The Blackfoot Mines

THE BLACKFOOT MINES. – As some anxiety is felt to know something of these distant mines, the following accounts may be of interest, always bearing in mind the source from which they emanate and that accounts received here represent the Eldorado as a comparative “fizzle.”

            The Walla Walla Statesman publishes the following correspondence from a man signing himself Peter Miller, who writes from Walla Walla on November 15^th:-

            Having recently arrived from the heart of the far-famed Blackfoot country, and having derived a good deal of experience from a sojourn of a year and a-half there, it has occurred to me that a few lines might not be uninteresting to your readers.

            Much has already been said in its favor, and no doubt more will continue to be said, but as yet I have seen no report that has placed it beyond what it really is – the richest and most extensive gold-diggings ever discovered on this coast since the early days of California.  Quartz mills have already found their way to within a few miles of the summit of the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, and more are on their way, having been ordered during the past season.

            McClellan’s Gulch, on this side, and Alder Gulch, on the eastern slope, are as yet the richest placer diggings which have yet been discovered, but many other gulches, nearly if not quite as good are known to exist on both sides.  In Last Chance, on this side, a fine piece worth eighteen hundred and seventy-six dollars, was picked up by one of the fortunate owners.

            The climate during the winter, owing to the great altitude and northern position, is of course very severe; but the working season is much longer than many suppose, having lasted nearly six months last year.  Through the past winter many poor fellows were severely frost-bitten, and having been among the number I can speak all the more feelingly.  To this incident I owe my present visit to your beautiful valley, having come for the purpose of receiving proper medical treatment.

            Last winter provisions were very high – flour two dollars per pound, and everything else in proportion, while the lovers of the weed were required to fork over a cool fifteen dollars per pound for tobacco.  But as I met upwards of four thousand pack animals on the way, I presume there will be a different state of affairs this winter.

            While crossing the Spokane river, or rather just as I reached this side, I was, through the polite attentions of a gentleman commonly known as Irish Jim, relieved of all my loose cash, and the further necessity of taking care of my own mule, having received a blow from a stone on the left temple, which left me insensible for a long time, awakening to the sad reality that I was alone without either money, blankets or mules.

            The Mountaineer gives the following:

            Mr. Samuel Brooks, a citizen of the Dalles, has just returned from Montana Territory.  He left Blackfoot City on the 31^st of Octobert, and reports that at the time of his departure, snow had fallen in the mines to the depth of from six to ten inches.  There was a little snow in spots in Deer Lodge Valley, and a light fall had occurred in Hell-gate Ronde, but had gone off, and the weather there was delightful.  He found snow down the Hellgate Canyon to within ten miles of Big Blackfoot.  In consequence of the cold weather, washing was pretty much suspended in the mines, but drifting operations continued with unabated energy.

            The trade at Blackfoot City was quiet, and the following are the prices of leading articles: Flour – Salt Lake, per one hundred pounds, $23; Oregon, $25 @ $26, and some talk of advancing the price to $28.  Bacon – cargo sales of Oregon at 50c, retailing at 60c @ 65c.  Lard – retailing at 60c @ 70c.  Beans, 40c @ 45c, with sales of damaged and inferior at 35c.  Butter – Isthmus, $1; ranch, $1.50.  Coffee – Rio, 90c; Costa Rica, $1; ground, $1.  Tea – common black, $2.50; Japanese, $2.75 @ $3.25; choice green, $3.50.  Dried Fruit – states apples, 62c @ 65; California peaches, 75c; States peaches, 65c  Sugar – Sandwich Island, 55c; S.F. refined, 65c; crushed 75c.  New Orleans, 60c @ 65c; Syrup – S.F. golden, 5 gallon kegs, $27.50; Belcher’s St. Louis, $55 per 20 gallon keg.  Fresh beef was retailing at 18c @ 65 per pound.  The new diggings on the tributaries of the Big Blackfoot are situated about fifty miles from Hellgate, between Hellgate and Big Blackfoot rivers.  Most of the ground yet proven to be good is on the tributaries of Elk Creek which flows out of the dividing ridge between the two rivers and empties into Big Blackfoot river ten miles below Stevens’ Prairie.  Diggings on the same range have been found north of the Big Blackfoot.  These new discoveries are fifty miles this side of the little Blackfoot mines, and are by that distance closer to the sources of supply on the Pacific side.  There are about six hundred men in the new district, and they are generally very short of supplies and nearly destitute of the principal conveniences of miner’s life.  These new mines are of particular importance to the commercial community on this side of the mountains, as they are nearly as close to the head of navigation on Snake River as to Fort Benton and within a day’s ride of Hellgate Valley – the agricultural district nearest to them.  The prosperity of this valley secures a lucrative trade to this side in any event, and that prosperity is enhanced by the existence of such mines close to it.

            Mr. Brooks brought back several fine specimens of gold quartz, and one specimen of galena, holding mechanically a large piece of gold.  This is a combination hitherto, we believe, unheard of.

            The following exciting incident is also related by the Mountaineer –