The times., 1899-01-16

the glory Of Idaho. The remains Of Pierce
City stand on little bench overlooking
ORC Fino Creek A row of log houses
and shacks made of whipsawcd lumber
stands on either side OF the single street.
The birds nest in the once fine hotels aid
the floors have rotted away from the of
fees where the mining companies once
dealt in thousands. The population con-
sists of six white men. about thirty China
men and four Chinese women. The old
est mines are worked and reworked by
the Mongolians, who manage TO make
from 30 cents 10 81 q day. There is
some good ground still held by white men,
but there is little work going on except
by Cinnamon. No less than $l2 O00. 600
in gold has been tax IN from the camp.
Many gray haired New Workers can re-
call the glories of Milerton in California
which once gave promise of becoming a
city of 100000 people. Moses Grinnell and
". II. Aspenwall are said TO have invest
ed $4,000 each in Millerton. Even so as
tute man as d, o. Mills, then of Sacra-
mento, had great faith in Miierton, and
invested many thousand dollars thers.
The town was the county seat of the then
immense county of Fresno. In 1856 god
was found in the foothills near the San
joaquin River, and the town that sprang
up took its name from General Miller,
who had commanded military post tn re.
In few months the popu.ation of Mill
lerton was $500. The New Workers b.
lieved that the water power in the San
Joaquin River would make it the great
manufacturing town of the Pacific coast.
and that the mines would add TO tie
prosperity of the town. More than $600,-
600 of New York money was spent in
Milerton in 1897 and 1858. -Four and
other mills were built. streets were laid
out, plazas We're staked OFF, water powers
We're developed, expensive hotels and
schoohouses were erected and 800 teams
were busy for weeks in hauling lumber
and other building material to the new
city of the interior of California. Two
churches were built at a cost of $1,000
each and the stores are said to have been
worthy of cities of 10000 population. Two
newspapers were issued there in 1859, and
the town was booming the money the
New York capitalists spent there. Sudden
ly the ledge of gold ore pinched out, and
after several small fortunes had been spent
in trying to find it again, the mines were
abandoned. The mining population has
tened at once to new fields, but the busi-
ness and professional men stayed for
while longer The mills were never start
ed, the capitalists would make no more
investments and Millerton died. The
wooden buildings were torn down AMI
carted away in the course of the next
twenty years and the stone and brick
buildings crumbled into ruins. The shell
of the courthouse, which cost $50, ,0G0 in
1858, still remains, and so do the wa Is of
the hotel. y huge iron safe, which was
transported around the Horn from New
York and then hauled from San Francisco
across the State of California to Miller
ton, has by this time rusted away in
mud hole where it was left thirty years
ago. The site OF the costly fountain in
the public park is marked by few pieces
Of chiseled granite.
Other Boom Relics
Excelsior City was one OF the most talk
ed of towns in California from 1866 TO
1863. Many Californian lost his fortune
there. Excelsior is perfect specimen of
a decayed town. II is away up in Sierra
County in northern California When the
prospectors found rich ore there in 1866
the town began to boom corporation
bought a tract Of land at Excelsior for
commercial purposes. laid out streets. sold
lots and started building. More than 200
buildings, each worth $500, were erected
in six months. and there were several
structures that cost about $1,000 each.
In a short time a substantial little city
arose and every available foot of ground
, was used. Stores were erected and brisk
trade was established. Six hotels were
built. besides several restaurants and
! churches, and theatre followed.
two-story stone block was erected by
Smith Perkins. Corner lots sold for
$4,000 each, two banks were established,
, newspaper was started and Masonic and
odd Fellows lodges were instituted A
furniture factory was even established.
. The city was Incorporated in 1867. The
( hotels were crowded and the excitement
Increased Nothing was talked OF but
ledges, stocks and town lots. For lot
5OxSO on any of the principal streets from
sl.5OO TO $1,000 was paid. A small store
/ on c Street rented for 5000 month A
stock board was organized with daily sales
of Excelsior and other local mining stocks
AT this time the population of the town
/ had reached about 5000 and was rapidly
! Increasing. Quartz mills with seventy
/ two stamps were in operation and blasts
! were going OF in thirty or forty tunnels
and shafts all the time But. strange as
! it seems TO one who looks at the matter
/ nowadays, not cent had been taken out
/ OF the mines, while thousands had been
! put in. Still. 10 one was discouraged.
and the stamps continued crushing ore
Finally, the chief mine. the Excelsior
was cleaned up, and the news was carried
J to fhe waiting, anxious crowd that the run
Z was unsuccessful. BY no known process
! could the gold be extracted from the ore.
! left with the contents exposed TO the
storms of an approaching Winter; stores
I with their shelves packed with merchan-
disc remained undisturbed until they were
| robbed and burned II is a curious sight
10 see what remains of this once flourish
ing city, where more than 81 000, 900 was
expended on mines and buildings mass
of quarried stone on which a number of
iron doors and shutters lie in confusion
, is all that remains OF the stone store of
Smith d. Perkins. 4 very large three
story building built on a granite rock is
Z still standing. On hill overlooking the
town are three good residences the CEN
tral one stylishly ornamented. This house
cost 1000 and was purchased twenty
years ago for S25. On every hand are
ruins of frame buildings, whole blocks
having been destroyed by fire.
After the tourist on the Canadian Pacific
Railroad has passed through the scenic
wonders of the Rocky Mountains and the
SelBirk range and has hung for hours
above the precipices in the Fraser River
canyon. the train suddenly shoots out into
level space in the river valley and brings
up at station called Yale. Yale is in
habitated only by a handful OF white meI
and several hundred Chinese and FlatheaG
Indians. whom the traveller sees upon The
station platform with baskets Of tempting
fruit. The hamle; is as lonely as one car
imagine, but thirtyhve years ago there
was a regularly Incorporated and thriving
mining city of between II 0G0 and l6 OO(
people at Yale. II was the big town oi
British Columbia and Sl0, 0O0 would not &c
very far in making an investment there
Now one could probably buy the whole city
for $1,000. The assessed valuation there