The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-04-27
SNOW COVERED SLOGAN.
The British Columbia Eldorado Is
Yet Covered With Vast Drifts,
Retarding Work.
P~rospectors and Others Deferred
From Entering, Owing to Dan
ger From Slides.
A Jefferson County Mine In which ITS
Owners Place Great Fatth-The
Rich Freiburs.

Special to Tho Independent
SPOKANE, WASH, April 26.-From a recent
arrival from Kaslo your correspondent
cleaned many curious facts about that w'id.
snowy silver land beyond the British line.
Although there is no snow in the immediate
vicinity of kootenai lake. a mile or two
inland vast drifts still exist, and in the
higher regions snowslides of extraordinary
size and and destructiveness are of daily
occurrence. In fact. this is one of tho
leading drawbacks of the SLOGAN country
the frequency and peril OF tho slides. Hun-
dreds of prospectcrs are now waiting at
Kaslo, most of them provided With funds or
crub stakes to enable them to spend the
season in the hills, but as yet few OF them
have found the nerve to venture into the
mountains and take the chances of keeping
out of the way of the slides. Rough lum.
Der sells a. Kaslo for $40 per thousand feet.
and cannot be had in sufficient quantities
to meet the demand. Lodging i'll a rough
bunk house costs 81 per night, and meals
from 70 cents to 81 each. In addition to
the miners and pEospectors who have a
legitimate excuse for being there, hundreds
of tramps, ndventuters and destitute men
are gathered at Kaslo, and the authori-
ties are perpiexsd as to what aisposl-
ton to make of them. OF seventy-hve
passengers that came down on the boat the
day your correspondents informant lett
Kaslo. fifty could not pay their fare, ana
were carried grntutiously by the steamboat
company as far as Bonner's Ferry. 1t is
the height of foolishnsss for poor men to
rush into the SLOGAN in search of Work, for
there 10 very little employment for miners,
and practically none at all for artisans of
any class except carpenters, and even of
carrenters the town already has a surplus.
There is little of the traditional lawlessness
of new mining camps to be seen at kasso.
The British laws are very stringent, and
The consequent orderly character of the
camp is in marked contract with the palmY
days of Leadville and other mining towns
In the United States.
The Pyritio Smelling company, OF San
Francisco, will build its contemplated
smelter at the town Of Northport instead OF
at the LIE Roi mine. Northport is on the
Spokane d Northern railway about lOO
miles north Of this city. w. Il. Rust, OF the
Ryan %smelter. at Tacoma, Ia treasurer of
the Pyritic company, and A. Pugh, superln-
tendent. Both gentlemen are now here,
and they announce that the works at
Northport will cost 100000 and have a
daily capacity Of 200 tons. The Pyritio
Smelling company is a powerful corpora
ton and already owns many valuable prop
critics on Trail creek, near Northport. and
the immense anthracite coal beds near
Banf, on the Canadian Pacific line. 1t is
thought the com any will make of North
port An important smelling town. They
are now said to be negotiating for the pur-
chase Of the great Silver King mine, near
Nelson, which is held at $1,000, 600. d. @.
Corbin will extend his railroad, the spo.
kane q Northern, to Nelson this year, and
the enormous bodies of lead and silver in
the Silver King can then be easily trans
ported TO Northport for treatment.