The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-08-15
Elkhorn Gulch.

! E1khorn Gu1ch.
In the early and prosperous days
OF this camp, tradition says, Elk.
horn gulch was distinguished 70,
mining activity, and large sums Of
silver were mined from it's thanking
hills and given to spectators in
that metal which an unjust govern
ment had called into being to feed
and fatten on the earnings OF the
unfortunate miner. This prosper
lty has passed away-at least fo1
the present-but the dishonest de-
monetization act remains; and the
visitor to the place now sees only
the ineffaceable evidences of that
period of industry and industrial
achievement, remembered by those
whose good fortune it was to be
actors in it as are remembered the
pleasures of youth or a delightful
dream. The old mines are there
the Elkhorn, the Parker, the Qua
ker City, the Badger and others
from whose rock-bound vaults tors
of the .precious metal were long
ago extracted. Their surfaces are
Scared by many cuts and tunnels.
Great heaps of broken rocks-dump
piles-disfgure and deform the
primeval beauty and symmetry of
the lovely landscape. A building
or an unused car track, now falling
into ruin and decay, remains here
and there to testify of the some
time presence of man on the spot,
and that is all. Silvery trout fit
and flash with meteoric swiftness
through the little pools of clear,
sweet water along the willow shaded
gulch. The hills are emerald with
luscious grasses, and the little val
ley beside the singing brook bushes
red with wild roses, during all of
the summer months, and the air is
pungent with the aroma of minis
and fragrant with the perfumes of
flowers; for nature,
banished for brief season by the
roar and tumult of labor, has re-
sumed her enchanted sway over
mines and wild. Passing over it a
few days ago the writer conjectured
its past, admired its present, and
sought to divine it's future-a vain
but pleasing task. Only one claim,
the Badger, is now being worked,
where erst hundreds contended with
cratic fortune for the silver prize
that each hoped would soon be his.
That one is in good ore and may
lead to a renewal of work on other
mines in the locality and the final
resuscitation of it's former prosper
ity. Who knows? What the cause
Or causes which produced this par
alysis of so important an industry
as silver mining, is not difficult to
tell. For that traitor Congress is
but to convince the
world at large of this fact is not
easy. There is plainly lack of
capital and lack of courage in
the community to invest it. This
the most casual observer can see
but he cannot see, and does not see
that the law depriving silver of 80
per cent of its legitimate value pro-
duced both the lack Of money and
The lack of courage which are 80
clear to him; and We shall not here
essay the task of making him see.
Time and events must do that. The
rich surface has been worked out. |
That was the first era. The era of
deeper mining is yet to come. It's
successful Inauguration will call for
4 considerable expenditure of cap !
tai and labor. This will be done. |
Until it is done, however, the old |
works will continue to decay and |
he grass and flowers to grow and
bloom above the shafts and tunnels
If the old works as they are doing
low. More than 80 mines already
orospected in this vicinity that
,ield ore worth $50 and upwards
o the ton are sufficient basis for
he good time hoped for, but until
silver is remonetized all of their
wealth of that metal is compare
lively valueless, because until that
S done it will but little more than
Jay for mining, shipment and re-
luction.
The Statesman's explanation that
Secretary Pinkham's fees for max
ng out transcripts of laws is,accord-
ng to our information, subterfuge
nd not truth. The charge against
Mr.. Pinkham is that he charges $50
or a transcript, about one dollar
# which is fee, and is paid into
he treasury. The remaining 500