Delta chief., 1884-06-11
THE CGUR D'ALENE.
An Interesting Letter from Our Long
Lost Correspondent.
EAGLE CITY. IDAHO. June Sd. 1884.

class country to keep away from" Times
are hard, business dull in every respect with
scarcely days work to be had for love or
money, and the number coming in is hardly
| sufficient to make a stand off for those who
after fair trial. and actual test of the merits
of the country, have become disgusted and
are going out cursing the country, claiming
as they do, that it is one of the grandest
bilks, that has ever been heard of, barring
Mt Pisgah, in Colorado. Now, there is
reason for all this which in my opinion is
easily explained, having come here and be-
come somewhat acquainted with the resources
of the country, in many respects. In the first
place, there has been terrible stampede to
this country, which has by actuel experience
here found to have been altogether premature
as the actual merits of the country at the
present time after having been partially de-
velOped would not Justify any such rush
hithcr, much less IN mid-winter, when the
snow anywhere from one to twelve feet
in depth, besides being in a country situated
between parallels of latitude As and 40, and
between 80 and 40 miles from the railroad
Add to the terrors of severe winter such as
the last, to which men were exposed, the
scarcity of provisions, and the eXorbtant
prices paid for freighting in the same, and
all 700 III country tiaI can Doa>t OF Wnat
no other mineral country can, viz, having
been staked first and prospected afterward to
ascertain if possible whether or not mineral
existed at all consider for once these adverse
circumstances under which people have labor.
ed and you will readily see why those who
have failed to realize the full frution of their
hopes, have become so thoroughly disgusted
and have gone out cursing the country, and
| denominating it as the south end of a horse
going north" Yes, many are holding claims
here to-day who are no wiser as regards their
mineral deposits, than when they sailed
forth on snow shoes to locate the same.
| Again, there are towns laid out here, that
are quite city-like in appearance, in which
| during the past winter, real estate command
ed tabulously high prices, corner lots con-
veniently located, often selling for as high
as -, 500, and that at time when it cost not
| less than fifty dollars to get the snow shovel
| ed of place large enough to stretch tent
! 25x5U feet. To-day the lot, tent and all
could, in many instances. be bought for $3.50
| in cash. 1t Is true there are II few good
| placer claims here, but they are owned by
! men who are too poor TO develop them, con-
sequently they afford employment to the
| laDoring man further than wnat the proceeds
of the mines will pay for, and assure you
! this is not u drop in the bucket compared
with the vast amount of men who are here,
! loating around the streets, waiting for work
| to start up, rs they hate to leave there is
! no place TO 90 to just at this particular
| where they can reasonably expect to secure a
job, for farmers have their help secured,
while it is too early to begin cutting hay, SO
you see the only show is to stay with the pot
and do the racket ala DIR. Turner. As
! have informed you heretofore, q placer claim
in this camp amounts to twenty acres which
| is entirely too much and a meeting was held
here this evening for the purpose of cutting
the same down t" five acres but the motion
/ was lost, and to add Insult TO injury, Il law
! nasspl cDmnpIIIn,, all n,,r in Ia.
| future to locate only ten acres, instead of
| twenty as heretofore, thereby dcbarrng those
to come Of the same privileges they have ell
! joyed themselves The object in cutting
/ down the size of the claims was to insure "A
more speedy development of the same, as it
would entail upon each claimant less work,
and afford employment to the hundreds OF
men who are here and willing to hold and if
need be take their pay at bedrock" No,
the facts in the are. simply these, the
best part of the camp is taken up by old
ranchmen and not miners, who know nothing
about what it takes to open up "A placer
mining camp, and who have but one object
IN view, and that is to selt out and go back
to Washington Territory. But how tney ex-
pect to make a sale OF claims undeyeloped
Is more than can tell, us it Will take at
least three years to reach bed rock even All
mitting that they conform to the local laws
they have adopted, which cOmpels each
owner Of a claim to do but two hundred dol.
! lars worth OF work per year, which they
can do and stay at home half of the time, as
| they are allowed the rates OF $500 per day
while at work. To pick up a paper publish
ed here one would be led to believe, that work
was plenty, and that men were IN demand
but such Is not the case and as there al
ready at the least calculation two thousand
idle men in the camp. ! thiuk they will
have to make their way back to the railroad
as best they can, and follow in the steps Of
some of their predecessors, who II few DAYS
ago took charge of a train near Missouia,
and ran it into Helena, where they hoped To
get employment. There are few men in
camp ut present representing capital, and 1t
| is ruinored on the streets that one Of them is
here for Tabor, Of Colorado. However | am
| not able to say as to its truthfulncss. Should
camp new era in the wa OF thrift ard en-
terprise. As quartz camp | think this 50
| far to be failure, but it is 10 be hoped that
| during the summer other and more valuable
| discoveries will be maie. Some little excite
ment was caused here few days back by
| the discovery of what is thought to be the
| original bed or wash of Prtchard creek,
which is said to pan out well, but the belt Of
country through which 1t passes is along the
| top of one of the main ranges, running paral.
| lei to the creek, and back about one and "A
| half miles distant. Even though it should
| prove good it will take millions Of dollars to
work il, so it is of but little use to the poor
man. The Judge has been prospecting
| little and has located a claim on the old
river wash, but as It is deep to bed rock, he
| has not AS vet made his final rcport = far