Illustrated History of the State of Idaho Collections

Washington County Its Towns, Resources, Etc.

Washington County lies on the western border of the state of Idaho, and about five hundred miles from the Pacific coast. It contains a large area of land suited to various purposes. It has a population of over five thousand people. Its inhabitants are, generally speaking, enterprising and thrifty people, many of them having settled here in the early 6o”s and have remained ever since. The early settler devoted himself to stock-raising and placer-mining, and he thought that was all the county was fit for. But as the county began settling up it was soon found that anything which grew … Read more

Various Subjects

Presbyterianism In Idaho The history of Presbyterianism in Idaho embraces three separate histories: that of the work among the Nez Perces, that of the work among the whites in the Panhandle, and that of the work in the southern section of the state. The work among the Nez Perces had its beginning in 1836, when Rev. Henry H. Spalding, the friend and companion of Marcus Whitman, established a mission station at Lapwai on the Clearwater, twelve miles above the present city of Lewiston. When the Whitman’s were massacred in 1847 Mr. Spalding and his wife were also marked as victims, … Read more

The Tip-Top Mine

The Tip-Top Mine is a gold property. It is situated twelve miles west of Hailey, Blaine county, in the center of what is known as the gold belt. The mine is thoroughly developed by an inclined shaft three hundred feet in depth, passing through three levels, from which project several wings. The ore is obtained to the extent of five hundred feet, with an average width of the tunnel from five to six feet. The ore consists of gold in iron and copper pyrites. The value of the gold is one ounce to the ton. A twenty-stamp mill is in process … Read more

The Standard Group Of Mineral Claims

The Standard group of claims consists of the following patented lode claims: Standard, Banner, Snow Line, Sancho, Sandwich, Youngstown, Sullivan Fraction, Banner Fraction, Parallel, Little Chap, Mammoth Fraction, a portion of the Mammoth, and Tariff, also the Columbia, Crown Point and Tom Reed, all located in the Coeur d’Alene silver-lead mineral belt, Lalande mining district, Shoshone county, Idaho, one mile from Burke, also the Union Mill-site located at Wallace, Idaho, together with water rights and flumes from which is developed about three hundred horse-power. The Standard claim was located May 7, 1885, by Timothy McCarthy, Timothy Hynes. Frank Hanson and … Read more

The Snake River Valley Reminiscences of the Early Days

In 1833 Captain Bonneville, an officer in the army, secured leave of absence and spent about two years here, mostly in the Snake river valley. He left his horses for the winter with some Indians at a camp near where St. Anthony is now located. He and his men made their way down Snake river in boats till they reached Black Rock canyon, where now is Idaho Falls, the thriftiest town in southeast Idaho: but they dared not venture in their boats through the canyon. Captain Bonneville found a desolate sage-covered valley, holding out no promise of ever being more … Read more

The Silver King Mining Company

The Silver King Mining Company was organized under the laws of New Jersey, by Philadelphia parties, with Henry Tevis as president. They have two groups of mines. The Davitt, a silver-lead property, is located on Deer creek, a tributary of Wood River. The ore occurs in a granite formation. A large and continuous seam has produced a great deal of silver and lead. It was operated with a shaft; but a snow-slide ruined the hoist and operations were abandoned. The company also owns the Silver King, a group of four claims located four miles above Sawtooth on the Salmon river, in … Read more

The Red Cloud Group Of Mines

The Red Cloud Group Of Mines is situated on Deer creek, a tributary of Wood river, about twelve miles in a northwesterly direction from the town of Hailey, in Mineral Hill mining district, Blaine county, and is owned by Lyttleton Price, of Hailey, and Pittsburg parties. These mines were discovered by Orin Porter, E. H. Porter and James L. Mason, in 1880. The present owners purchased them in 1889, organized what was known as the Red Cloud Mining Company, and worked these properties for several years, paying in dividends ten thousand dollars per month, approximating in the total two hundred thousand … Read more

The Press Of Idaho

In the promotion and conservation of advancement in all the normal lines of human progress and civilization there is no factor which has exercised a more potent influence than the press, which is both the director and the mirror of public opinion. Idaho, both as a territory and a state, has been signally favored in the character of its newspapers, which have been vital, enthusiastic and progressive, ever aiming to advance the interests of this favored section of the Union, to aid in laying fast and sure the foundations of an enlightened commonwealth, to further the ends of justice and … Read more

The Poorman Mine

On War Eagle Mountain, a mile and a half southeast of Silver City, are a group of about twenty mines, in one of the richest belts in that section of the state, a belt which has afforded material to render Silver City famous throughout the civilized world. The Poorman mine has a production record of three million dollars, and other properties of the group as Bell Pick, Oso, Illinois Central, Jackson and Silver Cord have all been good producers. The Poorman mine was discovered in 1865, and between July 9 and October 1, 1866, there was shipped from it the … Read more

The Philadelphia & Idaho Mining & Smelting Company

The Philadelphia & Idaho Mining & Smelting Company was organized in 1882 by Colonel Green and Philadelphia parties, who built two stock plants and a large smelter plant at Muldoon, Blaine county, this state, and operated them for several years, in Muldoon. The ores in the vicinity of Ketchum, Idaho, were of a higher grade, and were attracting more attention than those they were then mining, and certain Philadelphia gentlemen had become interested in them, and they induced the Philadelphia Mining & Smelting Company to come to Ketchum. A small test was made with a little tester, and in the course … Read more

The Payette Valley, Its Towns

For the following graphic and ably written article in regard to the attractions of the Payette valley we are indebted to a souvenir edition of the Payette Independent issued in March, 1898: The Payette valley lies in the southwestern part of Idaho, with its upper and narrow end extending far back into pine-clad mountains and its lower flaring into broad, fertile fields, terminating at the banks of the Snake river, just across whose waters rise the mountain peaks of Oregon. Its length is upward of forty miles, its width varying from two miles at the upper point to eight where … Read more

The Ontario Group Of Mines

The Ontario Group Of Mines, which are now owned by Michael Carey, state senator, are located on Warm Spring creek, twelve miles west of Ketchum, in Blaine county, Idaho. They yield galena ore silver and lead and the veins extend east and west, dipping toward the south, and average from three to three and a half feet in width. The ore has an average yield of forty per cent, lead, eighty ounces of silver and three dollars in gold to the ton. These mines are worked by tunnels, which thus afford drainage and permit the ore to be run out … Read more

The Mormon Question

The fifteenth legislative assembly of Idaho convened December lo, 1878, when the people were excited over Mormonism more than in regard to all other things together. In all contested elections the Mormon candidates were excluded, and even an undue prejudice was bitterly exhibited against them. Congress was memorialized to refuse Utah admission into the Union, and also to require of homestead and preemption settlers an oath giving a statement of their polygamous practices. Already the local law required superintendents of schools to sub-scribe to an affidavit that they were neither bigamists nor polygamists, but at this session it was so … Read more

The Mining Fields Of Idaho

The following excellent monograph by W. C. Austin was issued in pamphlet form early in the present year (1899) by authority of C. J. Bassett, state commissioner of immigration, labor and statistics, and as a valuable contribution to the history of the great mining industry of Idaho is held to be worthy of reproduction in this work: There is no other country on God’s green earth that has encompassed within her borders such vast and varied mineral wealth as Idaho. The position that Idaho occupies in the western mineral world is like a wagon wheel, of which Idaho is the … Read more

The Lead Belt Of The Coeur d’Alenes

Lead was first discovered in the Coeur d’Alene mining district, in northern Idaho, on Canyon creek in the fall of 1884, the discovery at that time being the Tiger mine, situated at the town of Burke. During same year a few other locations were made on Canyon creek, a few at Mullan, and in the fall of 1885 the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines were discovered at Wardner. At the time these discoveries were made the country was inaccessible, with no railroads, wagon roads or trails, and the only way of getting in was by foot; ten to fifteen miles’ … Read more

The Indians of Idaho Nez Percé and Shoshone Uprisings

Some notice of the original inhabitants of Idaho is due the reader of this book, even though that notice must necessarily be short and its data largely traditional. With-out a written language of any kind, unless it was the use of the rudest and most barbarous symbols, they have passed away and left no recorded history; without architecture, except that which exhausts its genius in the construction of a skin wigwam or a bark lodge, they have died and left no monuments. Traditions concerning them are too confused, contradictory and uncertain to satisfy any who desire reliable history. Any real … Read more

The Hecla Group

The Hecla mine is located at Burke, Shoshone County (Lalande mining district). The original claims comprising the Hecla group were the Hecla and Katie May lode claims, located by James Toner on May 5, 1885. The property was purchased by the Hecla Mining Company, a corporation of Idaho, the principal stockholders being A. B. Campbell, John A. Finch, Patrick Clark, Simon Haley and a party of Milwaukee gentlemen. Up to January 1 , 1898, the Hecla shipped thirteen thousand dollars’ worth of lead-silver ore while the development work was progressing. This ore was taken out partly by the company and … Read more

The Growth Of Quartz Mining Discoveries

Prospecting early indicated that the future mineral wealth of Idaho would depend upon quartz mining, and accordingly efforts were early made to develop that feature of Idaho’s principal industry. In the autumn of 1863 it was found that thirty-three claims of gold and silver quartz-mines had been made on the south Boise alone, ail of which promised well. The Ida Elmore, near the head of Bear creek, the first and most famous of the south Boise quartz mines in that year, was discovered in June. In an arastra it yielded two hundred and seventy dollars to the ton of rock; … Read more

The First Settlements the March of Progress

The first settlements made by whites with-in the present boundaries of Idaho were effected by Jesuit missionaries, as is true throughout the Pacific coast region; and previously to 1863, the beginning of a new era in this region, there were but two or three settlements made by others. In the primeval stage the country was not at all inviting to civilized people. The almost omnipresence of red savages precluded all thoughts of prospecting in the mountains for valuable minerals, while the valleys seemed to be only arid deserts absolutely irreclaimable for agricultural purposes. In the outside world ideas as to … Read more

The Coeur d’Alene Mining District

This article, as well as that following, concerning the lead belt of the district, is contributed by F. R. Culbertson, under date of July 9. 1898: The Coeur d’Alene mineral belt of northern Idaho, in area about twenty miles square, first came into prominence as a gold-placer camp in the summer and fall of 1883. Placer gold was first discovered on Pritchard creek, near Eagle City, now a deserted camp in Shoshone County. Fabulous reports of the richness and extent of this gold soon spread and attracted the attention of the outside world. In the spring of 1884 there was … Read more