, 1890-04-17
THE SOUTH FORK.
Brief History of tho Development o'
Its K;oh Mines.


brief History of tho Development Of
Its Rich Mines.
Mullan Tribune.
Four years ago the first day Of
April there had not been one pound
of ore shipped from the South Fork
mines In fact, there was not ut
that time, technically speaking, II
mine on the South Fork. The
stampede to the Cmur d Alenes wns
II placer gold stampede aud the par
ties who sent out the dlscoyerer Of
tho Bunker Hill and sullivan mines
ut Wardner were indignant that he
had fooled away his time In bother
ing with galona lodges. They
grub stakcd" him TO look for gold
and not for lead or silver
Tho first silver lead ore from
the Cour d'A!enes was shipped
from the Bunker Hill and
sullivan mines during the summer
of 1855, and since that time one
after another of the South Fork
mines have commenced pouring
their silver nuggets into the Golfers
of the worlds wealth until at the
present time the waters Of the South
Fork of the Cmur d. 'Alcne river and
its tributaries are turning the wheels
ot ten concentrations, one gold mill
ana a dozen -awmills. The output
of these ten conCentptors has been
more than SlOOOOOO per month
during the past year, and for the
year 1890 Will double this amount.
The conccntrntors are the Bunker
Hin and sullivan, the Emma and
Last Chance, and Stemwindcr t3) n
Wardner. The Tiger, Poorman,
Granite, san Francisco and Gem
t5) at Gem and Burke. Tho Morn
ing and Evening, and the Gold
Hunter at Mullan t2), total ten con-
contrators, which are making daily
shipments Of from twenty to forty
tons of concentrates each. Aside
from this there are daily shipments
of rich ore, thnt goes to the smclt-
ing furnaces without concentrating
from the Sierra Nevada mine at
Wardner, the Custer on Sun Set
mountain, for which 81, 10000 was
offered aud refused IA few days
ngu, and the California mine
on Ninc Mile. Further mines
which have made monthly
shipments of ore are the
Polaias at Evolution, the Argentine
and Nellie ut Osburn and the Old
Abe at Elk creek. Again are those
mines which will ship ore during
the coming summer. The Black
Bear, Diamond, Hitch and Union
mines on Canyon creek, the Mon
arch aud Bluck Cloud on Nine Mile;
the Sitting Bull on sun set noun.
tain and the Grouse, Central and
Grconistham, Lucky Friday and
Gettysburg Mt hlullnn. Where IL
there the mining region in tho
world that can In so short time
make 30 good a showing?
The extent Of the South Fork
country is but twenty-five miles In
lcpgth hy ten miles In width, and
within this limit all these great
mines are found and hundred
others which IN time will be devel-
Oped into bonan2us like those men.
toned. New mines are being dis
covered every week aud works pro-
jCcted, and it Ia estimated that the
year 1880 viii be an exceedingly
prosperous one and will more than
double the last years output Of the
south Fork. All the towns along
the South Fork have their mines
and conccn,rators except the town
of Wallace. She stands alone,
proudly claiming the honorcd dis
tinction of having nil these great
properties ~ tributary to her TO-
sources. She stands on false
bottom, n bottom that "when
tine flowers shall bloom In the
spring ira lan will drop ont of her
and 20 on and ON to the deep blue
sea. she stands gazing at the cars
ot concentrates coming down from
Gem and Burke on Canyon creek
aud down the South Fork from
Mui!an; the cars do not etop, but
she reads the numbers as they pass
on 10 the great smcltcrs oil the
country, and she is proud; proud
that she Ia the center Of our great
mining region, where the cars d
ore, and the wind and everything
else passes her by. she takes visit
ors TO see her great mines AT Mullan,
Burke, Gem, Niue Mic and Os-
burn, and she spreads out over the
Cmur d'Alenes as If she would
shelter us with her benign influence
when she would rather read the riot
act TO every town on the South
Fork and let the world know that
the Gods alone dwell In the town OF
Wallace.