The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1901-08-29
A Renaissance Of Early Occur dAlsne Days


schemes ever worked by Westerners on
Eastern tenderfeet was engineered by
"Sure Thing" Cassidy al Wallace, Idaho,
in the early days of the Occur d'Alenes.
1t had been hard winter i'll that country.
Everyone was hard up, and it had showed
until the country was feet deep under the
, tieecy mass. "Sure Thing" was as hard
up as the rest of us, says the narrator of
the story, and we were all rustling for
grub. At this juncture word arrived at
Wallace that party of Eastern capitalists
were on their way to visit the camp for
the purpose of investing therein. Great
was the rejoicing when the news arrived
but in it all there was the element of
doubt, for fear that the pail Of snow that
rested on. the country might discourage
the Fasteners, AS it would prevent our
showing our claims to the best advantage
The whole camp was in a state of great
excitement, as every man jack there had
scheme or claim with which he fond
ly hoped to separate the tenlerfeet from
their wealth, if only that accursed white
and deadly mass of snow did not prevent
OF us all, "Sure Thing was the only
one wise enough to take advantage of
that which he could not prevent, and
compel the snow to further his designs.
Amid the general conversation apropos
the expected arrivals, "Sure Thing said
little; but he was doing lot of thinking,
aud the events showed that that think
ing was not wasted. AS the result of it,
Sure Thing got together all the money
he could beg, borrow or steal, and with
1t purchased two dozen stovepipes.
These he took to some waste land about
half mile beyond the eastern limits of
the town, and planted them in the snow
on the side hill, at regular intervals,
thirty or forty feet apart. N . one noticed
what he was doing in the general excite
ment, and Sure Thug" said nothing.
Ills stovepipes planted, he Just sat down
and waited.
| In due time the tenderfeet arrived at
Wallace, and there were great doings.
Finally, one day, after the excitement
had begun to die down and we had be-
come used to having them among us,
"Sure Thing got hold of the mavericks.
He escorted them to that hillside, pointed
out those regularly planted stovepipes,
and then Poured piteous tale of woe
INTO their sympathetic ears. 1t was
sure-enough hard-luck story, to the effect
that under each and every one of those
stovepipes was snug miners cottage
which "Sure Thing" had Just succeeded
in completing when the blizzard came
along and covered them with snow, and
made it impossible t. rent them. Now
the banks were pressing him on some
notes they held, and threatened to grab
the cottages if he didn't pay up He
wanted "to do" the banks, and would
therefore sell cheap to the Fasteners.
The tenderfeet swallowed that innocent
tale whole. Inquiry developing that
high rents prevailed in Wallace, they
eagerly took "Sure Things" twenty four
stoyepipes off his hands. each at the
price of completely built cottage. We
stood in with one another in those DAYS.
and every one gave the tenderfeet an
awful steer when they made inquiries.
The money safely in his pocket, "Sure
Thing" straightway departed for Cali.
Enthusiastically neglecting, however,
to leave his address behind him. And
now for the sequel. Did you ever hear
of the chinook wind? 1t IS breeze that
comes straight to us from far-away Japan,
and under its influence snow will dis.
appear more rapidly than even did "Sure
Thing after he had secured that good
Eastern money. A chinook wind will
melt four or five feet Of snow in night;
and when that particular chinook wind
had passed by. the country around Wal
lace was completely bare. Then did
those guileless tenderfeet eagerly sally
forth to see their newly. acquired cottages.
only to discover that they had literally
purchased pig in poke,
There lay the bleak hillside, and scat
tered about it were twenty-four stove
pipes. There was nothing else, and
slowly the truth dawned on them. But,
poor fellows! what could they dor There
was no one left in Wallace for them to
take 1t out of. "Sure Thing" had some
time previously silently folded his t. mt
and stolen away to parts unknown.
After uselessly wasting much money
and more profanity in an effort to get
even, those poor lambs, without their