Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1890)
WEST SHORE." 199 NEW RAILROAD IN IDAHO. The Salt Lake & Northwestern is the name ol a new line of road which is soon to be a prominent feature in the railway eituation in Idaho. The proposed line starts from a point on the Salt Lake & Deep Creek railway near the town of Grantsville, south of the Great Salt lake, Utah, and runs to the west of the lake in a northwesterly direction, crossing the Central Paciflo at the town of Lncene. From Lucene it will run northward, entering Idaho by way of Grouse creek and through the Goose creek range, passing down Goose creek valley to the Snake river, which it will cross at a point a few miles above the great Shoshone falls. From there the road will pass through Shoshone valley, crossing the Oregon Short Line, thence up the left bank of the Big Wood river to the great Wood river mining country. It will tap Bellevue and Hailey, pass through the great Gold belt and into the lum ber regions of the South Boise river, extending through Camas prairie nearly due weBt, following the South Boise river to Boise City, the capital of Idaho, and tapping Snake creek, Rocky Bar, Pine Grove and other extensive min ing districts. Direct connection from Salt Lake City is made by way of the Salt Lake & Deep Creek road, and by running around the western side of the lake the distance to Bailey, Idaho, will be about two hundred and forty eight miles, a saving of eighty miles over the present Union Pacific route, to say nothing of the lighter grades. This brings the great Shoshone falls one of the greatest attractions of the northwest within five hours ride of Salt Lake, making a new tourist route. The line will cross the Oregon Short Line at or near the town of Shoshone, a distance from Salt Lake of 220 miles at against 298 via the Utah A Northern, a saving of seventy-sight miles. From Hailey, the line will take the route being surveyed by the Gold Belt it Western railroad, going up with an easy ascending grade to Cray creek, passing the Hailey hot springs, where a company has erected buildings and a hotel at a cost af over $100,000. From Croy creek it will pass through the famous gold belt of Wood river, where there are at present a number of mines, all producing well. It then proceeds by way of Camas prairie, Big and Little Smoky and South Boise rivers to Boise City. This line will open to settlement an Immense area of good farming and fruit land, and in ad dition to supplying transportation for a number of the state's richest mining camps will open large tracts of the finest kinds of merchantable timber. The means for the construction ol this line have been secured, and work will begin on the line as soon as surveys are completed. The Temple Court is one of the fine structures of Spokane Falls erected since the fire last year. It is owned by Boyd Bros. The building stands at the northwest corner of Riverside and Washington streets and its neighbors on all sides are equally Imposing edifices. The coft of the Temple Court was about $70,000. Pressed brick, iron and granite enter into Us construc tion. The ground floor Is used for stores and the upper stories for offices. A very good example of the Incidents in quarts mining that make peo ple unacquainted with the business think that mining is a lottery, when, in . reality failures are generally chargeable to ignorance and mismanagement, is the following related by the Helena Indtpendtnt: A bar of gold, 126 pounds weight, estimated value $30,000, adorned the registry counter of The Helena yesterday afternoon and evening. It is needless to add that it at tracted considerable attention. It astonished the " tenderfeet " and brought out a string of reminiscences from old-timers about the great Penobscot bar, big nuggets and Col. Broadwater's (50,000 gold brick cast last year in Helena. The gold brick is the result of a thirty days' run from the Spotted Horse mine at Maiden, and was cast yesterday at the United States assay . office. The gold in the brick is 750 fine and Its proportions and value Is the best evidence of the worth of the property, which a Helena syndicate aban doned a few months ago after having expended for its purchase, Improve ment and development the sum of $300,000. Half a million dollars was the price asked for it, and When it came to making the final payment of $200, 000 the purchasers were not there and forfeited everything. Daring their management the Helena men put up a new twenty-stamp mill and went 100 feet deeper in the mine. Mr. McAdow says it was mismanaged and gophered out and left in pretty bad shape. But he rapidly put it in good working condition again, and without any difficulty located the lead which carries the yellow metal, and says he has as big a bonanta as he ever had. Between sixty and seventy-five men are employed around the mine and mill, and Mr. McAdow says it will be constantly operated. The Spotted Horse carries a contact vein of lime, porphyry and slate. Mr. McAdow says he is well pleased to again be in possession of the mine, as It Is a good enough thing for him as long as it will produce from $1,000 to $1,500 every day. The great Lethbrldge coal fields lie Just across the Canadian bonier from Montana, and are tapped by a branch of the Canadian Pacific and the new Gait railway from the Great Northern, in Montana. The coal company owns 05,000 acres of coal lands in and around Lethbrldge, for which they paid the dominion government $10 an acre. Coal Is now being mined from one main shaft and from several side tunnels. The veins run from three and one-half to four and one-half feet thick and ramify the oountry for miles about. Seven hundred tons are mined daily, the men working only on a day shift. The company is short of help, but when supplied and their road is in running order, they will mine from 3,000 to 5,000 tons a day. Two other shafts are now being sunk and will shortly be In working condition. Mines will eventually be opened on every hall mile of the company's pos sessions. The miners are paid ninety cents a ton, and working steadily lor ten hours, a man can make clear ol the expense ol his powder, about $2.50 a day. Large barracks ol the company give good and wholesome food to the men, with clean and comfortable bed and rooms, for $4.60 a week. Acre lots in central locations are sold to men for $125. Buildings are then erected according to the Individual taste, and the entire property is paid lor In monthly Installments at six per cent, annual Interest. By this plan many of the men have accumulated handsome estates with the result of Increased loyalty to the company. The comforts of the men will soon be further en hanced by the erection of a hospital, which has been endowed with $10,000 by 6ir Alexander Gait, the leading spirit of the company. Portland parties have made a proposition to the citlisns of Monteeano, Washington, that if the latter would donate suitable site, they would es tablish and operate a shingle mill with a cutting capacity of 00,000 shingles per day, with sufficient power to manufacture buckets, tuba and other arti cles of wooden ware. They will bind themselves to have the mill In op eration by April 1, 1891, the deeds to lands donated to be delivered when they have fulfilled their agreement. They will also furnish bonds to operate the mill five years. It was also stated that another company would be organized for the purpose of operating a foundry and machine shop at the same place where the shingle mill Is located. This is an opportunity Monte eano should not allow to pass. One of the finest peach nurseries In the west Is located at Lewleton, Idaho. It is just above the town on the south bank of the Clearwater river. From tills nursery came the stocks of nearly the whole of the Clearwater and Snake river valleys and It contributes materially to the great success of peach raising In that country by originating and propagating varieties speo tally adopted to the climate and soil of those valleys. Indeed, Idaho is ending fruit trees a considerable distance east and is working up quite a reputation In that line In spite of Its mountains and timber and dry lands, From reliable data the Oregon weather bureau estimate the following average yield for the state : Wheat, twenty-six bushel per acre ; oats, forty two bushels; barley, thirty-eight bushels; rye, twenty-eight bushels, and hay, two tons per acre, except alfalfa, which averages four tons.