The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-03-29
BILLY HAWKINS DIED
IN PORTLAND LAST WEEK
TRIBUTE TO HoNoRED PIONEER
BY ONE WHO KNEW HIM
INTIMATELY.
On Adam AuIbaeh. Murrav Idahol

(By Adam Aulbach, Murray Idaho)
William John Hawkins, bette
known locally as BILLY" Hawkins
died in Portland. ore. last week, afte
short illness. lie was born Marcel
%, 1851 at Washoe state Of Nevada
and had the distinction of being the
first white child born in the silver
state. He went to Portland in 1886
and built a portion of the Northern
Pacific railroad between Portland and
Puget Sound under contract After
this work was completed. in company
with Captain j. c. Answorth and l..
l.. Hawkins. ne established the Aims
worth bank He retired from this
bank early in 1888. and in the late fall
struck out for the Occur d'Alenes ar
irving at Eagle City" with the to-
boggan crowd that crossed the Bitter
Roots from Rathdrum. With charac-
terstic energy he opened "a bank"
the pioneer institution of the new FL
dorado and prospered unmolested UNI
der "a canvas roof and a tin box for
several months, cashing checks and
making change without losing a single
dollar Conditions were changing too
rapidly however and the outlook for
Eagle was not altogether promising,
as the new town of Murray appeared
10 dr'lw on the population by hun
dreds. This induced him to sell the
bank to a new arrival, who proved
TO be Warren Hussey, who promptly
followed the rush to Murray. and who
made banking history not only in the !
Coeur dAlenes, but also in Spokane |
Even up to the present time many I'M
informed later ARRIVALS have held. and |
still hold, that Mr. Hussey came to |
Eagle with the tin box and started the |
first bank and that he brought a bull
dog with him to guard his "safe" and
person. The facts are as here stated
Mr. Hussey secured the bulldog about
year later i'm Murray He was the
genuine brute, and was as much of a
menace to those in the bank as to
those on the outside trying to get in
without permission. He was finally \
taken TO the woods and shot
Moves to Murray.
Mr. Hawkins also came to Murray.
and as there was no sluggish blood in
his veins he promptly entered the mi
ming game with all of his energy. He
purchased section of the old wash
channel on Dream gulch. a mile below
Murray high and dry at that period,
Ind picked up other interests on the
channel although his friends twitted ;
him numerically for trying to get up {
10 the moon to placer mine. He took
everything good naturally however. s
md turned the tables. so to speak {
against the bunch with whom he as }
mainly members of the bar I
legal not spirituaD, such as Major w. c
N. Woods, w. D. Hepburn. Colonel "a
singleton Alex Mayhem and Others f
or just about that time three Califor- Il
Iia placer miners came to the camp. c
ach with a limited wad, and COM
nenced to dig a ditch four miles east
f Murray toward the old channel
wash, which they proposed 10 supply
Nth water for hydraulic purposes. =
hey called the enterprise the Caifor-
ia Ditch company. Locally the pro-
sct was condemned as too low. but -,
he Californians kept at work and ac-
lally completed the ditch and had .
.ater running through it to Dry "
ulch. half a mile west of Murray. -
iree and a half miles from the in -
Ike u
Worked Richest Claim. -
Their resources were eaten up and -
ley considered themselves down and -
lt As they had the end of the ditch III
little over half mile from the Haw-
ms ground on Dream gulch, Mr.. :"
awkins promptly came to the aid of -
lie Californians, put a surveyor on III
e job, located the line, found that he ''
uld utilize the ditch water on his i'l'
ound with several hundred feet of vi
mel work. and completed the en- Cf
rprise. Mr.. Hawkins worked out IN
S main claim. which proved to be 9p
e richest ever worked on the old nc
annel The chief cleanup yielded III
5000, and the entire output in the an
ighborhood of 100000. The com ne
elton of the ditch cost him $4,000. nv
= returned TO Portland. married and 70
tiled down. He is survived by his
dow and four children. He was eu
Z degree Mason of the Scottish Rite th'
lnch. His honored name is on ms
'mory's tablet of every living 1884 'ne
'neer of the Occur d'Alenes. sla