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 80

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 80

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Troubles between the mine managers and their employes commenced almost with the opening up of the new country, but it was not until 1891 that the first serious dispute arose. In that year the employes of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Company struck to enforce their demand that they be allowed to pay their hospital dues of one dollar a month to a hospital of their own selection, and they gained their point. The mine-owners then organized an association of their own with which to combat the miners' unions of Gem, Wardner, Mullan and Burke, and their relations with their men became badly strained.

In 1892 all of the principal mines closed down, and in a short time the mine-owners commenced to import men and work them under the protection of hired detectives and special officers. Wages were not reduced, but the union men claimed that was to follow. The mine-owners bought rifles and ammunition for their new employes and the men who guarded them, and the union men also armed themselves for the approaching conflict. On Monday, July 11, a pitched battle ensucd and six men were killed, in addition to the blowing up of the Frisco mill. It has always been a

disputed point as to which side was the direct cause of the battle. The union men insist that all of the trouble was created by the imported Pinkerton, Hill and Sullivan agency detectives and that they com- menced the bloody struggle by firing on and killing a union man. On the other hand, the mine-owners allege that the unionists were responsible for the whole affair. At any rate, some one fired the first shot, and before a truce was patched up three men on each side were dead. The unionists lost Ed Cummins and two min- ers named Carlson and Hennessy. Their opponents' death list was made up of Ivory Bean, John Stanlik and - McDonald.

A penstock,-which was afterward known as "the long gun of the Coeur d'Alenes"-six hundred and forty feet long, through which water was fed to the turbines, ran down the side of the mountain to the 'Frisco mill. The union men ran three or four hun- dred pounds of dynamite down the penstock and exploded it and the mill was blown to pieces. Mc- Donald, one of the guards, was killed. The Gem and Bunker Hill and Sullivan mills then surrendered, and it was agreed that all of the nonunion men should be sent out of the country and that the companies would employ union men at three dollars and a half a day for all underground labor.

Things then quieted down for a time, but trouble broke out at intervals. John Kneebone, who had deserted the union for the mine-owners, was murdered on July 3. 1894. and F. D. Whitney, a foreman at the 'Frisco concentrator, was assassinated on December 23, 1897.

These crimes, with others, were laid at the door of the unions, but the unionists always protested their entire innocence, and passed resolutions denouncing some of the outrages. The agreement entered into after the trouble of 1892 was lived up to by all of the com- panies except the Bunker Hill & Sullivan, which soon reduced wages to three dollars a day for shovelers and car men and three dollars and a half for ininers. In 1894 it had some more trouble with its men, and again reduced wages to two dollars and a half and three dol- lars a day. The Bunker Hill & Sullivan is the only dry mine in the Coeur d'Alenes, and the company claimed it was paying as good wages as the others, everything considered. Its management was very antagonistic to the unions, and the dislike was mutual. The unions declared it a "scab" mine and let it go at that, attempt- ing no violence.

Early in 1899, however, an attempt was made to unionize the mine, and the old fire broke out again. On May 26th the company raised wages to three dol- lars for shovelers and three dollars and a half for miners, but refused to recognize the union. Three days later its mill was blown up. The rioters seized a Northern Pacific train at Burke and ran it to Ward- ner, picking up delegations from Gem, Mullan and Wallace. A stop was made at the 'Frisco magazine and eighty fifty-pound boxes of dynamite were taken. By the time the train reached Wardner it had over a

The Standard Mine.

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

thousand men on board. Many of them were masked and carried rifles. They evidently anticipated and were prepared for a fight, but they met with no opposition, as all of the mill employes had heard of the approach of the train and fled over the hills. James Cheyne, one of the mill men, was shot and mortally wounded as he was running away, and Jack Smith, one of the rioters, was killed by his companions, presumably by mistake. The eighty boxes of dynamite were scattered around the mill and it was blown to fragments. The rioters then returned home, and in an hour everything was quiet again.

Governor Steunenberg called for federal troops, and several hundred were sent in under command of Brig- adier General H. C. Merriam. Martial law was declared in Shoshone county, and Bartlett Sinclair, state auditor, was placed in charge as the governor's representative. He caused wholesale arrests, and at one time nearly one thousand men were in custody. Those who were considered to have had no part in the rioting were released as rapidly as possible, but on September Ist there were still about one hundred men confined in a stockade known as the "bull pen," while many others were out on bond. Paul Corcoran, financial sec- retary of the Burke Miners' Union, was the first one of the alleged rioters to be tried. He was convicted and sentenced to seventeen years in the penitentiary. Many other cases are to be tried in September, 1899- the time of this writing. Corcoran's attorneys alleged gross irregularities in his trial and a motion was made for a rehearing.

The sheriff and commissioners of Shoshone county were removed from office when martial law was de- clared, as it was claimed they sympathized with the rioters, and the county attorney was suspended for the same reason. Other officers were named in their places. The miners' unions were declared to be criminal bodies, and the governor's representative issued an order that none should be employed in or around the mines with- out a permit from him. Governor Steunenberg declared that troubles in the Coeur d'Alenes must stop and the miners' unions be wiped out, and that to that end martial law would continue until his term of office expires on January 1, 1901. The sub-committee on mining of the industrial commission visited Wallace and investigated the trouble, but could secure no con- clusive testimony that the unions were responsible for it, though members of the unions might have been involved in it. All of the union men who were exam- ined swore that the blowing up of the mill, or any other deed of violence, was never discussed or thought of by the unions, and was deplored by them. They said the mill was blown up by outside hotheads and not by members of the unions. . Some of the mine- owners expressed the belief that very few of the riot- ers were union men, and even that they did not know that property was to be destroyed when they joined the mob that went to Wardner. There is no doubt that all of the leading spirits in the mob, who are declared to have never been members of any union,

were out of the country long before the soldiers arrived, and there seems to be little likelihood of their ever being apprehended or punished.

THE STANDARD GROUP OF MINERAL CLAIMS.

The Standard group of claims consists of the following patented lode claims: Standard, Ban- ner, Snow Line, Sancho, Sandwich, Youngs- town, Sullivan Fraction, Banner Fraction, Par- allel, Little Chap, Mammoth Fraction, a portion of the Mammoth, and Tariff, also the Columbia, Crown Point and Tom Reed,-all located in the Coeur d'Alene silver-lead mineral belt, Lalande mining district, Shoshone county, Idaho, one mile from Burke,-also the Union Mill-site,

located at Wallace, Idaho, together with water rights and flumes from which is developed about three hundred horse-power. The Standard clain was located May 7, 1885, by Timothy McCarthy, Timothy Hynes, Frank Hanson and John H. Simmons.

All the claims in the Standard group are pat- ented, the patents having issued direct to the Standard Mining Company, with the exception of the Mammoth, Tariff and Mammoth Fraction. These claims are patented, but the patent issued direct to the original owners and was afterward transferred to the Standard Mining Company. The Standard Mining Company is a corporation of Idaho. Its capital stock is five hundred thousand dollars, divided into five hundred thou- sand shares of the par value of one dollar each. The officers of the company are as follows: Amasa B. Campbell, president; John A. Finch, vice-president and treasurer; W. E. Finch, sec- retary. The stock is held principally by the Finch & Campbell Syndicate of Youngstown, Ohio, Chicago and Milwaukee.

The property was purchased by the Standard Company in the spring of 1891, when the de- velopment work was commenced. The first ore was struck in the fall of 1892, and since that time it has been a steady slipper and dividend-payer. The property has been worked through four tunnels. The lower, or Campbell tunnel, as it is called, is two thousand nine hundred and fifty feet long, and is nine hundred feet below the upper tunnel. In all there are probably over ten thousand feet of tunnel. At the end of this long tunnel is the chamber for the hoisting en-

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

gine. The chamber is one hundred feet long, fifty feet wide and thirty-six feet high. Here they have a twenty by sixty first-motion hoisting engine, built by Fraser & Chalmers, capable of hoisting two thousand five hundred feet. The shaft is down two hundred feet from the Campbell tunnel, and a drift has been run to strike the vein, where it is found they have an ore chute over six hundred feet long and from fifteen to forty feet wide. But little stoping has been done from this level up.

The ore is silver-lead, and the average assay of the entire vein is ten to fifteen per cent lead and twelve to fifteen ounces silver. This ore is transported from the mine, one mile below Burke, Idaho, to the concentrator, which is located at Wallace, a distance of six miles. Here the ore is concentrated into a shipping product. It re- quires about five and eight-tenths tons of crude ore to make one ton of concentrates, or ship- ping product. The capacity of the mill is six hundred tons of crude ore in twenty-four hours. The average assay of concentrates is fifty-eight to sixty per cent lead and about fifty-eight to sixty ounces of silver to the ton.

Up to May 1, 1899, the Standard shipped 68,295 tons of concentrates, the net value of which (after paying freight charges to the smelter and treatment on the ore, which averaged about twenty-two dollars per ton), was $3,416,248.87. The company has paid in dividends the sum of $1.775,000.00, or $3.55 per share. The original cost of the property was $33,804.80. The amount expended for improvements and equipment to date is $280,000.00, all of which was taken out of the mine in addition to the amount paid in divi- dends. The property is under the management of Finch & Campbell of Spokane, Washington, their representative being H. R. Allen, of Wal- lace, Idaho.

The Standard is one of the best equipped mines in the world, and it was developed from the grass roots by and under the supervision of Archie McCallum, who is at present in charge of the mine.

THE HECLA GROUP.

The Hecla mine is located at Burke, Shoshone county (Lalande mining district). The original claims comprising the Hecla group were the Hecla and Katie May lode claims, located by

James Toner on May 5, 1885. The property was purchased by the Hecla Mining Company, a cor- poration of Idaho, the principal stockholders be- ing A. B. Campbell, John A. Finch, Patrick Clark, Simon Haley and a party of Milwaukee gentlemen. Up to January 1, 1898, the Hecla shipped thirteen thousand dollars' worth of lead- silver ore while the development work was pro- gressing. This ore was taken out partly by the company and partly by leasers. During the spring and summer of 1898 the Hecla Mining Company of Washington was organized, with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, -one million shares of the par value of twenty- five cents each,-the officers being: A. B. Campbell, president; John A. Finch, vice-presi- dent; and H. R. Allen, secretary and treasurer The new company purchased the Hecla and Katie May claims from the old Hecla company, and also purchased the Or-No-Go fraction lode from James Doherty, M. Maher and John Stack.

A bond was taken on the Orphan Boy, Orphan Girl, Leadville, Denver, Climax and Sylvanite, from John H. Van Dorn, which was subsequently taken up by the company. Later on the com- pany purchased the Muscatine and Burlington claims from J. H. Van Dorn, John Frank and Ed. Ehrenberg, and also the Muscatine Fraction and Croesus from H. R. Allen.

In all, the Hecla group now comprises fifteen lode claims and a mill-site, the total area being about two hundred and fifty acres. The develop- ment work consists of a sixteen hun - dred-foot tunnel run in at a depth from the sur- face of about nine hundred feet, and a four- hundred-foot tunnel, which is one hundred and seventy-five feet above the long tunnel. In the lower tunnel they have an ore chute about three hundred and seventy-five feet long, averaging three feet wide. They still have five hundred fect to drive before getting under the immense crop- pings which show on the surface.

· The Hecla is still a prospect, but it is more than paying its own way. It is being worked by a force of twenty men. The ore is milled at the Standard mill at Wallace, being transported over the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's road, a distance of seven miles. The average grade of the ore is fifty-eight per cent lead and forty ounces silver. The property is under the

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

management of Messrs. Finch & Campbell, of Spokane, Washington, their representative in this district being Mr. H. R. Allen, of Wallace, Idaho.

THE PHILADELPHIA & IDAHO MINING & SMELTING COMPANY.

The above named company was organized in 1882 by Colonel Green and Philadelphia parties, who built two stock plants and a large smelter plant at Muldoon, Blaine county, this state, and operated them for several years, in Muldoon. The ores in the vicinity of Ketchum, Idaho, were of a higher grade, and were attracting more at- tention than those they were then mining, and certain Philadelphia gentlemen had become in- terested in them, and they induced the Philadel- phia Mining & Smelting Company to come to Ketchum. A small test was made with a little tester, and in the course of less than a week a profit of ten thousand dollars was made! They then joined with the other Philadelphia people and organized the Philadelphia & Idaho Com- pany.

The Philadelphia company that had first begun the work had acquired the North Star mine, the West Fork group, the Ervin and the Ten Brook on Boyle mountains, the Silver Star, Salamander, New York Boy and the Muldoon. The build- ings at the North Star and Silver Star mines were, on the reorganization, remodeled and en- larged; power was obtained from two water wheels. The flume, coming out from Warm Springs creek about two miles above the smelter and just below the geyser hot springs, was easily kept open during the coldest weather, which was an exceptional advantage, and enabled the com- pany to continue their work uninterruptedly throughout the year. The operations for a time were so promising that the proprietors overdid the work of providing facilities, especially by the erection of a mill at the Silver Star mine, at a cost of seventy-six thousand dollars. It was not only badly located but proved ill adapted to the ore, of which there was a large quantity on hand. This ore, which is still there, is a galena, very much mixed with silver, copper and iron, carry- ing gold in a true fissure vein. The silver and lead might be made to pay. The heavy-grade ores, of which there were large quantities mined,

have averaged two to three hundred ounces of silver to the ton in quartz. A great deal of galena, which yielded sixty per cent. lead and eighty ounces of silver, was shipped to the smel- ters as first-class ore; but the mill was built to treat only the more common kind, which con- tained twenty-two per cent. lead, as many ounces of silver, with copper sulphide, carrying gold to the amount of ten to fifteen dollars and mixed with zinc, spar, quartz, and lime.

The running of the mill, which was located upon the hill side, was unsuccessful and the insti- tution was shut down and sold; and since that time little has been done with it, except that it has been leased to miners who work in a small way.

The most prominent property, the North Star, has been a continuous producer ever since 1881. Although much extravagant outlay was incurred. the operation was successful. The ore is not of a grade so high as most of the ore on Wood river, running sixty per cent. lead and seventy- five to eighty ounces of silver; but many of the bodies have been large and continuous for a con- siderable distance,-being large enough to yield over one hundred thousand dollars each. There have also been considerable bodies of ore run- ning on the average eighteen per cent. lead, twen- ty-two to twenty-four ounces of silver, ten per cent. zinc, in arsenical iron and quartz, with spar and lime. These bodies have been milled at the North Star works, making a fairly good grade of concentrates.

In 1892, when the clean galena could not be obtained in sufficiently large quantities to run the smelters, the general managers endeavored to run, in the winter of 1892-3, on the bodies of low-grade ore from the North Star mine; and, owing chiefly to the presence of zinc,-which ran at times as high as seventeen per cent.,-the work was unsuccessful: the smelters were closed and have not since been opened. The work at the North Star has been continued by leasing.

At the Silver Star they now have fourteen claims, and at the North Star there are also large bodies of arsenical-iron pyrite, which carry gold from ten to twenty dollars to the ton. The mine is on the east fork of Wood river, seven miles front Gimlet station. The Silver Star is thirty miles from the town of Ketchum. At the town of

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

Ketchum the company have a large and substan- tially built smelter and all the appliances and structures,-one of the best plants in the county, and the works are located in a delightful situa- tion. The boarding house and buildings for the offices of the company are first-class and afford a delightful residence and resort in the summer. Wood river is so near the residence that its gur- gling current can be heard there.

THE RED CLOUD GROUP OF MINES.

This group of mines is situated on Deer creek, a tributary of Wood river, about twelve miles in a northwesterly direction from the town of Hailey, in Mineral Hill mining district, Blaine county, and is owned by Lyttleton Price, of Hailey, and Pittsburg parties. These mines were discovered by Orin Porter, E. H. Porter and James L. Mason, in 1880. The present owners purchased them in 1889, organized what was known as the Red Cloud Mining Company, and worked these properties for several years, paying in dividends ten thousand dollars per month, ap- proximating in the total two hundred thousand dollars.

In 1897 large quantities of water were struck and a deep tunnel was run on the property for the purpose of draining the mines and exploring them at greater depth. About this time the com- pany put in a water-power plant, air-compressor. and also every other mechanical adjunct neces- sary to modern mining; but, after they had ex- tended their deep tunnel to a distance of six thou- sand feet and made connection with the upper workings, five hundred and sixty feet higher. they found that the country was broken and faulted and that, together with the very low price of silver and lead then prevailing, discouraged the owners and they accordingly discontinued opera- tions, although the mine was considered by ex- perts to be one of the most valuable in the state. The deep tunnel opens and drains the country to a depth of fourteen hundred feet.

United States patents have been granted for these mines, comprising sixteen claims. The Red Cloud Mining Company has gone out of ex- istence, the property being now owned as above stated. Nothing has been done for a number of years on this property until within a few months since, when operations were resumed under lease

by Lyttleton Price, Thomas Kennelly and G. L. Havens, who now have a fine ore body developed and are extracting and shipping ore, and from present indications this group of mines now promises to be one of the most valuable proper- ties in the state of Idaho.

THE POORMAN MINE.

On War Eagle mountain, a mile and a half southeast of Silver City, are a group of about twenty mines, in one of the richest belts in that section of the state,-a belt which has afforded material to render Silver City famous throughout the civilized world. The Poorman mine has a production record of three million dollars, and other properties of the group-as Bell Pick, Oso, Illinois Central, Jackson and Silver Cord-have all been good producers.

The Poorman mine was discovered in 1865, and between July 9 and October 1, 1866, there was shipped from it the enormous sum of $606,- 692. The ore consists of chloride, sulphide of silver and a considerable proportion of copper. At a depth of one hundred feet five hundred pounds of ruby silver were taken out in one solid piece. This piece of ore was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1867. The Poorman mine is said to have been the richest body of ore for its size ever discovered. The mine is equipped with a ten-stamp mill, erected in 1895, and for the transportation of ore front the mine to the mill there is a wire-cable tramway of the Hallidie system one mile long. In 1888 the property was purchased by a syndicate of London, England, which is incorporated as the Poorman Gold Mines, limited. John B. Bryson. a resident of London, is the president of the company, and R. H. Britt, a resident here, is the manager. This company contemplates a deeper cut into the earth and a larger development, and great results are expected.

THE BLACK JACK MINE.

This famous mine, situated on Florida moun- tain three miles southwest of Silver City and one and a half miles from Dewey, was discovered in the early '6os, being the first mine found in this mountain. The company was first incorporated as the Black Jack Mining Company, and was listed on the San Francisco Stock Board. This

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HISTORY OF IDAHO.

company is said to have taken out one million and six hundred thousand dollars worth of the pre- cious metals; but, owing to the failure of the Bank of California, in 1875, all work in this vicin- ity was stopped, including operations in connec- tion with the Black Jack mine. This property was then sold for debt and finally came into the possession of William H. Dewey. During the period of his ownership of the mine it was worked principally by lessees, who opened no new ground, and the production was very light.

In 1889 the present owners, the Idaho & Pitts- burg Mining & Milling Company, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, came into possession of the prop- erty, by purchase. They were incorporated in 1890, under the laws of Kentucky, with a nomi- nal capital of two and a half million dollars, di- vided into two hundred and fifty thousand shares, of ten dollars each. They immediately began ex- tensive work, building a ten-stamp mill and all the necessary structures and starting a tunnel to tap the ledge five hundred and seventy feet below the deepest of the old workings. This tunnel reached the ledge in 1891, after passing through over nine hundred feet of country rock, and at last found the ledge barren! Drifting south, however, on the ledge, a pay chute was located. This was cut in 1892, and from that time on the enterprise has been on a permanent producing basis, with the exception of only one month, dur- ing the panic of 1893.

In 1894 a tunnel was started three hundred feet below the tunnel above referred to, and was completed in 1895, cutting the ledge after going through two thousand and one hundred feet of country rock. Connections were made with the upper levels, and from that time on all the ore for the mill has been taken out from the lower tunnel and hauled directly to the top of the ten- stamp mill, where it is discharged into the ore bin. In 1896 a shaft was started to work below the lower tunnel, which is now (1898) down two hundred and thirty-five feet; it is equipped with a cage. The power is furnished by an air-com- pressor at the mill, twenty-six hundred feet dis- tant. The lowest level of the mine approximates fourteen hundred feet below the top of the moun- tain, and the mine is opened up by levels about a hundred feet apart. The twelve-hundred-foot level connects with the Blaine tunnel of the Trade

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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 80

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