The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-01
STUMBLED ON FORTUNE.
An Illustration Of the Honesty of
the Early Miner in the West.
From he Denver Republican

From the Denver Republican
An old prospector tells a story of the first
days of mining IN Idaho which sounds like
a romance. but which he vouches for as
being strictly true. and which agrees with
the story frequently told by the late Judge
Craig Of Douglass county, who was one of
the party that staked off the first claims
iu Idaho. THE first find of placer gold
in Idaho" said the old pioneer, was made
early in 1862 by Jim Warren, a prOspector
who put in the time when not engaged In
the field in patronizing the gaming table.
a little camp had been established az
Florence. but the diggings We're poor and
there was so little to be made that the
men drifted away In little squads TO iind
better pay. Warren and four others
started out together, but soon afterward "A
disagreement arose and Warren left the
party to go il alone. After two or three
days he camped one evening on the stream
now known as Warren creek and, there
being fair indica tons, the next day was
spent In prospecting.
Planning seven pans of dirt he saved the
proceeds and taking samples of the quartz
went back TO Florence, where the gold
was weighed and found to be worth 70
cents. or 10 cents 10 the pan. This was
not big thing for those days, but 1t lee
TO the expectation of better strikes and
an expedition of sixteen men was organ
tied to Investigate the new find.
ION their way to Warren creek they
came across Warren's four companions,
from whom he had parted several days
previously. They were tin horns and
poor prospectors and had been unsuccess-
ful. Seeing Warren with the crowd, they
concluded that he had made strike and
| followed him. Warren and his friends,
not caring 70 share the discovery with the
| four men, resorted to a ruse TO throw them
| off the scent, and spent several days on
| Secesh creek so called from the war of
! secession which had then been recently
| heard of. The four gamblers, being near
! ~ out of provisions, were frozen out and
| compelled to return to Florence. The eX-
/ petition then FASTENED 10 Warren creek
/ and staked out the Warren Meadows for
| themselves and their friends. Eight men
| were sent back to Florence for provisions,
| the rest remaining TO work the claims.
| While the eight men were gone some of
those who remained discovered better dig
| gings at Summit Fiat obtaining from 81 10
! 81 to the pan.
The claims at Warren Meadows were
| abandoned and new claims staked out on
the new field. When the men returned
! from Florence with The provisions they
| We're followed by about 600 miners. who
| suspected that rich dirt had been found
! and swarmed along Warren creek ana its
! tributaries, making rich finds everywhere
! The original iocators were extremely for
| tunate in the Summit Flat diggings Two
men named Besse and Osgood worked to-
| gether and locked out 100 ounces the first
| day and forty ounces during the next fore
| noon. The assay Office had just been es-
| tabhshed at Boise and this 40 ounces of
| dust were the first receipts of the Office
The gold was found to be worth $l4 an
| ounce, and the net returns of the two men
for a day and half being 81 800 In three
weeks that party of sixteen men had taxi
en- out from their claims on Summit Flat
$4,000 ounces Of gold. Before the close of
| the season 100000 ounces were taken out.
and the original members Of the expedition
had enough money to keep them comforta-
bly, for life. About as much more was
taken OUT during the next season before
the bar was exhausted
The honesty of the miners In those pio-
neer days was illustrated by an accident
which occurred during this stampede from
Florence. In the crowd of 800 that follow
ed the eight men sent 10 Florence after
provisions was a man nicknamed' 'Bos-
ton OF thrifty turn, who bought two
barrels of whisky and a wagon hauled by
a pair of mules his knowledge OF the aV-
erage prospector leading him to the con-
clusion that the crowd. limited 10 water
as a beverage would soon begin to suffer
from the pangs of thirst. on the way to
the diggings one Nandeventcr offered him
30 handsome advance on the first cost of
the whisky, and, the offer being accepted.
the whisky was turned over to Vandeven-
ter, who SAT the barrels on end under a
tree, took out the heads. hung a tin dinner
on the side of each barrel. fixed a coufri-
button box up against a tree with a Slot
IN the closed lid aud went on with The
crowd leaving the imprOvsod saloon to
take care of itself. The miners passing to
and fro would take drink, drop a con
triouiton into the box and pass on some
times several drinks would DE taken with
our a resort to the buckskin, but in the