Cottonwood chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1917-current, 1920-09-17
TELLS ABOUT MINES IN ELK

NA~( W WAC dCl lIulSuIdl ana
stock raising activities which at
this time supercede the mining
operations.
We arrived in Elk City about
five O'Clock. The town is not
so large nor auto travel so COM
mon but that the arrival of a
car is still something of an
event., OF at least something
interesting. All the business
houses are built along one main
street and from one end to the
other is about two blocks long.
1t is not a solid wall of business
structures of course, neither are
marbel columns OF glass plate
fronts much in evidence, but
some very respectable buildings
are to be seen, some of them
empty, others with doors hang
ing on one hinge just as one
would see in any mining town
that once saw more prosperous
times than now prevail. All in
all the town makes a very good
impression on the visitor. There
are three general merchandise
stores, two good hotels. black
smith shop, billiard and pool
hall and two soft drink estab-
lishments. The people are some
of the finest we ever met, ohlig-
ing and hospitable to a fault.
We had hardly arrived until we
had offers of camp sites and as
sistance to get TO such points as
we might desire to visit and not
accessible by car, that we were
made to feel that we were heart
lily welcome.
The next morning Mr.. Ross
and myself decided to visit some
OF the mines to learn something
about the manner in which gold
is granared from the soil and
rocks, so we accepted the kind
offer of Mr.. McGregor to accom-
pany us to Orogrand OF any place
that we might choose. Our car
relieved of some $50 pounds of
camp equipment and the family
Drefering to stay in camp for the
day, seemed to be "raren" to go
as we turned on the Juice after
having qiven her new feed of
J DIS eliXer of life at 70 cents
per gallon. The first five or six
miles towards Orogrand is a fine
road and for the first time since
we left the Prairie to descend
into the Clearwater basin to
Harpster did we find use for
high" in our car.
That we made good use of it |
needs no confederation. Oh such |
a "G-r-r-r and Glorious Feelen."
We thoroughly enjoyed the thrill |
and pleasant sensation of speed |
ing through the fresh and crisp
morning air, fragrant with ozone
spices creeping down from the
timbered mountain slopes high !
on either side of us. There may
be some people in this gain grab
bling world as to be indifferent TO
the beauties of nature, to whom
gold wlung with infinite toll
from the bowels of the earth is
more pleasing than the granduer
of this mountain scenery, but if |
so they are out of tune with .
their creator. The soul must be
fed as well as the stomach, and /
here your soul can imbibe deeply /
the beauties of a priceless herit-
age which no man toiled for,
which no spendthrift can cast
away. But we cannot linger
here always. In a conflict be-
tween materialism and spiritual
ism, materialism wins, at least
for the time being and we hasten
on to get a look at mills and tun-
nels Quilted into this mountain in
search of that precious metal
called gold, the main spring of
the commerce of the world.
Every here and there along the
road are mail boxes although |
there are no homes OF camps in
sight, neither are there roads
leading off from the main road.
We inquire and are told that
these mail boxes are used by
prospectors and miners doing
development work farther back
in the hills and apparently there
are a great many of them. At
Orogrand we see the first stamp
mill, that of the Orogrand Gold
Mining & Milling Co. The mill
was not in operation as it is un-
dergoing repairs and additions
increasing its capacity from 100
to 500 tons per day. The ore
milled by this concern is of very
low grade, carrying values of
only GO m ,Na,. ta,, hut 4 l. QUO =, ., Z