The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-12-15
THE PROMISED LAND.
A WeltKuowu Miners Views of
the Occur d. Alene Placers,

the Occur d. Alene Placers.
Fifty Thousand People to be There
Next Season.
In his rounds yesterday the M1NEf
reporter ran across w. Fl. Stillwell
an Alder Gulch miner in early times
and more recently well-known mi
ner from Mexico to Alaska. Mr.. Still
we'll has just returned from the Ceul
d'Alenes, where he purchased some
claims for we'll known San Francisco
and Silver City, (Mexico) capitalists
and mining operators. In the
course of an extended conversation
Mr.. Stillwell impaired the follow.
ing information regarding the
new diggings: Eagle City and
Hayes City are the same town. II
was first called Eagle City, but Sam
Hayes, of Spokane Falls. keeps the
store, saloon, hotel and restaurant,
and mail generally comes addressed
to Hayes City. There is no
town organization or post office, and
when one is established it will prob.
ably be called Hayes City. The
town consists of forty or fifty log
cabins and contains about 25O people.
There was two and q half feet OF
snow on the ground when he left on
Nov. 25th. Mining was still carried
on to some extent and more or less
work would be done the entire win
ter. The placers extend from four
miles below Eagle City along Eagle
Creek up to the camp and on
Pritchard Greek above the town, good
claims have been discovered for a dis
tance of ten miles. Some good pros
poets have also been discovered in
five or six side gulches aud sales have
been made at prices ranging from
500 to $500 per claim. Several
quartz claims have been located
which show high grade ore, but very
little work has been done on them,
on account of tbs deep snow which
renders 1t impossible now to
get into the mountains to
prospect for quartz. Regarding the
placers Mr.. Stillwell says, the gulch is
very wide and flat, running from 40
to 80 rods wide and having a fall of
from q to 3 feet to the 100 feet, the
entire fiat beng heavily timbered
with cedar, balsam fir and red fir.
No bedrock has been struck as yet
in the main channel, but wherever
bedrock has been reached on either
side it prospects we'll. 1t is the
coarsest gold he ever saw and worth
from $17 to $lS per ounce. 1t is im-
possible to say how much dust has
been taken out. The claims were
first taken up by Palouse farmers,
but few miners came in until late
and good pay was not struck until
they came. A great many had come
in, secured their claims, taken out
some dust and gone away, of which
no account could be obtained. Some
good miners are in the country now,
who are running drains and getting
ready for thorough work next season.
1t Is impossible to get in or out now.
The snow is deep, timber thick and
the river must be crossed over
thirty times between the Mission and
the mines.
swell now, Mr.. Stillwell, what is
your opinion, as a miner, of the
mines and the stampede?' asked the
reporter.
Mr.. stillwell-"It will be q big
camp. Ifa main pay channel is de-
veloped, in my opinion, it will be a
better camp than Alder Gulch was in
its palmiest days. 1t prospects as
we'll, or better on the sides, than AL
der Gulch did, and the gold is coarser.
There are fourteen miles ofthe gulch,
besides the side gulches, aff0rdipg
ground enough to support large
camp. The bed rock Is slate, with
the gold in the crevasses, and it will
be hard bedrock to clean."
Reporter-"How much of stam
pede do you think there will be in
the spring."
Mr.. ST. came through WASH
lngton and Oregon. and everybody
was talking about the new
mines. There will be a grand
hegira from that section, as
we'll as from other Sec
tions of the coast, and from my
experience with placer excitements,
it would not surprise me to see fifty
thousand people IN Lne oigS1n9s neAt
season."
Rep.-''Did you see any Of our
Butte men there?"
Mr.. Sob yes, I saw a good
many people from Butte, Wood
River and the Black Hills and they
were all catching on to good ground"
Rep.-"Did you have any trouble
in getting out ?"
Mr.. S.-"The snow was deeo but
we had no special trouble. The road,
however, was lined with the dead
horses, half covered with snow, Of
those who had preceded u.s."
Rep.-"How were provisions when
you lelt?.'
"Mr. S.-"Grub was getting little