The Forrest City times., 1900-02-02
Two Great Coming booms.

Two great mining O00ms are coming on the Pacific Coast this year. One will center at Cape Nome, Alaska, and the
 other at Sumpter. B miles from Baker City, Oregon. It is estimated that 30. 900
 people will rush to the wonderful beach diggings and frozen creek beds on Boring sea. and from present indications. fully as many will flow into the new Webfoot Eldorado.
 The much-used phrase. "KlondIkes at Home. 6rst appeared as the title of a chapter in . little book issued by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Compa- ny, in 1897 and 1t has already become . splendid reality in tho Eastern Oregon mining districts. Over 5000 mining To- cations have been made scores of paying mines and hundreds of promising ones have been opened up. and many hand come fortunes have been taken out. Stamp mills and mining machinery are going in by tfain,loads, asd the whole vast minsral.bearing region of lA.000 square miles is beinG dotted with new and taeufishinE mining camps-of which the
 .noet notable is Sumpter, in Baker county It 10 . young wonder. Two years ago tt was nnheard Of, except as the camping
 place of . small detachment of United States troops the day Fort Sumpter was
 fired upon. A year ago 1t was a cross
 roads village with perhaps l30 lnhsbi- tants. and in May lS99, 1t had about $50.
 In January, 1900. .-less than eight months
 later .--it is a rushing, busting little city of nearly 5000 population, with oyer 100
 buSinesss houses. including stores. banks.
 hotels. restaurants. saloons, theatres.
 breweries. real estate and assay offices. , and all the other boom mining camp es tabiishments. 1t has churches, good schools. live newspapers. telegraph and telephone, a S75, ,00o waterworks plant.
 staiwart fire department. and is lighted by electricity. With four hotels, six festau- l rants. and 10 lodging houses, a contract has been closed for S100, 900 hotel. Eight brick blocks and nearly 100 less preten tious houses are now going up. In mid winter snow and cold, carpenters and bricklayers are working at big wages. every hour Of daylight and yet people are pouring in faster than roofs can be
 reared to shelter them. Many are living
 in tents and shacks.
 Real estate is kiting skyward. A lot that Portland drummer named Collett
 had to take, two years ago. for a debt Of Sl00, has just been sold for s2, ,250; and one for which Ed Geiser paid $20o in No ,ember 1897. brought eT 900 in November
 1899. Last November. MT. Mayer leased business room for a year at $50 month and in December he re.let 1t for the rr.
 i,aining II months of his lease at $l00 & month. For the week ending December
 IS, lS99. the real estate business. including town lots. mining claims, bonds. mort gages and releases amounted to $lS6. GOA
 more in that line than was done in St.
 Paul. with l75 poo population. The town handles. by rail and stage, over 3. .OO0. 900 pounds Ot freight month and has risen m little over six months. from nothing ai- most to the size of Deadwood in the paimiest days of the Black Hills.
 The Sumpter boom is the biggest and liveliest thing of Its age on the Pacific Slope today, and 1t has seemingly come to stay. The town Is literally built on gol- den rock. It is walled in by mountains of gold seamed quartz, and all its streams roll over goidsn sands. It is the center and supply and distribution point of hun. dreds. # not thousands, Of square miles of go.d-bearing territory. whose riches pass all ordinary computation.
 In the very borders of the town, in the shadows of its churches and schools. banks and hotels. a lot of Chinamen are washing nut gold enough on the Ellis placers to pay S3a0 week in royalties. and the Downey place's. about mile south of ihe railroad depot. are paying handsomely Every river, creek and rivulet for 50 miles around carries golden dust aud nuggets in it's sands.
 Six miles north of the town is the fa- nous Cracker Greek district. where the Enrrka and Excelsior mine has produced { .50 0o0 year ; Ths North Pole, located and abandoned as worthless dozen times, which is now yielding over eloo 900 year; the Golsonda. which yields Sl50 900 a year. and in which ore was recently struck that runs from ei0o to $le. 900 to the ton, some of 1t going ol0 te the pound tho Columbia, which could have besn bought not long ago for sl.0o0, and is nsw producing ever eioo,o year