Old Missoula

Wealth of Famous Coeur d’Alenes – 1907

More Than $148,000,000 Produced Since 1884.

Comprehensive History

Story of the Opening of the District to Mining Enterprise Is Intensely Interesting One.

More than $148,000,000 in mineral wealth has been taken from the Coeur d’Alenes since that district was first opened as a mining center, in 1884, according to a comprehensive article which recently appeared in the Spokesman-Review. This vast sum represents the total output of lead, silver, copper, zinc, antimony and gold, compiled from government reports and other reliable sources. It is more than probable that the output is far in excess of the figures mentioned, as the values are based on a general average of the New York market quotations, extending over the entire period.

The history of this now famous district makes an intensely interesting story. Since 1883 the total amount of lead is estimated at 2,201,738,430 pounds, representing a value of $86,873,409. The amount of silver is estimated at 68,095,054 ounces, of a value of $43,779,860. Copper to the extent of 12,955,112 pounds has been extracted from the mines, and the value of this is estimated at $2,352,286. Gold to the extent of 238,309 ounces, and of a value of $4,920,326 has been taken out.

The Values Increase Yearly.

With the exception of the production of gold, which has varied in value all the way from $53,600 in 1905 to as high as $385,124 in 1895, the value in production of all other metals has increased almost steadily, the value of production of each year being greater than that of the preceding year. In 1906 the production of gold is estimated at almost double that of 1905, the figures being 2,860 fine ounces of a value of $53,600 for 1905, as against 4,671 ounces of a value of $96,549 for 1906.

Jesuits Found the District.

The story of the opening of the Coeur d’Alene district to mining enterprise goes back to 1842, when a mission was established by the Jesuits in the beautiful valley of the St. Joe river, and in 1846 this mission was removed to its present site on the Coeur d’Alene river, about 25 miles from the lake, and for many years Father J. Joset and his missionaries were the only white inhabitants in the whole region. The only other inhabitants were about 300 Coeur d’Alene Indians who lived in the vicinity of the mission.

In 1854 Lieutenant John Mullan, acting under instructions from the war department, began explorations for a wagon road over the Coeur d’Alene mountains to connect Fort Benton with Fort Walla Walla. These preparations roused the Indians, who were ultimately subjected about 1854.

In the following year work on the proposed road was begun under a congressional appropriation, and the task appears to have been finished about 1861. This road crossed the mouth of the St. Joe river on the Coeur d’Alene river, from whence it followed the main stream and South fork to a point about three miles east of the present town of Mullan. Here it turned south, crossed the divide through the Sohon or St. Regis pass, and continued down the St. Regis De Borgia river, following the route later adopted by the railroad to Missoula.

Irwin the First Prospector.

The first prospecting in the region appears to have been done by Thomas Irwin, who located a quartz claim near the Mullan road in 1873, on Elk creek. In 1879 A. J. Prichard and a party of explorers discovered Prichard creek, and in 1882 Gallett, another of this party, discovered placer gold on Prichard creek. Patrick Flynn located the first quartz claim on this creek on September 21, 1883. This was known as the Paymaster claim.

The discoveries by Prichard and Gellett (sic) were followed by a rush of prospectors to the North fork early in 1884, and in May of that year Eagle City, at the junction of Eagle and Prichard creeks, had become a bustling mining camp, connected by trail and telegraph with Belknap, 32 miles away, on the Northern Pacific.

It was soon found that the richest placers lay higher up the creek, on Dream and Alder gulches, and the center of population soon shifted to the new town of Murray.

Senator Heyburn a Pioneer.

Although the chief excitement of this time centered in the gold placer mines attention was also beginning to be directed to the lead-silver veins of the South fork. In 1884 Colonel N. R. Wallace had a cabin and store on the site of what is now the city of Wallace, but his settlement was originally known as Placer Center. At the same time W. B. Heyburn began work on the Polaris mine, in Polaris gulch, and in the same year the Tiger claim, on Canyon creek, was located by John Carton and Alameda Seymour, who bonded it to John M. Burke. In 1885 this mine had been opened by three tunnels and had about 3,000 tons of lead-silver ore on the dump. Other mines located in this year were the Gold Hunter, Morning, You Like, at Mullan, and the Black Bear, Gem of the Mountains and the San Francisco (now comprised of the Helena-Frisco mine), near Gem.

In 1885 Murray became the permanent seat of Shoshone county, the population then being about 1,500. Communication with the mines on the South fork was difficult at this time, and the only means of transportation was the Evolution trail.

The discovery of the Bunker Hill mine by Phil O’Rourk and N. S. Kellogg in 1885, of the Sullivan mine by Con Sullivan and Jacob Goetz and the evident existence of large bodies of rich ore in the Tiger, Poorman, Granite, San Francisco, Morning and other mines removed all doubts of the future importance of the South fork mines. The opening of the year 1886 was marked by the decided rush from the outside and from the waning placers of Murray to this new field, and particularly to the settlement of Milo and Kentucky, now parts of Wardner and Kellogg. Tri-weekly stages ran from Mission to Wardner, and a stage road was built connecting Delta with the South fork.

In 1886 ore from the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines was hauled by wagon to Mission, carried by boat to the outlet of the lake and shipped from there to Helena, Mont. The ore from the Last Chance, Tyler and Sierra Nevada mines was treated in a new smelter at Milo. This smelter has long since been abandoned.

First Railroad Comes In.

In the following year a narrow gauge railroad was completed by the Coeur d’Alene Railway & Navigation company from Mission to Wardner Junction, at the mouth of Milo creek. By this time Wardner had become a town of 1,500 people, and the population of Murray had fallen to about 1,000. There were about 500 inhabitants at Wallace, and Burke and Mullan were growing settlements. Probably about 100,000 toms of ore were piled on the dumps of the Canyon creek mines awaiting means of transportation. The Oregon Railroad & Navigation company and the Northern Pacific railway were both striving at this time to secure an entrance to the district.

In April, 1887, the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines were sold to S. G. Read and in August the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating company was organized, with a capital of $3,000,000. The Poorman, Granite and Morning mines were also sold at this time, and the completion of the narrow gauge railroad to Burke in this year enabled the Canyon creek mines to ship their ore. Probably over 50,000 tons of lead-silver ore was mined in 1887, the principal producers being the Tiger, Bunker Hill & Sullivan, Tyler and Stemwinder, Last Chance, Sierra Nevada, Poorman and Granite. The Mammoth and Standard veins were as yet only good prospects.

In 1888 placer mining in the Murray and Delta districts had greatly declined. A pipe line was constructed from Raven in 1890 to hydraulic the bench gravels of the so-called Old Wash, near Murray. A hydraulic elevator was operated for some time in the bed of Prichard creek, about a mile below Murray, and some dredges were working near Delta in 1904; but the scene of activity had definitely shifted by 1888 to the lead-silver mines of the South fork.

The principal events in 1890 were the completion into the district of the tracks of the Northern Pacific and Oregon Railroad & Navigation company’s lines, the partial destruction by fire of Wallace and Wardner, and the first shipment of rich ore from the Mammoth mine. The old narrow gauge line was absorbed by the O. R. & N. and its tracks replaced by those of a standard gauge. By this time most of the larger mines had been equipped with concentrators.

Period of the Great Riots.

At the beginning of 1892 most of the South fork mines stopped work to secure better freight rates. Wages at this time were $3.50 a day, and in the following April a reduction was made, followed by a strike of the union men. The Frisco, Gem and Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines attempted to resume work in July with non-union men, and the latter were attacked by armed strikers. Troops were called into the district, and for a time order was partly restored. In July, 1894, a second attack was made upon the Gem mine, and in December the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines closed rather than accede to the requests of the union men. In June, 1905, it resumed work paying $3 a day to miners. The Tiger and Poorman mines were consolidated in this year.

Beginning of Federal Company.

In May, 1898, the Empire State Mining & Development company was organized to control the Last Chance mine and to acquire additional territory west of Milo gulch. This was the beginning of the process of consolidation that has now developed into the Federal Mining & Smelting company. The county seat was removed to Wallace, now the largest town in the district, this year.

The opening of 1898 found the Miner’s union still determined to enforce their demands upon the mine owners, and in a particularly bitter mood against the Bunker Hill & Sullivan company, which still maintained its right to employ non-union labor. On April 29 the offices of the company were rifled and the mill blown up.

In 1901 the Tiger-Poorman mine, previously acquired by the Buffalo Hump Mining company, was consolidated with the holdings of the Empire State company, and in September, 1903, the Empire State, Standard and Mammoth properties were all consolidated under the Federal Mining & Smelting company. In 1901 the Hercules, a mine which has produced ore to the value of $2,000,000 in less than three years, was discovered, and the shipments of copper ore from the Snowstorm mine began in 1903.

For several years the Coeur d’Alene district has been the leading lead-producing district in the United States. Out of a total of 313,553 short tons of lead produced by the mines of this country in 1904, 107,560 tons, or more than one-third were from this district. This exceeds the combined product of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky, and is about double the production of Utah and Colorado.

A significant fact connected with the mines of this district is that there is not a mine that has “petered out.” Those mines that have been developed longest and have shipped the most are the mines that have the largest and best showing of ore today.

 

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on May 27, 1907.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349236198/

 

Below is a link to facts on Idaho Mines website:

http://www.miningartifacts.org/Idaho-Mines.html