Idaho semi-weekly world. (Idaho City, Boise County, Idaho Territory) 1867-1868, 1867-09-07

quiries, they responded that they were very
well satisfied with theslndications The dig
gings OH Ophir have almost universally paid
richly, and the gold, like that taken from La
dy's Creyice digg1ngs, near Placerville, is noted
for being the purest ever found in Southern
Idaho-ranging from ST. to above $18 pei
ounce.
| Pioneer City was reached in about an hour.
the distance being about six miles The gen
eral complaint Of dull times is heard there, as
in every other place mining camp, rural town,
interior city, or great seaboard mart-we hear
of at this time, but to stranger the complaint
would seem uncaIIed-for in Pioneer City. The
mercantile houses of Cannady & Madigan, j
C. Carroll, Danskin Bros, Jas. Duncan, Mo.
ritz g. Co., the public houses of Holland q
Peyton, John O'Donnell, John Graves, John
Marnane, John Vesey, L. Haubrick, ?. Kee
gan and Jerome Johnson; the fine and well pa.
tronized restaurants Of NJ. Dolan and McCor
mick, the trade shops of Hugh Craig and +,
Mcfarland, ali these, and the business to be
seen going on through the day in them all
would cause one to believe that Pioneer City
was excepted from the prevailing dizziness and
general decline of trade.
The diggings nearby and for miles about RI.
oneer City are still yielding richly-in no place
poorly. Even in the old, worked out" claims
wages are yet made, and in many of the claims
the product is extravagant. As labor declines
in price, together with the decline in the cost
of living, nearly every foot of ground which
has been worked all through that district will
pay as well to the future deliver as it did origi-
nally to the miner who opened the claim Wa
ter and the disposition to labor will prove the
truth of this prediction
In an interview with Mr.. Ben. Wilson, the
great ditch owner and heavy mining operator
of Pioneer City, we ascertained that very
important enterprise is now under way, which
will vastly benefit the whole mining country
from above Pioneer to below Centerville. Mr..
Wilson. O. G.. Waterman, and VIM. L. Law,
are owners of the "Big Ditch,' which now
supplies water to claims for length of nearly
eleven miles, from where it taps Grimes
creek, on toward the celebrated hummer Hill
near Centerville. They propose now to raise
this DITCH diminish its grade-which is too
greenland change in some places its course.
It will also be extended so as to supply the
rich hummer Hill diggings. and other high hill
claims all about Centerville, known to be very
rich, with water. 70 do this over two miles
of fuming will have to be constructed, some
of it in great spans of seventy feet hight. The
expenditure for this enterprise will be heavy,
but Mr.. Wilson, who is not only one of the
most active, pushing, energetic mining men in
the country, but also one of the most success
ful-and who unites with his years of practical
experience thorough, large-minded, broad
spirited application of the fruits of that expe-
rience,-is well satisfied that the time for the
work has come, and that it will be a success to
the owners as well as Of incalculable benefit to
the miners particularly, and to the merchants.
mechanics, shopkeepers and laborers, to every
body in short, all the way from where the first
supply of wateris loOsed upon the diggings to
the last inch furnished, and to Pioneer, Center
vile, and beyond Of course whatever bene-
fits those camps will rebound proportionably
to the welfare of this great trading and bust
ness mart of the Basin-our own city to
all in any way connected with trade operations
here. 1t is gigantic enterprise for this sec
ton, but the men who have undertaken it are
not of the class who look back after they re-
solve upon their work. They first think what
is best to be done; determine what to do and
how to do it; then cease thinking and apply
themselves in action. By next Spring the
water will flow through the improved and ex-
tended "Big Ditch, and then mills upon
miles of ground which prospects handsomely,
but which has all along lain idle for mere lack
of water to work it, will be actively, proftably
mined. They will be white men who will own
and work these new rich diggings, and room
for hundreds of these sturdy, welcome work
ers will be furnished by the timely, noble en-
terprise of Messrs. Wilson, Waterman and
Law. ys1 A.i s4tQ8
There is still good deal of mining going on
about Pioneer, although it is comparatively
near the close of the active mining season,
and from all that we could gather, the claims
are generally paying fully up to expectations
in other words, better than wages, and in
some cases much above that figure. aa e