Delta chief., 1884-04-30
THE CEUR D. ALENE.
A Cosby Letter from IL Former Cor
respondent.

To the Editor OF HE CHIEF:
BELKNAP, Mont, April 1S.-Since last
wrote you many changes have been wrought.
some of which l will give you in detail. In
the first place the snow has about disappeared
from the streets, which enables one to get Il
correct idea of the lay of the town site, and
it is, to say the least, most ADM irable. The
streets are eighty feet in width, with neat
sidewalks on either side; the blocks are rath-
er small the houses built thus far are gener-
ally ,h I'VE the average for mining town in
its infancy. A heavy force of men at
work cleaning away the debris from the
streets, and expect soon to see one of the
neatest towns here of any on the Northern
Pacific railroad. Money is being disbursed
here with lavish hand, and the motto of
everyone seems to be, "on with the dance, let
joy be uuconfned," tor there is nothing like
carving out an Immortality by building pop
ulous cities in the dense forests of the Rocky
Mountains. Such is the case here. for / see
men at work here on the streets chopping oil
logs, that are crossed and piled to n height of
fully ten feet above the ground. The trees
are so thick most anywhere here that tlse
woodman often has to chop down an acre of
timber before he can get any to fall. Take
this with grain of salt.
Notwithstanding the fact that the snow is
still very deep in the timber, in places, many
are out prospecting, and not n few have al
ready struck it, to use their phraseology.
think | have seen some Of the richest gold
bearing quartz brought in from near Eagle
CITY that | ever saw. There has been some
good quartz leads discovered near here also.
So you see from this that Belknap is not
wholly dependent upon the rich finds in the
Eagle City country for her prosperity in the
future. The mountains around here, that
cast their shadows almost over the town,
have with but little prospecting shown them
selves to be repositories of great mineral
wealth. Several leads are visible from the
east end of Third and Fourth avenues, upon
which heavy forces of men are employed in
developing, with results highly ilattering.
1t is no trouble to find colors in any OF lhesc
streams. Yet no very good pay in the way
of placcrs have been found outside of Pritch-
ard creek and its tributaries, and you must
remember that these have been the base of
all the operations of the most experienced
miners from all parts of the country. Every
body is wanting to 90 prospecting. Still 1t is
little too early to do successfully. The
Judge and | will 90 in about a month. He
says he thinks we are in the center of the
main belt of mineral extending across the
country. But don't attach too much credence
to the exciting stories that are being circu-
lated here and elsewhere of the rich strikes
that are supposed to b. made right here, un-
der our very noses. He says people will
talk and lie to beat all creation. They have
my consent bu, am on their racket" You
know how the Judge is; he affects here, as he
did there. to believe all mankind given over
entirely to prevarication.
At the present time travel into the mines is
rather light as compared with a week back
| account for this in the fact that the first
| rush always attracts the anxious and the Gu
rious. who as II general thing come to see.
This rush, of course, includes the woman in
scarlet, the tin-horn gambler, and the bum,
IL, LAT. nf..I.a Inn u. S.r
want. Now of these many are returning to
their former haunts, and without n single ex
ception give unbridled license to the tongue.
villifying and denouncing the country rs
farce and fraud. But look out for the next
rush, for they will not come till something
can be done. And when they get here they
will be prepared to put in a summers work,
and if some of them should fail to strike it
rich they will not leave cursing the country,
as among the more considerate it is not ex
pected that every one who runs after mining
excitemcnts should strike bonanza.
Talk of downright perseverance and indus
try, but there is lady here by the name Of
Mrs. Givens, from Denver, who knocks the
persimmons. She came in during the rush !,
secured property, built the first house that
was put up by n woman, opened up laun-
dry, grub-staked some prospectors, sent them
out right away, and is keeping apacc with
tho times. This is what call grit.
News has just reached here of the discov
cry, near Eagle City, of placer ,liggings that
pay five pounds per day to the man. This is
good, is true. The Judge is going over to-
morrow.
johnson and friend, from Delta, have just
arrived, seemingly we'll pleased. They will
move on to the front. Butler and Donley
speak of coming soon. Colorado has furnish
ed the principal part of the immigration to
these parts.
receive THE CHIEF regularly, and to say
/ stop in its perusal short Of the ads. would
be false, as 1 take it all in. Was sorry to
hear of Mrs. Settles demise. My heart goes
out in sympathy for Pierre.
Our county paper is to change manage
ment in few days, and fear that my scalp
will dangle at some ones belt, as in recon-
mending me to the new proprietors my pres
ent on. said, II have a liar, but he pleases
me to we'll yet were ! to continue the pa.
per longer ! would retain him.
n. 2. Babcock, Of Denver, was in town
few days back. Frank Sutherland, of Gun
nison, is here, and thinks the mines good.
Tell the boys to pay no attention to what
write, look after politics in Delta county. and
lend helping hand this fall, to the Sage Of
Greystone" Yours for the right,
THE LOST CHARLIE Ross,