The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-05-18
SPOKANE AND ITS CONNECTION
WITH coEUR D'ALENE MINES.

WITH COEUR D'ALENE MINES.
According to N, w. Durham, for
many years editor of the Spokesman
Review, historian of the Spokane
country" whatever that may be, and
now leader of progressive thought and
the Roosevelt for president propagan-
da, which seems to be largely limited
to Spokane, the mines of the Occur
dAlene district owe their existence to
Spokane, or to be more explicit, to
the Spokane spirit" which early man.
ifested itself in grubstake which res
suited in the discovery of gold on
in the progress of mining development
in the Occur d'Alene mining district
was not accomplished by the indomt-
able and irrepressible Jim Wardner,
according to Mr.. Durham, but by two
Spokane newspaper men who made the
sale of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan
mine to--we were about to say Spo-
kane capitalists, but the Spokane his
toran comedies that distinction to
Portland capitalists. But that is the
only concession he makes to capital
outside of Spokane. The Spokane
spirit proceeded to provide transporta-
tion by boat and railroad to give the
district the benefit of direct connec-
tion with Spokane, and from that time
down to the present Spokane capital
has made the Occur d'Alene mines
what they are today But let Mr.,
Durham, the historian, tell the story
Spokane furnished the first grub
stake for the Occur d'Alenes," said Mr..
Durham, Frank Dallam and Harl j
Cook, Spokane newspaper men, fur
nlshed the first publicity which re-
suited in the sale Of the Bunker Hill |
and Sullivan mine to Portland capt.
talists, Spokane men secured the build |
ing of the stage line to Occur d'Alene
city, then the boat line on the lake,
and d. c. Corbin, a Spokane man, built
the first railroad into the Occur
d'Alenes.
Since then such men as S. S. Gid
den, Patrick Clark, Charles Sweeney
Van B. DeLashmutt, John A. Finch, A,
B. Campbell and f. Lewis Clark have
much of the capital for the
development of Occur dAlene mines.
Nor can sufficient credit be given
host of small investors from Spokane
who have continued to supply funds c
for these prospects and properties" '
The foregoing is an extract from v
speech delivered by Mr.. h
Durham at a meeting Of the Spokane : f
Mining Mems club last week. If this d
8 fair example of history as written
~ Mr.. Durham, then his fame as a
historian will be limited to the city Of
Spokane whose people revel in self
raise without regard to merit or ac-
uracy of statement.
m
The fact is, and Spokane business d,
nen are pleased to dwell upon it when of
ourting favors on occasional exeur- w
ions to the district, that the Occur II
'Alene district owes nothing to spo- fir
ane while Spokane owes everything wa
the Occur d'Alenes. Not one of the hi
zen named by Mr.. Durham as types of ne
pokane men who have furnished the tie
lpital for developing the mines of ha
his district, with the possible excep- co
on of f. Lewis Clark, made his home mn
Spokane at the time he became mi
with mining in the Occur tn,
Alenes. The first business block of III,
ny pretensions to be erected in Spo- nile
me was paid for in money received WI
ON the sale of the Bunker Hill g. bv
ma
ID. c. Corbin, the man who built the grS
st railroad to the mines, was a resi- mi
mt Of Helena and made his head for
larters at Occur d'Alene 1t was not tina
It'll after he had sold the railroad der
at he made his home in Spokane. in
3. s Glidden came to the Occur A
Alene district from Indiana and mil