Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-04-04

of saloons never closed their doors. The
largest saloon In the town" Miners
Exehange-paid john Kelly, a violinist
well known all over the Pacific coast,
800 per night to lead its orchestra for the
entertainment Of its numerous patrons for
one year. The contract was fulfilled, and
every night at twelve when the orchestra
ceased playing, the 500 was paid Two
theatres were constructed-one by ). q.
Rosenbaum, now Of San Francisco-and |
some professionals Of great reputation were
engaged to entertain lovers of the stage
among whom were Julia Dean and Sue
Getzler Each theatre kept in its employ |
| in addition to the orchestra a good brass
band.
The circulating medium (dusD was moi
| to be used without considerable annoy |
anee and loss to those who received it |
from various sources Bogus dust opera
tors became very numerous, and the spu-
rious article put into circulation by many
of them so c.osely resembed the genuine
dust taken from the placers of the basin
that the most skilled expert was not sell
dom at loss TO detect the difference. In
cases Of doubt acid was used which at
length found place on every counter.
" hummer hill" sand was even more dan
gerous, as it was nearly of the same spe-
cific gravity and OF the same color as gold.
AS acid had no effect on it, thousands of
dollars of this worthless production of
hummer hill, at Centetville, were passed
While shoveling dit into sluices on
Kelly's claim, between Main and Mont
gomery streets, Idaho City, in 1867, the
men were very much surprised and pleased
on seeing the yellow dust rapidly accumu-
lating IN the bottom Of the boxes Half a
a bushel of dust was cleaned up for the
work done from morning till the middle
OF the afternoon. Kelly was exceedingly
: iubiiant when he saw the cleanup, and
+, cried out: Boys, knock off for to-day!
| have all the money | want" The boys
all quit work, and the beer was ordered.
} Everybody drank to his hearts content,
and the hilarious meeting did not end I'M
: til five kegs of the liquor had been drunk.
: But next day Kelly was not so jubilant.
: When an attempt was made to retOrt the
amalgam it melted, showing that it was
= principally copper. The fact was that
the dirt thrown in was taken from under
d house that had been the resort of bogus
: dust operators.
/, The first quartz mill within the bounda-
4 ries of the present territory of Idaho was
' the Elkhorn, which was erected in 1865,
, at the Elkhorn mine fourteen miles north
!, of idaho City, then Bannock The mill
: was constructed by Richard Wheelbach,
n who afterwards put up the Homestake l6a
f stamp mill at Dcadwood, Dakota. An
a uprooted three had thrown ore to the sur
face, which attracted the attention of a
r prospector As this root resembed a pair
0 of elk horns, "Elkhorn was written on
the original notice and so recorded This
% circumstance, after the mine became ia
!; nous, suggested the name for many 9th
# ers through Idaho and Montana Mr.,
I'll Wheelbach had charge of the MILL which
, was run by water, until 1868. Most of
. the machinery, which was brought from
. Umatilla, came on the backs of pack ami
q mails. The mine was located and the
. company incorporated in November, 1864.
"a ID. b. Kimmel, at present a jeweler in
N Boise City, and Claus Van Thun, a placer
/ miner on More creek were among the
d principal stockholders. The property has
!, from that day to the present passed through
"A many hands. Many times abandoned and
W relocated it was considered by most peo
If pie worthless, yet it has yielded largely
- for the amount of work done on it. A
a this was the first mill to produce &
IN gold brick in the " Gem of the Mountains
ar u few words in regard to its operations
p will not be out of place. The first clean
up was reported in October 1865, and was
in 225 ounces of gold-the result of five
RI days run, The gold was worth $12 pei
Nv ounce. During the first three years tht
~ mill turned out $554Q00 After that i
an passed from hand to hand, Geo. w. Rich
|, - ards, Of the HALEY News Miner newspa
Nv per, and Thomas Barry, a merchant o
as Idaho City, being among the humble
a whose expectations were not realized
IN Eight years ago Hugh Turner came int
nv possession of the property. lie com
iii menced work without a dollar, but wa
,rt enabled 10 proceed after crushing som
nv rich ore he found near the surface. II
he ran tunnel 1856 feet into the mopntair
in to tap the vein at the depth of 500 fee
rs This was very expensive piece of work
~. and had it not been for friends the proper
as ty would have been seized by the sheri
for debt Finding no ore in the tunnC
that would pay with the milling facilite
ooo he was obliged to accept, an upraise wa
eii made in search of better ore, and Mr.. Tu
NJ ner's fonGest hopes We're realized by tn
t.s, discovery of exceedingly rich rock wher
III he could not reasonably have expected
nv In less than twenty days the little mi
w turned out S22,000 to gladden. the hear
n'es of Mr.. Tuner and his creditors. 0
ri March Is, 1888, Mr.. Turner placed IL
eN mine in the hands OF s. c. Bowen to sci
'as That gentleman has at last succeeded
~ Boston company paid $4,000 for I'll
~ ~ property February LIST last. Mr. Tarnt
llh has taken sos, out of the mine, and
1 'hc now well paid for his years of private
-t'e and toll
zen A short time after the Elkhor
at commenced turning out gold bars tt
ks Gambrlnas, ten-stamp mill, S
, ,,a miles north of Idaho City, started u
3nt 1t was owned by Green and Benz
re min White, the former OF whom
now sheriff Of Gilmore county. III
tea latter died at Silver City, Owyh,
the county, several years ago. The roc
md near the surface of one of the veil
lar was exceedingly rich. The m
'eir turned out s250,000 in three month
on On but, after working the chutes to Il
in depth of sixty or seventy feet, Il
on. pay was lost, the mill moved ava
md and the mine abandoned. This al
the the Elkhorn will beyond doubt a,
,o Ui to the future wealth of Boise count
,res A ten-stamp @ill was erected at t