in the history of mining in Idaho, when placers were exhausted of their first marvellous wealth,1 and veins

1 Some of the first discovered veins, already mentioned in a previous chapter, retained their productiveness. The Gold Hill mine was sold in 1869, since which time to 1884 it produced $2,850,000. It was not until 1878 that the Banner district, north of Quartzburg, in Boisé county, began to be really developed. The mines of War Eagle Mountain, in Owyhee county, continued productive. Oro Fino, the first discovery, yielded $2,756,128 in six years, without any considerable cost to its owners. The Elmore, later called the Bannack, in one month in 1868 yielded $500,000, the ore being crushed in a twenty-stamp mill. This mine, irregularly worked, a few months at a time, produced from 1868 to 1886 $2,000,000. The entire production of the Poorman previous to its suspension was $4,000,000. This mine yielded a large quantity of extraordinary rich chlorides. Some masses of horn-silver looked like solid lead tinted with crimson, and was sixty per cent pure silver. Its second and third class ores yielded $230 to the ton in the early period of its development, and the first grade as high as $4,000. A block of this ore weighing 500 pounds was sent to the world's exposition at Paris in 1866, which obtained an award of a gold medal, and was regarded with much interest. But the Poorman, after various changes of management, owing to litigation, suffered a final blow to its prosperity in 1876, when the secretary of the company absconded with the funds, and it suspended work, along with every other incorporated mine in Owyhee except the Golden Chariot, which ran for some time longer. A period of depression, followed by the Indian disturbances of 1877 and 1878, involved many mining operators in apparently hopeless disaster. But in 1880 capital began once more to seek investment in the longneglected quartz mines of Owyhee. It may be interesting hereafter to be able to refer to the names of mines discovered in Owyhee previous to 1865. They were the Whiskey Gulch, Oro Fino, Morning Star, Ida Elmore (Bannack), Golden Chariot, War Eagle, Minnesota, Silver Bullion, Hidden Treasure, General Grant, Noonday, Centurion, Golden Eagle, Allison, Blazing Star, Montana, Home Ticket, Floreta, Silver Legion, Eureka, Calaveras, Caledonia, Empire, Dashaway, Red Jacket. Poorman was discovered a little later than these. Between 1865 and 1880 many other mines were added to the list. Mahogany, Stormy Hill, South Chariot, Illinois Central, North Extension Illinois Central, Belle Peck, North Extension Poorman, South Poorman, Lucky Poorman, Big Fish, Boycott, Glenbrook, Clearbrook, Idlewild, North Empire, South Empire, San Juan, Dubuque, Silver Cloud, Louisiana, Ruby, Jackson, Silver City, Ruth, Sinker, By Chance, Potosi, Rattling Jack, St James, South Extension Morning Star, Northern Light, Trook & Jennings, Whiskey, Brannan, Home Resort, Savage, Piute, Miami, Lone Tree, Home Stake, Little Fish, Silver Cord, Golden Cord, Standard, Ruby and Horn Silver Lode, Philox, Webfoot, Wilson, Idaho, Gentle Emma, Stoddard, Ohio, Henrietta, Tremont, Crown Point, Redemption, Boonville, Empire State, Florida Hill, Seventy-Nine, Paymaster, Black Jack, Leviathan, Sierra Nevada, Owyhee, Treasury, Yreka, Crown Point, Avenue, Rose, Hudson, Phoenix No. 1, Phœnix No. 2, Phoenix No. 3, and Carson Chief, were all more or less prospected, and about half them being worked to some extent.

The mining districts of Owyhee were five in number. Carson district began on the summit of War Eagle Mountain, and ran west 8 miles, and north and south 15 miles. French district began on the summit of the same mountain, and ran easterly toward Snake River, and north and south about 12 miles. Steele district adjoined French, and was about 8 miles from Silver City. Flint district was 9 miles south of Silver City. Mammoth district was 12 miles south-west of the same place, and Wagontown district 7 miles north-west. South Mountain was 30 miles south of Silver City. The mineral characteristics of the several districts were gold and silver in the War Eagle and Florida mountains; geologically, War Eagle was granite and Flor

of gold and silver quartz were eagerly sought after. For several years no one thought of mining on Snake

ida porphyritic. In the Flint district were found refractory ores and tin; geologically, it was granitic and porphyritic, as was also Wagontown, which produced silver and milling ores. South Mountain produced argentiferous galena, its rocks being limestone, porphyry, and granite, with some metamorphosed slates. Lithologically, the two extremes of the Owyhee region, War Eagle and South Mountain, were separated by a mass of basalt and lava. The gold veins ran almost due north and south; the silver veins, north-west and south-east. At the centennial exposition, 1876, medals were awarded to the gold ores from Golden Chariot and South Chariot, and silver ores from Home Resort and Leviathan; for silver-gold ores from Oro Fino; for lead bullion from South Mountair; and silver-lead ores from the Silver Chord mine.

In 1881 the depth to which Owyhee mines had been worked varied from 150 to 1,500 feet. I am indebted to a series of articles by Gilbert Butler which appeared in the Silver City Avalanche, in 1881, for much knowledge of the condition and history of the Idaho mines down to that period.

The Owyhee Treasury on Florida Mountain furnished ore, one hundred feet down, that yielded seventy-five cents to the pound. A stringer' in the mine yielded nearly $46 to a pound of ore, worked in a common mortar. From 120 pounds was taken $2,344.80; but the ordinary milling ore was rated at $50 per ton. Several mines in the vicinity promised nearly equal riches. The bullion output for Owyhee county in 1881 was nearly $300,000. Silver State, June 24, 1881. Sold to the Varkoff Mining, Smelting, and Milling Company were the mines Catalow, Graham, Tuscarora, Venice, New York, Gazelle, Belcher, Mono, Black Warrior, New Dollar, and Red Fox, aggregating 14,200 linear feet. Silver City Avalanche, May 7, 1881.

For many years it was known to prospectors that the Wood River country contained large ledges of galena ores. The first lode was discovered by W. P. Callahan, while on his way to Montana, in 1864. Nothing was done until 1872, when Callahan returned and relocated it, naming it after himself. It was on

HIST. WASH.-34

River, that stream not presenting the usual features of a placer mining district, although flour-gold was

the main Wood River, 11 miles above the crossing of the Boisé and Salmon City road. A little work was done on the vein annually, the ore being shipped to Salt Lake for smelting, at a great expense, where it sold in 1880 for $200 a ton. The second camp was 5 miles north of the road, and named after the discoverer, Frank Jacobs. Silver City Avalanche, March 13, ISSO. The belligerent attitude of the Indians of southern Idaho, who knew that settlement followed mining, prevented the occupation of that region until after the subjugation of the Bannacks in 1878. During the summer of 1879–80 in an area of 60 miles square as many as 2,000 claims were taken up, the ore from which, shipped to Salt Lake, yielded on reduction from $100 to $500 per ton in silver. Several towns immediately sprang up. Bellevue had 250 houses at the end of the first seven months, and the Elkhorn mine had shipped $16,000 worth of ore, besides having left 150 tons. Rock from the Bullion mine assayed $11,000 per ton, and although not all showed equally rich, the yield of from $100 to $500 was common, making the belt in which the Bullion mine was situated, and which gave it its name, one of the richest as well as one of the most extensive in the world, being eighteen miles long, extending from Bellevue to Ketchum, and a part only of the silver-bearing region, which comprised between 4,000 and 5,000 square miles. The gross product of the Bullion mine in 1883 was $250,000.

The Bullion belt and district was the richest yet discovered. The geologi. cal formation was quartzite, slate, and porphyry. The ores were galena and carbonates, with antimony and copper, yielding sixty to eighty per cent of lead. On the east side of the river the best mineral was found in limestone, or limestone and granite. The ores were cube, leaf, and fine-grained galena and carbonates, yielding lead in about the same proportion as the Bullion belt, and silver at the rate of $100 to $300 per ton. South-west from the Bullion belt was the Ornament Hill and Willow Creek district. The ledges in this district were immense in size, and in a granite belt, containing, besides lead and silver, antimony and gold. Again, on the Wood River Mountains, on the east side, was another belt of mines in calcareous shale, limestone, and quartzite, yielding from $50 to $100 per ton. The Ornament Hill mines, very rich in silver and bearing traces of gold, were the only free-milling ores in the whole silver region. The Mayflower mine, discovered in 1880, was sold to a Chicago company and consolidated with two others. It had shipped in 1883 three thousand tons of ore; the first thousand tons yielding $152,000, the second $144,000, and the third $276,000. This mine adjoined the Bullion. On the same lode were the Jay Gould, Saturn Group of four mines, OphirDurango group, and Highland Chief. This was the middle one of three lodes running north-west and south-east. On the western lode were the Mountain View, Red Elephant, O. K., and Point Lookout. On the eastern lode were the Coloradan, Fraction, Chicago, Bay State, Iris, Eureka, Idahoan, Parnell, and l'ass. There were in 1883 four smelters at work on Wood River between Bellevue and Galena, two of forty tons capacity per day and two of sixty tons, producing together an average of fifty tons of bullion daily. The names of other mines favorably known in the early days of Wood River were the Star, Minnie Moore, Gladiator, Concordia, Idaho Democrat, Solid Muldoon, Overland, Homestake, Guy, and Mountain Belle, in the lower Wood River or Mineral Hill district.

North of Mineral Hill district, which contained the above-mentioned mines, was the Warm Springs district, containing many locations considered of great value; north-west of this, the Saw Tooth district; and west of it, the Little Smoky district-each rivalling the other in promising ledges. There were the Imperial, Oriental, Greenhorn, Perry, and Maud May; the Kelly group, comprising the West Fork, West Fork 2, Yellow Jacket, Black Hawk, and Big Beaver; the Moffit and Irvin group, comprising 18 locations, among

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known to exist in considerable quantities. But about 1871 the experiment was made, which resulted in find

which were the Ontario, Niagara, North Star, Sunday, and Black Horse. The Mountain Lily, owned by Lewis, produced copper-silver glance assaying 900 ounces to the ton. Wood River Miner, Aug. 12, 1881. The Elkhorn mine, 4 miles from Ketchum, also belonged to Lewis, and produced very valuable ores. On the east fork of Wood River were the North Star, American Eagle, Silver Fortune, Champion, Boss, Paymaster, Summit, Silver King. The Elkhorn was discovered by John Rasmussin, the North Star by William Jaikovski. In the same district were the Star Mountain group, consisting of the Ohio, Lulu, Hawkeye, Commodore, Bellevue, Star Mountain, Garfield, Amazon, Empire, and Hancock. On Deer Creek were the Narrow Gauge, N. G. No. 2, Banner, Kit Carson, Saturday Night, and Monumental. The Little Smoky mines were at the head of Warm Springs Creek, and assayed from 100 to 3,000 ounces smelting ore to the ton. Among them were the Climax and Carric Leonard.

In the Upper Wood River or Galena district, in a formation of slate and lime with some porphyry, was another group of mines averaging from $175 to $200 to the ton of smelting ore. Among the locations in the Galena district were the Shamrock, Signal, Western Home, Adelaide, White Cloud, Gladiator, Accident, Little Chief, Big Chief, Eunice, Wood River, J. Marion Sims, Baltimore, Dinero, Grand View, Lawrence, Senate, Red Cloud, Independence, Wellington, Leviathan, Highland Chief, Monarch, Our Girl, Clara, Garfield, and Serpent, the latter three being consolidated. These mines lay at an altitude of from 8,500 to 10,000 feet above sea-level. In the Saw Tooth district, which was divided from Wood and Salmon rivers by a high ridge called the Saw Tooth Mountains, in a granite formation, was a group of ledges bearing milling ores of a high grade, but sufficiently refractory to re

ing good pay on the gravel bars in the vicinity of the Great Falls, the mouth of Raft River, Henry's Ferry,

quire roasting, the yield of bullion being from 250 to 500 ounces to the ton. The most noted of the early Saw Tooth mines were the Pilgrim, Vienna, Columbia, Smiley's, Beaver, Beaver Extension, Lucky Boy, Scotia, Atlanta, Nellie, Sunbeam, and Naples. This district was discovered in July 1879, by L. Smiley, a Montana pioneer and former superintendent of Utah mines, with a party of half a dozen men from Challis. An assay of the ore led to the return of Smiley in 1879, with E. M. Wilson, J. F. Kinsley, J. B. Richy, O'Leary, and others. Smiley located the Emma, Wilson the Vienna, Kinsley the Alturas, and many others were prospected during the season. Silver City Avalanche, March 20, 1880.

Lying north of Salmon River, and directly north of the Galena distict of Wood River, was the Yankee Fork district, discovered in 1870, but little worked before 1875, when the Charles Dickens gold-quartz lode was located by W. A. Norton, which paid $2,000 a ton. This renowned discovery was followed by the location of the Charles Wayne ledge by Curtis Estes, on Mount Estes, and a few months later by the location of the General Custer and Unknown on Mount Custer, by E. G. Dodge, J. R. Baxter, W. McKeen, and James Dodge. The Custer mine was in every respect a wonderful one. It was an immense ledge projected above the surface, requiring only quarrying instead of mining, and was as rich as it was large, and conveniently situated. It involved no outlay of capital; its face was good for a vast amount, which was casily extracted. The walls of this treas. ury had been nibbled away for several hundred feet by the tooth of time, exposing the solid mass of wealth to whoever would come and take it. A tunnel was run into this ore body and a tramway constructed, which served to convey the ore to the mill, 1,300 feet down the mountain. All the works were so nearly automatic in arrangement as to require at the mine and mill only fifty-two men to perform every part of the labor. The average value of the ore per ton was $135. From Feb. to Nov. 1881, the owners sent to market $800,000 worth of bullion, half of which was profit. Other well-known mines of this district, which is high and well wooded, were the Montana, Bay Horse, Ram's Horn, Skylark, Silver Wing, Utah Boy, Bull-of-the-Woods, Cuba, Juliet, River View, Post Boy, Hood, and Beardsley. The Montana produced from 700 to 1,000 ounces of bullion to the ton. Wood River Miner, July 20, 1881. The total value of 136,098 pounds of Montana ore, in 23 different lots, was $73,170.46. Yankee Fork Herald, Sept. 15, 1881. They shipped and sold 40 tons of ore which netted them $53,000. They are down 145 feet, and have a 165-foot level in $500 ore, 12 feet thick. Shoup's Idaho Ter., MS., 9. The Montana mine was discovered by James Hooper, A. W. Faulkner, Duncan Cameron, Amos Franklin, and D. B. Varney. Bonanza City Yankee Fork Herald, July 24, 1879. The Ram's Horn was the longest vein known in the history of modern mining. There were 24 claims 1,500 feet long located on it. It assayed 800 ounces in silver per ton. Other mines on Mount Estes were the Tonto, Pioneer, Cynosure, Snow Bird, Hidden Treasure, General Miles, Colorado, Indiana, Manhattan, Golden Gate, North Star, Ophir, Polar Star, Last Chance, Lake, Snowshoe, King Idaho, Goldstone, and Bobtail. A rival to the Custer was the Montana, a gold mine on Mount Estes, near which Bonanza City was laid out in 1877. The vein was six and a half feet wide, and the rock fairly welded together with gold.

North-west of Yankee Fork district was the mining region of the middle fork of the Salmon, in which were a number of large ledges, on which locations were made in 1881. One mine, the Galena, assayed 190 ounces in silver to the ton; and the Northern Pacific, discovered by E. Miller and Harry Smith, assayed even richer. The Greyhound, 13 miles north-west of Cape Horn, on a high mountain, was on a 6-foot vein containing antimonial silver and chloride.