The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-12

possible to look from Elk Summit down
any of the half-dczen creeks that cut
abysses in the landscape without feel
ing that all this outward show of min
eral wealth. these signs and these
tokens, must be sozneIhing other than
mirage: they must be- real; they must
beckon to a substance. and not lure to
a shadow of riches
PRESAGES ANOTHER GENERA
TION OF FOOLS
In the Sublimest mornentS there are
ridiculous things, popping up like ir-
responsible devils from below. And as
we stood there, looking at that vast
and rugged vault of treasure rolling
far into the purple distance, the inpish
thought kept frolicking across the Wis
ion of the spectacle: What nyriads of
fools all these countless millions of
money will make when they are mined!
What snobs at NewportI What un-
speakable cads in all the big, barny
summer hotels the world overI What
steamboat vulgarity of house-furnish-
ing all this money will bring into an
already wicked worldls And as one de-
scends into the canyons below and sees
the work that has been done on last
years gopher holes, proving their wealth
and almost understandable richness, the
impish thought keeps bobbing through
all ones calculations.
Descent is polite word to use in de-
scribing the downward journey on any
of the three trails into the Big Greek
country from Elk Creek summit-the
Silent Friend trail, the Empress trail,
or the trail to the Werdenhoff Tumble
would be a better word than descent.
The path drops nearly a thousand feet
in mile. A man who would ride his
horse down such an incline would beat
his wife, if he dared. 1t is not partic-
ularly dangerous, for the trail is fairly
firm; but it is cruel to ride, and jolly
and disquietfng to walk, and one longs
for wings, and would compromise on a
toboggan, if he could get it.Our journey
~ beg r. r1
and from the base of the summit down
the creek the trail led through wood
ed valley, besides beautiful waters and
fern groves, and across fields of bloom
ing bear grass, whose white plumes of
flowers are the prettiest of all the flow
ers of the higher hills of Idaho The
trail is rough, and it is difficult to make
more than mile and a half an hour
on horseback. so that the sun is al
most down when one who leaves the
summit at high noon reaches the end
of his days ride.
A TYPICAL BIG CREEK NINE
The Werdenhoff is the best type of
the good things in the Big Greek coun-
try. And because every good showing
that has been made in any Big Greek
mine is found at its best in the Wer-
denhon, because its development is
like that of all the others that have
been honestly worked. and because the
Werdenhoff, is in conservative hands,
and bids fair to fulfill all the promises
WHICH expert miners IndQ6 LOT II tdSl
year, it is we'll to consider this mine
carefully and at length for what it rep
resents as well as for what it isl
When one turns off the road down
Smith creek and climbs the slope, the
Werdenhon cabn is the first perman-
ent abode one finds this summer after
leaving the Elk summit The cabins
at the head of the slope at the foot of
the first rise of the mountain are fine,
substantial looking structures There
is a cook shanty and bunk house.
connected by roof and cauabtes of
accommodating a dozen men without
from the big 500-feot working tunnel.
and about half a mile above this tunnel.
on a bench in the steep side of the
Werdenhon mountain. is the main
soonest lot of cabins in the district-a.
60-foot by 20-foot three-decker bunk
house, an office and blacksmith shop a
storehouse, and every building. neces@
assayer's office. is a quarter of d mile
above. and is a marvel iii hand work
with ADJ and saw: for every manner
and fashion of utensil that may not be
mountain is here found wrought by
hand by Mr. WiIliston, the assayer.
These buildings. mile above Smith
creek, will be the headquarters of the
working DEPARTMENT of the Werden-
hoff. And this brings US to a consider
alton of the mine from a somewhat
technical viewpoint.
Next in Importance to the Werdenhoff
in the district is the Crown property
though the Independence, which adj
joins the Crown. is an excellent PROPOSE
ton, and one of the most promising in
the district. The Crown is situated near
Smith and Government creeks. The
property consists of seventeen full
claims and eight fractions.
Over five hundred men are working in
.{af =, t. r..
spring they will have proved much ter
ritory either valuable or worthless. for
the district" is much larger than it
was thought to be year ago. OF the
Yellow Pine basin, which was barely
opened last fall as. prospect, another
article will tell. But here it must be set
down that the Big Creek country is
known now to be the great north and
Pine basin, on the southeast, to the
Buffalo hump country, northwest a
distance of seventy-fve miles. as the
crow flies.
When the wagon road enters the dis
trict next spring it will bring mills and
machinery to turn these mammoth
quarries into gold and silver. The wagon
road will be finished by the time snow
melts, and next summer. the mills will
begin on the great dumps that are
forming outside hundred tunnels.
STORY YET TO BE TOLD.
What those dumps bring forth will
lCAA N44C SAOiJ. IL We al AlOl al GILL
dren of folly, the world will be aston
ished at next years story. And one of
the greatest of American mining camps
will be opened in earnest. 1T will take
two years to define the limits of the
gold belt that lies between the Basin
and the Hump. and while it is being
defined fortunes will be made and lost.
For if the dumps of Big Creek yield
at the mill even one-half of the gold
that their friends believe they will
yield, thousands and thousands of min
ers and prospectors and investors will
come into the new. camp Then the real
rush will begin. Then Big Creek will
repeat the history of Leadville, and
Deadwood. and Cripple Creek, and
Crede. It seems to me that nature has
done her part, that she has planted the
gold in these Idaho hills, and has