Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1894-10-05

uecreplu WITHOUT a cent 10 snow Ior
the laoor and work of lifetime,
yet all with the same good hearts
as in the days of old and the days
of gold.
The greatest enterprise spoken
of in Grangeville is the new state
wagon road up Salmon river to
connect with the Weiser country
and Boise. 1 little thought years
ago when squirting a cayuse or lead
ing the blessed thing up and down
the steep nerve-demoralizing trails
along this Salmon river that l
should ever gallop along its banks
at full speed, or much less drive at
10 miles an hour speed in a four
wheeler, yet / have done both and
still survive.
There are many in Walla Walla
who will remember the steep trail
leading from the Prairie down to
White Bird; we'll, this is now a
good wagon road and over it drove
with two horses nearly up to Slate
creek and with the exception of q
few places between, the road is
complete up to Fiddle creek, six
miles above John Days. This last
place is the best settlement along
the river and is owned by Phil
Cleary and his wife. 1t is a little
Paradise of fruit and vegetables,
and everything the heart can wish
and the inner man desire is raised
here to perfection. The peaches,
grapes, pears, apples and plums
grow in astonishing quantities and
in the greatest perfection; from six
apple trees over six thousand
pounds of fruit had been gathered
this year and they still bore what
l should call good crop.
The gravel bars along Salmon are
attracting considerable attention
again. They were supposed to
have been worked out many years
ago but with wages so low and
times SO hard, when men will work
for one dollar day and common
grub on the state road, the bars
and banks have had a revival and
are again being opened.
From John Days, where my old
time friend, Phil Cleary made me
stay few days and then gave me
a better horse and rig to ride over
the trails, l went up to Little Sal
mon where we had to swim our
horses in the primitive manner and
put in the night at another old
friends, Tom Pollock, who has a
pretty ranch with lots of good
grazing ground around him near
the mouth of Rapid river. From
here one fine morning we mounted
our horses and rode over the hills
to. inspect the mining prospects
with which this section of the
country abounds. Although the
banks and bars of Little Salmon
contain numerous indications of
mineral and asbestos l soon salts
fed myself it was not worth look
ing after as it was all slides that
had tumbled over from the noun
tain behind them; in short the
whole line of the first ridge is even
now tumbling to pieces. But
when the prospector gets back
bit he finds the formation solid
and in place and here is where the
mines will be found, but is is only
waste of time fooling along the
banks close by the river side
Many fine prospects have been
found around Little Salmon and
Rapid river, native copper exists
in considerable quantities and
many promising lodges have been
located-too many in fact-for nc
work has been done on them and
the fact of the location prevents
others from touching them. Or
one big mountain close by, horn
silver has been found as float, but
all efforts to find the ledge SO fal
have failed.
This summer Chas. Woods, o.
Grangeville, discovered blind lead
on the old Shearer trail where il
leaves Florence, and strikes the
breaks of Salmon river near the
ridge. He found the float and
traced it up; nine feet under
ground he came across two foot
ledge containing brittle silver in
great quantities and the ledge all
through will payoyer $500 per tor
in gold and silver. Yet this is the
only ledge that has been discover.
ed there. predict the day is not
far distant when those old Salmon
river mountains win be as rich
and yield the precious metals as