Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1883-10-27

CIIitlcS, ooclal Features, Eic., as EoIN
by the Receiver OF the HALEY Land
Office.
correspondence Oswego (Kas.l independent
Haley is on Wood River, about Is
miles from where its waters flow into
the Snake river. 1t is "A small stream,
no larger than the Labette at or near
Chetopa. But, 0! the clear, cool
water that rushes down this small
stream, which has descent Of 20 feet
to the mile, is SO grand, chat to one
who is accustomed to the sluggish
streams OF Southern Kansas, whose
waters are green with filth and skum,
cannot he p but admire the country
for even the pure, cold water; and
when we stand and gaze upon this
pure, sparkling water as it rushcs
down over the hundreds of cataracts,
we feel as though we could drink al
ways and never have enough. The
fish that are found in all these streams
are very nlve; they are the mountain
trout. 1t is IL pleasure to catch these
spry little follows, and is no less IA
pl Assure to cat them when they are
properly served on the table. But |
be eve | was speaking Of Haley.
Wei ], Haley is little wooden town,
only two years old, regularly laid out,
but built up Of log houses, box houses,
few neat frame buildings, and some
brick and stone structures. a new
and magnificent courthouse is now un-
der construction at cost of $4,000.
a three-story hotel. about the size of
Abbott House, OF Parsons, is nearly
enclosed, and many small dwellings
are in course OF erection.
Now let me give you few prices
Of both necessarivs as we'll as luxu-
ries II you start out with your mar
ket basket to provide for dinner you
will be required to pay for Irish pota-
toes ) cents per pound, sweet potatoes
j. cents per pound, beef % cents per
pound, and although the market is full
Of fruit, yet the prices run as follows:
Pear, % cents per pound, green APP
pies 20 cents per pound, grapes 20
cents per pound, tomatoes % cents
per pound, peaches 25 cents per
pound. There is no nickel change
here, and rarely ten-cent piece is
seen or used. Punched coins 90 all
ri. h., and Mexican as well AS trade
dollars as good as any. ! am told that
whisky at the bar is 25 cents drink.
| merely throw in Il lis last bit of in
formation for TIE benefit Of some OF
our Owego friends who have been talk
ing about coming up here)
There is an immense amount of
business done here, as hundreds of
mining camps procure their supplies
at Haley, this being the end Of the
Wood River Branch Of the Oregon
Short Line Railroad. Hundreds Of
carloads of bullion and ore are
shippefai from here to Omaha for smelt-
ing and refining. 1t is no unusual
thing to see at the freight depot 100
bars OF silver stacked up awaiting
Shipment; nor to see ten or fifteen T.
mule teams hauling bar silver from the
smeters to the depot. There are
plenty OF lawyers here, plenty Of doe
tors, and superabundancc of loaf
crs. l.aNor.ng mcn a!c ia demand at
s. per day. Mechanics have been
quite busy and in demand, but work
is now little slack. Carpenters get
s. per day, stone and blicklavcrs s,
per day, painters s. per day, and
brickmakerS from 81 to IS per day.
Now will speak of the surround
ing country that is tributary to Hal
lev, and which will contribute to the
building up of IA small city here in
the near f,.turc. First, the mineral
country is one vast succession o.
mountain ranges with here and there
a small fertile valley, through which I;
wagon-road runs, over which supplies
are hauled to the mines and IMMORAL
brought from the mines. And then
from these small fertile valleys dozens
of narrow gulch,s reach up IN various
directions where often a wagun-road
cannot be constructed, hence the
pack mule and the train arc brought
into use. 1t is somewhat amusing to
ii fresh kansan to see them load up
these trains of pack mules. BoNe>
OF canned goods, kegs of nails,
kegs of whisky and every conceivable
thing is tied on the backs of these
animals and one after another they
string out forming line mile i'll
length, and they thus freight goods
for hundreds OF miles up narrow
gulchts and over N uutain passes to
the various interior mines, and on re-
turn bring bags Of ore to the smclters.
There is no end to the mineral IN
this country. have visited several
of the popular III 'nes near HALEY aud
have seen million dollars worth Of
ore at on sigat. There are hundreds
of these well developed mines aud
there are thoSaadS of PROSPECTS that