Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1883-10-26
WOOD RIVER.
her ADVANTAGES GRAPHICALLY
DESCRIBED.
Her Mineral Wealth, Agricultural Fa.
cilities, Social Features, ETC., as Told
by the Receiver Of the HALEY Land
O.fice.

by the Receiver Of the HALEY Land
Office.
Haley is on Wood River, about rs
miles from where its waters flow into
the Snake river. 1t is small stream,
no larger than the Labette at or near
Chetopa. But, O! the clear, cool
water that rushes down this small
stream, which has descent Of 20 feet
to the mile, is so grand, that to one
who is accustomed to the sluggish
streams OF Southern Kansas, whose
waters are green with filth and skum,
cannot help but admire the country
for even the pure, cold water; and
when we stand ana gaze upon this
pure, sparkling water as it rushes
down over the hundreds of cataracts,
we feel as thougA we could drink al
ways and never have enough. The
fish that arc found in all these streams
are very nlve; they are the mountain
trout. 1t is a, pleasure to catch these
spry little fellows, ana is no less
pl assure to eat them when they are
properly served on the table. But l
be eve | was speaking of HALEY.
We J., HALEY is a 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 UNI
der construction ut 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 a few prices
of both necessarlcs as well 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 3 cents per pound, sweet potatoes
10 cents per pound, beef % cents per
pound, and although the market is full
of fruit, yet the prices run as follows:
Pears % cents per ponnd, green APP
pies 70 cents per pound, grapes rs
cents per pound, tomatoes rs cents
per pound, peaches 70 cents per
pound. There is no nickel change
here, and rarely ten-cent piece is
7'een or used. Punched coins go all
right, and Mexican as well as trade
dollars as good as any. am told that
whisky at the bar is rs cents drink.
Il merely throw in this last bit of in
formation for the 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
shipped from here to Omaha for smet-
Jag and refining. 1t is no unusual
thing to see at the freight depot 1000
bars OF silver stacked up awaiting
shipment; nor to See ten or fifteen r.
mule teams hauling bar silver from the
snelters to the depot. There are
plenty of lawyers here, plenty Of doc
tors, and a supcrabundancc of loaf
ers. I.aboring men ale in demand at
50 per day. Mechanics have been
quite busy and in demand, but work
is now little slack. Carpenters get
- per day, stone and bricklayers S,
per day, painters IS per day, and
brickmakerS from =! to s. per day.
Now | will speak of the surround
ing country that is tributary to Hal
ley, and which will contribute to the
building up of small city here in
the near future. First, the mineral
county is one vast succession of
mountain ranges with here and there
a small fertile valley, through which
wagon-road rams, over which supplies
are hauled TO the mines and mineral
brought from the mines. And then
from these small fertile valleys dozens
of narrow gulchcs reach up IN various
directions whore often wagon-road
cannot be constructed, hence the
pack mule and the train are brought
into use. 1t is somewhat amusing to
fresh hansan to see them load up
these trains of pack mules. Boxes
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 in
length, aud they thus freight goods
for hundreds OF miles up narrow
gnlchcs and over m, untain passes to
the various interior mines, and on re-
turn bring bags of ore to the smelters.
There is no end to the mineral in
this countrv. have visited several
of the popular mines hear Haley and
/ have seen a million dollars worth of
o,c at one GIT. There are hundreds
OF these well developed mines and
81 Il IL