The Gold Rush That Wouldn't Wait for Spring

Last week Mr. H. H. Child, who makes Spokane Falls his home, arrived in the city direct from Eagle City, the inhabited centre of the Coeur d'Alene mines, with the intention of rusticating for a month at least. Mr. Child has a store in the mines, and during his absence the establishment is managed by his son. He naturally supposed, considering the difficulties to be surmounted in order to get into the mines, that common sense would touch the majority of fortune hunters with the absurdity of rushing into a snow-bound camp where there was no hope of working the ground, and thought that the business of his mercantile establishment would move along under the supervision of his son without any great tax on that gentleman. Imagine his surprise when he received a letter Sunday from his representative in the mines requesting his immediate presence, and stating the fact that prospectors were crowding in at such a rate that one man was unable to meet the demands of that rapidly increasing business. The letter conveyed the information that the head and front of the anticipated rush was being felt. From every point on the line of the railroad whence the mines could be reached a continual stream of fortune hunters were making their way to the camp. Scores of men were coming in every day, the number increasing with the approach of spring, slow as that approach might seem. Mr. Child had his visit here cut short. He immediately secured pack animals and departed Monday for the camp. He carried such goods as tents, sheet iron stoves, lamps and those articles mostly in demand in the diggings. We met him just before he started on the trip. He informed us that there was many things he might take in that would pay him for the expense of freighting, some 40 cents per pound, but no line of articles so much in demand as those enumerated. While he admitted that other routes might attract that class of men willing to travel on foot and undergo the tribulations accompanying a march of that kind, he was still of the opinion that any man who had any desire to pack in provisions or other wares would rely entirely on the route from Spokane Falls, not only on account of its accessibility to the new El Dorado, but from the incontrovertible fact that purchases can be made cheaper at this place and that the route is devoid of the drawbacks that confront the traveler on other routes. It is evident from all we can learn and see that the grand whirl of excitement, the gloss and glamor that surrounds gold hunting, is to burst upon us a month at least earlier than was expected. In spite of all the warnings published far and near, pointing out the impossibility of performing any labor until late in the spring, men are determined to be on the ground and await, with what patience they may command, the breaking up of winter, in order not to lose a moment in their search for gold. There is an indescribable infatuation in all new discoveries of precious metals to draw men to the scene of the find. It is the hope of sudden riches, or the love of the excitement that lures them on. From the very best authorities we are informed that placer mining is impracticable in the mountains as late as May, and very often the ground is not free from snow until June. At the present time there is five feet of white covering on the ground at Eagle City. Some prospecting is carried on even now, but it is easy to imagine that the labor is accompanied with much trouble and very little satisfaction. Snow fifty feet deep would not deter people from going into the mines, however, and it is safe to say the spring travel has fairly commenced, if indeed it has ever stopped during the winter, as the coming and going has been kept up steadily, and the trail has not really been closed for passengers for twenty-four hours in a stretch. If men will go into the camp at this season they cannot be prevented. Common sense ought to teach them that any gain to be made by actual mining is entirely visionary and they will soon realize that living in the mines is much more expensive than they dreamed of. Men commanding any means can take advantage of the surroundings, however, and manage to exist at less expense. They will only come to Spokane Falls, secure a complete outfit here, and with them go on to the mines via the Post. They will find the route from the Falls practicable and will be surprised at the low price of goods. Anything and everything necessary for use can be procured here. The bulk of travel is coming this way now and as it becomes known that the Falls holds out inducements not presented by other places on the line of the road this will be the most popular route among all who do not desire to tramp into the City.