The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-05
DIG GRAVE AND FIND COPPER
RICH DISCOVERY MADE IN IDAHO
WHILE BURYING
DOG
How the Original Find Was Made
Twenty-Five Years AgO-A story
That Reads Good Deal Like a
Romance.

From the Anaconda Standard
During the past week several of the
owners of the big copper mine, eight
miles from Moose lake. spent their va
cation in Butte. One of them told a
friend an unpublished story in connee-
ton with the first discovery of the big
lead twenty-five years ago. It is sup
posed by many that the mine was dis
covered only two years ago. To all
lntents and purposes 1t was for the
original discoveries are now out of the
state and have been for years, and
nenesT of the recent discoveries knew
anything about the lead until they ac-
cldently ran across II two years ago
next May. The story of the original
discovery they learned only a few
months ago and this is how it is told:
In the fall of 1873 or 1874 Con Corcoran
and Joe Featherly left Philipsburg for
the Salmon river country in Idaho.
They had two pack mules and a riding
horse each. They Travelled by easy
stages, hunting and fishing along the
route. They camped for a week at
Moose lake and probably killed the first
moose that ever fell at the hands of
white man in that beautiful basin. A
1 quarter of a mile below~the lake is
large tree. which the settlers have nam
ed Moose Pine" 1t is said that the
moose Featherly killed was hung up on
that tree and dressed.
The men proceeded on their Journey
up the middle fork of Rock creek and
camped for several days among the
great craggy peaks of the main range
of the Rockies, which tower majesti-
eally above the timbered mountains
surrounding them, their SUBMITS con-
tinually covered With snow This is
indisputably one of the widest and
grandest mountain scenes In the state.
Its grandeur is indescribable. Noun
tain lions, bears and deer used to
abound there. Now only an occasional
black bear is seen playing tag with
a chipmunk and chasing q woodchuck.
Grouse are not to be found where once
they made the hunters heart glad
Roaming over the high passes in that
district the men found deer tracks,
and, with the instinct inherent in
them, they followed them. Towser,
the pet setter, was right on the spot
and as eager as any of them to find
the object of the search. In some way
unexplained Corcorans gun was dis
charged and poor Towser was a corpse
The men agreed to give the dog a de-
cent funeral and forthwith set about
digging hole in the loose rock and
earth, using sticks and sharp slabs of
rock as tools. The first rock they loos-
ened was broken and it looked like
mineral bearing ore. Still another was
removed and more and more the men
became convinced that they We're dig
ging in rich groupings. The dog was
buried in a hole about two feet deep,
after which the men returned to camp
carrying the pieces of the strange
looking ore. By their crude process
of assaying tie men reduced the sam
pies and We're convinced that, while
gold did not predominant, the rock con-
tanned large percent of copper.
The guns were stacked and the pick
and shovel put into active service A
shaft twelve feet deep was dug, after
The ore was assayed and preparations
made to return to the mine. About
that time a placer gold excitement at
tracted the wealth hunters to another
part of the state, and Corceran and
Featherly joined the stampede and
never returned to Moose lake
Last summer Dorland and Johnson,
so the recent story, goes, found the
skeleton of the dog near the tunnel
they are driving. Dorland. suggested
that they name the tunnel Dog Tun-
mel" and now when the boys speak of
that tunnel they refer to it as the dog
hole.
These copper deposits are said to be
rich, and while the owners do not say
much about them, it Is inferred that
they have great confidence IN their
property. Last year a large mining
company of Butte sent it's agent there
to inspect the mines, and the result of
his visit, it is believed, will bring the
district into prominence