Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1918-10-10
cosTs OF SUPPLIES ARE TOO
HIGH DECLARES ENGINEER
AT DIXIE
S YEARS SEEKING METAL
Tn Central Idaho % Years and Had AL
most Reached Big Returns When
War Broke Out.

confronting the mining industry in cen
trail Idaho. The letter in part follows
al am in the gold mining game, and
have been in this place for twenty-five
wears. had just got to the point where
returns appeared to be in sight, when
the expected world war broke out.
had gone thru two panics, and had some
remembrance of the panic that followed
the Civil war, therefore when | came
n central Idaho, l made every effort
possible with the means at my command
to be ready for the world cataclysm that
nv historical study led me to believe
was near at hand. | have ore on the
dump that has lain there for more than
two wears because l could not get team
TO haul it. There is and has been no
team in the camp for more than two
wears. An Elk City man did some team
work in here last fall, and his charges
for the team were So day and you fur
nish you own driver, and his charges
we're for every day from the time the
team left Elk City until its return.
The drivers wages were $4 a day.
Why Gold Mining Is Quiet.
els it to be wondered at, that gold
mining in central Idaho is ON the bum!
| have lived here for twenty-five years,
and hay cost from $35 to 500 ton,
Wholesale; oats, $50 to 500 a ton;
flour for the last twenty years has
averaged SIS barrel; sugar, $3.50
hundredweight; bacon not less than is
cents a pound; vegetables of all kinds,
3 cents to cents pound. Until with
in the last three years beef was our
cheapest food, its average being IS
cents by the cut, and 10 cents by the
quarter The freight rate has been
81 to 4 cents a pound, and these are
still the prices for any freight not
brought in by parcel post.
81 am writing this that you may
know what We men who are trying to
develop this country have to content
against. Last fall | gave up and Went
to work for wages. | bave ore that
plates ! ounce to the ton, but the aver
age assay value of the ores is around .
$40 a ton. In any other country ores
with the average value of this section
would be full of prosperous mining
towns. Central Idaho has been wild
Gated to death. Every man who comes
into the country expects to find the gold
already coined into 500 gold pieces and
lying conveniently near the trail. In
other words, the country has been lied
about so much that were a "Drum
Lummon or a mother lode to be found,
the man who gave the news to the world
would be called damned liar on gem
eral principles.
Gold Miner for So Years.
90 have been in the gold mining game
for fifty-five years, and my experience
Is mines are only made by the slow and
costly process of intelligent develop
ment work, and gold mining is handi- {
capped by the lead mining interests. In
fact the whole mining industry of the
state is gagged by the lead mining in t
iustry All ore deposits are measured by c
the Occur d Alenes, no regard being
paid whatever to geologis genetic diff q
ierences
Until some of the so called experts
VINO fit over the country learn to pay q
some regard to elementary geologic 7
principles that have been demonstrated |
y the development work during the last
Xty years, the gold mining industry is 0
'olng to be decidedly on the bum. That :
ne road up the South Fork will relieve d
ne situation great deal is not to be {
doubted, but with the South Fork road 5
wanted the settlement of the valleys e
Ihu glades that can be made into pro- a
Iuctlve farms. While the altitude is r
llgh the soil and climate will produce a
"5 ana all the hardy vegetables. In I;
tead of a population of 500 or 500 \
eopie, we ought to have a permanent b
opulation of 5000 or 5000, but right n
ere the consevationists come in.
Legislators Don't Aid Miners.
80 far as my experience with the -
uaho delegation in congress goes, look o
lg at it from the gold miner Is stand
Oint 1t sizes up a good deal like Sol II
OK s sons-in-Iaw, mostly "naughts,"
no the present lineup, with the excep- C
'ni OF Johnny Nugent, is not very en- 8
Durao;, " n,