. Report is that they ex- pect to rebuild this winter and arrangements and plans are now made for new concentrating plant. The mine is a valuable one and produces a high-grade ore. The Morning Mining Company, situated at this point, is operated by Larson & Greenough, who are working the Morning, Evening and You Like mines. They have a six-hundred-ton concentrating plant in opera- tion, a narrow-gauge railroad and are producing about two hundred and fifty thousand tons of concentrates per month, giving employment to about two hundred and fifty men.

Canyon creek is and has always been the heaviest producer in the Coeur d'Alenes. At the mouth of the creek is situated the Standard mill, the ore from the Standard mine five miles up the creek being brought down by the railroad to the mill, concentrat- ing about four hundred and twenty-five tons per day. and producing about two thousand two hundred tons of concentrates per month. The ore from this prop- erty produces the highest grade of concentrates in the camp and as a dividend-payer has probably exceeded that of any other company in the district. The For- mosa mine and mill is the next property up the creek, being situated about a mile below Gem. The com- pany have erected during the present year a seventy- five-ton mill, which has only recently been completed and very little ore has yet been taken from this property. The Granite mill comes next and at pres- ent is not being operated. The Gem mill belonging to the Milwaukee Mining Company comes next and is now being run on ore from the Mammoth mine. The Mammoth vein is on the same ledge as the Stand- ard and this property also produces high-grade con- centrates. The Gem mine has been a valuable pro- ducer and dividend-payer, but at present only the upper workings are being worked by leasers, the lower part of the mine being allowed to fill with water dur- ing the low prices prevailing for lead and silver last year. The mill having been leascd to the Mammoth company, it is not likely that any extensive mining operations will be resumed until the expiration of this lease. The Frisco mine and mill, about a mile above the Gem, are being worked very extensively. The company has expended a large amount of money in improvements and development work since January ISf.

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An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day, Part 78

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1014