Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-06-20

River, he having worked here fo
/, two or three years, and in Bois,
: county for about ten years:
JOHANNESBURG, S. A. r.,
April IA, 1890.
Mr.. GEORGE WINGERT: DEAF
: tRLEND-Your letter, although some
!, what of surprise, | can assure you
was very gladly received. l see by
, It's contents that Wood River is still
turning out some ore; hope it will
continue to do so for long time yet
, | was also pleased to find that you
had not forgotten old acquaintances
expect to see Idaho again some day,
if life lasts.
All things considered, l think
America is better country for man
than this, especially working man.
Things are on quite different foot
ing here than they are out there, and
In the long run don't suit one who
has spent few years in that part of
the world-too many foolish Eng
lish prejudices existing to suit man
who has been away from them for
few years; and worse still for man
who has never seen any of them.
Well, now in regard to this coun-
try | will try to give you some gen.
eral ideas. Of course you are we'll
aware that it is under the Boer gov
ernment, and l have not the least
doubt that when they had only farm
ers to lsgislate for they were very
well able to do SO, as the needs of
the country were very limited. If
you take nine out of every ten OF the
Beers before the gold discoveries,
they were what you might expect the
Mormons would have been IN Utah
in three or four generations if they
had been left to themselves, and no
mines discovered near them. There
was no money in the country and ev-
erything was barter and exchange,
and their wants were very limited in
deed. A patch of Indian corn
('mealies" is the name here), a rifle
and ammunition and horse to ride
were as much as great many of
them seemed to want.
In the last three or four years the
population of this place has trebled,
and nearly one-half the population OF
the Transvaal is in Johannesburg and
the near vicinity. This, of course, is
due to the gold discovery. And up
to the present time all the laws that
have been passed have been aimed
at filling the treasury of the govern
ment at the expense OF the mines.
will name a few.
A MINING CLAIM
is $50 yards wide and so yards long
on the line of the reef. A miner is
not allowed to locate the width of a
claim on the line of the reef, so YOU
see that claim is very small, and
they are generally taken up in blocks
of ten or more. II man wants to
prospect he must first get a pros
peetor's license, which costs 81 so.
Then he must mark off the piece of
ground he wants to prospect on in
claims, and pay claim license of
81 80 per claim per month, and if he
finds the reef or pay of any kind and
wants to sink on it, or work it, he
must get digger's license, which
amounts to $500 per claim per
month. So you see that prospect
or's chance is a poor one. a block
of ten claims, which is only the
length by the breadth of claim in
America, will cost 91O, or $50 per
month in license alone. What would
be considered a good prospector's
stake in America would not be of any
use in starting out prospecting here.
ALL TOWN LOTS
or stands in any place on which a
house is built, on government land,
have to pay ground rent of 81 so
per month. This holds good in the
mines as we'll after they are being
worked.
Everything that is imported into
the country is taxed about 20 per
cent. import duty-some things more
than others, but on the whole aver
aging about 20 per cent. All min
ing machinery of course has to be
imported from Europe or America
England supplying the mos9. Wag-
ons cost more laid down here than