The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-01
THE CGUR D'ALENE MINES.
A City of Millionaires- Winchester Rifles and
Ropes the instruments of Justice.


Ropes the instruments of Justice.
Belknap idaho Letter in New York Tribune.
1t is a novel experience to live in city the
population of which consists entirely of million
aires. and it is good for ones self-respect. Ot
course one hears ten times day that for every
man who makes money i'll the mines ninety nine
will be disappointed and ruined. But when it
comes to a cold, practical, individual application
of the MAXIM then it grows absurd Does not
your neighbor possess thirty second interest In
the Topnoddy CLAIM, and a seventeenth in the
Utopial To be sure he doesl So let US go and
have something to drink with him.
One set of men there is here who are not rab-
idly enthusiastic the prospects of the mines,
and these are the old miners-the men who went
into the C9ur d'Alene last summer. who did
then all the prospecting and mining in the re-
gion that has been done, and who ought to know
most about the mines. Perhaps this may be in
large measure due to the fact that they all of
them staked out claims last summer, and the
claims have SINCE been Jumped" Perhaps it is
because long experience has taught them that
the only men who are certain not to make money
out of a mine are those who originally pros
pected and discovered it. After year or two of
terribly hard work the prospecter may be lucky
enough to strike rich ledge. But he has
no means to work it, and is obliged to
sell out for what he can get. And he
can never get much What he does get
is spent in one brief spree in the nearest
town, and then he is off again with his pony and
Just the same way. There are several of the old
prospecters hanging about the hotels along the
line here now. Last summer-long before the
outside world had heard of it-they somehow in
their solitary roamings got wind of the discovery
of gold in the Cnur d'Alene region and thither
they at once made their way through all man
ner of hardships from the country round. And
for whatl One of them. an old Scotchman,
(prospecters are usually Scotchmen) over fifty
years of age, gave me the story of his visit yes
terday. He reached the supposed new gold field
early in June, and with dozen companions
worked on until October, hard work every day,
at clearing trails from claim to claim
and digging bitches for draining. The
amount of gold which he had
taken out of his claim was not enough to pay him
wages. There was undoubtedly gold there; but
he had hardly begun to work, when, on coming
out of his cabin one morning he saw party OF
ing up to see what they We're doing, he found
they had taken down his notice of occupation,
and were putting up one of their own.
What, you do not mean to say you are going
to jump my claim?n he asked
We'll dunno nothing about your claim re-
piled one of the party, pointing a Winchester
rifle at him; ''this is our claim now"
There were seven of them, four with Winches
ters and the other three carrying revolvers os-
tentatiously stuck in their belts, and when they
allowed him half an hour to collect his traps
and git he was discreet enough to take advant.
age of their forbearance, and got Of mis- com
panlons all but one or two have since
been served in the same way, and
out of ten is now in the hands of the original
owners Meanwhile the elected ones hang, as
say, about the hotels along the line comparing
notes and crying vengeance. The memory of
the four months of hard work is still green and
they are by no means disposed to sit down and
see the jumpers getting rich in their claims.
The seven who so summarily attached my Scotch
friends claim profess to have taken out $4,000
since they came into possession He processes
not to believe it, but still the possibility of it
being true only makes him more mad and more
determined to get the claim back He-as have
all the disinherited ones-has already taken
steps for putting the law in motion against
them. But the jumpers only swagger round
and say they don't care d for the law and
all the sheriffs and injunctions in the world
they are numerous and determined
and armed but popular feeling is
against Them and would not allow the original
occupers to forego their claim if they wished it.
AS soon as the snow is off the ground a serious
effort will be made by the law and order party to
straighten matters out There is only one recog
nized method of Strengthening such matters out
in mining camps, or at any event there is only one
method which anybody thinks of here, and that
that will be the resorted to everyone takes
for granted. That method has for its instruments
Winchester rifles siX-shOoters and pieces of
rope; and that the blithesome spring will come
attended with Emusic" and lively shooting no
body doubts. The military at Fort Ceur d'Alene,
it is hinted will be nice and handy, and seeing
that United States Deputy Surveyor has al
ready been roughly handled by the jumpers, and
turned out of Eagle City, it is reasoned that
there might not be any difficulty when
the time came in convincing the authori-
ties that it is government
quarrel Matters have in many cases been fur
Their complicated by the rejumping of some of
the claims by other parties more powerful than
the original jumpers, while in one instance a
claim has been jumped three deep
On the top of it all has come confusion as to
what county the mines are situated in. The
whole region has been almost unexplored until
now, and nobody has cared what county it was
in. The line of division between the counties
was laid down as running to the beginning of
the "Eteur dAlene mountains" but nobody
kings where are the Ceur d'Alene mountains.
NV, however, the prospect of a rich harvest
from licenses and taxation has put everybody
very much on the alert, and each county claims
that the other is trying to jump half its terri
tory. What the end will be no one can see, but
it certainly is not yet.
As for trustworthy information as to what the
mines are really WORTH there is no such thing
attainable. When the snow goes-probably
some time in May-it will be possible to make
some kind of an estimate but yet it can only
be pure conjecture and castle building of the
f1imsiest kind. Meanwhile the steady stream of
miners continues to pour in-most of them bent
on getting a placer claim. But among the
shrewder men in the neigborhood the quartz
leugeS are Ine cnleL SUBJECT OF interest, ana not
always the quartz lodges in the Ceur d'Alene
region either No sooner was gold reported from
the Ceur d'Alene than new finds were re
ported from all quarters of the country round;
strange rumors of fields of unheard of richness
discovered in all manner of out-of the way
places, and with unconscionable names, are
floating about and it is the general belief that
before the end of summer the Cour d'Alene will
be eclipsed and half forgotten in the rush to
these still newer regions.