Gold Fever at the Doorstep: The Coeur d'Alene Rush

One of the greatest discoveries of 1883 can be counted the Coeur d'Alene gold mines, and as they lay almost at our very door, and promise to exert quite an influence in the increased prosperity of Spokane Falls, it is important that they should be noticed. There is nothing that so awakens a community to energy and induces a man to undergo such privations, perils and hardships as the thirst for gold. This is not given as a sudden and startling revelation. It is not a peculiarity attached alone to the present generation of men. History, from the earliest ages of the world, illustrates the weakness of man for the yellow metal and is popular for the value attached thereto. The desire for gain is a heritage that has fallen to all mankind, and when certain sections of country, whether they be near or remote, are reported to be rich in mineral wealth, the desire to visit the scene will keep him near by day and haunts him by night.

Take all the mining excitements of the last fifty years, and we see the same scenes repeated over and over. Men will desert any occupation they have become established in and make long and trying pilgrimages on the strength of a chance to acquire sudden riches, buoyed up in the face of all adversities by hope alone. There are thousands of men living to-day who braved every danger and encountered trials that they never considered themselves capable of enduring, in the blind rush for gold in the heyday of the California excitement. And have they learned anything by past experience? No. Why at this very time there is a larger per cent. of Californians, in proportion to the population, who are preparing to visit the Coeur d'Alenes than from any other State.

The gold fever that attracted hundreds to the Pacific slope in '49 is fresh in the memory of the present generation, and it is perfectly safe to say that the excitement awakened by the new discoveries will be many times greater than that of '49, and the years that cluster about that mystical date. The argonauts of thirty years ago, although crippled with the weight of years, will feel the blood leap with renewed activity through their sluggish veins on reading of the marvelous wealth of the new find, and will be disposed to set forth and live over again the stirring scenes of adventure that characterized their earlier steps when seeking mammon under the shadows of the Sierra Nevada in early days.

It has now been some years since the country has been aroused by a new mining craze, and the effects of the present discovery cannot be calculated. From the rocky shores of Maine to the cactus crowned ridges of Mexico, from the Palmetto groves of the Carolinas to the semi-tropic vine-clad slopes of California the news has been carried and the response will be seen in the living stream of humanity that will rush this way in the early spring, peopling the mountain gorges that have existed for centuries almost unknown, and tearing the auriferous soil and searching with the ferocity of the tiger and the tenacity of the sleuth hound for the hidden wealth. Cities will spring up as though by the hands of genii in response to the friction of an Aladdin lamp, the wilderness and desert will take on the appearance of life and a change will be wrought beyond the limits of imagination.

We have stated that the discovery of the mines dates from the present year. This may not be strictly true as relates to the discovery of the gold, but the knowledge of its existence was dimmed during 1883, and the stories of the find were not believed until incontrovertible proof, in the shape of valuable specimens of the product, were sent out into the world to perform their part in creating the excitement that now exists. We have a letter in our possession written by the original discoverer of the Coeur d'Alene diggings to a party in California dated early last January, informing him of the existence of the most extensive mineral belt ever worked, thus proving beyond a shadow of controversy that the goldfield was known of before the present year. This letter was written by A. J. Prichard, who is in the mines, and who has made prospecting one of the avocations of life.

The Coeur d'Alene mines are situated in the foothills of the range of mountains of the same name situated about 50 miles east, or a little north of east, from Spokane Falls. There are several routes into the mines, but very probably next spring the best and easiest of travel will be from this city. The route from here of the now projected road is by the way of the old Mission, and the distance between is 50 miles. The road to be built will cut down the distance now necessary to travel and as it will be constructed so as to escape crossing the numerous streams, the route will be practicable to wagon travel all the year round. There are several stations on the trail, the chief ones being Post Coeur d'Alene, the Mission and Evolution, the latter being a fueling station. From the overland travel there will be conveniences by water from the Post to within a short distance of the junction of Prichard and Eagle creeks. A company of experienced steamboat men has been formed for the purpose of putting on a light draught boat to make the run. By this means transportation of goods will be cheapened.

There are one or two towns laid out in the mines. Hayes City boasts of the most houses, rude as they are, being located near the junction of the two streams above mentioned. Next year there may be several pretentious cities spring up, one of which is bound to assume the importance of a metropolis. The news of the existence of gold was spread too late in the fall to draw people from a great distance, but the number going in from sections in juxtaposition to the panhandle of Idaho can be calculated by the hundreds. The travel to and fro has never ceased, and strange to say we have yet to meet a single individual who has had a word to say against the genuineness of the find, and every man coming out has expressed his determination to return at an early day. These men spread the excitement that travels like a virulent contagion, and the result is that there will be a stupendous rush for the camp next spring. It is to be calculated that fully 50,000 men will go into the mountains next year, and we do not consider this an exaggeration.

There are several hundred in the mines now and the trails have been kept open by the steady travel back and forth. Jas. H. Kennedy was down from Rathdrum this week and states that people are going in constantly. By hard labor the worst part of the road has been kept passable. Of course provisions and everything else is very high in the mines, though there is little danger of any great suffering for the necessities of life. Freighting is 10 cents per pound, and that is not high considering horse feed and board. The charges are $7 for one man and horse for lodging and feed. Oats are 20 cents per pound and hay 10 cents per pound. Provisions of all kinds command fabulous prices, and sow belly and beans are considered a sumptuous repast.

It is plainly evident that Spokane Falls is to figure as the principal depot of supplies for this mining section. Situated as it is within easy reach of the camps, containing as it does large wholesale houses that are able to compete in prices with those of Portland or the mercantile houses of the east, it is but natural to anticipate that the greater portion of the trade will drift in to this point. The mines will be at work, to the profit of Spokane Falls, and to the detriment of other points on the Northern Pacific, and that will catch their full share of the trade, but from the situation of the place, prospectors and others going into the mines will find it to their financial advantage to secure their outfits here, from whence there will be a straight and easy road into the mines. Spokane Falls should be the great supply depot, all statements to the contrary notwithstanding, and here is the great source whence will flow much of our prosperity during the year to come. Already have our merchants done hundreds who have hunted out their outfits, and the trade that has once been secured will remain with us.