Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1899-03-24
Cottonwood
Route
RAILROAD TO BUFFALO
HUMP.
COTTONWOOD LINE MAY BUILD
TO THAT POINT.


The Clearwater Valley Railroad
Company has filed supplementary
articles of incorporation in the Sec
fetary of states Office giving it au-
thority to construct line of rail-
foad from point between Cotton
wood and Mt. Idaho to the Buffalo
Hump mining district in Idaho.
The wonderful discoveries at
Buffalo Hump have brought into
prominence the richest and finest
lands of Idaho. Canas prairie and
the Nez Perces reservation have
long been known for fertility Of soil
and excellent climate. But this
tegion was so far from railroad
transportation that it remained till
how merely the paradise of the
grazer. This country is now at
tracting interest. From every side
1 hear the mdrmer and the whisper
that presages the mining stampede,
End I feel that in early summer we
Shall see the people hocking to the
"Hump" from all6yer the continent.
I have not been able to penetrate to
the Buffalo Hump myself and
must therefore defer a detailed de-
scription Of the country. At pres
ent seven or eight feet of snow
Shield it from curious eyes, and on
~ those who were fortunate enough
TO explore Buffalo Hump last fall
know anything about the camp.
The discovery, like SO many other
discoveries, was accidental. 1t was
IN hunting for stray jackass that
Kellogg discovered the Bunker Hill.
When Marcus Daily bought the
Anaconda he was buying, he
thught, silver mine, and he never
Imagined it was destined to make
Him copper king. Joe Morris
stumbled on to the LIE Roi while
doing assessment work for others
on the Lilley May. Tom Ryan
would have sold the Republic for
5000 the day after he discovered it.
Rigley and Robbins CHANGED upon
Che Buffalo Hump gold mine only
because they had been up in that
district doing assessment work on
claims for other people. Rigley
and Robbins have had Just the
same kind of luck that befell Joe
Morris and Joe Burgess when they
located the great gold mines on Red |
mountain.
For years prospectors had been |
chasing the gold phantom along
the Dewdney trail. All had seen
Red mountain and probably noticed |
the iron float from which it has de-
SiYed its name, but they hee,ed not,
Tor they were chasing gold, not iron
ore. But the iron ore was simply |
the covering of gold mines of fabu- |
lous wealth and extent, the gold |
mines that have made Rossland |
famous and will enrich the world |
IN the coming century. Two rail
roads are bent on opening up this
gich country. twill astonish many
To know that the agricultural coun-
try which the new railroads to Buff
falo Hump will develop possesses
more varied resources than the
state of Delaware, and that there is
no finer fruit or meadow land on
the continent than in this favored
region of Idaho. And SO with the
Buffalo Hump. The gold hunter
has been prospecting around it for
forty years. In the early sixties
thousands of prospectors were del
wing for gold in the creeks and gull
ehes in the shadow of this mountain.
Elk City and Florence were famous
mining camps in those days, and in
q few years Wells, Fargo 81 Co.'s
express carried over $40,000,000 in
gold dust and nuggets from the dis
Fict. Miners, prospectors, traders
and gamblers, carried away asgreat.
deal more SO that I feel safe il