THE WEST SHORE. '
Vol. 10.
Portland, Oregon, August, 1 884.
No. 8.
ESTABLISHED 1878.
THE WEST SHORE,
An Illustrated Journal of General Information, (hooted to Hie development of
the Great Weit.
Subscription price, per annum. . ! $2 01
To foreign countries, including postage 2 25
Single copies
Subscription can be forwarded by registered letter or postal order at our risk.
I'lMtmustera and News Agents will reoeire subscriptions at above rate,
General Traveling Agenta Oraigie Sharp, Jr., and George Sharp.
L. SAMUEL, Publisher, 18 Front Kb, cor. Washington, l'ortlnnil, Or.
TABLE OF
Fnge
Ascent of Mount Baker a7
Ilanynn Tree 232
Carvings and Heraldia Paintings of
the Haida Indians 21)0
Chronology of Event 258
Corviillis and Yanuiua Bay 22
Discovery of Alaska 235
Editorial: Collapse of Coeurd'Alene
Mil cs; Science in the Arotic 227-228
CONTJCNT8.
Page
Early Writ ins Paper. 255
Ynnemite Valley and Dig Trees 238
Mysterious Clock 248
Potritied Forest. 232
Mechanics' Fair 253
Notes of the Northwest., 256
Texas vs. Oregon , 258
Salmon Fishing on Labrador Coast, 24U
ILL USTRA TIONN.
Page
Bridal Vil Falls 248
Curving of the Haida Indians.. 251-252
Cnrvallis, Or-gon 233
First Log Hut, Mnripusa Orove..., 238
l.l-rty Cap..., ; 238
Mirror Lake 23H
Nevada Falls 242
North Dome and Boyal Archer,,
Sentinels, Calaveras drove
South, or Half, Dome.
Up to Nevada Falls
Vernal Falls
Yaquinn Hay
Yosemite Fulls
Page
... 23N
.. 238
,.. 2SW
.. 243
,.. 243
,.. 234
.. 242
A blue X on tills imrugrapli Indicates that your subscrlptlo
plres with tills number, Please renew nt mice.
The recent decision of the Oregon & California., to
grant to small shipments of fruit the same low special
rates formerly only given to car-loads, shows that the
company is willing to take ndvice when its force is
realized.
Harvest is now well under way, and the indications
are that the anticipations of an immense crop will be
fully realized. The quality of wheat is very suporior,
the many ills that grain is heir to having considerately
spared the farmers of this region their unwelcome pres
ence. - The increased acreage in the Willamette Valley is
about 10 per cent, while east of the mountains it is fully
25 per cent The surplus for shipment will be the
largest in the history of the Northwest
The section of the State constitution soon to be voted
on in Montana, by which mining property is exempted
from taxation, appears to be class legislation in its most
dangerous form. To place such a provision in the funda
mental law, where it is almost impossible to alter it when
its injustice is fully realized, is the height of folly. It is
hard to understand why a State should deliberately
decide that half its property, and its greatest and most
prosperous industry, should be exempt from taxation,
and all the burdens of government be imposed ujxm but
a portion of the property and the weaker and more
embryo industries. The mining interests may be power
ful enough to thus throw the bunion of taxes from off
their shoulders, but the injustice of so doirg is so glar
ing, and the results will be so hormful, that even they
will admit the error in a few years.
COLLAPSE OP THE OCEUR D'ALENB MINES.
The mining exmtemont has reached suoli a low ebb in
the much vaunted Ccour d' Alone gold fields that the
Etujk, the only survivor of the three imjwrs started Uiere
a few months ago with such a flourish of trumimts, has
concluded that it is folly to attempt any longer the old
trick of making a tallow candle do duty for a parlor stove.
There never was a time in the history of the camp when
enough gold was taken from the ground to pay for the
fixxl consumed by the deluded people in th mines.
Under the heading " Home Sound Hoime "a very oneour.
aging title, and one which must realize its lonesome jxmU
tion in a paper which has made tho booming of the mines
its sole objoct in life the Kttgh says:
Never in the history of mining eicltementa In Idaho Territory has there beau
so flat a collapse as now prevails In Cojur d'Alene at this writing. And Ui what
must we attribute the present stale of affair F la tin oountry a failure 1 There
are many men here who wilt tell you decisively that towards fall great maay
more mines will be oiiened and producing, and that large amount of proaiawt
lug work will be going on on the creek claims and on the quarts kales, which
will put buaiiuMa on a giaal footing once more. There la more or lea of Irulh
in all these stateme.it. That gold allele In paying quantities In mir elsref
lields, and that there la gold, silver atid lead In the quarts leads, there la no
doubt. It has been proved that there are at least a seor of quart! mines near
town that would pay enormously If iroMrly worked. The partial of iggeta.
tion has gine by. If the Irulh had bean told from Iheslarl there) would have
been a larger intlui of capital kl g investment, ami more pm chases of rlalm i
would have been effected. The truth always paye b at. The lack of eonHitena i
in mining is caused mainly by the falsehofsla of fools and knave who think
Uiey can see millions in a ten-foot hole, and Immediately proceed Ui divslop by
digging another ten-fo it hole. What Cwur d'Alene nasals la more work aid U a
talk. There la no not) sully for falsehood and exaggeration, anil (I will no',
deceive the kind of men we need In thl country. There are many good prv
peels for sale in Coaur d'Alene at prices reasonable enough fur any man win)
desires to develop. We say giaal prospacta, becsusa we know where. if wespeak,
and we advise llinat who deiire investment to eiamln. When the. prospects
paes Into the hands of men with money and energy we shall liav many goo I
mine, providing these men have eoma knowledge of the business of mining,
and do not eipeot to get a fortune for nothing.
Tliis confession of previous exaggeration and present
realization of the error of such a course is extremely
refreshing. Apparently total depravity dxw not exist,
even in the Cumr d'Alene, however firmly hundred of
deluded and financially stranded "pilgrims" may bo
convinced to the contrary. The closing statement that
the only permanently valuable features of the camp are
a miscellaneous collection of prosit holes, which are
for sale to any one who has money to invest, ami that the
only hojx) of priority is in a largo influx of practical
quartz miners, supplied with ample capital for developing
the ledges, settles definitely the status of the camj).
There are throughout the West at least a hundred good
mining districts which are in that condition, and some
have leen so for the past twenty years. For every man
who has capital to invest in developing quart mine on
an extended sculo there is waiting, somewhere, a thou
sand u prospects," hundreds of them rut gixxl as the lxnt
which Our d'Alene can offer. The supply of prospect
holes now ou hand will meet all the demand of capital
for many yeors to come. They are a drug in the market
In view of the itujxindous fraud wrjantratod npon the
publio by the over-walon bootnert of this alleged bo.