McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-03-20
, GOLD HUNTERS.
The Stampede to the Idaho Mines.

Cor. Chicago Times.
1t is never too cold or too hot for
men in search of gold. l have been
near the Idaho gold mines three days
and have seen pack trains one after
another filing up the old Mullan road
to the gold fields, and now have just
thawed my ink to remark that the
thermometer now indicates twenty
three below. The air is still and clear,
and the tall pine trees around the fort
glisten with an iciness such as | have
vever before seen. The new city,
which lies alongside the reservation,
is just beginning to bristle with hotels
and stores, and the boat builders are
working on the steamer propped up
above the ice. Everything is going for
ward in the way of preparation, and if
there are not so, 900 Elen going through
this place during the next six months,
then somebody will be fooled. Town
lots are selling at prices running into
the hundreds, and every man at the
garrison expects to get rich enough on
his mine during the spring and sum-
mer to retire into civil life. Life here
is civil enough, as far IS the real dis
tinction goes, and I could ask for moth
ing better than my place by the broad
open fireplace in Lieut.. Kinzie's quar-
tiers. The hotel is so crowded that the
average is two in a bed and some on
the floors in nearly every room, q land
while everybody is doing his best to
make things comfortable, it still falls
far short of the attractions of an Off
GERS mess.
All sorts of stories come from the
mines. So far I have seen no one
from there who is not going back in
the spring. With the spirit of the &C.
casion strong within me, 1 s'grub-
staked' young man known to me as
perfectly trustworthy. Before leaving
Portland, Oregon, l received the fol-
lowing letter from him, which send
you in the original. The statement
substantially agrees with what 1 have
picked up in the three days 1 have been
here:
EAGLE CITY.-Well, l just arrived
yesterday, and I travelled on foot for
eighty-six long, long miles, and it was
the hardest trip that 1 ever dreamed of.
The camp is booming, and there are
1920 men in the mines. Snow is from
four to seven feet deep. Every foot of
ground is taken, but an going across
the mountains in few days to try and
prospect some; but am afraid can't
do much for two months. They are
working few mines, and they are
showing up fine. Nine out of every ten
claims have been relocated, and there
is going to be some big fighting this
summer. There is only one female in
the town. Men are coming in at the
rate of fifty and sixty per day. My
friends say they will work me into some
good ground. l feel very much elated.
There are about thirty miles of mines
already located, and there is timber on
every foot of it. j. II. M.
The officers at the fort seem to have
confidence in the future developments,
and they are not men to be either zen.
Unused" or stampeded. I confess that
l do not believe enough is known yet
to warrant me in advising men to 60.
Two companies have been formed and
are beginning to work on the mines
only few miles from Ceur d'Alene
City. St. Joe River valley, near the
lake, is to be raked open by some ex-
pectant men who have been down that
way; and at Wolf Lodge, between
here and the mission, 1 am told there
will be good digging. The old miners
sayi will be a quartz mining field,
rather than placer, though some Jumps
as big as ones finger (say the little fin
ger) have been shown me. They came
out of the placers and are solid gold.
There are stories of bigger ones, and l
have seen quartz specimens rich in
"shot gold," as they call it. They per-
haps came from up above, at the new
mines, and perhaps from Liberia.