A Miner's Pockets Full of Gold Nuggets — and a Placer Strike 40 Miles From Town
A Spokane Falls businessman bound for the Cœur d'Alene mines never got there, but came back with nuggets and gold-crusted quartz from a richer claim far nearer home.
Early this week G. Palmtag, of the firm of Palmtag & Wilson, started for a visit to the Cœur d'Alene gold mines. He never reached there, but found diggings 40 miles nearer Spokane Falls that promise to equal, if not eclipse, the better-known field. Mr. Palmtag is a reliable gentleman, and there is no reason to doubt his story, as far as it goes, as he is very reticent, and is under promise not to 'give it away' for some time.
We learned this much, however. He ascended the Cœur d'Alene river but a short distance when he found a miner busily engaged working a claim, and it was turning out immensely rich. As proof of this, Mr. Palmtag showed a quantity of coarse nuggets, and a piece of quartz as large as a hickory nut incrusted with pure gold. If the ledge from which the piece was taken would hold out equally as rich, it would run from $6,000 to $10,000 to the ton. The gold is similar to that from the Cœur d'Alene mines. If this find turns out as we are led to believe, there are placer mines, and wonderfully valuable ones, near at hand. We will make careful inquiry and hope to be able to report definitely upon this new discovery in our next issue.
“If the ledge from which the piece was taken would hold out equally as rich, it would run from $6,000 to $10,000 to the ton.”
In 1883 the Inland Northwest was being sold on mineral wealth the way it's now sold on tech and aerospace — a single nugget shown to a credulous editor could move capital and settlers. The Cœur d'Alene strikes did in fact transform the region, though the reporter's promise to 'report definitely in our next issue' is the eternal booster's hedge. The story is a small reminder that the region's booms have always run on a tantalizing sample and a good rumor.
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