The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-10-11
An q
m.. Mo,,rnful story Of q Happy
Valley.

u.oro ID q little yalleyin the noun
!nele % will say-Idaho. II Is
;sniated from the world by q nut I'LL.
iso,sse ~ Mountains over which tners
~ n~,v a trail. A frontiersnian L.
settled originally and takeu ~
land. After q while q Plv ,J ,nina
came along and located q golu I'LL,
IN the foothills just outside va,,Jy,
Ha sold his claim to q capltailsI x1 W.
had a quartz mill packed IN. WIZ
lin came a merchant, a hotel-keePer,
. aaloon-keeper, a doctor. a lawyer
hntcher. and some miners. me ollg.
;neI rancher converted the w1ld acres
into farm and raised a luxurlant crop
The milne Welded splendidly, the MI
nars were regularly paid; the farmer
received an extravagant price tor ms
farm product; the merchant DID wei;
the doctor was kept busy; the lawyer
did the legal business for the camp:
the butcher was thriving, and IL was
the most Joyous and prosperous camp
in ali Idaho. The denizens chrlsten-
cd it .sHappy Valley" But The mer-
chant in one of his visits to a lower
citv and purchased a lot of second
hand books. These included the
works of SEVERAL eminent Eng!lsn au-
tbors on political enconnmy. In MIN
ing camps through the long evenings
people will read almost everything,
and 40 these books were read. These
writings gave the people of Happy
Valley new IDEAS. The farmer COLI
clnded that the merchant was charg-
ing him too Zig a price for tea, coffee.
tobacco and clothes. So, slyly, he
sent away to the nearest town for sup
plies for a year. When they arrived
he chuckled over his smart stroke OF
About the same time the
butcher thought he could substitute
goats for sheep and get the same
price that he was receiving for NUT
ton, be would be getting rich twice
IS fast. So he slyly drove in goats
and was carefully to slaughter them in
The canyon, where the heads and pelts
we're carefully concealed. He was
happy. The men who were subject
% attacks of illness, consulted togeth-
,r and sent away for patent specifics
which cost only half the charge of
ocular physicians. The merchants
had become a cause OF re-
so the whole settlement on the
ly, sent for cloths and groceries, and
Ill the loose money of the camp was
|ent out. About this tille the owner
If the mine concluded that there was
10 sense in paying 81 pc day to white
miners when Chinese could be en-
for $3.50. So he paid off his
miners and put IN their places Chi
lese. The Mongollons bought their
rice, opium, fish and clothes.
That winter the merchant sold few
TO save expenses, the people
lid their own drawing up of contracts
nd the lawyer suffered and grew
eckless. The goat meat was not rel
shed, and so the people lived mostly
such wild meat as they could Kill,
nd the butcher was ruined. The
octor had no practice and no money.
he farmer could not sell his crops
esch man had laid in his own
upplies. The hotel man committed
The Chinese not under
mining, permitted the mine
, cave, the rest left the country, and
he null was closed down. The only
lace where any life remained was at
ne saloon. With incre ased trouble
ne people drank harder and harder.
no money, they incurred
eavy bills. 10 brace up, the saloon
eeper determined to send for some
rugs and manufacture his own liq-
or. He did so, but not being an ex-
ert, the compound which he produc-
| was something to bring tears to 1
1e's eyes. But the people drank.
was all they could do, though the {
everage furnished them was as GER j
in and unyieldiDg as the time-lock
l a patent safe. The farmers crop
as drunk up, and his farm mortgage {
J. the goods of the merchant were I
OwIy absorbed, the butcher, the doc
r, and the lawyer all had long &C.
UNITS. At last the fatal drugs began a
do their fatal work. The cid far f
er suddenly died. The lawyer soon d
him; the butcher su :ceeded a
N. When the snow melted from I
e trail the next spring, a solitary
ospecter visited the place. He found
living thing to greet him but the -
nes of the former residents were I
all around as the wolves U
d left tn m. Only one body was 81
touched. That was the body of Of
3 saloon keeper. So stepped was t
with his own liquor that neither h
2 wolves nor decay would touch NJ
n,-SuN Lake Tribune. r