Clearwater Republican., 1922-04-07

iectiy good red liquor, at very prof
iIaple prices to the dealer-he sent |
a hurried consignment to these sur
fering miners.
The outfit, on reaching the ton
OF Whiskey creek hill beyond what
Is now the Griffin bench. encount-
ered too much snow and had to re /
turn to the mouth of Whiskey creek
where they waited for the snow to
leave the high areas. 1t seems that
through the carelessness Of those in |
charge, the kegs had bad habit of |
leaKlng, and before the trail had |
opened a great number of early |
pircs bent on prospecting had strag-
Sled up the Clearwater and they as
sisted In the leak apparently, for |
when the trail opened and the car
80 was overhauled for packing the
Kegs had an empty sound and light |
weight. The merchant had mad |
vertantly done a kindhe3 to a |
bunch of humanity which undoubt-
edly saddened or gladdened his heart |
All that was left of his whiskey was
the name it left to the creek.
When Coweu landed at the Pierce |
diggins there were two towns |
Pierce City was the most thriving, |
and still does business on the same
old place. Orofino was rival about
one and half miles up Orofino
creek at the mouth of Rhodes creek.
1t flourished for short time. Most
of the population left it in 1862.
Florence drew heavily on it. In
1866 these moved to Pierce. Today
there is nothing to be seen of this
Old town. First a fire struck it and
took the remaining houses. Then in
recent years the dredge went thru
the old townsite and cleaned up ev-
cry vestige of the old town. l saw
some of the clutter the dredge dug
up. There must have been hund-
reds of pounds of old iron-such as
nails, door hinges, pieces of chains,
broken wall lamp bracket, old cut
tlery, buckles, parts of six shooters
and guns and lead bullets galore,
all taken from the sluice boxes of
the dredge.
Pierce City was never a big town
1t never had but one principal street
and two cross streets. But when
Cowen landed he said the one street
was about as full of pack animals
and miners and loafers as it could
accommodate. ,,All the business houses
were along this street. The court
house still stands on cross street.
1t was built in 1851 at cost OF
100000 by Chas. Marvin and Sam
Owens and is the oldest court house
in the state. The rest of the town
, as built at that time consisted most
ly Of shanties of logs, shakes or
lumber. hummer hill, across Canal
Gulch, had all sorts of shanties and
: tents. The town population was
never great, as most of the miners
. lived on their claims on the differ
ent creeks and hillside diggins
, Cowen said there must have been
y 10000 people in and about the two
towns in the fall of 1861. A large
. number left the Pierce locality il
: 1852 for newer fields.
!, From an article copied by tn,
q Western Historical Publishing Co.
;. taken from the Portland OregoniaI
of August 31st, 1861, is a statemen
. made by c. c. Robbins, which
L quote in part. During the montl
! Of August $500 practical miner
e were at work on Rhodes creek, Orc
: fino creek, Canal Gulch and Frencl
e creek, and 1000 or 5000 men wer
: making living in other ways
e From this report on the earning
;, of the miners l quote only the high
J, er ones. "Shaffer & Co. IA men
d $50 per diem to the man. Paine {
d Co., 20 men, $40. Mortimer & Co
!, "a men, $40 to $50. Hatch & Co
j 5 men, SIG to $40. Rillery & Co
II men, SIS to $40. Thomas 4
Co., IA men, SIS to $40. Smalle
u & Co., 10 men, SIS. Boone & Co
n 8 men, s16. California Co.. mer
/ Sic. Rhodes & Co., II men cleane
+ up 800 ounces per day for all Q
r, them" Cowen said that Bill Rhode
l. during the years of 1861 and IS
lie cleaned up for himself $4,000.
Next issue we will go throug
what he said of the business firm
of early Pierce and Orc Fino