The Anaconda standard., 1899-08-12
JUST PLAIN THOMPSON
The Name of the Town Has Been
Abbreviated.
IN OLD STAMPEDE DAYS
Gold-Seekers Who Expected to Find the
Sands Half Dust-An Enormous
Water Power Going to
Waste.

Thompson. Aug. lit is Thompson
now, just plain Thompson. The busy
clerks of the postoffice department and
of the railway company did not have
time to write the Falls" on the end
of the Thompson" every time and it
has gone the way of all falls since the
one in which Adam took such a promi-
nent part. But the falls are here still
and their ceaseless roar is as incessant
and as clear as it was before the name
of the town and postoffice was abbra-
Waited to accommodate the require
ments of increasing business Their
rocky bed and high cliffs break the
clear flood of Clark's Fork as it pours
over and between them. into the same
white foam that it did formerly and
the swift current goes tearing down be-
tween the steep sides of the river at the
same rushing speed as of yore. Thou
sands and thousands of horse power
units are going to waste every hour,
and as the visitor looks down at the
seething flood below him he cannot help
regretting that this immense power is
not harnessed for some useful purpose.
This cascade is one of the most beau
tiful in the state and appeals alike TO
the artist and to the utilitarian. 1t is
a magnificent picture and it is a splen-
did site for the generation of enormous
power. Just over the range that rises
west of the river and back of the town
are the busy camps Of the Occur
d d'Alene country. and it would not be
difficult feat Of engineering to transmit
electric power across these hills from
the falls where it is now going to waste.
1t does not vequire very vivid imag-
nation to foresee the time when this will
be done and when there will be a mod
ern power plant at the falls which will
furnish to the mines and the mills of
the mining district over the divide the
power that they require for their eX-
tensive operations. Then the falls will
be more in evidence. even, than they
We're when the word appeared as a
portion of the name of this historic
town.
There would be something singularly
fitting in such an arrangement. 1t was
from Thompson-ThompsOn Falls it was
then-that the gold seekers started on
the tramp to the Occur d'Alene fields
that were so industriously touted in
1888 and later Thousands of men left
the railway al this point in those years
to get over the range to the rivers and
creeks whose sands We're reputed to be
half gold dust. There are old-timers
now in this town who We're mixed up in
that stampede. They recall with fer
vor the stirring times of those days,
when Thompson was the liveliest town
in Montana and presented all the sights
and scenes of a wild Western mining
camp 1t was the gateway to the treas
ure fields and men and supplies all went
over the trail through the pass from
here. Some of the old buildings of the
town of that date are still in use as
stores and dwellings and others are
tumbling in ruin or have given place
to modern and more substantial struc-
lures. The old ferry at the foot of the
hill still does business and this season
has had a lot to do. There has been a
long line of emigrant wagons moving
over the trail this year and these all
have to cross on the ferry. They go up
over the old trail and on down the other
side, following almost the very route
that was taken by the stampeders of
the early days of the Northern Pacific.
A Standard representative stood on
the bank above the ferry last night and
talked with a man who is well known in
Western Montana about that stampede.
He said that at the time of the Occur
d Alene stampede he was living in Min
nesota He was young and had little
money. The alluring announcements of
the railway concerning the new gold
fields attracted his attention and he had
had a friend who was actively engaged
in booming the country and to him he
wrote for advice as to routes and sup
plies. The friend threw business aside
and spoke as a friend, for he replied
to the inquiries Don't CO. Il have
often thought" said this man last night.
what | would have been and where
would have been if | had not taken that
advice" There We're many thousands of
ounces of dust taken out at the time of
the stampede and there are many
ounces being taken out even now, as
the newer appliances are being brought
into use. and the stampede led to the
discovery of the famous lead and silver
mines of the Coeur d'Alene country.
whose wealth is known all over the
world. But there We're many VINO fell
by the wayside and there was as much
money taken in as there was brought
out in those days, only il went in In
many pockets and came out in few. 1t
is the old story of mining stampedeS.
The development and extension of the
mining operations across the range
have left Thompson to one side of the
line of traffic, but there is still in pros
pect that some day the old town will
again be closely connected to the min
ing camps, not by wagon trains this
time, but by copper wires.
Thompson is buster than it has been
for several years. There is large
amount of lumber and tie business that
centers here and the mining operations
in the Thompson river country are
quite extensive now. The ranches that
lie around the town have grown in size
and in numbers and are still growing.
Up Thompson river the company that
now has control of the Copper King. the
old Belle Stowe property, is doing aX-
tensive development work preparatory
to resuming the operation of the t1ne
/ concentrating plant that was built
there not long ago This plant was smut
down a few weeks ago, pending the de-
! VelOpment work that is now in progress,
! but it will be started again in few
| days. The mine is supplied with an
excellent compressor plant and Mand-
| ger Volk is now sinking a 200 foot shaft
! upon the lead. The men have encOun-
| tered some very rich ore in this shaft
| and the prospects are excellent for the
| continuous operation of the mill in a
| short time. The plant is fine one and
with the almost unlimited water power
| at hand, can be easily increased in
size, A Standard representative spent