Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1899-06-30
RICHES OF THE
BUFFALO HUMP
Col. Brackets Report to the Northern
Pacific Railroad.
URGES THEM TO BUILD
RIGHT AWAY.
PART Ill.

quartz crossing une SitlIHOH river,
all the way down to the Star group.
West of the Hump the lodges are
base, as noted before, and are not
so promising. 'In the east of the
Hump, all the way to the box can.
Won of Salmon river, men will find
big lodges of great value, which
will throw the Big Buffalo and the
Hump mines in the shade. Ar
thur McKenna.
North of the Hump, all the way
to the south fork of the Clearwater,
the country is rugged, rough and
full of dead and down timber, and
small black pine trees. Very hard
to cut a trail through this, or to
travel through it.
South of the Hump the country
is more open, and the lodges can
be more easily found.
McKenna has been in north of
the Hump and says, although the
lodges are hard to find there, they
will, in his opinion, prove to be
very rich.
At Dixie, southeast Of the Hump,
are some free milling gold lodges,
running east and west, like those
at Florence. The Idaho-Com-
stock mine and mill is there, and
is paying well.
The N. p. railway map, pub
lished in your Buffalo Hump folder,
is the best map l have seen any
where, Notwithstanding errors and
omissions. 1t is better and more
accurate than the reconnaissance
map of the United States geologi-
cal survey of the same region.
SEVEN DEVILS REGION.
Old prospectors are of the opin-
ion that this district will even
eclipse the Buffalo Hump. Vast
ledger Of copper are there, and
have been ''represented' and
owned by Butte and Montana men
for twenty years or more waiting
for railways. Butte people have
been for years on the lookout for
copper in large ore bodies. They
find it here. In this region are
many gold lodges also.
81. To sum up: The whole region
.hounded on the north by the north
fork of the Clearwater and the
Lolo trail; ON the south by a line
drawn parallel to Salmon river
and 80 miles south thereof; on tn,
east by the Bitter Root range; OF
the west by the 10th meridian
longitude west from Greenwich9
is the coming gold mining region
of North America.
Add to this the Seven Devil
copper and gold region, and it is
most staggering proposition. Adj
to this the grand farming countr.
of the North Camas prairie.
/ shall, with my men, and tn
headquarters of the expedition, i
August next, move eastward alon
the old Nez Perez trail, ON tn
divide between south fork of tn
Clearwater and Salmon river, du
east of the Buffalo Hump, to Nc
Perez pass, in the Bitter Roc
range. l shall measure the height
and elevations on the trail, incluo
ing those in the pass itself, wit
my anerold.
/ again respectfully urge upo
the attention of the Northern +;
cifc Railway Company the nece
sity of running a branch line of i
railway from the magnificent vale
of the Bitter Root, in Montan,
across into the Clearwater an
Hump regions.
l believe it can be easily don
by running from Grantdale, Mont
up the Bitter Root river, thence |
the Nez Perez fork of the Bit
Root river, through Nez Per-
pass, thence down the Clearwat
or Salmon river, or both.
The Indian trails always Ike,
along the high divides. Railwa
cannot run there very well, OWL
to SHOWS. But down On the low
levels of the Salmon and Clearw
ter, the railway problems are st
very difficult, owing to the treme
dous erosion of the rocks, DO
along the main streams runni
east and west, and on their trib
taries running north and south.
But far greater difficulties we
overcome in building the railw
via Marshall pass in Colorado.
Magruder mountain was nam
in honor of Lloyd Magruder,
pioneer merchant of Elk City
the early sixties, who was mt
dered at that period with sever
of his men, near that mountain,
the old Nez Perez trail, by Hen
Plummer's robber band. T
graves of some of Magruder's IN
can be seen there yet. The mu
derers were later on captured a
hanged at Lewiston, Idaho.
The leading citizens of Grans
vile, Idaho, are wide-awake,
telligent men, alive to the splend
future of that region. Meats, VI