, 1888-11-08
A STRAY LEAF
From the EARLY History OF the
C9ur d'Alene Mines.
A Gold Hunting Dream That
Was Not Realized.
,Ioy the First Discovery Was Made
Known to q Select Few--The Fas-
cination OF Mining.

The history Of the new world has time
and again demonstrated the fact that
there is absolutely nothing that tends sc
strongly to make rover of a man, or that
will 80 suddenly shake loose the human
grip upon any special locality. no matter
puhat may be the home attractions, and
hd the possessor of said grip ricocheting
over the country, at the exclamation-
pointed and bold faced headed announce
ments of new and rich mineral discovery
in a quarter where the existence Of miner
al had never been suspected. No matter
how remote from settled districts and con-
seauently comfortable means of transpor.
tion may be located the fresh find, or how
inaccessible. wild and cherries the re-
gion wherein the auriferous soil is sup
posed to be stored away, the eager search.
er after mettle, springs up from the four
quarters of the earth, sets forth with his
face turned toward the land of promise;
and will brave all manner of perils, hard
ships and inconveniences to be near the
place where the mineral is said to exist,
seemingly satisfied if he only gets there,
without even shadowy idea of what pro.
share of the dross-always. however, cal.
culatiDg on that share being in enormous
quantities.
MINING EXCITEMENTs.
At regular intervals, for the past forty
.years, the country has been electrified by
1.-THE heralded discovery of mineral in va
rious portions of the United States. fol-
lowed at once by a stampede of venture
some, eager, avaricious prospectors and
adventurers, the wild insane rush en-
couraged and spurred on by florid and
imaginative newspaper escriptions of the
alleged finds, the authenticity OF which
are never so much as questioned 10y the
ardent and hopeful argonauts. Bent upon
getting there among the first; trusting to
luck to make a rich strike, supported in
all their adversities by an ever. haunting
vision of golden issue out of their pow
erty and Affections, this hardy vanguard
OF later civilization chase after the me-
talic ignis fatuus that constantly lures
them on and seems to grow brighter and
nearer the grasp at every recurring gold or
silver mining excitement. Only those who
have witnessed the effects of o sudden
stampede to a new placer or quarts dis
covery can fully understand how complete
ly people are carried away in the mad
scramble 10 reach the diRgings ahead of
someone else. The consuming fever of q
wild desire for riches makes them deaf to
~ advice. bliud to all obstacles, deter
6Aeled in facing every adversity. II pluck
insure success, there would be very few
prospectors on the coast.
THE CGUR D'ALENE DISCOVERY.
Those who date their arrival in Spo-
kane Falls back half decade have a vivid
recollection of very extensive and widely |
felt mining excitement, and the scenes en-
acted in conjunction with the announced
find Of gold in the CGur d'Alene range of
mountains, located in the narrow pam
handle of Idaho. adjacent to this city, now
of such an extraordinary character as not |
soon to be forgotten. The news of the dis
covery of gold along a stream afterwards
named IN homer of the discove-er, leaked |
out during the fall of 1888 and the winter
of 1884, and withstanding the
rigors of the season there |
was grand and crazy rush |
into the country, regardless OF the fact |
that it was simply out OF the questio to |
prospect, or do any work whatever with |
the ground covered with snow to the desth
of several feet.
Much of this travel to and from what
was known as the mines although for
hOhtbs oucu q 'uthk 90 hNVu ou'y
in the imagination Of the half starved
and half frozen prospectors-passed
through Spokane Fails. There was an
excitement in the very atmos-
phere. The air was rife with all manner
of rumors of wonderful strikes. lie half
that was told and written were true the
creeks flowed over beds of solid gold.
while there was enough OF the precious
stuf mingled with the soil from the grass
~ hnI % hn1t L
rich az Vanderbilt. All manner of
were afoot looking to the aG9ran-
dizement of the promoters, and Spokanites
builded largely their hopes of future
greatnass upon this 9littering foundation.
The town was daily crowded with people
heading toward the new field OF mining
operations, while every means of con-
veyance from the six-horse Concord coach
to the tobogean drawn by dogs was forced
into service to either expedite getting
there or as means of transporting tue
necessary provender. and the outlook
promised speedy 6lling up of the neigh
boring territory, the development OF the
mining region with u corresponding pros-
perity for this place, the ackno wledved
supply center for the Coeur 'Alenes.
AN OLD LETTER.
However, it was not the intention of the
writer to dwell largely upon mining ex-
citements in &c neral and the Ceur d Alene
stampede in particular, when he started
out upon the subject He was led into
this groove by recently running across an
old letter written by the original discov-
erer of gold in the Ceur d'Alenes. Mr.. A.
J. Prichard. and took this means of work.
ing gradually down to the old document
IL is barely possible that the existence of
gold in the Idaho panhandle, or that sec