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

Ladd, John “Jack” – Obituary

John “Jack” Ladd, 80, died Dec. 23, 2004, at Mountain Valley Care and Rehab Center in Kellogg, Idaho. His funeral will be Thursday at 11 a.m. MST at St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Kellogg. Father Tom Loucks will officiate. Interment will be Friday at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Jack was born July 25, 1924, at Wardner, Idaho, to George and Ella Mae (Irwin) Ladd. He spent most of his life in Idaho, graduating from Kellogg High School. He worked for the Kellogg YMCA until it closed. Jack was a member of the Kellogg-Wardner Lions Club. He enjoyed providing service … 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

Labor Troubles In The Coeur d’Alene District

Bartlett Sinclair

The following account of the recent labor troubles in the Coeur d’Alene mining district is contributed by H. H. Smith, of the Cincinnati Post, who, as a reporter of the Scripps-McRae League, was present on the scene and made careful investigation of the matter: The blowing up of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mill at Wardner on April 29, 1899. entailing a financial loss of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the murder of two men was the culminating act of violence in the ten-years war between labor and capital that has waged in the Coeur d’Alenes. In the … Read more