New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-30
THE CEUR D'ALENE MINES
NOTES FROM A CITY OF MLLIoNNAIREs

NOTES FROM A CITY OF MILLI0NNAlRES
lFRoM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF The TRIBUNE.l
BELKNAP Idaho March 21.-lt is a novel expert
ence to live in city the population OF which con-
sists entirely of milliOnnares and ii is good for
ones self respect. OF course hears ten times
day that for every who makes money IN tho
mines ninety-nlne will be disappointed and ruined.
But when 1t comes to a cold, practical. individual
application of the maxim, then il grows absurd.
Does not your neighbor possess a thirtysecond in
terest in the TOpnoody claim, and seventeenth In
fine Utopia To be sure he does So let US go and
have something to drink with him.
One set of men there is here who are not rabidly
enthusiastic over the prospects Of the mines, and
these are the old miners-the men who went into
the Cnur dAleue last summer who did then all the
prospecting and mining in the region 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 il is because long experience has taught
them that the only men who certain not to mako
money out of q mine are those who originally
prospected and discovered it. After year or two
of terribly hard work the prospector may be lucky
enough to strike a 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 spent in brief spree in the nearest
town. and then lac IS off again with his pony and
his pick for another couple of years, 10 end in just
the same way There are several of the old pros
pectors 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 roamngs got wind of the discovery of gold
in the Cgur ID Alene region aud thitheI they at
made their way through all manner of hardshlps
from the country round And for what One Of
them, old Scotchman (prospectors are usually
Scotchmen) over fifty years of age, gave me the
story of his visit yesterday. He reached the sup
posed new gold-fed early in june and with dozen
companions worked on until October, hard work
every day. at clearing trails from claim 10
claim and digging bitches for draining
The amount of gold which he had
taken on of his claim was not enough 10 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 a party of seven men
down by his corner stake. On walkingup tosee what
they were doing, be found they had taken down his
notice of occupation and were putting up one Of
their own. -.
lump nv claim ;" he asked.
well, | dunno nothing abont your claim
replied one of the party pointing winchester
rifle mt him, " this is our claim now
There were seven of them, four with WInchesters
and the other three carrying reyolvers ostenta-
tiously stuck in their belts aud when they allowed
him half an hour to collect his traps aud git, he
was discreet enough TO take advantage of their
forbearancean and got OF his companions all but one
or two have since been served in the way
and il is estimated that not one clam
out of ten is now in the hands OF tho
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 sull
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 at
tached my Scotch friends claim profess 10 have
taken out 81 900 since they came into possession
sIbility Of 1t being true only makes him more mad
and ss Ra7s al If ss d inf S9
Ones-has already taken steps for put
ting the law in motion against them. But
don't care d for the law and all the Sherifs and
iniunctiOns in the world; they ara numerous and
determined and armed; but popular feeling IS
against them, and would not allow the Orlgi-
nal occuplers TO fOregO their claim If they
wished il. As soon as the snow Is OF the ground n
serious effort will be made by the law and order
party to straghten matters out. There Is only one
recognized Of strengthening such matters out
in mining camps, at all events there Is only one
will be the one resorted TO everyone takes for
granted. That method has for its Instruments
Winchester rifles, six-shooters and pieces OF ropei
and that the blithesOme spring Will come attended
with music aud lively shooting nobody here
doubts. The military at Fort Cpur Afene n IS
limited, will be nice and handy, and seeing that a
United States Deputy Surveyor has already
been roughly handled by the Jumpers, md turned
ont of Eagle City, II il reasoned that there
might not be any difficulty when the time came IN
convincing the authorities that II is Government
quarrel Matters have In many cases been further
complicated by the re- jumping OF some OF the claims
by other parties more powerful than the original
jumpers while in one instance claim has been
Jumped three deep.
on the top of IL all has come a confusion as 20
what county the mines are situated IN.
The whole region has been almost M
explored until now, and nobody mas
-, hat ~ Wa of
between the counties was laid down as running 10
the beginning of the "Cgur dAlene M0untalns'i
but nobody knows which are the Ceur dAlene
Mountains. Now, however, the prospect OF n
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 ter
ritory. What the end will be no one can see, but
it certainly Is not yet.
AS for Trustworthy information to what the
mines are really worth, there Is no such thing at
tainable. When the snow goes-probably sometime
In May-it will be possible TO make some kind of an
estimate but AS yet il can only be pure conjecture
and castle building of the himsiest kind. Mean
while the steady stream of miners continues 20
pour in--most OF them bent getting a placer
clam. But among the shrewder man IN the neigh
borhOOd the quartz lodges are the chief subject OF
interest, and not always the quartz
lodges in the Ceur dAlene region either.
No sooner was gold reported from the Ceur dAlens
than new finds were reported IRON all quarters or
the country round strange runOrs Of heds Ot un-
heard of richness discovered IN all manner Of OUT
of the-way places, and with unconSconable names,
are floating about; and IL Is the general belief that
before the end of summer the C9ur d lene Will DO
still newer regions.