American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-04-08
EVERY FARMER
A Mine OWNER
FLOUR GOLD EXISTS EVERY.
WHERE IN POWER COUNTY EV.
EN- TO A DEPTH OF FIFTY FEET
OR MORE BELOW THE SURFACE
Islands Adjoining American Falls
Were Regularly Worked Until Few
Years Ago-Wax-Like Substance
Supposed to be Asphaltum on the
Desert Northeast of Town.
(Recollections Of w. T. oliver

(Recollections Of W. T. oliver
Every farmer in Power county can
mine gold on his own land II he knows
how. He will not find enough to make
himself rich, but some might make
hard times wages II they have water
and know how to save the gold 1t
does not make much difference where
one goes, as there is gold everywhere.
When the well at the oliver House was
dug gold was found in soil taken from
fifty feet below the surface, just the
same kind of gold as is found in the
river sand bars. An expert stopped
here once for the purpose of determ-
lining whether the gold came from
mother lode up the river at some point
or whether II existed in the soil. His
conclusion was that when the blow
out occurred which overflowed the
Snake river valley with lava, that the
gold was blown into the air like SCOT
and settled over wide range of ter
ritory His conclusion was that the
river bars were renewed each year
by the caving in of banks along the
river. This is borne out by the ex-
perience of miners on bars in the riv-
er right at the townsite.
For many years these bars were
worked by placer miners among whom
were Hannibal Rowe, who still has
some promising ground a few miles
north of town. Ed Kean, now janitor
OF nd
Ed Craig, also a resident of Pocatello.
Others whom ] recall were Newt Tut
tie and Con. Miller. The latter was
no relation to the Con Miller who now
lives here Tuttle and Miller died a
number of years ago.
These men used TO work The Islands
adjoining the townsite. They were
what is known as skinned bars, as
each period of high water would de-
posit a thin layer of sand and earth,
about the thickness of a knife blade,
which was comparatively rich. They
used rockers and after putting this
thin layer through the rocker, would
deposit the refuse in small heaps,
which would be ten or fifteen feet
apart. During the next high water
period these mounds would create
small eddies, and behind each mound
would be a shovelful of quite rich
dirt About ten years ago, during one
of the mining periods, the river sud
denly rose and drove the miners from
the bars. This was an unheard of
raise and the miners could not un-
derstand it. II developed later that
the government had raised the gates
at the Jackson lake dam in order to
furnish water for irrigation purposes.
There has been no placer mining on the
islands since as the bars are covered
too much of the time. The gold is very
fine and floats where there is a cur
rent and is deposited only where the
water is still.
did / ever get rich at mining?"
No. but I made large fortune once
by a discovery of asphaltum. For
about three months had money
enough in sight to build a railroad.
This was about 1896. Sam Cottrell
discovered deposit of an unknown
substance north of Sam Winters place
and about eight miles from the rail-
road, that made millionaires of Camp
bell Stebbins, Bennett and myself 1t
was about the time of the Gilsonite
discoveries in Utah that were creating
so much newspaper talk. We did not
know whether we had gissonite or not,
but IL not, we knew Il was something
just as good. The discovery was a
wax-like substance, resembling melt
ed resin in appearance. and when
chewed was somewhat like chewing
gum, but was tasteless. Whatever II
might be determined to be we were
certain il was some kind OF paving ma
terial and would be In extensive de-
build spur to the deposit, when acres
upon acres of the material could be
shoveled into cars and sent to market
We guarded our secret very closely
telling no one of our discovery. Each
of us carried a sample of the material
in our pockets, and at our frequent
quiet meetings we would chew It and
speculate as to what IL was. Mr.
Campbell had sent a sample OF II TO the
Smithsonian Institute for analysis
and We grew impatient at the delay
IN receiving returns. Every mail was
watched and nearly every day we
would gather. expecting the letter that
had not come. We did not dare send
a sample 70 Salt Lake or Butte for
fear that our secret would get out.
One day the long expected letter