The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-05-15
STAMPEDE TO THUNDER MOUNTAIN,
The New Idaho Gold Camp.
Gack London, in Golfers Weekly.)

The New Idaho Gold Camp.
Gack London, in Golfers Weekly)
Not since Klondike has there been such
stampede as that now under way to
Thunder Mountain. Despite the warning
that it is no poor mans country, at least
100 "sooners" are going in daily on snow
shoes, packing their outfits on their backs
or dragging them on toboggan-Sleds. Fur
Their, all the towns adjacent to the gold
felds-such as Boise, Ketchum, Council,
Red Rock, Lewiston, Weiser and Salmon
are damned with an army of cooler
headed gOld-seekers, waiting for the open
| ing of the trails. And each train swellS
these towns to overlooking, with more men
Fastening eagerly from the north, south,
east and west.
Boom times are on and stampede prices
are up. Railroad transportation for 10000
people has been already bespOken, and as
regards the finish, the rush will outrival
| klOndike, for every man who starts will
get there, and there will be more men on
the ground than were on the Yukon five
years ago.
Thunder Mountain is one of the blank
spaces on the map which will no longer be
blank. The Thunder Mountain country is
as large as the States of Massachusetts,
Rhode Island and Connecticut combined,
and has long been known as n very rich,
| though largely unprospected, mining cOun-
| try. Thunder Mountain, In particular, is
in the southern portion of Idaho County,
Idaho, and is situated not far south of
| Vinegar Hill of the maps. To the south
lie the Sawtooth Mountains, which extend
from the Seven Devils region, along the
Snake, to the main Salmon River. 1t is a
rough and jagged country, of volcanic for
nation, with n general elevation of from
1000 to 5000 feet, and promises to be
come one of the worlds greatest treasure
houses.
The Caswell brothers are responsible
for this rush In 1894 Ben and Dan Cas-
well made their way into Thunder Noun
tain and located several claims. NOtwith-
standing it was entirely a quartz forma-
ton, they panned the decOmposed por-
phyry, which had become air-slacked, and
washed out $500 in gold. They were join
ed by another brother, Human Caswell, and
also by W. Il. Ritchey and Mr.. Euntley
and each year for seven years they return
ed to the spot. Their efforts were crude;
water from the melting snow permitted
but two weeks work; yet in the fourteen
weeks all told they secured S2035S.99 in
gold, as shown by the receipts Of the Unit
ed States Assay Office at Boise.
But Thunder Mountain was a quartz
plpBOSItIOl, dbsilIu " "DIk as IL placer
and too big to work without capital. In
1901 Col. w. II. Dewey, the well-knOwn
Idaho millionaire mining and railroad
man, bonded the claims for 100000, and
incorporated the Thunder Mountain Gold
Mining and Milling Company with d CAPT
tai stock of $5O00,000, Pittsburg, Pa,
capitalists being chiefly interested. Then
began the proper development of the de-
post. Last Fall a 10-stamp mill was
fFai, tod To- 4
nels and crOss-cuts were run and the as
tOnishing value of the deposit discovered
Not only was the mountain itself deter
mined to be Il huge ore body of free-mill-
ing gold running from 81 TO the ton up
ward, but rich chutes were found, as wide
as seven feet, carrying $1,000 to the ton
and penetrating the mountain an unascer-
tainable distance. Recent reports 90 to
show that the value of these chutes has
been underestimate.
Thus Thunder Mountain becomes an
other Treadwell 1t is not fssure vein, |
but simply mountain of ore, first-claSs
quarry scheme, capable of busying 200 |
stamps for an interminable period. But |
whereas Treadwell is low grade ore. Thun- |
der Mountain is not only much higher. but |
very much higher grade ore. In addition |
land this is the secret of the rush. pros
poets 20 to show that the contiguous |
bilities are large for a second Cripple |
Creek, while the very sanguine are not at |
all backward in proclaiming a second |
Transvaal. incidentally the real Cripple |
Greek men have achieved great faith in |
Thunder Mountain, and every third man is |
either on the way or talking of going
And so, because of the Caswells. miners |
from all the Americas are gathering up /
their outfits and stampeding to Idaho. The |
'soOners" are taking the chances of snow
and famine in order that they may miss no |
chances on the spot. Since the ground is |
covered with many feet of snow. perfOrce |
they stake the snow. Later on, when the |
snow melts, they will find other sets Of |
stakes beneath. Then there will be trou-
bic. But gold rush without trouble is
like a pneumatic tire without punctures.
1t never happens.
There are two main reasons for the mag
nitude of this stampede. Thunder Noun
tain is the only excitement of the year.
and money is easy. Which is to say that
the chronic stampeders and Adventures
have nowhere else to go and work off |
their unrest, and that the good times of
the last several years have put the money
IN their pockets wherewith they may 60
That there are all the possibilities for n
new EldOradO goes without saying. Idaho
has already added $25O.000.000 to the
worlds gold supply. while thousands of
square miles of mineral territory remain
practically uneXplored. As Thunder Noun
tain is today likened to Cripple Creek.
who knows but in some future day new
b0nanzas may be likencd to Thunder
Anyway, 10000 men are hit
ting the high places to find out