Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-06-14
THUNDER MoUNTAIN.
II il "Ali cry and no wooip" All That
Cutters 10 not Gold.

uAohy hoio. Dut Saiiyio Huoiihop shio
by saying that "the eye sees what it
brings means of seeing" which is pallis-
tive, admitting of the inference at least
that tempermental and intellectual diff.
ferences largely determine our point OF
view and influence our judgment. We
hesitate to impute evil intentions to any
one, realizing how even the most honest
Of men are but too prone to deceive
Reconsideration their interests are
concerned -and 80 we shall hold with
Carlyle, and make ample and. charitable
allowance for those who appear to be
untruthful in their highly embellished
and exaggerated accounts Of the fabu.
lously rich mineral deposits of Thunder
mountain. w
All winter Thunder Mountain has been
extravagantly doomed on the one hand
and as bitterly decried and attacked on
the other. Those who have engineered
the boom are the officials OF the Oregon
Short Line whose interests center direct
ly in the passenger traffic, and Idahoans
who are desirous Of bringing capital in.
to their country to develope Its mineral
resources-and grafters. Hence in the
visionary advertisements they have to
literally spread broadcast over the land,
they haye compared Thunder Mountain
TO the Image in the King of Babylon's
dream. with head Of gold and breast
of silver" For instance We are told that
the district covers many square miles
every foot of which contains the pre-.
cious ore. In fact the entire district
seems to be veritable bed of rich Yel-
low Metal" In another instance we
read, mot alone is gold found, but noun.
tains Of the richest copper ore, which
carries gold in large quantities. silver,
lead, tin, cinnabar and tellurium-one
sample Of which assayed $49,00000 per
tom" A newspaper account tells us "the
entire country is richly and deeply min
eralized all the way from Marble creek
to the Warren and the middle fork of
the Payette." From another paper we
learn that erich strikes are being made
all along the trail from Warren into the
Mountain. One assay from four foot
ledge near Warren shows from edge to
edge $4,000 per ton, and there are many
other finds that will run higher than
that" After this whoop. up you are ur-
gently advised to get in the push and to
60 into Thunder Mountain "to prospect,
to buy mines, to 60 into business or
speculate in town lots; you will make
money, everybody will, you can't help
it." Ifyou can't go and get in the push
in person you need not dispair; write
or wire what you want. You will be
placed to make money"
The decriers of Thunder Mountain are
Coloradoans, or more particularly and
specifically the Denver editors. No one
knows better than they that certain
and good proportion of the capital that
goes into Thunder Mountain will be d.
verted or withdrawn from investme ent in
Colorado, and as they still have a few
good mines of their own to sell to credu-
lous investors they can't afford to let
Idaho get the lions share of advertise
ment and attention without trying to
check and counteract it. Afraid that
Thunder Mountain may prove to be a
good camp, it comes quite natural for
them to cry Fakel Thief! The Colo
radoans say cit is all right to 60 along
quietly and take in all the suckers you
can, the same as We are doing, but it's
dead wrong and gross injustice TO us,
to take in the entire country to try to
swing all the capital" 1t is plainly a
case of what the rat said to the mouse in
referring to the cat:
Said the other, this cat, IL she murder rat,
Must needs be very great sinner,
But to feed upon mice can't be counted vice;
myself like mouse for my dinner.
For our part we think too much has
been said on both sides. We visited
Red Rock, Salmon City, Mackey, Boise,
Weiser, Council and Meadows, all out
fitting points and went as far as Warren,
to within 30 miles of the Mountain. We
failed to see the thousands Of men so
often referred to as collected at these
points waiting to 60 into the mountain
and We do not remember seeing any
where on exhibition any very rich
specimens Of ores that had came out from
there. However at every point we met
men coming out and others, many more,
going in, among whom were some pros
pectors, a few men looking for business
snaps, number of spoilers" sent in by
moneyed men to "spot" good claims and
obtain options on them and large per-
centage of gamblers and grafters. From
these coming out reports were varied
and conflicting, being favorable or ad
verse according to the interests concern
ed. These who had claims or who were
negotiating the sale of some, gave glow
ing accounts Of the country while those
who had been in for inspection purposes
were considerably less enthusiastic. A
mining engineer sent in last winter by
San Francisco parties briefly put the en-
tire matter. thus:-"If your going in to
hunt deer and elk, it's dead sure you
wont starve if you can shoot just little
bit; but as for gold, well, that doesn't
come so easy-anywhere that's different
hunting altogether" Without pretend
ing to settle all the doubtful questions
at Issue with regard TO this locality we
can confidently say in the light of all the
physjcal tests made that the ore bodies