BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN NO. 638 HISTORY SERIES, VOL. 3, No. 2, PP. 137-392 THE MINING ADVANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BEGINNINGS OP THE MINING INDUSTRY IN IDAHO AND MONTANA, EASTERN WASH- INGTON AND OREGON, AND THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR OP BRITISH COLUMBIA; AND OP INSTITUTIONS AND LAWS BASED UPON THAT INDUSTRY BY WILLIAM J. TRIMBLE, Professor of History and Social Science, North Dakota Agricultural College Sometime Fellow in American History, The University of Wisconsin A THESIS SUBMITTED FOB THE DEGBEE OF DOCTOB OF PHILOSOPHY THE TJNIVEBSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON, WISCONSIN 1914 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Entered as second-class matter June 10, 1898, at the post office at Madison, Wisconsin, under the Act of July 16, 1894. COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION WALTER M. SMITH, Chairman O. CLARKE GILLET, Secretary and Editor THOMAS K. URDAHL, Economics and Political Science Series WILLIAM H. LIGHTY, University Extension Series WILLIAM S. 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VOL. 3, No. a, PP. 137-392 THE MINING ADVANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BEGINNINGS OP THE MINING INDUSTRY IN IDAHO AND MONTANA, EASTERN WASH- INGTON AND OREGON, AND THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA; AND OF INSTITUTIONS AND LAWS BASED UPON THAT INDUSTRY BY WILLIAM J. TRIMBLE, /// Professor of History and Social Science, North Dakota Agricultural College Sometime Fellow in American History, The University of Wisconsin A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON, WISCONSIN 1914 CONTENTS TM 23 T7 CHAPTER I. Introduction: The Region and the Movement.. PAGE 7 PART I A SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE MINING AD- VANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE, 1855-1870 CHAPTER I. The Incipient Rush to Colville and the Indian Uprising of 1855-6 15 CHAPTEB II. The Rush to Fraser River 24 CHAPTER III. Preparations for a Decisive Advance of the Fron- tier 32 CHAQTER IV. Cariboo, Kootenai, and the Upper Columbia. ... 46 CHAPTER V. The Mining Advance into Idaho, Eastern Oregon, and Montana 62 PART II ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE MINING ADVANCE CHAPTER VI. Methods of Production and Organization of In- dustry 87 CHAPTER VII. The Product and its Utilization 101 CHAPTER VIII. Transportation 119 PART III SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE MINING ADVANCE CHAPTER IX. Components and Characteristics of Society 139 CHAPTER X. Education and Religion 168 PART IV LAW AND GOVERNMENT CHAPTER XI. The Establishment of Government and Law in British Columbia 187 CHAPTER XII. The Evolution of Order and Law in the Ameri- can Territories 216 Bibliography 248 Index [139] PREFACE This study has been made possible by the use of the stores of a number of libraries, both public and private, and by the gen- erous co-operation of friends who are interested in history. No more earnest and efficient public service is rendered in our time than that by librarians. The author desires to make cordial acknowledgment of the unfailing helpfulness of the staffs in charge of the libraries of the University of Wisconsin, the University of Idaho, the University of California, and of the North Dakota Agricultural College ; of the city libraries of Spo- kane, Seattle, and Portland, and of the collections of the Montana Historical Society, the Oregon Historical Society, the Provincial Library and Archives of British Columbia, and the Academy of Pacific Coast History. In particular I wish to extend my thanks to Mrs. Ethel McVeety, Librarian of the North Dakota Agricul- tural College, Mr. Frederick J. Teggert and Mr. Porter Garnett of the Academy of Pacific Coast History, and to Mr. E. 0. L. Scholefield, Provincial Librarian of British Columbia. Generous access has been given to the valuable private collec- tions of Hon. C. B. Bagley, of Seattle, Mr. Justice Martin of Vic- toria, and his Honour, Judge Frederick W. Howay of New West- minster. No one who has felt the kindly spirit and received the sugges- tive criticism of Professor Frederick J. Turner (now of Harvard University) can fail to be grateful. Acknowledgments are particularly due to Professor Turner, and also to Mr. T. C. Elliott, of WaUa Walla, Washington, Hon. W. J. McConnell, of Moscow, Idaho, Judge W. Y. Pemberton, of Helena, Montana, Judge F. W. Howay, of New Westminster, British Columbia, and to Professor Frederick L. Paxson, of the University of Wis- [141] 6 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN consin. These gentlemen read my manuscript patiently and critically and furnished many helpful suggestions. I am indebted also to Messrs. McConnell, Pemberton, and Bagley for pioneer reminiscences and illuminating suggestions. This sort of assistance was courteously extended, likewise, by Mr. Holter, of Helena, Major J. Gr. Trimble (lately deceased) of Berkeley, Cal., and Dr. James S. Helmncken and Mr. Gilbert Malcolm Sproat of Victoria. [142] THE MINING ADVANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE INTRODUCTION THE REGION AND THE MOVEMENT For almost a decade after the discovery of gold in California, the precious metal industry in the United States was carried on extensively only within that state. The decade following 1858, however, was characterized by the expansion of the industry on a large scale into many parts of the Rocky Mountain area. In this process of expansion certain movements or fields may be differentiated for convenience of study. One movement took place to the Southwest, another into the Pikes Peak region, a third into Nevada, and a fourth into the far Northwest. The last is plainly differentiated from the other movements either because of location or character of development, while the various districts which it reached were well connected by homo- geneity of population and relationship of development. It is difficult, however, to find for this movement a name at once sufficiently succinct and comprehensive. It should be made plain at the outset of this study that the term Inland Empire, as applied in the title, is used more as a convenient name for a movement than as a precise geographical designation. The region with which we are concerned includes (in terms of present political boundaries) the southern interior of British Columbia, eastern Oregon and Washington, western Montana, and Idaho. When this region began to attract wide attention about the time of the Civil War in the United States, because of a series of great mining "rushes", it was known vaguely in the East as the " Northwest ", while along the west- ern coast it was spoken of frequently as the "Northern Interior". [143] : 8 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Today it is generally included in the term Pacific Northwest, and it might, perhaps, well be designated as the interior of the Pacific Northwest. But differentiation is often made in the United States between the Pacific Northwest and British Colum- bia; and so, in the absence of any definite term applicable to the whole region under consideration, I have ventured to make use of one commonly applied only to the central area within this region. Yet a growing use of the term "Inland" in southern Idaho and of the "Inland Empire of British Columbia" may give some sanction to wider application for the sake of conven- ience. Its extension to the Missouri slope of Western Montana, however, is defensible only from the point of view that the devel- opment of the early mining industry in that quarter formed a part of the general movement into the Inland Empire. Considered as a whole, this vast region possesses very con- siderable physiographic unity. Diversities, to be sure, are to be found, as, for example, between southern and northern Idaho; but the country is clearly differentiated from the eastern plains and from the western coast. The latter distinction is most clearly marked, travelers emerging from the- dense fir forests of the coast to the plateau of the interior, either by way of the Columbia or the Fraser, observed that the trees (here of pine) became far less dense or disappeared altogether in great bunch grass plains, that the rainfall was much less, that pecul- iar terraces were found along the rivers, and that instead of the "canoe Indians" of the coast, there now appeared a better type, the "horse Indians". The inland plateau itself is dis- tinctive. Covering the country from far into British Colum- bia to the confines of Nevada and California, and from the Cascades to the Rockies, is an immense lava formation of many layers. Its average depth is estimated at 2,000 feet, and its extent 200,000 square miles. 1 Rising above the lava 1 Bulletin U. 8. Geol. Sur. No. 108, p. 11. This monograph Is by I. C. Russel, one of the best authorities for the physiography of the Inland Empire. Profes- sor Russel characterizes the lava formation as follows : "This vast inundation of lava is one of the most remarkable and, I may say, one of the most dramatic incidents in the geological history of North America. It is safe to assume that all of the lava poured out by volcanoes within historic times, if run together, would make but a small fraction of the mass under which the region drained bj the Columbia is buried." [144] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 9 plateau are the partially submerged peaks and mountain ranges of the primeval country, and on the eastern border the lava thins out into gulfs and bays among the Rocky Mountains. 2 In the Rocky Mountains or in the off-shoots westward from these mountains the Owyhee, the Boise, the Salmpn River, the Bitter-root, and the Cariboo ranges, and the Okano- gan highland were located the various mining camps about which we are to study. 3 From the Rockies flowed the three great river systems which became important factors in transportation to these camps the Missouri, the Fraser, and the Columbia. The two latter are much alike. Both are noted for the swiftness of their current and the ruggedness of their canons; both swing far northward, and both receive from the East a great tributary (in the one case, the Thompson, in the other, the Snake) ; both have fine navigable stretches in their upper courses which, as the rivers plunge from the plateau, are interrupted by formidable obstacles; and both form magnificent waterways from the last of these obstacles to the ocean. The districts drained by these systems, likewise, have much of phy- siographic similarity. The Line of 49', the boundary between British Columbia and the American territories, was drawn at right angles, so to speak, to the physiographic inclination of the country. From the point of view of physiography it would seem that there was not sufficient differentiation north and south of the political boundary materially to modify the devel- opment of society. In other words, so far as the country was concerned, the development of institutional life was likely to be identical. Civilized society took possession of this region both north and south of the Line through a great movement of miners, which occurred in the decade following 1855. Previous to that year, it is true, there had been within the region such forerunners of civilization as fur traders, explorers, and missionaries, and s An Important phase of the geology of Montana is discussed in Some Volcano Ashbedf of Montana, by J. P. Rowe, Mont. Univ. Bull. No. 17, Geol. Series, No. I, 1903. 3 A succinct and satisfactory treatment of the physiography of British Colum- bia is that by Geo. M. Dawson, in Geol. Sur. of Canada, Vol. Ill, pt. II, pp. 5R- 15R. A bibliography is appended. [145] 10 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN through its southern part had proceeded the immigration on the Oregon Trail; but the institutions of civilized society had not been established upon the soil of the Inland Empire. These the Mining Advance produced. The advance of the miners into the British and American portions of the region was practically contemporaneous, and the various rushes were interrelated. "A flood of picks and pans" (as writers in the midst of events styled it) spread over the country in successive waves, beginning with the Colville country in 1855. Between 1858 and 1866 rushes occurred (using present political designations) in British Columbia to Fraser River, Bock Creek and the Similkameen, Cariboo, Koot- enai, and the Upper Columbia; in eastern Oregon, to John Day River and to Powder River; in Idaho, to the Nez Perces mines, Salmon River, Warren's Diggings, Boise, and Owyhee; and in Montana, to Grasshopper Creek, Alder Gulch, and Last Chance. There was constant migration between these various camps, which political boundaries did not seriously interrupt. The general unity of the movement was greatly increased by the presence everywhere of Californians. It is true that in different fields different outcroppings (if the phrase be permis- sible) of population appeared. Thus in Cariboo, for example, the British element was more apparent than in most camps south of the Line; men from Missouri and Colorado were con- spicuous in Boise Basin, while still another admixture was formed by the people from Minnesota who came to Montana. But a stratum of Californians was to be seen everywhere, and these produced throughout the region a similarity in methods of mining, in manners of society, in interests, and in the sort of institutions that tended spontaneously to spring up. 4 There are three points of view, the statement of which may be of value in considering the mining advance into the Inland Empire. * Californians, of course, went to most American camps, and there were also relationships between many of the camps of the region we are studying and Nevada and Colorado. But the main point which is here sought to be made it that in the constituent elements of the population of the mining camps north and touth of the Line, there were not sufficient divergencies wholly to account for variations in types of institutions. [146] ' TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 11 In the first place, this movement was part of the formation and advance of an eastward moving frontier. American pop- ulation, which had advanced westward up to 1840 in compar- atively gradual and connected movements, in the decade 1840-50 leaped to the Willamette and the Sacramento j now it was recoiling eastward and in this recoil was meeting the old fron- tier, which was still advancing westward. In this beginning of the fusion of frontiers there was an interesting commingling of men reared in the East and of the men habituated to Cal- if ornian ideas and usages. New problems were created (among which the condition of the Indians was the most grave), new industrial and social forces were generated, and older ones re- shaped or accentuated. A somewhat elated poem of the time, published in Montana, indicates the swiftness of change wrought by this meeting of frontiers : "The star of Empire Westward takes its way; When Bishop Berkeley wrote ivas very true, But were the Bishop living now, he'd say That brilliant star seems fixed to human view. "From Eastern hives is filled Pacific's shore No more inviting sun-set lands are near; The restless throng now backward pour From East to West they meet, and stop right here. "Away our published maps we'll have to throw The books of yesterday, today are lame "And towns and roads are made on every side, In shorter time than books and maps are bound." 5 A second point of view in the consideration of the mining advance is that it was a movement based, primarily, on a single industry. Whether north or south of the Line, in British Co- lumbia, Idaho, or Montana, men talked of mines, struggled for 5 H. N. Maguire in the Montana Post, republished In the Owyhee Avalanche Feb. 10, 1866. [147] . 12 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN mines, and founded their laws and institutions on mines. Other forms of industry were subsidiary to mining. (By mining, of course, is here meant mining for the precious metals.) The growth of this industry in this region, moreover, was related to the evolution of the industry in other sections, and, there- fore, adequate treatment should include reference to the more important phases of the general development then going on in precious metal production. The third and principal point of view of this study is that of comparison between British Columbia and the territories to the south during the period of the mining advance. While there would seem to be sufficient unity in the history of the whole region, during this period, to justify an attempt to treat it as a whole and to segregate it from other movements of the time, yet the main thesis here offered is that, in spite of unify- ing natural tendencies, the accidental political Line did cause deep cleavage in the formation of institutions. In two similar parts of the same region, with a population having many of the same elements and occupied in the same industry, distinct dif- ferentiation did occur; and the phases, sources, and tendencies of this differentiation will be a recurring theme in this history. The plan of presentation contemplates: (1) a survey of the history of the mining advance; (2) special treatment of its economic and social aspects; (3) consideration of problems of government. [148] PART I A SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE MINING AD- VANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE, 1855-1870 [149] TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 15 CHAPTER I THE INCIPIENT RUSH TO COLVILLE, AND THE IN- DIAN UPRISING OF 1855-1856 Ft. Colville, which for thirty years had been the chief inland post of the Hudson's Bay Company, became the first important center for mining development in the Inland Empire. It stood on the east bank of the Columbia on the second terrace back from the river, and in 1855 comprised a stockade which par- tially enclosed a dwelling house, several rude huts, a black- smith shop and a few storehouses, all made of squared logs and all somewhat decayed. The chief clerk of this establish- ment was Angus MacDonald, an intelligent Scotchman, and the habitues of the place were some twenty Canadians and Iroquois Indians. Three miles from the Fort was a good flour mill, in which was ground wheat raised by the French settlers, whose scattered farms dotted for nearly thirty miles, the beau- tiful Colville valley. 1 The mining district of which this fort became the center had no definite limits, but was held to com- prise in general the territory lying east of the Columbia and between the Spokane and Pend d'Oreille Rivers. 2 Who first discovered gold in this region, we do not know nor is the question important. Various roamers through the wild- erness, explorers, French-Canadians, mountain men, with interest sharpened by the discoveries in California, had hap- pened on gold in divers localities, but their discoveries had brought no results. 3 In the late summer and fall of 1855, how- 1 Stevens's Report on the Hudson's Bay Co., 33rd Cong. 2nd Sess., Sen. Doc. Vol. 7, No. 37, p. 8. Life of Stevens, Vol. 1, p. 348. Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 28, 1855. 1 Thus Me Clellan had discovered gold on the Wenatchee in 1853 and Findlaj or Benetsee in Montana in 1852, Pacific Railway Reports, Vol. 12, p. 120; Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana, Vol. 2, p. 121. The first discovery on the Pend d'Oreille was made by Walker, a half-breed. Letter of Judge B. F. Yantis, Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Nov. 23, 1855. [151] 16 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN ever, a movement occurred to the vicinity of Ft. Colville, which had some of the characteristics of a genuine miners' ''rush," and which ushered in the gold era in the Inland Empire. Considerable numbers of the citizens of Oregon and Wash- ington participated in this movement and prospected in the Colville mines in the fall of 1855. The interest was increased by business stagnation in the Willamette and on the Sound.* Some idea of the extensiveness of the movement may be in- ferred from scattered notices: "Suddenly all eyes turned to Colville," said the Olympia Pioneer and Democrat. "Many of our best men have gone prospecting." Governor Curry wrote to General Nesmith that many Oregon citizens had gone to the Pend d'Oreille mines; Steven's messenger, Pearson, met a company of ten or fifteen men near the Umatilla River on their way to the mines; Stevens, himself, a little later enrolled eigh- teen miners in his "Spokane Invincibles ; " Yantis reports twenty men at work on one bar ; organized parties explored the country under the leadership of well known citizens. 5 It is apparent, therefore, that at that time a movement took place of some magnitude. The reports brought back, a number of which were made by reliable and conservative men, were of such a nature as to in- spire further efforts. It seemed that gold could be found al- most anywhere between the Spokane and the Pend d'Oreille, but that the deposits were small and superficial. 6 Still, men made with pan and rocker three to six dollars per day, and a few twelve. Explorations many miles up the Pend d' Orielle failed to show any large deposits, but MacDonald at Fort Col- ville told the miners that chances were better farther up the Columbia a suggestion not without fruit in the later discovery of mines on Fraser River. 7 The difficulties in the way of the miners, however, were great. The gold was light "float" gold, for the economical col- *Deady, History of the Progress of Oregon after 1845, Ms., p. 37; Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 14, 1855. 6 Id.; 34th Cong., 3rd Sess., Ex. Doc., Vol. 9, No. 76, p. 158, Oct. 16, 1855; Pioneer and Democrat, Sept 28, 1855, and Nov. 23, 1855. Report of Col. Anderson, Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Sept. 28, 1855. 7 Report of Judge Yantis, id., Nov. 23, 1855. [152] TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 17 lection of which quicksilver and the sluice system were needed. Supplies were scanty and men were living on flour and coffee. 8 There were no suitable roads from the Sound over the precip- itous mountains, and steamboat traffic on the Columbia was just starting. Hence, transportation was not yet organized, and organized transportation is vital to the success on a large scale of distant mining operations. But the most baffling obstacle to the adventurers was difficulties with the Indians. The Indians of eastern Washington, in number about twelve thousand, were not to be despised as enemies. Living in an exhilerating climate, on an elevated plateau, thoroughly accus- tomed to the use of the horse, and having a variety of food, they constituted in physique and mind a fine race. 9 The Nez Perces, inhabiting, for the most part, the country lying east- ward from the present city of Lewiston, Idaho, were the largest and best ordered tribe, and, though not wanting in warlike qualities (as Joseph's warfare subsequently proved), they were nevertheless distinguished for their friendship to the whites. This peace policy of the Nez Perces should be emphasized as the most important fact in the history of the Indian wars of the Inland Empire. North of the Nez Perces lived the Coeur d' Alenes, Spokanes, Pend d' Oreilles, and Flatheads. A third group was to be found south from the Nez Perces, and consisted of the Walla Wallas, Cayuses, and Umatillas. Over the Blue Mountains was the desert country in which roamed the Sho- shones banditti they above all other tribes. Another group, important particularly because of the position it occupied, was the Yakima. The Yakima country lay west of the Columbia between that river and the Cascade Mountains. The position was central, therefore, both to the Sound Indians and to the tribes of the farther interior and the principal chiefs of the tribe were related to the chiefs in both regions. Moreover, this 8 Report of A. B. Stuart, id., Sept. 9th, 1855. Many writers of the time comment on the marked differences between the Indians of the interior and the "fish" Indians of the coast, who lived almost ex- clusively on salmon and who traveled in canoes. Travelers in British Columbia made the same observation. For example, Kipp, The Indian Council at Wallet Walla, p. 6 ; Anderson, Alex C., Handbook and Map to the Gold Regions of { Frazer's and Thompson's River, p. 6. [153] 18 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN territory lay directly in the path, of the mining advance. The head chief of the Yakimas, Kamiakin, who was charged by the whites with being the chief instigator and organizer of the Indians in their efforts to stay the white advance, was an Indian worthy of note. All accounts agree that in physique and countenance he was impressive. He was tall and athletic, though somewhat slovenly in dress. His face, generally gloomy and thoughtful, lighted up wonderfully in speech, "one mo- ment in frowns, the next in smiles, flashing with light and black as Cerebus the same instant." Speech with him, however, was rare, for he had the demeanor of a grave, proud man. He re- fused to be baptized as a Catholic, because he would not put away his surplus wives. Jealous of his rights and especially watchful against attempts to acquire the Indian lands, he trav- eled widely, striving to arouse the Indians to their peril. He may be regarded as an Indian statesman, who with devotion to the customs of his race and love for the superb land in which he lived, tried as best he might in feeble Indian fashion to unite the unorganized tribes against the dreaded white advance which he saw now impending. 10 The Indians of the Inland Empire were, indeed, in bad plight. The tribes of the east had been pushed ever farther westward, but with both frontiers closing in upon these In- dians, whither should they go? Everywhere throughout the tribes was the fear of being dispossessed of their lands and everywhere uneasiness. This dread and uneasiness extended to the Indians on the Sound. The whites, after the outbreak of hostilities, claimed that a general conspiracy had long been brewing and that Kamiakin was the arch conspirator; .but it is evident now that conditions in different localities had made matters ripe for desperate measures on the part of the Indians without any deliberate plan of action. 11 They shrank from the coming of white settlers and especially of miners, for they knew something of the troubles that had befallen the Indians 10 References on Kamiakin : Winthrop, Theodore, The Canoe and the Saddle, p. 237; Life of Stevens, Vol. 2, p. 38; Indian affairs Report, 1854, p. 234; Wright to Wool, Message and Documents, 1856-7, pt. 2, p. 160. 11 Remarks of J. Ross Browne, 35 Cong., 1 Sess., App., p. 494. [154] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 19 in California. 12 Chiefs of the Yakimas, Cayuses, and Walla Wallas had said to Gen. Alvord at The Dalles in 1853 that "they always liked to have gentlemen, Hudson Bay Company- men or officers of the army or engineers pass through their country, to whom they would extend every token of hospitality. They did not object to persons merely hunting, or those wear- ing swords, but they dreaded the approach of the whites with ploughs, axes and shovels in their hands." 13 It can readily be seen, therefore, that, with the Indians feeling thus, the coming of the miners to Colville was likely to precipitate hostilities. 14 Another cause of the Indian outbreak, however, so army officers in particular claimed, was the treaties made by Gov- ernor Stevens in the summer of 1855. A great council was summoned by him to meet at Walla Walla, which was attended by large numbers of the Nez Perces, Cayuses, Walla Wallas, Umatillas, and Yakimas. See Bancroft, Vol. XXXI, p. 253. [206] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 71 those who tried to travel, and from the Dalles to the Bitter Roots men fell victims to the frost. But in spite of these dangers and the warnings of the news- papers, eager miners early in the spring thronged Portland and The Dalles, and five hundred of them started up the river at once on foot, many of these with only a few crackers, some cheese, and a blanket or two. As the spring advanced the numbers of the immigrants increased, and in May 3800 people departed from San Francisco for the northern mines. There were also large numbers from Utah, the States, and the Canadian provinces, the total being estimated by the Bulletin at 30,000. 31 At Flor- ence, on June 1, 1862, there were recorded on the town books 1319 claims, worked by about 4200 men. 82 A general view of this famous camp may be obtained from reports of two observers : ' ' When on top of the mountain, which is distant some ten miles from Florence, you look eastward, and there, bounded by a high chain of snow-covered mountains, lies the basin known as Salmon River mines. It is a succession of rolling hills, none higher than 200 or 300 feet, hence the place is called a flat, having that appearance from the distance. This flat or basin resembles a gigantic inverted saucer. In or near the center lies the town of Florence. ' ' 33 Another, observing the camp from an elevated spot at a distance, thought when twilight came that he could see a thousand camp fires burning: ''The sight was beautiful and I think was well calculated to give one an idea of an army in camp, dispersed over six or eight square miles of gravel. ' ' 34 In all the creeks of this basin, placer mining was feverishly prosecuted. The richest gulch was Baboon, and from this Weiser took out $6,600 in one day. 85 But while there were many astounding finds the ground proved spotted and was 31 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, June 13, 1862. 32 Letter of E. R. Giddinga, chief clerk of surveyor general's office, Banker's Magazine XVII : 879. At an election that summer 1430 votes were polled and this was not more than % of- the population ; Oregonian July 21, 1862. The O. S. N. Co. carried on the Columbia in 1861, 10,500 passengers and in 1862 24,500. Statement of the Secretary, Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 579. 33 The Dalles Mountaineer, May 26, 1862. 34 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Aug. 6, 1862. For a scientific description of this basin, see Lindgren, Waldemar, Silver City, De Lamer and other min- ing districts in Idaho, 20th An. Rpt. U. S. Geological Survey, pt. 3, H. Doc. pp. 232-235. 35 Bancroft, Works, Vol. XXXI, p. 256. [207] 72 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN soon exhausted. No mining camp flared up more suddenly or more intensely than Salmon River, nor flickered more quickly. The reverse of this was true in Warren's Diggings, twenty- seven miles to the southeast across Salmon River, which were discovered early in the spring of 1862. Here the placers gave good yields for many years. Inasmuch as the large floating population of Florence, which contained many lazy and reck- less men, did not cross the gorge of Salmon River, the settlement at Warren's, consisting mostly of old Calif ornians, was distin- guished for orderliness, industry, and thrift. Prices, of course at first were very high. An energetic woman, Mrs. Schultz, paid 75c per dozen for the first hair pins in the camp, but she more than recompensed herself for this by charging $3.00 per meal for board. Still when her husband wanted a newspaper, he had to pay $2.50 for a single copy. The camp grew steadily until there were 1500 men in the district in 1865, and then decreased to 500 in 1867. 38 Quartz discoveries brought some revival; but the quartz proved to be in chimneys, and not many men could be em- ployed. At last, in 1872, the Chinamen were admitted, and much of the yield since then has come from them. 37 Of the total yield of these various mining districts of northern Idaho it is impossible to secure exact figures. An approximation is made by Lindgren up to 1900 as follows: Elk City, five to ten million dollars, Florence, fifteen to thirty million, and Warrens certainly in excess of fifteen million; and in com- parison with these yields the production of the Oro Fino mines, it is safe to say, has been not less than ten millions. A conserva- tive estimate, therefore, would place the total production of all the mines from their discovery to 1900 at about fifty million dollars, and of this probably thirty-five millions was produced before 1870. 38 "Hofen, Leo, His. of Idaho County, MS., p. 4. 87 Of the authorities for Warren's Diggings, Hofen, History of Idaho Co. in best. Of the Bancroft MS. there are also Hutton's Early Events in Northern Idaho, Farnham's Statement regarding Warren's and Florence, and Mrs. Schultz'B Anecdotes. See also Bancroft Works, Vol. XXXI, p. 258 and scattered but val- uable notices in Hailey's Idaho and Goulder's Reminiscences. For physiography consult Lindgren, Silver City, etc. 20th Annual Rpt. U. S. Geol. Survey, Pt. 3. * Reconnaisance acrost the Bitter Roots, U. S. Geol. Survey, Professional Papers, No. 27, p. 84 ; Silver City, etc. pp. 233 & 238. [208] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 73 For the mines of Eastern Oregon we have no such careful reports as those of Lindgren for Idaho. The eastern Oregon mines, indeed, seem scarcely to have received the attention that their importance in building up that part of the state warrants. While there were discoveries on Malheur and Burnt Rivers, the most important centers were Canyon City on Canyon Creek (a branch of John Day's River), and at Auburn on Powder River, about ten miles southwest of the present Baker City. The placers on the John Day were discovered in November, 1861, by a party of thirty-two men from The Dalles. Fourteen of these started back to The Dalles, but all except two were killed by the Indians. 39 A very considerable immigration followed the next year, particularly from Washoe, and settlers soon began to take up farms in the beautiful and fertile valley of the John Day. 40 Miners went to work vigorously making dams and rig- ging pumps, and Portland capitalists became interested. 41 In 1865 twenty-two thousand dollars per week was produced during the mining season, and in 1866 Carmany thought that the John Day mines had produced $1,500,000. 42 The Powder River mines, also, were discovered in the fall of 1861. In June, 1862, Auburn was laid out and for a few months grew rapidly. 43 It soon had forty stores and saloons, five hun- dred houses, and by winter a population estimated at 3000. 4 * In the dozen gulches of the district men were in June making from five to thirty dollars per day. 4 * A valuable quartz lead, the Rocky Fellow, was soon discovered. Two executions oc- curred, one in legal form, another that of a Spanish gambler by the mob. 46 Settlers began taking up lands along Powder River and many immigrants or "Pilgrims" came in from the East, so that at one time there were 150 women in camp. But in 1863 the immigrants began to turn to the beautiful Grande " Overland Press, March 17, 1862. 40 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Aug. 1, 1862. 41 Id. Sept. 9, 1863. Mineral Resources, 1870, p. 224; Carmany, John H., Review of Mining Interests of the Pacific Coast for 1866, p. 9. 43 An account of the beginnings in this locality Is given by Mr. W. H. Pack- wood In Mineral Resources, 1871, pp. 179-80. 44 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, December 2, 1862. 48 Id. July 1, 1862. 49 Id. December 15, 1862; also Oregonian, October 4, 1862. [209] 74 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Ronde valley and helped to build up La Grande, and the miners, finding that the water supply was inadequate, flocked away to Boise Basin and to other camps, and decline rapidly set in. An interesting political development occurred, however, in 1862, when the people in the vicinity of Auhurn, not being con- tent with being an election precinct of "Wasco County, organized a new county and named it Baker (after the famous senator of that name), elected a full set of county officers, and chose J. M. Kirkpatrick to represent them in the next legislature. 47 But the legislature temporarily refused its sanction. 48 It is significant of the growth of Eastern Oregon that in the presidential vote of 1864 the counties east of the Cascades polled 4455 votes out of a t6tal for the State of 18,350. The political proclivities of the majority of the residents are indicated from the fact that while the state went for Lincoln by 1431 votes, McClellan car- ried the eastern counties by 287 votes. 49 Auburn was a ' * mother of mining camps ' ' whence prospecting parties explored in all directions. 50 The most important of these parties was that which, under the leadership of George Grimes and Moses Splawn, late in the summer of 1862 discovered the placers on Grimes' Creek in Boise Basin. The journey thither was most venturesome the swift Snake had to be crossed, and the prowling Indians of the vast plains of the upper Snake knew no peace. Grimes himself was killed by the Indians just after the uncovering of rich prospects. We catch a glimpse from one of their number of the feelings of this little band of eleven men alone in the great wilderness far from their friends at Auburn and from the soldiers at Walla Walla : He writes sim- ply, "We * * carried Grimes to a prospect hole and buried him amid deep silence. He was our comrade, and we had endured hardships and dangers together and we knew not whose turn would come next." 51 They escaped in safety to Walla Walla, however, and in October were back in the Basin. During the winter other creeks besides Grimes' were found to pay, and * 7 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, June 24, 1862. 48 Id. October 4, 1862. 49 Presidential vote in Oregon, Id. January 2, 1865. 50 '.the phrase is Packwood's, Mineral Resources, 1871, p. 180. Bl Splawn, in Hailey's Idaho, p. 42. [210] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 75 in the spring came a rush of unusual interest and importance. By 1864 there was a population in the Basin approximately of 16,000, one-half of whom were engaged in mining; the other half, were occupied as "merchants, lumbermen, hotel and res- taurant keepers, butchers, blacksmiths, saloon-keepers, gamblers, theatrical people, lawyers, ministers, ranchers, stockmen, and transportation companies. ' ' : Not only were the mines of Boise Basin very rich and easily worked (producing at least seventeen million dollars in the iirst four years) but also they were so situated as to encourage home-making and the upbuilding of a permanent community; although at first, it is true, most of the people, as in all placer mining communities, were intent only on making some money and getting away. 53 One reason why this region soon took on an air of permanency was that the climate of the Boise mines is much less severe than that of Florence or of Cariboo, and so towns with stable interests soon sprang up within the Basin, the largest of which was Idaho City. In the second place, a fine location for an important trading center was only a few miles distant in the Boise Valley, where Boise City was founded in the summer of 1863 and Ft. Boise established the same year. 5 * The town was beautifully laid out, with wide streets, and its first promoters were exceptionally enterprising and far-sighted men. It grew rapidly into the leading city of the new Idaho Territory arid became the permanent capital. A third reason for the permanent character of the southern Idaho community is found in the proximity to the mines of the fine and fertile valleys of the Payette and of the Boise, which were soon taken up by settlers. Again, the fact that this community was on the well-used Oregon trail helped to bring in a larger proportion of families ; and this proportion was increased by a large migration of families from Missouri, which came to escape the pressure of war conditions. 52 Hailey's Idaho, p. 170. "Lindgren, Waldemar, The Mining Districts of the Idaho Basin and the Boise Ridge, ISth An. Rpt. U. S. Geol. Sur. pt. Ill, p. 655. He estimates the total production of the Boise Basin to 1896 at $44,651,800, of which $4,000,000 was quartz. "Accounts of these beginnings are found In Bristol's Idaho Nomenclature (MS) and in Hailey's Idaho, pp. 88-90. An important expedition against In- dians is narrated in the latter, pp. 49-60. [211] 76 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN In Boise Basin alone there were in 1865, 799 persons under twen- ty-one years of age of whom 278 were girls, and 197 were chil- dren under four years of age. 55 In the last place, quartz dis- coveries were soon made in near-by localities, and their develop- ment called for capital and abiding population. The principal quartz districts were at Quartzburg, on the edge of the Basin, at Rocky Bar on the south Boise, and, most important of all, in the Owyhee region, southwest from Boise City, across the Snake." The party which initiated the Owyhee movement, leaving Boise in May of 1863, discovered promising placer diggings on a tributary of the Owyhee, which was named after the leader of the party Jordan Creek. 67 When the news of the discovery reached Boise, hundreds of men rushed off so distractedly for the new diggings that one correspondent facetiously reported a " special forty-eight-hour insanity for Owyhee" to have devel- M Report of J. A. Chittenden, Territorial Superintendent of Schools, Otcyhee Avalanche, Sept. 28, 1865. M The principal sources for the history of Boise Basin, Boise City, and vicin- ity are the following : 1. The Bancroft MSS. furnish: Branstetter, J. H., First Discovery of Boise Basin. (With this should be read Splawn's account in Hailey's Idaho, pp. 36-44). Bristol, Sherlock, Idaho Nomenclature. This is of special value for the history of the beginnings of Boise City. Coghanour, David, Boise Basin. Coghanour was an example of a thrifty, saving man. Butler J. S., Life and Times in Idaho. (With this compare Butler'i chapter In Hailey's Idaho, pp. 183-187). Knapp, Henry H., Statement of Events in Idaho. McConnell, W. J., Idaho Inferno. Angelo's Idaho is a pamphlet, which, after a diatribe against Governor Douglas of British Columbia, narrates Interestingly the observation! of a newspaper correspondent's visit to Idaho in 1863. 2. Important newspaper sources, after the establishment of papers, are : The Boise Weekly Statesman. The Idaho World. The Oicyhee Avalanche. 3. Books : Bowles, Samuel, Our "New West, pp. 486-487. Richardson, Albert D., Our Neiv States d Territories, 1866, pp. 78-79. Richardson, Albert D., Beyond the Mississippi, p. 501. Rustling, James F., The Great West and the Pacific Coast, pp. 223 & 225. Bancroft, Vol. XXXI, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Mineral Resources of the V. S., 1868, Report of J. Ross Browne, pp. 512-521. Hailey, John, The History of Idaho. Contains important source material. w There is a resumg of the history of Owyhee in the Avalanche, Aug. 19, 1865.. [212] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 77 oped. 58 The placers on Jordan Creek proved fairly productive and were worked vigorously for about two years. But the gold was of poor quality, being worth only ten to twelve dollars per ounce, and the development of the rich quartz lodes soon dwarfed the placer mining. The first discoveries of quartz were made in July 1863. The richest section was on War Eagle Mountain. This mountain is at the head of a gulch tributary to Jordan Creek, and its sum- mit, 5,000 feet above sea level, stands out 2,000 feet above the mining towns on the creek below. 59 On this mountain one hun- dred claims were "claimed, staked and recorded," in some of which gold predominated, in others silver. 60 The history of one of the veins of War Eagle Mountain deserves special considera- tion. This vein was first discovered in 1865 and was known as the Hays and Bay. Other parties discovered a vein (or a part of the Hays & Ray vein) which crossed the latter, the two being in form somewhat like the letter X. The later discoverers called their vein The Poorman, the name being chosen possibly to win sympathy for themselves. 61 They opened their vein exactly at the spot where it crossed the Hays & Ray, at which point there proved to be a chimney of ore marvelously rich. It ran 60 per cent, bullion, and the Poorman people took out of it $250,000 in two weeks. 62 The latter party "seeing that they would become involved in litigation, associated their company with some capi- talists connected with The Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and about the same time or shortly before erected a fort at their mine called "Ft. Baker", built of logs, with portholes and other means of defense usual in such cases. The Hays & Ray had their work [i. e. of tracing connection with the Poorman vein] so nearly completed that they could commence suit, but could not give the necessary bonds. ' ' 83 They therefore gave a- portion of "San Francisco Daily Bulletin, July 17, 1863, "A clear sketch map of the Owyhee district is in Bancroft's Works, Vol. XXXI, p. 417. Richardson, Our New States and Territories, p. 78. "Conversation with Hon. W. J. McConnell. 62 Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi, p. 509. 63 Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 523. Geo. C. Robbins was the intermediary in bringing in the New York parties and "Put" Bradford the S. N. Co. capitalists. Maize, Early Events in Idaho, p. 7. [213] 78 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN their interest to the New York and Owyhee Company, which guaranteed *to carry the case to decision. But before trial a compromise was arrived at by which the New York and Owyhee party got the larger share. This mine in three months subse- quent to the consolidation produced in net proceeds from quartz reduced in local mills $390,000. In addition fifteen tons of se- lected ore were sent to a smelter in Newark, New Jersey, and the bullion product ran $4,000 per ton. 64 The special interest of these proceedings to us lies in the clear- ness of the call from this newly born and remote mining com- munity to outside capital and to science. Previous to this con- troversy, mills had been erected by both groups of capital, the Ainsworth and the NewYork and Owyhee. The latter cost $120,- 000, had twenty stamps, and was under the management (in 1869) of Mr. John M. Adams, one of the first graduates of the Columbia University School of Mines. 65 The Owyhee district contained in 1866 ten mills with one hundred and two stamps. The transportation of these mills into the wilderness (300 miles of the route being by wagons from the Columbia at an average freight expense of 25c per pound) is a tribute both to American enterprise and the richness of the mines. But eastern capital was in some cases recklessly squandered, particularly through incompetent management. 66 Capitalists, it was becoming clear, must summon the aid of science and must secure more thoroughly organized control over investments in these remote regions. A community based on the quartz phase of the mining indus- try naturally had more elements of permanency than one founded on the floating riches of placer gravels. Three towns along Jor- dan Creek came into existence progressively towards the quartz leads, culminating in Silver City. Here a Sunday school was started by the citizens, a union church was erected, and a news- paper established. Here also lived J. A. Chittenden, who was earnest in trying to start schools in the new territory and who became the first territorial superintendent of public instruction. The solid character of the development of Owyhee attracted the 64 Report of W. D. Walbridge, Mineral Resources, 1SG8, p. 524. 65 Mining and Scientific Press, Vol. XII, p. 279. 68 Richardson, licyond the Mississippi, pp. 510-11 ; also, Mining & Scientific Press, Vol. XIII, p. 343. [214] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 79 attention of the Mining and Scientific Press of San Francisco, which represented the growing stability of the mining industry upon the Coast. In its Review for the year 1864, it said, ''Per- haps the most noticeable mining development of the past year, upon this coast, has been that of Idaho." 67 Again, speaking es- pecially of Owyhee : ' ' There is very good reason for believing that Idaho is destined to become a most important and perma- nent mining region. Thus far operations there have been con- ducted upon a sound basis, with very little of the speculative feature, so characteristic of new mining localities." 68 We turn, now, to trace the advance of the miners to the head- waters of the Clarke 's Fork of the Columbia and to the sources of the Missouri, into territory afterwards included in Montana. The discovery of gold in this region was due to two streams of development: that of the " Mountain men" and that of immi- grants to the Salmon River mines. The Deer Lodge Valley, on the upper waters of Clarke's Fork, had long been frequented by "mountain men" and trappers, some of whom traded during the summer far to the south with the immigrants on the great trails, and in winter continued their business with the Indians in the northern valleys. So early as 1852 a Red River half-breed by the name of Benetsee had found float gold on Gold Creek. More important was the arrival in Beaverhead valley of James and Granville Stuart in the fall of 1857. These were miners of high character who had left Cali- fornia for a visit to their old home in Iowa, but, hindered by the Mormon war of 1857, they had turned north with the moun- taineers. Having found on this trip fair prospects at Gold Creek, they returned in the winter of 1860-61. They were dis- appointed in not getting supplies at Ft. Benton, and had to send to Walla Walla for picks and shovels. In May of 1862, they commenced operations, but with indifferent success. 69 Soon parties began to arrive whose aim was to get to the Sal- 7 Vol. X. p. 8. 48 June 3rd, 1865. To the authorities for Owyhec should be added Lindgren, Waldemar, The gold and silver veins of Silver City, De Lamar and other mining districts in Idaho, 20th Ann. Rpt. U. S. Geol. Sur., Pt. 3, 1900, p. 233 ff. cs) This account is taken from the Life of James Stuart by Granville Stuart, Con*. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. I, pp. 36-61. [215] 30 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN mon River mines. Some of these immigrants came up the Mis- souri by boat to Ft. Beiiton and from there started by the Mullan Road for the Salmon River fields ; others came with the Fiske overland expedition across the plains from Minnesota to Ft. Benton; still other parties from Pike's Peak 70 and Missouri, diverging from the great emigrant trail, tried to reach the cen- ter of excitement by cutting across to Salmon River, but were compelled to turn north towards Deer Lodge Valley and the Mullan Road. Explorations, of course, were taking place in all directions by these various parties, and a number of promising ' ' diggings ' ' were discovered. 71 Of these the most important was situated on Willard, or Grasshopper Creek, an affluent of the Missouri. It was in August of 1862 that the first bar was discovered on this creek by John White, and towards this locality thereafter converged parties from various directions. Thus the first im- portant mining camp in Montana started. A miner's district was organized, and a town of log huts came into existence with the name of East Bannack. The yields were good. One "pil- grim" panned out ten dollars one morning and got fifteen dollars more in the afternoon with a rocker big wages for a man from the States. Two took out $131 in a week. 72 A fine quartz lode, the Dacotah, was discovered in December, and a rude mill was built that winter. 73 There are preserved the names of 410 per- sons who spent the winter of 1862-3 in Bannack City and vi- cinity, Dakotah Territory, and of these thirty-three were women. 74 From Bannack there proceeded in February, a prospecting party which discovered placers completely eclipsing those hith- erto discovered in Montana. It was through mere chance that the discovery was made, for these prospectors, starting as part of an expedition to the Yellowstone, had failed to make connec- 70 In the phraseology of the miners "Colorado" was seldom used, but the region was spoken of as Pike's Teak, and people from that region were "Pike's Peakers." 71 These explorations were sketched by Granville Stuart, Contr. His. Society Mont., Vol. II, p. 123 ; see also Bradley Mss., Bk. 3, p. 281. 72 Diary of J. II. Morley, MS., Sept. 15 and Oct. 4, 1862. 73 W. A. Clark in Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. II, p. 51 ; also Mineral Resources, 1808, p. 4G8. 74 Contr. Hist. Soc. Mont., Vol. I, pp. 334-354. [216] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 81 tions with the other part of the expedition, and, after a toilsome journey ending in being plundered by Indians, had been forced to turn back. On the way back they prospected in a gulch which one of the party named Alder, and the returns were most prom- ising. We get a glimpse of the diverse nativity of the miners from the records of these discoverers. The party consisted of the following: Bill Fairweather, native of New Brunswick, St. John's River, Mike Sweeney, native of Frederickstown, St. John's River. Barney Hughes, native of Ireland. Harry Rodgers, native of St. John 's, Newfoundland. Tom Cover, native of Ohio. Henry Edgar, native of Scotland." Some of these men had been mining at Salmon River, and at least one in British Columbia. 76 They found here a gold field richer than any they had worked in, for Alder Gulch produced in three years thirty millions of dollars. 77 It was populated swiftly. The principal town was Virginia City, which soon became a thriving municipality with substantial buildings, a newspaper, churches and schools, as well as hurdy-gurdys, saloons, and theatres. The columns of its first paper, The Post, give us a vivid picture of the town, as it chron- icles the hosts of incoming * * pilgrims, ' ' a fireman 's procession of two companies with gay uniforms, a poster warning against the use of deadly weapons, and the building of water works. In one issue a prize fight is announced whereat no weapons are to be allowed in the enclosure; in another a notice is inserted that Professor Dimsdale's school will open on Idaho St., behind Mr. Lomax's Corral, " where all branches included in the curriculum of the best seminaries will be taught for $1.75 per week, and strictest attention will be given to the morals and deportment of the pupils." 78 The population of Madison County, in which Alder Gulch was situated was in 1864, 11,493. The comments of an intelligent miner give us a view of the "Journal of Henry Edfjar, Con. His. 8oc. Mont., Vol. Ill, p. 141. n Contr. His, 8oc. Mont., Vol. VII, 197. TT Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 507. n Po8t, Sept 17 & 23, 1864. "Pnst, Oct. S, 1864. [2171 82 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Gulch as it appeared to him while out for a walk in November of 1863. "It surprises me to see how rapidly this country im- proves. First, two miles below here is Virginia City, a thriving village with many business houses ; then one mile farther down is Central City, not quite so large; then in another mile you enter Nevada, as large as Virginia; then about a mile and one- half further Junction City. The road connecting all these 'cities' is bordered with dwellings, on both sides all along. * * * Recalling that only eighteen months ago this was a 'howling wilderness,' etc., truly truth is more wonderful than fiction and excels in marvelousness even the Arabian Nights, but truth and the marvelous go hand in hand when Young America finds a good gold gulch." 80 It was in September of 1864 that a party of Georgian miners, prominent among whom was John Cowan, began regular mining operations at Last Chance Gulch. Other parties followed, par- ticularly from Minnesota. A village sprang up in the Gulch at first called ''Crab Town" and soon after Helena. 81 This village was a natural center for many rich gulches which were opened up back of it such as Oro Fino, Grizzly, and Nelson's and be- sides was well situated for trade between Ft. Benton and the mining localities farther west. Quartz was soon discovered, and in December of 1864 the celebrated "Whitlatch Union vein was struck, the total yield of which up to 1876 was estimated at $3,000,000. 82 Placer mining also yielded largely in all the gulches, but was hindered by scarcity of water. One nugget of solid gold was accidentally thrown out by a sluice fork, which was -valued at over $2.000. 83 A newspaper, The Radiator, was transferred from Lewiston, Idaho, to Helena in 1865. 84 Vir- ginia City was gradually displaced as first in population and im- portance. In three years the economic and social foundations of Montana were laid. A review of some of the salient facts and tendencies of the founding of the new community are brought out in a 80 Diary of J. H. Morley, MS., Nov. 12, 1863. S1 Diary of Gilbert Benedict, MS., Oct. 8 & 14, 1864. ' 82 W. A. Clark in Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. II, p. 51. 83 Cornelius Hedges in Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. II, p. 112. 84 Ou-yhee Avalanche, Nov. 4, 1865. [218] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 83 thoughtful address by Hon. W. F. Sanders, himself a leader and founder. His subject was * ' The Pioneers " : " From far away Ore- gon, through solemn forests, by the Pend d' Oreille Lake, by the Mullan Koad, by the Nez Perces Trail, by the Boise Basin, they [the Pioneers] journeyed to the hidden springs of the Missouri and Columbia. From the golden shores of shining California with appetites whetted by the pursuit of this patrician industry, they crossed forbidden deserts and over trackless wastes to the newly discovered Treasure House of the Nation. From recently occupied Colorado, by the Cache Le Poudre, by the Laramies, by Bitter Creek, they came to the Shining Mountains, finding a promising field for mining activity. From all the states border- ing on the Great Eiver that we give to the valley which is the Nation's heart, came an onrushing tide of eager, confident im- migrants as they swept up the Platte across the mountains and over the Lander Road and Snake River or down the Big Horn to the famed Beaver Head country. Another contribution of sturdy men and women daunted at no obstacle and intent on conquest over forbidden difficulties came from distant Minne- sota by Forts Totten, Abercrombie and Union north of the Mis- souri River and first located in this valley. * * * Brought face to face with each other they [these peoples] were confronted with the newness of the land, with ignorance of its geography, topography, resources, climate and above and beyond all with the fact that they were strangers each to the others. In coming: hither they outran law. They found here no pre-extinct civiliza- tion. In the raw they brought it with them, and its secure planting was at first an awkward and imperious duty. Opinions clashed. There was no tribunal to settle differences; they had to be argued out to ultimate results without artificial or extrane- ous aid. Unique characters with strange and sometimes un- known history and weird experiences abounded. Social life: and economic life boiled. Industry was a tumultuous struggle, the turmoil was active and the process of unification was slow. No houses, no highways, no fences, no titles; verily, the world was all before them where to choose." 85 86 Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. IV, 122-148. [219] 84 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Their choice was in part guided by information derived from white " waifs of civilization," who had identified themselves with the Indians. There were also "discards of civilization/ ' the highwaymen and free hooters, not romantic creatures, but ''ugly facts of flesh and blood. " "Events in those early times, profoundly affecting our situa- tion here moved swiftly. The creation of the new Territory of Montana, the establishment of governmental mails July 1, 1864, with its consequent regular stage transportation from Salt Lake City, the installation of governmental officers, the election and action of our first legislative assembly, the construction of a telegraphic line, the permission of the government to have news- papers transmitted in the mails, the building of the Union Pa- cific Railroad, were events which deeply affected the material ;and social interests of these communities. " Conditions similar to those of Montana existed in the other regions populated by the mining advance. Because of this ad- vance which we have surveyed in the preceding chapters, as we 'have seen, a new British colony was formed, and there came into .being two new American territories. The act forming the terri- tory of Idaho was approved March 3rd, 1863, and that forming Montana May 26, 1864. In the following chapters I shall next attempt to discuss special economic and social phases of the mining advance, particularly keeping in view comparisons between British Columbia and the American territories. [220] PART II ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE MINING ADVANCE [221] TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 87 CHAPTER VI METHODS OF PRODUCTION AND ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRY In the development of a gold field from its first discovery by prospecting up to the complicated methods of extraction of quartz, cooperation is necessary. I mention this important point in the beginning of this discussion, because it is basic in the con- sideration of the industry and of society founded upon this indus- try, and because in common conception the individualism of placer mining and society is often greatly exaggerated. The "lone prospector" in the period we are considering was largely a myth. Prospecting was carried on, as a; general thing, in small or- ganized parties, consisting of five or six up to perhaps fifty men. 1 Careful preparations were made, particularly with respect to providing horses, food, arms, and mining utensils. The latter would consist of picks, shovels, and always "pans" vessels of iron or tin six or eight inches deep and a foot or more in diame- ter at the bottom, useful not only in "panning out" gold, but also for mixing bread. These companies were composed of ex- perienced miners, generally " Californians. " Immigrants from Missouri, Minnesota, the * * States, ' ' or England did comparatively little prospecting. It is interesting to notice, however, the pres- ence of Georgians in Cariboo, Alder Gulch, and at Last Chance. 2 For weeks and months an expedition might range over hundreds of miles of mountains, valleys and canons, studying the geology of the country, prospecting wherever indications were good, and 1 In later times often only two men might go prospecting, when danger from Indians was lessened. Remarks of Judge W. Y. Pemberton. 2 The gold mines of Georgia do not seem to have had the attention which their importance warrants in the mining history of the United States. [223] 88 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN once in a while fighting Indians. Often failure resulted, but sometimes came one of the most thrilling and exhilerating ex- periences in the whole gamut of human endeavor, when the " color" was found, and the scales assured two dollars and forty cents per pan twelve dollars and thirty cents from three pans one hundred and fifty dollars for a single day's work! 3 When diggings affording such prospects were discovered, the next step was to stake claims. One should not think of a placer claim as approaching in size an agricultural claim. Conceive a gulch (such as Grizzly, back of Helena) nine miles long, the flat portion one hundred or more feet wide between hilly or mountainous sides. Claims in such a gulch would generally ex- tend from hill to hill and be in width one hundred feet. The claims were numbered up and down the gulch from the " Dis- covery" claim. Discoverers were entitled to one claim by pre- emption and one by discovery. Later coiners were entitled only to a preemption claim. As a general thing a man could purchase in addition one claim, but sometimes, when a camp was quite thoroughly worked, more than one. If the flat was wide, claims would be from 100 feet square to 250 feet square, dependent on the district laws. The British Columbia code allowed only 100 feet square, while in the American territories there seems to have been a tendency to expand the size of the claims. 4 A man could hold claims such as the above in more than one district, and besides he could hold claims on different kinds of placer ground. The claims on Alder Gulch were bar and creek; in British Columbia there were bar, creek or ravine, and hill claims. 6 These are actual figures from Alder Gulch. "A more happy lot of boys It would be bard to find, though covered with seedy clothes." Journal of Henry Edgar, Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. Ill, p. 139. 4 Governor Douglas at first required very small claims, in dry diggings 25 by 30 ft. unless otherwise established by a by-law ; but the regular size was later 100 feet square. See Rules and Regulations for the Working of Gold Mines, /*- sued in Conformity with the Gold Fields Act, 1859 ; also Park, Joseph, a Practical View of the Mining Laics of British Columbia (1864), pp. 13 & 14. See also ft* to decided tendency to larger claims in American territory, Angelo's Idaho, pp. 25-6. Claims at Oro Pino were held 150 feet front by 250 feet across th* stream, San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Aug. 2, 1861. 6 Original agreement of Wm. Fairweather, et al., with other prospectors. MS ; Park, Joseph, Practical View of Mining Laws of British Columlria. The latter defines bar diggings as "that portion of the banks of a river over which the river [224] TRIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE 89 It should be carefully noticed here that the plan of a mining camp corresponded more nearly to that of a town than to that of a country district. While the camps themselves were scattered and isolated, within each camp the structure was comparatively concentrated. Hence, again, we see that combination, co-opera- tion, and organization are basic factors in mining life. Having staked their claims, the discoverers of new fields from lack of supplies or fear of the natives were generally compelled to re- turn to some camp or trading centre. There the news invariably leaked out (a man surely must tell his friends, for whom he had already probably staked out claims), and a local rush en- sued. Day laborers, who constituted four-fifths of the popula- tion of mining-camps, late-comers, who came in crowds into every large camp, and claim-owners who were not making top- notch figures would drop every employment, put up every dollar for outfit (or go without), and plunge for the new diggings. The great desideratum was to be the first on the ground. Merchants and packers, also, would press forward their trains eagerly, for the man who got a well- laden train into a new min- ing community would make a good-sized fortune. A vivid picture of the fever of a rush is furnished from Oro Fino when the news of the Salmon River diggings reached the town: "On Friday morning last, when the news of the new diggings had been promulgated, the store of Miner and Arnold was literally besieged. As the news radiated and it was not long in spreading picks and shovels were thrown down, claims deserted and turn your eye where you would, you would see droves of people coming in 'hot haste' to town, some packing one thing on their backs and some another, all intent on scaling the mountains through frost and snow, and taking up a claim in the new El Dorado. In the town there was a perfect jam a mass of human infatuation, jostling, shoving and elbowing each other, whilst the question, 'Did you hear the news about Salmon River?', 'Are you going to Salmon River?', 'Have you got a in Its most flooded state extends" ; a creek claim as "a parcel of ground taken up on the alluvial banks, or flats, which lie on each side of a river or stream" ; and hill claims as "situated on the side or rise of the hills or banks which run along the side of the creek." pp. 13-14. [225] 90 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Cayuse?', 'How much grub are you going to take?', etc., were put to one another, whilst the most exaggerated statements were made relative to the claims already taken up Cayuse horses that the day before would have sold for about $25 sold readily now for $50 to $75, and some went as high as $100. Flour, bacon, beans, tea, coffee, sugar, frying pans, coffee pots and mining utensils, etc., were instantly in demand. The stores were thronged to excess. Pack trains were employed, and the amount of merchandise that has been packed off from this town to the Salmon river diggings since yesterday morning is really astonishing. ' ' 6 When an ardent crowd like this reached a gulch or. basin, and when successive crowds from farther camps and towns began pour- ing in, the available mining ground was soon occupied. Before much work was done, however, a miners' meeting was held, and the district was organized by electing a miners' judge, a sheriff, and a recorder and by passing the rules of the camp. Men who had been schooled in California camps not only had learned to mine skillfully, but turned spontaneously to that form of local political organization which had been evolved in California. 7 This was true not only in the American territories, but also in the British ; along Fraser River and in Kootenai steps were taken in organization prior to the arrival of the British officials, and the success of these officials in maintaining law was due in very con- siderable degree to the orderly instincts and methods of the Cali- fornia miners. 8 One of the most important of the district rules was that con- cerned with representation. Representation meant the time re- quired for work in holding a: claim. Ordinarily one day out of seven was required during the working season, although, some- times, as in Bivens Gulch (Montana) two days at first were neces- 8 Letter to The Portland Advertiser, October 29, 1801, in San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Nov. 2, 1861. 7 A vivid account of the organization of California camps is found in Davis, Hon. John F., Historical Sketch of Mining Law in California (From History of Bench and Bar in Cal.) pp. 16-33. Shinn, C. H., Mining Camps, takes up the sub- ject more elaborately. On the spread of California ideas consult particularly in the latter work Chap. XXV on Effects upon Western Development. 9 See Copy of Miners' Resolutions at Fort Yale Bar, Cornwallis, New Eldorado, pp. 402-3 ; also, Report of A. N. Birch, Colonial Secretary to Governor Seymour, Oct. 31, 1864, fouud in Macfie, Vancouver Id. and Br. Col., pp. 255-262. [2261 TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 91 sary. A man might do the work himself, or have it done. In British Columbia it was required that representation be bona-fide and not colorable, and a claim was considered abandoned if left seventy-two hours. Bona-fide representation, however, included clearing brush for cabin, building cabin, cutting timber away from the claim for works on the claim, and bringing in provisions. 9 The time when representation was not reqiiired or, in other words, when claims were "laid over 7 ' was determined in the American territories by district meeting, in British Columbia by the local gold commissioner. Claims were universally laid over during the winter season, but might be laid over temporarily at other times as for example, during prolonged drouth. The British Columbia method of control seems to have given greater flexibility for adjustment to conditions. "When claims were laid over, miners could absent themselves entirely until representa- tion was again required, and no one could legally jump their claims. This arrangement gave miners an opportunity, perhaps, to return to their homes for the winter, if they chanced to live in the Willamette or some Coast community, or at any rate, to go to some town, as Victoria, Portland, Lewiston or Boise, where living was cheaper than in the mines, life more attractive, and the chances for spending all one's money very good. Here, then, is another peculiarity of a mining camp : men seldom thought of creating homes in such a camp, and ownership was based not on residence, as in agricutural homesteads, but on work during a portion of the year. Still, it would be wrong to think that the camps were wholly deserted during the winter. A very considerable proportion of the miners stayed, and these occupied themselves in sawing lum- ber, making sluices, etc., and (especially in deep diggings) in digging shafts and drifting. Mining operations in the latter class of diggings could be carried on all winter. Camps often ac- quired, therefore, more of stability than is commonly thought. It .is time, however, to return to the recently discovered and newly organized district where the miners were ready for their work. Theirs was a busy and laborious life, and it did not con- Park, Joseph, A Practical View of the Mining Laws of Br. Col., pp. 41-43. [227] 92 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN sist of picking up golden nuggets out of streams and spending most of their time in hilariousness and adventure. Work, hard physical toil, was necessary to development. 10 In the first place there were cabins to build, and in this labor British observers admired the skill of the American axemen a skillfulness par- ticularly noticeable in Missourians, or those recently from the "States." Ditches were to be dug and sluices and flumes constructed. Lumber had to be obtained by the laborious proc- ess of whip-sawing, and good whip-sawyers could always make high wages until the inevitable small sawmill arrived. 11 The processes of placer mining were somewhat varied. The simplest, after the pan, was the use of the rocker, which was an affair constructed somewhat like a child's old fashioned cradle, having at one end a perforated sheet of iron. The rocker was placed by the side of a stream and one man rocked and poured water, while another dug and carried dirt. This of course was a slow process, and a next step was the use of the sluice. 12 Boxes ten or twelve feet long, twelve inches wide and eleven inches deep, were arranged in ''strings" in such manner as to allow a current of water from a ditch to be run through the boxes. In working such a sluice a number of men could be utilized some to strip sod, some to dig and wheel, one to throw out pebbles and boulders with a sluice-fork and one to throw away tailings. Transverse cleats were nailed to the bottom of both rocker and sluice-box, and quick silver was poured into the mixture of dirt and water in order by amalga- mation to secure a larger percentage of gold than would other- wise be possible. A farther modification of the sluice was the use of hydraulic power, in the shape of a powerful stream of water from a hose, instead of picks and shovels. 13 "Intensity of work was increased in districts where water could be secured only for a short season. Night shifts were often used then. It took real pa- triotism at such a time for a man to volunteer on an expedition against maraud- ing Indians. One gets an idea of the steady, plodding labor necessary to de- velop a claim from the diary of J. F. Morley where day after day is the entry, "At work in the shaft." 11 Three things were indispensable to a placer miner water, lumber, and quick-silver. "The "torn" was a simple form of sluice, consisting of but one trough. 18 Good descriptions of processes may be found in Goulder, W. A. Reminig- cences of a Pioneer, pp. 211-214 ; Macfie, Van. Id. <& B. C., pp. 286-279 ; Mineral ( Resources, 1867, pp. 16-23. [228] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 93 The pay dirt lay next to the bed-rock and in shallow dig- gings could be got at simply by stripping ; but in a number of rich fields (Cariboo and Last Chance, for examples) the pay stratum or lead was buried under twenty to sixty feet of stream detritus, and then shafts and drifting had to be resorted to. Drifting of course meant digging out around from the bottom of the shaft. This was work only for an expert miner, and a good drifter was always in demand at wages three or four dollars a day higher than those paid for ordinary labor. The use of shafts and drifts required timber for supports and the rigging of windlasses. Water and boulders often bothered greatly, especially the former. Sometimes pumps were made, but often a bed rock flume was resorted to. In its construction a miner opened up a ditch on the bed rock from a point low enough to drain his claim. In carrying on these various forms of mining labor, the skill of old Californians was pre-eminent, and everywhere from Cari- boo to Owyhee the methods and opinions of Californians were given great respect. In camps where there were many "pil- grims" from the states higher wages were generally paid to old miners. The Californians, indeed, were apt to be a .bit super- cilious with regard to noviates; at Oro Fino, for example, they complained that the Willamette farmers in the mines did not know how to secure gold properly from the dirt to which the others might have replied that neither were they so expert in gambling it away after it was secured. 14 The scorn of the ex- pert for the unskilled is somewhat amusingly revealed in a letter from Last Chance, where, the writer says, the gulches were "mostly taken up by Pilgrims, who know more about raising wheat or cranberries, or handling logs, than using pick and shovel. "Just watch them handle a pick. A good miner has a pick drawn to a fine, sharp point ; he works underneath the pay dirt on the bed rock ; you know, Mr. Editor, when you knock away a man's underpinning he is easily brought down; and so it is with gravel get under it with a good long, sharp pick, and it is easily " San Francisco Daily Bulletin, August 21, 1861 ; Bristow, Reencounters, MS. [229] ! 94 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN brought down. It cannot stand on nothing ; but a green horn has a short, thick, stubbed pick; he stands on the top, like a chicken on a grain pile ; gets out one rock and finds he has an- other below it requiring the same labor." 15 Yet there was good demand in every thriving camp for many kinds of labor, so that men turned easily to that employment in which they had had previous training. Notwithstanding the comparative skillfulness of the Califor- nians, however, the placer mining of this period was wasteful, and unconscious of conservation. This for two reasons : In the first place men were in the mines simply to make as much money as they could and get away in the shortest possible time. This was particularly true, of course, with regard to residents of the Willamette or of Missouri, to many of whom a trip to the mines was of the nature of an excursion, designed to make a little money or pay off a mortgage. In the case of the habitual miner there was no possible way by which he could be constrained to work old ground carefully, when he could make large sums by hasty working and then hie to some other field. A man cer- tainly could not be expected to work carefully a claim that did not pay more than wages. In the second place, the expenses nec- essarily attendant upon opening a new and remote placer field by the modes of transportation which then obtained, were so great a charge upon the mines that only the very richest gravel could be profitably worked. These placer mines had to pay for establishing routes of transportation and for nurturing civili- zation under unfavorable conditions. 16 Whatever the reason, at any rate, the mines were skimmed, and the wastage was enor- mous. Mr. J. Ross Browne, who had spent years in the mining regions and who had opportunity to know the situation better than anyone else in the United States, in his report of 1868 [though he does not mention his authorities] says that, "At a moderate calculation, there has been an unnecessary loss of 16 Montana Post, April 29, 1865. A very important workman In each mining locality was the blacksmith. The worth of a mining field was estimated in part at times by the number of blacksmiths employed in it. 16 Moreover, the lack of the "blue lead" beds of ancient rivers in Montana and Idaho contributed to early exhaustion, compared with California ; Carmany, Review oj 1866, p. 9. [230] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 95 precious metals since the discovery of our mines of more than $300,000,000, scarcely a fraction of which can ever be recovered. This is a serious consideration. The question arises whether it is not the duty of government to prevent, as far as may be con- sistent with individual rights, this waste of a common heritage, in which not only ourselves but our posterity are interested." 17 It was true that waste was to a considerable degree relieved by the incoming of the patient Chinese into every camp after the cream had been taken by the whites, by the introduction in some cases of hydraulic processes by which low grade ground could be profitably worked, and by more careful methods of whites who were content to labor on after the flush times were over. 18 But it remained a fact, and a fact of importance in sociological study of early mining society, that mining communities economically based on placer mines were wasteful and unstable. In order to overcome this instability, everywhere the more sub- stantial miners, business men, and statesmen turned their atten- tion to quartz. In all mining regions, therefore, whether in Brit- ish Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, or Montana, quartz lodes were eagerly located and attempts, more or less elaborate and success- ful, were made at development. 19 The simplest machinery for working quartz was the arrastra (or arrastre), originally a Mexican invention. This consisted of a circular area paved with stones, in the middle a post and to this post attached a sweep to which a mule or horse was hitched. A block of granite, fastened to the sweep, was dragged around over the quartz distributed within the circle. The remains of these old arrastras may be found in many gulches today. Their 17 Mineral Resources of the United States, 1868, p. 9. 18 More work was carried on than is commonly thought, after the crowds of adventurers had vanished and newspaper notices become sparse. This was true of such places as Cariboo, Oro Pino and Warrens, but not so with regard to Salmon River, Auburn, and Kootenai. 19 In British Columbia the following bonuses were offered : 1. 500 to the person who should be first in the colony successfully to work quartz, gold or silver by machinery. 2. 500 for discovery of a good coal mine. 3. 500 for building the first vessel in the Colony of not less than 500 tons. 4. 500 for discovery of new alluvial diggings capable of giving employ- ment to 500 men. [Notice how the government here takes the initia- tive in a way that it never did in the territories to the south.] Gov- ernment Gazette, Jan. 7, 1865. [231] 96 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN use "required neither capital nor a number of laborers. The owner of the arrastra could dig out his own rock one day, and reduce it the next. ' ' 20 The enterprise of Americans, however, forbade contentment with such rude machinery, and they at once set to work, in spite of enormous obstacles, to construct mills. The first mill in Montana is thus described by one of the pioneers in quartz: "An overshot wheel, twenty feet in diameter, is placed on a shaft 18 feet long, with large pins in the shaft for the purpose of raising the stamps. These stamps are fourteen feet long and 8 inches square, and strapped with iron on the bottom, which work into a box that is lined on the sides with copper plate galvanized with quicksilver, so as to catch the gold as the quartz is crushed and clashed up the sides of the box. Then we have an opening on one side of the box, with a fine screen in it, through which the fine quartz and fine gold pass, and run over a table covered with copper. " 21 More elaborate mills, of course, were constructed, as outside capital was enlisted, and these mills represented what may be called a second stage in quartz development. The study of the reduction of gold and silver in such a mill was fascinating. The quartz was first broken into fragments the size of apples by sledge hammers and then shoveled into feeders, which brought it under large iron stamps, weighing three hundred to eight hundred pounds, and which "rising and falling sixty times per minute with thunder and clatter," made the building tremble, as they crushed the rock to wet powder. "Quiet, silent workmen run the pulp through the settling tanks, amalgamating pans, agitators and separators, refuse ma- terial passing away, and quicksilver collecting the precious metal into a mass of shining amalgam, soft as putty. This goes into the fire retort where it leaves the quicksilver behind and finally into molds whence it comes forth in bars of precious metals. 22 - Mineral Resources, 1867, p. 21. Letter of J. F. Allen In Campbell, J. L., Six Months in the New Gold Dig- gings, p. 35. This mill was near Bannack and used the ore from the Dakotah ledge. 22 Richardson, Albert D., Beyond the Mississippi, p. 501. This mill was in Owyhee. [232] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 97 The building of such mills and the working of quartz claims required the use of capital and corporate methods. The wast significant development in the mining industry during the decade 1860-70 was the supercession of surface placer mining methods^ wherein the individual ivorking in informal combination had free play, by quartz mining and corporate working of deep placer diggings, wherein individualism began to be submerged and capital became uppermost. The necessity of this process is clearly apparent when we look at the position of an ordinary miner who had discovered and perhaps tested a good quartz lode. He could with some trouble get his claim duly recorded and, with more trouble, do or have done the assessment work required. But what then? He did not have money with which to work his claim, and he could not pay his expenses of living as he could from a placer claim. Hence, if he was to realize on his claim, he must inevitably sooner or later call in capital. It is true that some few placer miners saved enough to equip small mills and that there was some evidence of cooperative organization among the men, but in general there was a great call from the mining fields for the application of capital. 23 Accordingly, we find effort on the part of local claim owners to interest outside capital. Portland capitalists invested at Powder River and Owyhee. There was some connection, also, with San Francisco. But New York was the place towards which effort turned most yearningly. Hardly had the Owyhee quartz been discovered, when Gen. McCarver started east to interest New York capitalists. 24 The Avalanche had among its adver- tisements the Agency of Geo. L. Curry for selling feet in New York, and the local conditions are suggested by the declaration of an editorial that ' ' There should be less ledges and more New Yorks." 25 The participation of New York (and of some other 23 A notable case of cooperative working of a quartz mine was that of the Oro Fino, in Owyhee, in which case the workmen, on the failure of the firm, assumed the indebtedness and operated the mine successfully. U. S. Commis- sioner Browne commented on this as follows : "It is singular that so few mines are worked by companies of operative miners, especially when we see how suc- cessful such companies usually are." 14 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Dec. 2, 1864. 36 Owyhee Avalanche, Sept. 9, 1865. [233] 98 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN capitalistic centers) in quartz development in Montana is shown in charters granted by the first legislature. Among these we may mention The Montana Gold and Silver Mining Company, whose office was in New York; The Rocky Mountain Gold and Silver Mining Company, whose stockholders lived in Bannack, St. Louis, and New York; and The American Gold and Silver Mining Company, whose stockholders were in London, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and in Montana. 20 Concerning British Co- lumbia a thoughtful observer wrote, * ' Labor has hitherto chiefly performed what has been done, but the performance has been limited, slow and imperfect. Capital must finally develop the resources of the country. Its aid is essential to their full de- velopment, but to attract capital it must have free scope, and a reasonable amount of legal protection and encouragement, or, in other words, as much protection as will encourage its in- troduction. " 27 The shaping of laws to encourage capital is mentioned, also, in the first message of Governor Lyon, of Idaho : * ' All legislation should be carefully molded to invite capital, and the greater the inducement held out, the more rapidly will our population be increased and the greater the peoples' prosper- ity. ' ' 28 This, then, was the situation : development in these min- ing communities by means of the labour of individuals, who had little capital and organization, soon reached its limit; society stretched forth to the centers of capitalism for aid and was will- ing so to modify its legislation as to favor the introduction of capital. This movement towards capitalism and corporate methods was tremendously accelerated by the development of the Comstock lode in Nevada. "The chief gold mines of California," wrote Commissioner Browne, "high as their product is, are small affairs when compared with the vast works of the chief silver companies of Nevada/' "A strip of land six hundred yards wide and three miles long yields $12,000,000 annually. There is no parallel to that in ancient or modern times." 29 "With this of Montana, 1864-5, pp. 558-658. 37 London Times, Aug. 26, 1863. '"Hailey, His. of Idaho, p. 114. 29 Mineral Resources, 1867, p. 72. [234] ll TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 99 magnificent yield came decisive resort to corporate methods. "Nothing more strikingly illustrates the difference between the miners of California and those of Western Utah, ' ' said the Mary- ville, (California) Appeal, "than the frequent formation in the latter of incorporated companies with a great amount of capital stock. ' ' 30 This development in Nevada promptly affected Cali- fornia. In an editorial on The System of Extensive Mining Cor- porations in Washoe, the Bulletin said : "The clear tendency of things throughout the entire mining region of California is to this end [i. e., combination]. Those who are the possessors of quartz or 'hydraulic claims' must call in the aid of capital and science, if they hope to make their possessions profitable." 31 These great achievements in Washoe aroused the capitalists of San Francisco who up to 1860 had been quite indifferent to mining investments to active participation in the process of combination. 32 This participation, however, was not altogether healthful, for "it was reserved for Washoe to transfer the most active operations from the fields of actual labor to the pavement and shops of Montgomery street. ' ' 33 Then followed a period of riotous speculation. Two hundred and ten companies were formed in 1861 and 1862, with capital stock of $230.000,000. 34 Men and women of all degrees made haste to invest their savings in mining stock of companies, most of whose holdings were worth- less. In 1864 came a great panic in these stocks and the "name of Washoe, which had once been blessed, was now accursed by the multitude, though still a source of profit to the few/' 35 The mines of the northern interior, however, were not greatly af- fected by this excess of speculation or its reaction, except that development was somewhat retarded by the latter. This tendency towards employment of capital in combinations. which is discernible in these remote mining communities which we are studying, was apparent in Australia also and, indeed, in 30 In San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Nov. 20, 1860. 31 JUd. " Mining & Scientific Press, Jan. 7, 1865, p. 8. ** San Francisco Daily Bulletin, July 6, 1864. ** Id. Jan. 6, 1803. Mineral Resources, (p. 30) places the whole number of companies at 3,000, with a capital stock of $1,000,000,000. "Mineral Resources, 1867, p. 31. [235] 100 BULLETIN 7 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN all Anglo-Saxon mining localities. 36 Moreover, the period of the Civil War was marked in the eastern United States by the com- bining of capital and the forming of corporations on a scale be- fore unachieved. 37 The development of mining methods in the camps of the Inland Empire, therefore, in their progression from the simple and hasty methods of the placer miner to the compli- cated and stable processes of the capitalist and the scientist, shared in the evolution going on in Washoe, California, Aus- tralia, and the whole United States. 36 See on this wide change in the precious metal industry an interesting ar- ticle on Gold Mining and the Gold Discoveries made since 1851, in The Mining and Smelting Magazine, (London), Vol. I, pp. 392-401. T Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions During the Civil War, Chap. VI. [236] TR IMBLE MINING ADVANCE 101 CHAPTER VII THE PRODUCT AND ITS UTILIZATION In considering the product of the labor and capital expended in the Mining Advance, one naturally inquires what was the amount of the total product. This question is one extremely difficult to answer at all and, indeed, impossible to answer with entirely satisfactory precision. In British Columbia with its more ordered administration we can feel more sure of arriving at nearer approximation to accu- racy than in the territories to the south, where, until 1867, there was no governmental attempt to gather statistics. Of course one meets all sorts of statements in the literature of the time, given with great confidence ; but such statements often originated with parties interested in exaggerating yields claim owners desirous of selling out, local editors who wished for larger subscription lists, merchants, packers, steamboat men, and even express com- panies. 1 The last, and especially Wells, Fargo & Company, were, however, a source of information considered fairly reliable. There were earnest efforts made, it is true, to arrive at right estimates, and of these special value attaches to the careful an- nual reviews of the San Francisco Bulletin; but here again vague- ness arises from the fact that much of the dust shipped to Cali- fornia was merged in statistics with the California product, and that very considerable amounts were shipped out of the northern regions by way of Salt Lake and the Missouri River of which the Bulletin made little account. Moreover, in estimating product, 1 "The seeker of truth will not easily find a more thankless field of investiga- tion than a mining country. Tor it verily appears that however truthful men have previously been, self-interest seems to make them systematic liars as soon as they become interested in gold mines." Letter from Pike's Peak Region, San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Oct. 1, 1860. In support of the untrustworthiness of mining statistics, see Del Mar, History of the Precious Metals, pp. 401-406. For other side see Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 5. [237] 102 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN variation in the value of gold dust must be taken into the ac- count, a variation ranging from gold of Owyhee worth twelve dol- lars per ounce to that from Kootenai worth eighteen. Again, there was not a little counterfeiting of gold dust, against which laws were enacted in the Colony and the Territories. The Chi- nese were charged with adeptness in this practice in British Columbia; and in southern Idaho the matter became so serious as to impair the welfare of laborers and lead to meetings of mer- chants for fixing prices of debased dust. Hence, many factors must be taken into account and many sources drawn upon, in order to arrive at an approach to accuracy in estimating the product of the mining regions which we are studying. We have, however, two series of estimates, which, after study of various reviews and collecting of fugitive notices, I have come to believe well within the truth. The one for British Columbia is by Mr. George M. Dawson, who was helped in his compilation by the Provincial Department of Mines ; the other by Mr. J. Boss Browne, United States Commissioner for the mining regions west of the Rocky Mountains, who drew from a great number of as- sistants and informants. Mr. Dawson 's estimate for British Co- Jumbia is as follows : 1858 $705 , 000 1859 1,615,000 1860 2 , 228 , 000 1861 2,666,000 1862 2 , 856 , 000 1863 3 , 913 , 000 1864 3 , 735 , 000 1865 >... 3,491,000 1866 2 , 622 , 000 1867 . 2 , 480 , 000 Total $26,110,000' Mr. Browne summarized the yields in the American fields from the beginning of their working to the close of 1867 as follows : Washington $10,000,000 Oregon 20 , 000 , 000 Idaho 45 , 000 , 000 Montana . 65,000,000 Total $140, 000, 000 s 2 Geol. Sur. of Can. 1887, 1888. Rpt, p. 23 R. 3 Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 6. [238] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 103 Part of the Oregon yield, however, belongs to western Oregon, but it would probably be safe to credit eastern Oregon with $10,000,000. Deducting this amount from the total, we have $130,000,000. Adding now, the yield of British Columbia we have a grand total of $156,111,000 as the product of these north- ern interior mines in a decade, the average being at least $15,000,000 per annum. 4 Rightly to value this production, moreover, one should consider that it was nearly all surplus. In agricultural communities, es- pecially in their earlier stages, a very large proportion of the product is consumed by the producer or his family, and com- paratively little, particularly at first, left as surplus; and it is mainly the surplus, of course, that brings into being trade and means of transportation and most of the instruments and ap- purtenances of civilization. In mining communities it is evi- dent that the product must necessarily be practically all surplus, and a surplus, moreover, in such form as to be readily transmut- able into the various commodities and activities of civilized life. Gold dust circulated as money. Each merchant had his scales and every miner carried his pouch, from the contents of which he bought his food, clothing, tools, newspaper, and drink; paid his postage, express charges and fares; attended the theatre or the hurdy-gurdy, perchance gambled, remunerated his lawyer in litigation, paid his taxes, or bestowed his contribu- tions at church. 5 Civilization sprang forth full-panoplied. Mer- chants came rushing in ; buildings were erected and towns sprang up; newspapers were established; lawyers, dentists, and doctors 4 It seems to the writer that these gentlemen, in reaction against exaggera- tion, arrived at estimates somewhat too low. In support of this criticism it may be noticed that Mr. O'Reilly, Commissioner at Cariboo, a very careful and reliable observer, places the yield of that district, north of Quesnelle River, for 1863 at $3,904,000, (Supra, p. 42), whereas Mr. Dawson's estimate for the whole of British Columbia for that year is $3,913,563; surely the aggregate yield of the numerous scattered bars and camps of British Columbia, outside of Cariboo, was for that year more than $9,563. Cf. also totals of $2,500,000, shipped from Portland in 1861, practically all from the Nez Perec's Mines, Or. His. Quar. Sept. 1908, pp. 289-90. 5 While it is true that gold dust readily circulated as money, still there was considerable loss In exchange, and some cheating. Consequently, there was a distinct demand for coin. Transmission to San Francisco, however, was at- tended by heavy charges ; and so in British Columbia Governor Douglas ordered coinage of ten and twenty dollar gold pieces, and in the Territories there was insistent demand for local mint, which was finally established at Boise. [239] 104 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY Off WISCONSIN hung out their signs ; churches and schools were projected and in many cases erected ; transportation thrilled from the pack trail, the stagecoach, the steamboat, through the railroads of the east and the ocean routes of the west, clear to New York and London. Jt is this aspect of the mining advance (often overlooked now-a- days as we look back over the slow progress of mining communi- ties after the first flush years) which gives it an intensity, a vitality, a compellingness out of all proportion to the actual num- bers of population participating. This conception of radiating economic intensity is basic in the just gauging in history of a great mining movement, or in understanding society built upon such a movement. A comparison with the amount of surplus product of some agri- cultural regions will help us to understand the true significance of an average annual surplus of $15,000,000 in the first decade of civilized occupation of the Inland Empire. Kentucky in 1832, two generations after its settlement, produced an estimated sur- plus of $5,250,000, Ohio, about 1834, $10,000,000 and Tennessee in the same year, $6,120,000. The surplus of the whole Missis- sippi-Ohio valley was estimated in the latter year at $30,000,000. 6 The two states, accordingly, which produced a surplus available for stimulation of commerce approximately equal in amount to the average annual surplus of the Inland Empire, 1858-1867, (viz., Ohio and Kentucky) had in 1830 a combined population of over a million and a half ; the entire population of the Inland Empire, white and Chinese, in 1867 was less than 100,000. 7 The comparatively small population of a mining region, therefore, because of the availability of its product as surplus may produce an effect on commerce and transportation, for the time being, equal to that of a much greater agricultural population. 8 The production of so large a surplus, of immediate availability by so small a population, helps us to understand the largeness of 6 These figures are from Pitkin, Statistics for 1835, p. 534, 536. 7 Ohio, 937 + thousand, Kentucky, 687 + thousand, Rpt. of Twelfth Censut. Pop. Vol. I; British Columbia, 13800. (1866), Despatch of Governor Seymour, Feb. 17, 1866, in Churchill and Cooper, Br. Col. & Van Id.; Idaho, 21725, Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 512; Montana about 32,000, Id., p. 487; counties of eastern Wash. 4170, id. p. 565-7 ; counties of eastern Oregon not over 10,000, id. 576-7. Mining society, moreover, becomes highly functionalized more quickly than that of agricultural regions. [240] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 105 immigration to the mining regions from the eastern states, from Canada, and from England. A man's chances were better in the mining regions. When common labor in the East was paid $1 to $1.25 per day in depreciated greenbacks, $5 to $10 a day in gold and the chance of making much more loomed large. There was at this period great labor discontent in the East due to the high prices of commodities, paid in paper currency, such prices unaccompanied by proportionate increase of wages." Even in California a skilled miner could make not more than $3.50 to $4 per day. 10 Men at a distance (particularly if un- acquainted with mining localities) overlooked the high prices and discomforts of mining .camps a fact peculiarly true of the general run of immigrants from England. After all, moreover, the average annual earnings may not have been so high as they seemed. Dawson computes that the average annual earnings of miners in British Columbia (1858-68) was slightly under $700, but his computation does not take account of the exchange of product for labor in the mines. 11 But mainly it was the chance at the great prizes, the chance to make a fortune in a few months, that drew men feverishly on. There were many cases where men within a year or two cleared from $2,000 to $100,000, and, when we reflect on how such sums now are regarded by the aver- age laboring or professional man, we can see what it meant to the ordinary man in the sixties. To the poor man the mines held out the hope of a competency. If we inquire, however, what were the total net profits in the production of the surplus above discussed, after the deduction of money brought into the country, that is a question impossible to answer. The charge was often made, with regard to any particu- lar mining community (a charge oftenest made by some older community which was losing population) that there really was no net profit, or a positive loss. We may observe, however, that even if this were true, the stimulus to business and the impulse to various forms of social activity were not therefore the less in- tense, although, perhaps, accompanied with loss to many indi- 9 Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions during the Civil War, Chap. VII. 10 Wages in 1867 were $2.-$3.50 per day; Mineral Resources, 1867, p. 21. 11 Oeol. Survey of Canada, 1887-8, Rpt. p. 23R. [241] 106 BULLETIN OF TFIE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN viduals. Moreover, besides investments in mining improvements directly, as ditches, mills etc., much both of the money brought into a country and of the surplus produced was invested in vari- ous permanent forms of capital, such as the opening up of farms, the building up of towns and communities, and the capitilization of trade and transportation. 12 One of the most important permanent improvements, attribut- able largely to the precious metal product, was the development of agriculture. Prices for all sorts of provisions were very high in the mines, and at the towns and stations on the way thither, and this was particularly true with regard to butter, milk, fresh vegetables, etc. after a man had lived for weeks on bacon, bread and coffee, he would give almost any price for the tonic of butter and vegetables. The economic inducement of high prices was needed in order to settle remote valleys, which, but for the mines, would have waited long for settlers. As it was, agricultural activity was conspicuous both north and south of the Line. 13 In the mining regions south of the Line the most noticeable agricultural activity occurred in the Walla Walla, Grande Ronde, Payette, Boise, and Gallatin valleys. Cattlemen and farmers had begun to enter the Walla Walla valley before 1860, and the census of that year showed a population in the county of 1,318. In 1866 it was estimated by The Statesman that 555,000 bushels of wheat had been raised in that year and 250,000 bushels of oats ; flour was beginning to be exported from Walla Walla to San Francisco (there were six mills in the valley), and in June 1867 13 The charge that ."more money and labor has been spent to get out the gold than it was worth" was especially prominent in the case of British Columbia immediately after the Fraser River rush. In meeting it a defender of the Colony specified the following valuations, although less than a year had elapsed since the beginning of the rush : Stock of goods on hand Nov. 1, 1858, $250,000. Real estate in Victoria, one thousand town lots at $100 each, cost price, 100,000. Two hundred more valuable lots together with all the property sold here or at Esquimault, present value, $200,000 500,000. Wharves, new buildings and other improvements in Victoria 400,000. Buildings in the interior, all other improvements having been made at government expense 50,000. Waddington, Alfred, Fraser Mines Vindicated, pp. 4 & 5. 13 In localities of scanty rainfall it was an easy transition from miners ditches to irrigation ditches. [242] TRIMBLL -MIXIXG ADVANCE 107 five hundred tons were shipped out. 1 * The settlement of the Grande Ronde valley started in 1861, and by 1866 it was produc- ing almost as much as Walla Walla. 15 In Boise City visitors were astonished at the fine vegetables that came from the Boise valley and from the Payette. The settlement of the Gallatin valley, which began in 1863 and in which John M. Bozeman was prominent, was of unique importance in that it led to the attempt to open a celebrated road, the Bozeman cut-off, through the heart of the Sioux hunting grounds to Ft. Laramie. 16 In other val- leys, also, as the Powder River, the Bitter Root, and the Col- ville, agriculture was enabled to get a secure foothold. Conse- quentl}', when the trying time of decline of placer mining came, the territories were enabled to live through, and commodities were furnished for outward transportation. The stock business flourished even more than farming. While stock raising had long been pursued in the Willamette valley and had begun in the upper country a few years before the min- ing period, nevertheless, it is from this time that the stock raising in both regions begins as a distinctly important business. 17 Many cattle, sheep, and horses were shipped from Oregon to British Columbia ; in 1861 there were imported into Victoria alone 7,081 'head of cattle valued at $313,797, most of them from Oregon. 18 t The tlepiity collector of customs at Little t)alles, on the Columbia, reported that in 1866 there had been shipped through that point from Oregon and Washington Territories 2,754 head of sheep, 2,265 beef cattle, 483 horses, 43 mules, 1,132 pack animals, and 264 saddle horses, the total valuation being $348,292. 19 The "Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 580. 15 Jas. Veazey wrote from Walla Walla to the Oregonian, Aug. 31, 1SG1, that there was room for 1,200 good farmers in the Grande Ronde and added in characteristic American fashion : "I want a claim there and I am going to have one, for its the prettiest country I ever saw." A few weeks later 15 emigrant families began making homes there. Oregonian, Sept. 28, 1861. See also Idaho World, Oct. 13, 1866. 18 Historical Sketch of Bozeman, Gallatin Valley and Bozeman Pass, by Peter Koch, Contr. His. f?oc. Mont., Vol. II, pp. 126-139. 17 I am confirmed in this view by the observations of Hon. C. B. Bagley, of Seattle. 18 Barret-Lennard, Travels in British Columbia, p. 282. 19 Mineral Resources 1868, p. 559. These figures are probably exceptional for this point since in 18G6 the movement to the Upper Columbia was in progress, but they may be taken as fairly representative of numbers generally crossing the border. [243] 108 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN mines in the interior south, of the Line furnished a market not only for the stockmen of Walla Walla, but also of the Willamette. Some idea of the importance of the stock business in the Walla Walla valley may be derived from the estimate that 5,000 head of cattle were driven to the mines in 1866 and that stockmen still held 6,500 head ; in addition 1,500 horses were sold to persons en- route to the mines and 6,000 mules were used in packing and freighting. 20 In 1868, from March 1st to July 15th there were shipped on steamboats from Portland to The Dalles, 12,191 head of cattle and horses, 6,283 head of sheep and 1,594 head of hogs, and it was thought that an equal number during the summer had been driven across the Cascade Mountains. 21 This stimula- tion of the cattle business contributed to agricultural settlement ; for stockmen soon began to turn to the vast bunch-grass plateaus, and from the stock business the transition was made in the sev- enties and eighties to the great wheat production of the present; day. The beginnings of agriculture in British Columbia in connec- tion with the mining advance present some interesting features. Here too, all along the roads leading to the mines, particularly in the upper country, farms were opened up. 22 This development! was noted with great interest in England, where it was thought' that the climate and soil of British Columbia were such as to make that colony peculiarly fit for immigration of the poorer population of the mother country. One of the things that is dis- tinctly noticeable in the books published in England during this 1 period concerning British Columbia is the background of distress at home and the desire to relieve this distress. All of these books, therefore, (and they were quite numerous) devote considerable space to the discussion of the agricultural possibilities of British Columbia and the advisability of people from Britain emigrating thither. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the starting of agricul- 20 Walla Walla Statesman, quoted in Idaho World, Dec. 15, 1866. n Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 580. 22 Mr. Davidson, near Pavilion, had 175 acres under cultivation. Another farmer drove thirty head of milch cows into Cariboo and netted $75.00 per day from them for four months. Packers wintered their stock in the valleys of the Thompson and Bonaparte. Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., pp. 284-292. [2441 TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 109 ture in British Columbia, however, from the point of view of our [study, is the method of the disposal of the public lands. In working out a method there were some comparisons instituted with other English colonies, particularly with Canada, but the most decisive formative influence was competition with and imi- tation of the land system of the United States. 23 At first in British Columbia there was a disposition on the part of the gov- ernment to hold land at comparatively high prices, to sell it at auction, and to require that only surveyed lands be sold. Lytton believed in a high upset price, "but", he wrote, "your course must in some degree be guided by the price at which such land is selling in neighboring American communities." 24 The price was set at first at ten shillings ($2.50) per acre, and "squatting" was not to be tolerated it was outside of law and not British. 25 The same policy, in general, was followed in Vancouver Island. Against this policy discontent and opposition began to develop. The petition of a public meeting held at Victoria, July 2, 1859, reads as follows: [The petitioners] "having viewed with alarm the departure of many of Her Majesty's loyal subjects and others from this colony to the neighboring republic ; and having learned that their departure has been induced by the difficulty of obtain- ing agricultural lands at once, on application, and by not being obtainable on such terms as would afford equal encouragement to actual settlers in this colony as are offered in the neighboring republic ; believing that we shall lose many more, and that except the land system of the colony is materially modified, the pros- perity and settlement of the country will be seriously retarded, petition : a. That Crown lands of this Colony may be opened at once to actual settlers ; b. That a preference may be given to them in the choice of the public lands, surveyed or unsurveyed, over capitalists; 28 It will not be overlooked that the public lands in the colony of British' Columbia, unlike those of the United States, were under the control of the gov- ernment of the colony and were not administered by the Imperial government. "* Papers relating to British Columbia, I, 49. 25 O. T. Travaillot was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1858, "for protecting the Crown Lands of the Couteau and Eraser River Dis- tricts from encroachment, intrusion and trespass." Douglas, Miscl Letters MS July 13, 1S5S. [245] HO BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OK WISCONSIN c. That they may^ be secured in a preemptive right ; d. That the highest price to actual settlers may not exceed $1.25 per acre, or such price as will barely cover the expenses of survey. ' J2G Another meeting at Victoria on Aug. 22, 1859, placed among its resolutions the following clause : * * That the practice of making the public lands a source of revenue is unwise and im- politic; that instead of attracting to, it repels population from the country; and that the better policy, grounded on the ex- perience of new countries, is to donate the public domain to bona fide settlers rather than exact a high price with a view to revenue ; that the taxable property of a country whose land system is lib- eral so rapidly increases that it soon yields a revenue which far exceeds the proceeds of the sale of land at any price. ' ' 27 The attitud.e of Governor Douglas, perhaps because of the pressure brought to bear upon him, underwent a change in the two years from 1858-60. At first on application for preemptions he refused them, quite properly, on the ground of lack of au- thority. 28 Later (in 1858) he allowed town lots to be leased at Yale, Hope, and Port Douglas, under the conditions of right of resumption by the Crown, a rental of $10 per month (payable in advance), and with a preemption right in the lessee at an upset price of $100, the monthly rent to be reckoned as part of the pur- chase money. 29 A letter of the Governor from Ft. Hope in the fall of 1859 forecasts a general preemption law: he wrote that there was a very general inquiry for rural lands and that the gen- eral impression had gotten abroad, "which I am altogether at a loss to account for ' ', that the Government was not willing to sell land ; he caused the registry of applications for 1,500 acres and proposed to " authorize applicants to enter on land without de- McDonald, British Columbia and Van. Id. P. 217. This meeting may have been inspired partially by hostility to Governor Douglas. McDonald himself wag a bitter critic of Douglas. On the other hand, he shows great perspicuity in the discussion of the land system and reveals thorough acquaintance with the land systems of the United States and of Canada. In commenting on that of the United States he says that "it has done more towards the promotion of settle- ments and the development of their agricultural resources, than all other causes combined." (p. 58) Fie noted also the passage of the American home- stead law. His book was published in 1863. 27 Id., p. 349. 28 Diary of Gold Discovery on Fraser's River, MS. May 24, 1858. 2 Douglas to Moody, Miscl. Letters, I, MS. p. 222. [246] TRIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE 111 lay and make improvements ' ' ; payments of land, where surveyed, were to be at the rate of ten shillings per acre. 30 Finally, on Jan. 4, 1860, came the preemption proclamation. According to its terms British subjects and aliens who took the oath of allegiance could " acquire unoccupied, and unreserved, and unsurveyed Crown land in British Columbia, (not being the site of an existent or proposed town, or auriferous land available for mining purposes, or an Indian Reserve or settlement), in fee simple. ' ' The conditions were that the claim be of 160 acres, of rectangular form, that it be marked by four posts and that it should be recorded ; that the occupation of the land be continuous and that improvements to the value of ten shillings per acre be made; and that road, mineral, and ditch rights be reserved. 81 The price was not to be in excess of ten shillings per acre, this statement showing the liberalizing advance over the attitude of a few months previous. As a matter of fact the price was finally set at 4s. 2d per acre. 32 Thus we see that in the first stage of the administration of the lands of British Columbia the land sys- tem was perforce conformed to that of the United States. Another permanent form in which the mining surplus mani- fested itself was in the upbuilding of towns and communities. In the interior of the American territories there were founded in five years Walla Walla, Lewiston, Boise, Virgina City, Helena, and a score of smaller centers. The Dalles became a thriving entrepot. 33 In British Columbia there were Hope, Yale, Doug- las, Lillooet, Lytton, Barkerville, and others of less importance. 34 The population of these towns, in numbers varying from a few score to perhaps ten thousand as the extreme limit in flush times, appears, in comparison with that of eastern towns, of little im- portance. But anyone familiar with frontier conditions knows 10 Douglas to Moody, Correspondence Book, MS. Sept. 20, 1859. 31 McDonald, Van Id. and Br. Col., pp. 205-209. 32 Id. p. 214. 83 The Dalles, "key to the upper country", in 1862 had about 1000 population. San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Nov. 13, 1862. "Concerning Lytton Douglas wrote to Travaillot that the town "lately founded at the Forks of Thompson River should be named after the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, a gentleman distinguished alike as a brilliant writer, a profound statesman, and a warm and energetic friend of British Columbia". Miscl. Letters, MS. I, 35, Nov. 10, 1858. [247] 112 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN that such outposts of civilization are of many fold more conse- quence than villages of like size in the East. They became out- fitting posts for vast regions and their trade was out of all pro- portion to their size; from them went forth prospectors, mer- chants, packers, stock men, travelers all the assailants and viewers of the wilderness and to them from time to time they returned. Such frontier towns were ganglia of civilization, com- parable to Roman colonies. Moreover, in the period to come, when railroads were to be projected and built, the existence of such communities was of very considerable moment. 35 Of the Coast communities, the towns of Puget Sound were less directly in the path of the mining advance than were those of the Fraser and Columbia; consequently the Sound region was of relatively lesser importance during the mining decade. Never- theless, it was greatly interested in the mining advance and drew from it a measure of prosperity. Governmentally, in particular, as the mining regions developed before the formation of Idaho, the Sound regions of Washington began to fear that they would be outvoted in the legislature by the representatives from the eastern parts of the States. But in material prosperity, also, the effects of the mining advance were plainly in evidence. The Fraser River movement especially benefited the Sound. "The gold excitement has not been without a good result," said the Puget Sound Herald, "so far as the Territory at large is con- cerned. If we may judge of other towns and counties by our own [Steilacoom], there must certainly have been, in the aggre- gate, a large accession of wealth and population we mean a permanent, not a transient accession. ... A few short months ago no mechanical business of any kind, save carpenter- ing and blacksmithiiig, was carried on here, now there are some half dozen workshops. Six months ago there was not a single light pleasure vehicle of any description, although our roads are of the best. Now there are six or eight, together with a couple of express w r agoiis recently purchased in Victoria. ' ' 38 Not only many miners who came during the Fraser River rush, but also B Oa this point consult Smalley, E. V., History of the Northern Pacific Rail- road, p. 181. 86 Pufjet Sound Herald, Sept. 24th, 1858. [248] TRIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE Hi some who from time to time arrived during the after course of the mining advance, took a liking to the Sound country, settled down and became valuable citizens. 37 Thus in general effect a mining rush in a way, like an exposition, served to make a region known and to bring in settlers. 3 * New Westminster, the capital of British Columbia was founded by governmental fiat in 1859, and emerged rapidly from the great primeval forest into a busy town on a noble site. In 1861 its imports amounted to $1, 414, 000, in 1862, $2,800,000, and in 1863, $2,109,000. 39 Still, New Westminster was by no means con- tent. She felt that the commercial element in Victoria was fattening on British Columbia trade which belonged rightfully to her. Other measures and grievances were thus formulated by the British Columbian: (a) A resident governor and responsible government; (b) Improvement in the navigation of the Fraser Eiver; (c) Early survey of the public lands; (d) A system by which miners could make local laws; (e) An export duty on gold. 40 The latter measure was especially desired in order to decrease the tariff duties, with a view to eliminating Victoria as much as possible. Another measure with the same end in view, which was passed when British Columbia obtained a governor separate from Vancouver Island, was to levy tariff duties on the value of goods at the port of export. As a third step in this policy, New Westminster wanted direct steam communication with San Francisco. 41 But it remained for a future city on Bur- rard Inlet, Vancouver, to accomplish in part what New West- minster meditated. At that time, however, Victoria was clearly in the lead. Here was a remarkable example of a thriving city whose growth and prosperity depended little upon its near surroundings, but almost entirely upon mines hundreds of miles away in the distant in- terior of the mainland. One of the most interesting phases of * T Hon. C. B. Bagley, of Seattle, emphasized the point presented in the text in a reminiscent conversation. 88 It is worth noticing that the University of Washington was founded in the period of the mining advance, Jan. 28, 1861. Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col, p. 217. 40 British ColumUan, Feb. 13, 1861. The bar at the mouth of the Eraser was a. hindrance to the entrance of ocean ships. Id. Aug. 15, 1861. [249] 114 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN the history of Victoria, however, in the period of our study, was the way in which the city was regarded in English books and papers of the time. She was to he the Liverpool of the Pacific. It was admitted that her own harhour was somewhat shallow, hut near at hand was the magnificent harbour of Esquimault. 42 With such an harbour and in so commanding a portion on the Pacific, Victoria surely would become a great emporium for trade. In ac- cordance with this ideal the city's revenue laws were shaped; money was collected from direct taxation, and Victoria was made a free port, like Singapore and Hong Kong. 43 The Willamette Valley, as we have before noted, looked some- what askance upon the movement to the mines for the reason that they took from the valley laborers and farmers. This resentful- ness is somewhat humourously revealed by a correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin, who writes from Portland as follows: "While our venture-loving population are hurrying on the backs of spare-rib Cayuses to the new found Dorado, the plowshare will rust in the weedy furrow, the sickle hang idly from the de- serted roof tree, and the obstreperous old sow and her nine small squeakers will root maintenance out of the neglected garden. Next fall those who survive disease, vagrancy and corn juice will come back moneyless to winter. With arable land enough to feed the Pacific Coast, many of us will be compelled to swap old Pied, that nursed us across the plains, for California and States flour. ' ' 4 * Such dismal prognostications, however, were dissipated by the higher prices for wheat and the greater market for cattle which the mines furnished. 46 In the prosperity of the mining advance Portland emerged from a mere village to the promise of the city it has since be- come. Forces generated in that period have profoundly affected the city ? s development. We have before noted the beginnings of capitalization of the city in the debt of the Indian war of 1856, 42 Esquimault was an important rendezvous for the British fleet. 43 This policy of a free port was one of the reasons why union of Vancouver Island with British Columbia was difficult. "May 9, 1862. 46 From Portland there were shipped in Feb., Mch., and April, 1861, 6,032 sacks of flour up the Columbia, 25,418 to Victoria, and 63,097 to San Francisco. Ore- gonian, May 4, 1861. [250] TRIMBLE -MINING ADVANCE 115 but it was during the period from 1861 to 1865 when the succes- sive waves of migration and trade swept through the city and up the Columbia to Oro Fino, Salmon River, Boise and Alder Gulch, that decisive growth came. By 1862 the population had doubled, wharves were built, steamboats puffed busily on the Willa- mette, and hotels, eating houses, stores, and saloons were thronged. Long lines of drays unloaded their goods at the wharves. 46 Gas and water mains were laid. The firemen were well organized, numbered a large proportion of the male popula- tion, and were influential in politics. 47 A board of stock brokers was formed which included such growing capitalists as R. R. Thompson (President), J. C. Ainsworth, and D. F. Bradford, men who were then developing the Oregon Steam Navigation Com- pany and speculating in the mines. 48 Miners liked to return to Portland to winter. The portion of the surplus from the placer mines, which was expended in Portland, seems to have been quite well distributed in all kinds of business, but it was noticed that, as the placer mines passed their zenith, "the quartz mines, con- trolled by capital send their product abroad through narrow channels, so that little reaches the general public." 49 Still, the city had received such a marked accession of population, business, and wealth as to insure permanent and steady growth. 50 But the emporium of the northern mining movement, as she was the metropolis of that movement, was San Francisco. ' * Three-fourths of the great trains penetrating these gloomy f or- ests," said the Idaho World, "and skirting the dreary deserts 46 "I remember in 1861 when the drays were loaded going to the boats of the Oregon Steam Navigation Co. and stood in line it seems to me half a mile long ; unloading at night so as to go on in the morning up the river." Deady,. His. of the Progress of Oregon after 18J,5, MS. p. 37. 47 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Sept. 3, 1862. The firemen's organizations were important also at The Dalles and at Virginia City. , 48 Id., April 8, 1864. 49 Id. June 8, 1865. 5 .In 1866 a careful census estimated the permanent population at 6000. Min- eral Resources, 1868, p. 581. There was considerable rivalry between Portland and Victoria with regard to the trade of the interior, but Portland had decidedly the advantage because of better routes, particularly in the matter of grass. Victoria never succeeded in getting trade south of the line in the interior, while Portland sent goods far into British Columbia. On this see an editorial of Victoria Gazette in S F Daily Bulletin, Sept. 9, 1860. [251] 116 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN with the rising sun in their eyes, are Calif ornians. ' ' 51 San Fran- cisco had a trade with Victoria far exceeding that of England with the latter city; in the interior of British Columbia her goods were everywhere to be found; in Boise Basin her hold, though not undisputed by Chicago and St. Louis, was upper- most ; and on the far confines of her commercial domains, at Virginia City and Helena, she did battle with St. Joseph and St. Louis. 52 The quality of her goods was of the best and the goods were well adapted to the miners; her woolens and mining ma- chinery were particularly in demand. In accordance with this demand, we may note that in 1867 the Pacific Rolling Mills were established at a cost of $1,000,000 and that the Pacific Woolen Mills turned out annually a product worth $500,000. The growth of the trade with the northern mining region was noted with satisfaction and its importance clearly seen. In the matter of mining machinery San Francisco had some clear advantage over competitors. Machinery shipped from that city arrived at its destination much earlier in the season than 'than shipped across the plains. Of greatest advantage, however, was the fact that her machinists were personally familiar with mines and that improvements which were demonstrated successes could be much more quickly adopted there than in the East. San Francisco machinery, therefore, had little to fear from east- ern competition in Idaho, but in Montana the great advantage of freight shipments by the Missouri gave her rivals, Chicago and St. Louis, the lead. 53 We perceive, therefore, that the product of the mines of the northern interior was very important in the upbuilding of wide trade and of many communities on the Pacific Coast. Let us 61 Oct. 14, 1865. 52 The imports into Victoria from San Francisco in 1861 were valued at $1,151,000 as against $457,000 from Great Britain ; in 1S62 the amounts were respectively, $2,387,000 and $703,000; in 1863, $1,940,000 and $1,294,000. Macfie, Van Id. and Br. Col., pp. 106-7. The direct trade with the mother coun- try was on the increase, but for these three years the totals were, respectively, $5,478,000 and $2,454.000. San Francisco goods could compete in the early spring and late fall to ad- vantage in Montana, but when the heavily laden steamers arrived competition was restricted to woolens, teas, and a few other articles. See thoughtful letter from Helena to the Idaho World, Feb. 3, 1866. 53 Ibid ; also, Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi, p. 507. ' [252] THIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE 117 now inquire the national significance to the United States of this product and movement. Of the wide effect of the development of these mining regions upon transportation I shall treat in the next chapter. It is a fact certainly worthy of attention, also, that during the progress of so great a struggle as that of the Civil War, vigorous new . communities should have come into existence under the control of the Federal Government. But I wish now especially to consider the significance of the treasure production upon the national welfare. 04 The opening up of new treasure fields was looked to with very great interest at the time, because their product was regarded as aiding the credit of the nation, helping to restore a specie basis, and, possi- bly, as directly contributing to the payment of the national debt. "The production of gold and silver in the United States", said the Banker's Magazine, "is one of the important financial and social questions of the day. We look to California and other states of the Pacific to yield, for some years to come, an abundant supply of these metals, with which to restore the country to a specie basis in its commerce with other portions of the world/' 55 We can commence our calculations advantageously in the year 1861, when receipts of treasure in San Francisco from the mines of the northern interior began to be appreciable, and we can continue them through 1867, the year in which the United States Mining Commissioner, J. Ross Browne, aggregated estimates. The following table will give a general idea of the yields : 84 1 am conscious of the danger that a student of sectional history may over- rate the importance of the section that be is studying. Not only may he be somewhat influenced in his judgments by the bias of special investigation, but also, possibly, by an unconscious promotive tendency. While this sort of study helps to bring into needed relief the history of sections, it nevertheless may over accentuate them. It may be, therefore, that after our American history has been sufficiently worked out by special sections and in special periods, re-valuation will be necessary by comprehensive historians. &5 Vol. XX. 18C5-G, p. GOG. A thoughtful financier wrote that it was imprac- ticable for the United States to carry on international exchanges when its money was depreciated currency, and suggested that one of the ways in which the United States was trying to overcome the evils of its currency in relation to foreign trade was by continuous augmentation of tariff rates ; letter from Robert J. Walker, Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 6G4. > [253] ! 118 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Total Gold Gold Product Silver Product Total Bullion Year 1861 1862 1863 1864 . 1865 1866 1867 51,725,000 25,000,000 13,500,000 65,225,000 Product of of Product of of U. S. California U. S. U. S. $43,000,000 $40,000,000 $2,000,000 $45,000,000 39,200,000 34,700,000 4,500,000 43,700,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 8,500,000 48,500,000 46,100,000 26,600,000 11,000,000 57,100,000 53,225,000 28,500,000 11,250,000 64,475,000 53,500,000 25,500,000 10,000,000 63,500,000 Total ... $326,750,000 $210,300,000 $60,750,000 $387, 500,000 s * Now, as we have seen, the total bullion product of the mining regions which we are studying, to the close of 1867, with some confidence may be estimated at $156,111,000. In comparing this amount with the total product of the United States, however, some deductions must be made. British Columbia produced previous to 1861, $4,648,000 ; moreover, not quite all of the Brit- ish Columbia product was manifested through San Francisco although far the greater part was. 57 We have then, a total ac- cretion of $151,463,000 as the contribution of these mines to the national stock of bullion out of a total increase of $387,500,000. That is, they produced in the years when the nation most needed increase of treasure production, not quite 40 per cent, of the total increase. Furthermore, this percentage is still higher, when gold alone is considered. Far the larger part of the increase in silver came from the phenomenal output of Nevada, and ques- tion was already being raised as to the effect upon values. But the product of the Inland Empire in these years, with the ex- ception of the silver of Owyhee, was amost entirely gold; and the silver of Owyhee probably did not amount to over $1,500,000, since much of the quartz was gold. We are reasonably safe, therefore, in saying that somewhat over 40 per cent, of the total gold product of the United States, at a trying financial period, came from the mining regions which we are studying. 58 56 These figures are from Mineral Resources, 1874, pp. 543 & 4, by R. W. Ray- mond. He says that they are compiled from various sources and that the "ag- gregates are believed to be approximately correct". Some further figures from the same report in regard to silver production are startling : From 1848-1861 the U. S. produced silver to the value of $800,000; from 1868 to 1873, inclu- sive, $124,500,000. In the latter year the silver production lacked only $250,000 of being equal to that of gold. " There is no way to arrive at the exact amount of this deduction, and to that extent allowance should be made in our conclusions. 88 It is significant, moreover, that this product came as reinforcement at a time when California's yield was steadily and markedly decreasing. See table above. [254] v TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 119 CHAPTER VIII TRANSPORTATION The subject of transportation might well have been treated under the heading of the preceding chapter, because the estab- lishment of means of transportation and the capitalization of transportation were among the most important permanent forms in the utilization of the mining product. However, the subject is so large as to demand a separate chapter. That the building up of transportation lines was a part of the permanent production of the mines is apparent when we con- sider that trade rushed to mining centres not because of high prices, but because of difference of price levels ; and that the cost of transportation represented a large part of this difference. For example, a moderate difference is disclosed between Portland and Oro Fino in 1861 in the following figures : Portland Oro Fino Bacon 8-9c 35-40c Flour $3.75-4.50 $16-18 Tea 50c-$l $1.25 Candles 28-30c $1 . 00 Nails 5%-6c 33-37c Beans 6c 25c Sugar He 40c Coffee 20-25c 45-50C 1 The larger share of such difference in prices between Portland and the upper country, paid for out of the treasure product, fell to the principal intermediary, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and helped to capitalize that important instrument of transportation. To remote places the charges for transportation were enormous. For example, the statement is made that a trader in 1862 took to the mines of Cariboo goods costing in Victoria about $15,000, 1 Oregonian, June 29, 1861. . [255] 120 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN upon which the customary and unavoidable charges before they reached their destination amounted to $70,000. The charges from San Francisco to Cariboo, excluding customs duties, mer- chants' commissions, and retailers' profits, it was said, cost in 1863 $1628 per ton, of which $1440 was for land transport. 2 In view of such charges it was a wise policy in the British Columbia government to collect heavy revenues and to spend large sums on the roads. When the great trunk road from Yale to Cariboo was opened in 1864, freight fell from 60 cents to 30 cents per pound and in the next year to 15 cents. 3 These figures give some conception of the heavy charges paid from the product of the mines. With such returns in the transportation business, it is easy to understand that an army of packers, freighters, and stagecoach men were needed to carry passengers and goods from the heads of steamboat navigation to the widely scattered mines. Into the most remote localities and over trails of all grades and conditions came the pack animals with the tinkle of their bells and the shouts of their Mexican drivers. 4 Packing was a trade, which required skill and strength. To swing a heavy pack upon an animal's back and to make it stay there was no light accomplish- ment. 5 The pack animals were generally wintered in the lower and warmer valleys. 6 It was not at all unusual for packers, as their business declined, to become stockmen and farmers. This business always weakened, when the improvement of roads, 2 London Time*, Aug. S, 1803. * Harvey, Arthur, A Statistical Account of British Columbia, p. 11. 4 Trains were generally owned by Americans ; but Mexicans, because of special skill, were generally, though not always, the packers. 6 "I must plead guilty to a sneaking admiration of 'packers' (muleteers) and teamsters. These men are wondrous results of the law of demand and supply ; for the work demanded they have become thoroughly capable and that work demands strength, skill, daring, endurance and trustworthiness * * * Hav- ing to lift heavy weights sheer from the ground on to the pack saddle, 'packers' are very muscular men, with grand chests and shoulders. They have also many savage accomplishments : are good farriers, can accomplish marvels with the axe, a screw key and a young sapling for a lever. But they are a godless race both actively and passively. They earn considerable wages, and after a few years settle down in some of our beautiful valleys, surrounded by an Indian clientele." Report of Rev. James Reynard, Occasional Papers of Columbian Mission, 1869, pp. 63-4. A good idea of Walla Walla as a packing centre may be got from Schafer, History of tJie Pacific Northwest, pp. 258-60. [256] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 121 bridges, and ferries permitted the use of freight teams. 7 The tinkle of the bells was replaced by the gee-haw of the "bull- whackers" and the cracks of the teamsters' whips. From Yale to Cariboo, from Ft. Benton to Helena and Virginia City, from Uinatilla or Wallula to Boise Basin long trains of slow-moving, heavily laden wagons were to be seen, carrying to the camps the wares of civilization. 8 As to passenger movement, many of the miners walked from the heads of steamboat navigation to the mines. Others clubbed together and bought a horse to carry their impedimenta, while still others provided themselves with a horse for each individual. In other cases passengers were carried by saddle train, and this sometimes became an important business. The owners of a sad- dle train would furnish riding horses, carry a small amount of baggage, and provide provisions. 9 Stage coaches, of course, came rapidly into use on all the most travelled thoroughfares. The main stagelines were those from Salt Lake City to Virginia City and Helena, from Salt Lake via Boise and Walla Walla to Wallula, and from Yale to Barkerville. Ben Holladay in Idaho and Montana, as elsewhere in the west, was dominant, having a clear advantage because of his contract for carrying the United States mails. We get a glimpse of the spirit of the times in the Song of the Overland Stage, written by Nat Steen, one of the employes of Holladay ? s Company : "It's thus you're safely carried throughout the mighty West, Where chances to make fortunes are ever of the best ; And thus the precious pouches of mail are brought to hand, Through the ready hearts that center on the jolly Overland." 7 The coining in of freighters, between Umatilla and Boise Basin reduced slow freight from ten and twelve cents per pound to six and eight cents, Hailey, His. of Idaho, p. 99. 8 One gets a suggestion of the amount of goods transported by teams' Into mining regions from the advertisement of a wholesale firm in Virginia City, Baume, Angevine and Merry, who in 1864 advertised for sale 500 boxes of tobacco, 250 bbls. of liquor, 1500 sacks of flour, 500 Ibs. of ham, 10,000 Ibs. of bacon, 400 cans of lard, 50 bags of coffee and 100 kegs of nails ; Montana Post, Sept. 24, 1864. 'For a good description of this phase of transportation, as well as running a stage line, one should not fail to read chapter XII, XIX and XXV of Hailey's History of Idaho. These chapters are based on experience and show intimate knowledge. [257] 122 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Chorus. ' ' Statesmen and warriors, traders and the rest, May boast of their profession, and think it is the best ; Their state 1 11 never envy, 1 11 have you understand, Long as I can be a driver on the jolly Overland." But Holladay was not without competition. A. J. Oliver and Company started the first stage from Virginia City to Bannack, ' ' A weekly affair, not much good, but a long way ahead of noth- ing." 10 This line was extended to Helena, and, when Holladay came on the scene, the rivalry was intense. For awhile the fare between the two places was one dollar, and the distance, one hundred and ten miles, was made in twelve hours or less, the horses being kept at a hard gallop- 11 Some of the best staging 1 in the United States was done between Virginia City and Hel- ena. 12 There was competition, also, on the southern route, where Ish and Hailey carried on a careful and prosperous line between Boise and Umatilla. 13 One of the most interesting and important aspects of trans- portation in the mining regions was the express business. Into every most remote camp, months before the mail was established, pushed hardy carriers bearing with them the longed for news of the war and the letters "from the dear ones in the distant homes letters in which the kisses are yet warm and the heart beats yet audible." 14 The life of the expressman was particu- larly hard in the winter time, when, guiding himself often by compass, risking snow blindness, often camping for the night in the snow, he made his way with the utmost fidelity to the lone 10 Remarks of Judge W. Y. Pemberton, of Helena. 11 Ibid. 12 "The best staging in the United States", Richardson, Our New States and Territories, p. 70. 13 Other local lines were those of Greathouse & Co. from Boise City to Idaho City and of Hill Beachy from Boise City to Silver City. Later a stage was run from Silver City to Virginia City, Nevada, and another (by Capt. John Mullan) from Silver City to Red Bluffs, California. There was a good deal of effort to get a feasible direct connection between Idaho and California, and it was partially successful. 14 Goulder, Reminiscences of a Pioneer, p. 216. [258] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 123 amps. Such a man was David D. Chamberlain, who carried letters at a dollar apiece from Walla Walla to East Bannack during the winter of 1863-4. 15 Another was Joaquin Miller, afterwards to become famous as poet, who rode express from Walla Walla to Salmon River. 16 This business was soon taken up by companies. There were a number of small concerns such as that of Ballou in British Columbia. 17 But the great company, whose offices were to be found in every large town, whose messen- .gers travelled on almost every steamer, or sat by the driver on almost every stage, was Wells, Fargo and Company. They were ubiquitous in the mining regions, both north and south of the Line, and a very' large proportion of the treasure reached the outer world through them. 18 For the mail, of course, there was very great iirgency. Peti- tions from territorial legislatures for establishment of new mail routes as new camps were formed, were very numerous. The government of British Columbia was more tardy in responding to the need for mail facilities than were the United States au- thorities. 19 But in both regions the mail served to tie the new communities to the old seats of civilization. A thousand ten- drils ran back to friends, relatives, and sweethearts in the East and in Britain and kept alive sentiments in danger of being blurred in the new life. The over-emphasis upon the adventur- ous, rough, romantic side of the miners' lives has neglected this very strong influence; one who reads some of the letters to the miners telling- the little nothings of neighborhood doings, or sometimes bringing solemn announcement of death of loved ones 18 Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana by Col. W. F. Sanders, MS. 18 For the experiences of Miller see a Pioneer Pony Express Rider, Chap. X of Illustrated History of Montana, published by Lewis Pub. Co. The first part of this book was written by him. 17 Ballou's Adventures are found in MS. in the Bancroft Library. They may be fairly trustworthy as to the express business, but in other matters they are evidently gasconade. 18 The student of history longs to get at the records of Wells, Fargo & Co. Its history would make excellent material for a monograph. "There were eight post offices in British Columbia, Dec. 31, 18C3. The total expenditure was 3291 pounds and the total income 749 pounds. One half of the mail carried was that of the Government. The Post Master General wanted -a monopoly in the Government in order to restrain private carriage ; Report of Post Master General, Oovt. Gazette, Feb. 5, 1864. [259] 124 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN back home, gets a finer conception of the real life of the miners than that typified by the six-shooter. There was demand, also, for the telegraph, and before 1870 the principal towns both north and south of the line were connected with the outer world by this means. Thus the constant tendency in these far-away com- munities was towards better facilities of communication. For land transportation of every species roads, ferries, and bridges were very necessary. We who are so accustomed to such conveniences now can scarcely imagine under what difficulties the pioneers labored in trying to provide them in a country of great distances, swift streams, and mountainous grades. We have noted how manfully and successfully Governor Douglas attacked the great problem of roads to Cariboo. "In British Columbia there was less resort to private parties, with special charters, than there was in the territories to the south. Every legislature in these, territories was besieged for special charters for roads, bridges, and ferries, and they were granted in large numbers. Men who obtained a monopoly of ferriage over a stream otherwise impassable, and on the main road to a large mining camp, were| sure of making money. 20 On the other hand, as on old pioneer expressed it to me, "We had to have roads and bridges andi ferries, we had no money, and how were we to get them ?" 21 The| construction of roads and trails was often very expensive andi the season for heavy travel short. 22 Still, the aggregate of toll charges was a serious expense. For example, the tolls for the] round trip from Umatilla to Boise cost ten dollars for each an- imal. 23 Governor Ashley, of Montana, said in his message of 1869 that the tolls from Helena to Corinne, Utah, were forty] dollars for each team. 2 * Important as was the land transportation, however, it had noi the significance of the steamboat navigation. Stearnboating en- tered upon a new phase in its efforts to serve the wants of the I ^ At Craig's Ferry at Lewiston in 1662, Mrs. Schultze found waiting "500 m< much freight, and hundreds of mules and horses." Anecdotes of Early Bettl ment of northern Idaho. MS. p. 2. 21 Remark of Judge W. Y. Pemberton. "Hailey, His. of Idaho, p. 30. 23 Id. p. fi2. 24 Contributions to His. Soc. of Mont. Vol. VI, p. 279. [260] TRIMBLE -MINING ADVANCE 125 mines of the Inland Empire. Never before in history had steam- boats penetrated so far from lands of settled habitation, nor en- countered such risks, as they did on the long stretch of the upper Missouri, with its bare and tortuous channels, or on the swift waters of the Columbia and the Fraser, with their snags and rapids. Let us consider separately the navigation on each of these streams. On the last named, navigation may be said to have extended from Victoria to Yale. 25 A steamboat was also placed upon the upper Fraser from Quesnelmouth to Soda Creek. Men were charmed then as they are now by the beauty of the scenery the islands of the Gulf of Georgia, Mount Baker towering in the distance, the thickly wooded banks of the lower Fraser, and the increasing majesty of the bluffs further up. Still more beautiful was the trip up Harrison Lake. So matter-of-fact a man as J. C. Ainsworth, chief organizer of the Oregon Steam Navigation Co., wrote concerning the first steamboat trip into this lake: "We were running along just at dusk of a warm day in July it must have been nine o'clock in the evening when all at once we opened into this great lake twenty-four miles long and four or five miles wide, surrounded by those beautiful mountains and the full moon was rising right from the lake. Well, I never saw men so affected by excitement in my life. 26 They were greatly affected by the grandeur of the scene. Well, it would have excited anybody. I partook of some of the excitement my- self." 27 As captain and owner of the vessel, however, he pru- dently restrained himself and ran this first passage cautiously. It was Americans, indeed, who owned and ran most of the Fraser River steamboats. The Hudson's Bay Company at the commencement of the mining advance had two small steamers, which ran to Hope ; but they were dirty, and the meals were poor. 28 It was an American steamer, the Umatilla, that first dared to encounter the swift current between Hope and Yale. The 25 Also up Harrison River and Lake. M There were seventy miners aboard. 2T Statement of Capt. J. G. Ainsworth, MS. p. 16. 28 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Feb. 6, 1861. [261] 126 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN strength of the current in this stretch of about fifteen miles is revealed by the fact that it took six hours to go up, and half an hour to come down. 29 British travelers marveled at the reckless- ness of the Americans. The vessel on which Mr. Macfie journeyed from Hope to Yale, although the steam pressure was way beyonc that allowed by law, for twenty minutes at one place appeared to make no progress ; the ' captain and other Americans on boarc made bets as to the issue and coolly discussed the chances of an explosion. 30 The characteristic indifference of Americans with regard to human life came out in a conversation shared by Mr Macfie, when the inquiry was put to a Yankee as to the safety of a certain steamer: "She may do very well for passengers,' was the reply, ' ' but I wouldn 't trust treasure in her. ' m On the other hand, the British admired the cleanliness of the American boats, the abundance and goodness of the provisions, the superi- ority of the service, and the comfort of the cabins. 32 The history of steamboat navigation on the Columbia River during the period of the mining advance is the history of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. And the history of "this company is of a peculiar interest and importance both from the point of view of the development of the great mining area whose transportation it controlled, and as a concrete and simplified example of monopolistic methods; but the details of its history have been so adequately presented elsewhere, that I shall at- tempt to touch only salient features. 33 The sine qua non of the company was the control of the portages at the Cascades and the Dalles. At first various individuals and groups owned what facilities there were at these places and also the steamboats be- 29 Macfie, Van Id. and Br. Col, p. 232. 31 Id. ^Hazlitt, Cariboo, p. 78. A noted American boat was the Wilson G. Hunt, which had before seen service on the Sacramento and was later transferred to the Columbia. The steamer on which Ainsworth went into Lake Harrison had been built on the Columbia above the Cascades, but by misadventure had gone over. Ainsworth bought an interest in her and took her to British Colum- bia. Statement, p. 14. 33 Pbppleton, Irene Lincoln. Oregon's First Monopoly, Quarterly of the Or. His* Soc. Sept. 1908, Vol. IX, No. 3, pp. 274-304. A bibliography is appended, to which may be added the Statement of Capt. J. C. Ainsworth, MS. in the Ban- croft Collection and item in Mineral Resources, 1868, pp. 579,-80. [262] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 127 low, above, and between. Far sighted individuals emerged from these contending groups, who by patience, tact, and pressure brought about consolidation into one company. Then we have clearly the characteristics of monopolistic control: deft, though not clearly blameworthy, handling of legislatures ; extremely high rates, all that the traffic would bear; strong attempt at competi- tion, and obnoxious methods of stifling it; popular resentment and distrust; swift aggregation of capital, as civilized society took possession of the vast tributary area; prudent and skillful management, notable efficiency and enterprise: in fact, real industrial leadership. Steamboat navigation of the time reached its highest point in the powerful boats, nicely responsive to the steersman 's touch, which surmounted the rapids of the Columbia and the Snake. 34 The appointments of the boats were first class, the meals good, and everything was clean and neat. The enter- prise of the company is shown in the way in which it put boats on remote navigable stretches. On the upper Columbia it owned the Forty Nine; on the Clark's Fork of the Columbia and Lake Pend d' Oreille it had the Mary Moody and two other boats; on the upper Snake in southern Idaho it built the Shoshone at an expense of $100,000, in order to try to get some of the Salt Lake trade. 35 Far-reaching enterprise, efficiency, and monopolistic grasp were, therefore, the outstanding characteristics of the Ore- gon Steam Navigation Company. There could be no such monopoly in the steamboat navigation which served the mining regions by way of the upper Missouri. Starting with the Chippewa in 1859, from two to eight boats ascended the river each year from 1860 to 1865 (except 1861) then the Sioux hostilities on the Bozeman Road from 1866 to 1868, coinciding witli much industrial activity in western Mon- 34 A Trip from Portland to Boise, S. F. Daily Bulletin, June, 25, 1864, gives some interesting facts about these steamers and their work. .** Statement of Ainsworth, p. 24. The Mary Moody was built in 1865. In four months from the time the first tree was felled for her, she was launched. "She was 108 feet in length, 20 feet beams, and was 85 tons burden and constructed entirely of whipsawed lum- ber." Sketch by Judge Frank H. Moody, Contr. His. Soc. Mont. Vol. II, p. 104. This attempt to navigate the Upper Snake failed, and the Shoshone ran the frightful canons to Lewiston. In the history of steamboating in the United States it would be hard to parallel this perilous feat. [263] 128 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN tana, suddenly raised the number to thirty-one in 1866, thirty- nine in 1867, thirty-five in 1868 and twenty-four in 1869. 36 These years marked the high tide of the river traffic, for it swiftly sank as the Union Pacific arrived at competing distance. Some idea of its dimensions are gained from statistics. In 1867, 8061 tons of freight were carried to Ft. Benton and some 10,000 pasengers. As the latter paid $150 fare each, the total for passenger trans- port alone amounted to $1,500,000. 37 The profits were so great as to more than make up for high rates of insurance and the occasional loss of a steamer Captain La Barge in the Octavia is reported to have cleared $40,000 from one trip in 1867 and the profits of other vessels in the previous year are reported at from $16,000 to $65,000. 38 The dangers and trials of the steamboat men, however, were many and various. From St. Louis to Ft. Benton the distance was 2300 miles, and there stretched from the verge of the settlements (near Ft. Randall) over 1300 miles of little known river. 39 Snags forbade running at night, except at great risk; numerous bars had to be " grasshoppered " over by sparring ; wood was hard to get and very expensive ; boilers and pilot houses had to be bulwarked ; constant guard had to be kept against Indian attacks ; there were dangerous and trying delays due to falling water. Sometimes throngs of buffalo crossing the river caused a halt. 40 The destination to which these steamboats struggled was a straggling village near the old adobe fort of the American Fur Company, Ft. Benton. On the crowded levee of this village (called, also, Ft. Benton) was piled a mass of varied merchan- w Contr. Mont. His. Soc. Vol. 1, 317-325. An excellent account of the Sioux war along the Bozeman Road is found in Faxson, the Last American Frontier, Chap. XVI. 37 Report of Capt. C. W. Howell, Ex. Doc., House Rep. 3d. Sess. 40th Cong., Report Sec'y. War, p. 622 ff; reprinted in N. Dak. State His. Soc. Collections, Vol. II, pp. 379-91. 28 Chittenden, H. M. History of Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 275-6. 38 Hanson, The Conquest of the Missouri, p. 64. Chap. IX of this work Is particularly commendable. 40 Journal of Capt. C. W. Howell, Ex. Doc. H. R. 3d. Sess. 40th Cong., pp. 634- 54 ; reprinted in N. D. His. Soc. Col. Vol. 11, pp. 392-415. To the authorities on the navigation of the upper Missouri, which have been mentioned in our text should be added logs of various steamers, found in N. Dak. His. Soc. Col., Vol. II, pp. 267-371. [264] ' v TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 129 dise. For the interior points there were boxes of drygoods and clothing, barrels of liquor, sacks of provisions, cases of mining tools, and quartz mills ; for the down trade there were buffalo hides and peltries of all sorts. Every warehouse was jammed with goods, and private dwellings were used as warehouses. The safes of the town were taxed to their utmost capacity to store gold dust as it was brought in, and precious packages were sometimes carelessly left in stores. One steamer bore away $1,250,000 in gold. In the streets of the town was a throng of varied and picturesque humanity: lumbermen from Minnesota and farmers from many parts of the great valley; confederate sympathizers from Missouri and Union men from the Western Reserve ; miners from the Pacific Coast and "fur-traders and hunters of the van- ishing Northwestern wilderness", Indians of many tribes; des- peradoes and lovers of order ; miners, traders, clergymen, specu- lators, land-seekers, government officials all the exuberant array of the American frontier. Freight wagons, consisting of two or three wagons coupled together, and drawn by a dozen or more oxen or mules, rumbled ceaselessly through the streets. Not less than six hundred outfits participated in this traffic. The area to which it ministered was extensive ; not only did the Ft. Ben- ton trade supply the wide semicircle of the camps of Western Montana, but in its outer limits it touched British Columbia, Calgary, and Edmonton. Another interesting phase of the business of Ft. Benton, the mackinaw fleet, is described by an able writer as follows : ' ' The steamboat season over and the freight distributed, the mackinaw season set in. At all seasons of the year when the river was open mackinaws were to be found descending it; but it was in September that the great rush commenced. Then, as winter ap- proached, the successful miners who had accumulated wealth and the unsuccessful who were discouraged and disheartened be- stirred themselves to escape from the country. Thronging to Ft. Benton they rendered the levee the scene of renewed activity. Scores of rough boats sprang into existence and day after day they would push off with a crew of from half a dozen to thirty and forty souls, sometimes single, sometimes in flotillas, and drop down the river to various points from Sioux City to Saint Louis. [265.] \ 130 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN "In the neighborhood of 200 boats and 1200 passengers would thus sail from Benton annually. These boats were usually broad, flat-bottomed crafts, with square sterns and roughly built, to be sold as lumber or abandoned at the end of the voyage. They were supplied with oars and sometimes sails, but the rapid cur- rent of the river was relied upon for the main progress * * * Under favorable circumstances a hundred miles a day was ac- complished in these vessels. Frequent running aground, danger from Indians and occasional shipwrecks were among the inci- dents of the voyage, and the party was fortunate that got through without any mishap. ' ' 41 In addition to the emigrants who went to the mining regions from the East on the Missouri steamboats, there was a very large movement by the overland trails: "It was estimated that the migration in 1864 from the one town of Omaha amounted to 75,000 people, 22,500 tons of freight, 30,000 horses and mules, and 75,000 cattle, while all authorities seem to agree that the total migration from all the Missouri Eiver towns, through Kan- sas and Nebraska by all routes, equaled 150,000 people." 42 Of this number certainly a very considerable proportion was des- tined for the northwest mines. Rev. Jonathan Blanchard thought that two-thirds of the twenty-four thousand immigrants who had preceded him in 1864 on the trail to Laramie were bound for Idaho. 43 While thus the old Oregon trail, because of its 41 Bradley, Lieut. Jas. H., Effects at Ft. Benton of the Gold Excitement in Montana, MS. Besides this article, I have used for the last two paragraphs, Hanson, The Conquest of the Missouri, Chap. X and Ferguson, H. A. V., Ft. Ben- ton Memories, MS. Mention should also be made of Chittenden, H. M., The Ancient Town of Ft. Benton in Montana. See also Campbell, J. S. ; Six Months in the New Gold Diggings, who says, "During the past season (1864) an immense emigration, precendented by none save the early rush to the Eldorado of the Pacific, has swelled the mountain gorges and valleys of Montana." It was thought that between 75.000 and 100,000 persons visited Virginia City in 1864, of whom probably four-fifths returned to the States, (pp. 4 & 5) The adver- tisements in Campbell give an idea of the far-reaching stimulus to eastern commercial ganglia and to railroads which the mining regions gave. Merchants of Council Bluffs, Omaha, St. Joseph, St. Louis and Chicago advertise their facilities for outfitting or for furnishing manufactures ; while the Hannibal and St. Joseph, the Chicago and St. Louis, the Michigan Central and the Pennsyl- vania Lines call attention to the advantage of making the first part of the trip to the mines over their routes. 42 Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions in the North during the Civil War y p. 39. 43 Id., p. 38. [266] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 131 good grass and comparatively easy grades, maintained a clear supremacy among the overland routes, two other routes are of special interest from the point of view of this study. These are the northern route to Montana and the route to British Colum- bia, 44 It was the Salmon River excitement of 1861-2 that first started migration by the northern route from Minnesota. In that year two large parties made their way over the plains from rendezvous on the Red River of the north. The first started from St. Joseph (now Walhalla, N. D.), and the other from Ft. Abercrombie; both went by way of Ft. Union. 45 The second was under the command of Capt. Jas. L. Fisk, to whom this duty was assigned by the Secretary of War, and one of Fisk's assist- ants was N. P. Langford. 46 Fisk's work was of the same nature as that performed by Capt. Medoram Crawford in the same year on the southern route : "To afford protection to these emigrants, and at the same time test the practicability of this northern route for future emigration", were stated to be the objects of the ex- pedition. It consisted of 140 persons, most of whom were Minne- sota frontiersmen. In constructing bridges these expert lumber- men would swim the streams, hats on head and pipes in mouth, in order to float the logs to place, and handled the axe and the spade-like playthings. The numbers of buffalo seen on the way were prodigious, Fisk estimating the number seen in one day at 100,000. The party arrived safely at Ft. Benton, but in- stead of proceeding to Salmon River scattered to the newly dis- covered diggings of western Idaho- 47 In spite of the Sioux outbreak of 1862 another successful ex- pedition under Capt. Fisk was made in 1863. 48 The expedition of 1864, however, failed to go through, being attacked by Indians in the Bad Lands, from whom it was rescued by troops of Gen- eral Sully. Another under Fisk, unsupported by the govern- 44 The Bozeman road may be regarded as a branch of the Oregon trail. 45 For account of the first see N. Dak. His. Soc. Collections, Vol. II, pp. 75-78. 46 Author of Vigilante Days and Ways and important promoter of Yellowstone Park, now a resident of St. Paul. The World Today, May, 1911, pp. 598-99, giyps an account of Mr. Langford's personality and work. 47 A reprint of Fisk's report (Ex. Doc. No. 80, 37th Cong., third Sess.) is in N. Dak. His. 8oc. Col. Vol. II, App. pp. 34-72. 48 Id., App. pp. 78-85. [267] 132 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ment, took the shape of an imposing scheme for the promotion of town-building and mining on the Upper Yellowstone, but this expedition failed to materialize. The last of Fisk's expeditions, that of 1866, "was different from any of the preceding in its larger size, in the absence of government aid and from the fact that for many it was a commercial venture, not a gold hunting trip." 49 In all of these expeditions St. Paul took an active interest. Indeed, from the very beginning of the mining rushes the busi- ness men of this city planned for overland routes, for connection with the Eed River of the North, and for development of trade with the Selkirk settlements and the regions beyond. The Cham- ber of Commerce of St. Paul "declared that the city's whole commercial future was projected with the far Northwest in view." 50 When we consider the overland route to British Columbia, we come likewise upon large conceptions and the beginnings of great things. Immediately upon the organization of British Columbia, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton "proclaimed in the name of the gov- ernment, the policy of continuous colonies from Lake Superior to the Pacific and a highway across British America as the most direct route from London to Pekin or Jeddo. ' ' 51 From this time onward there was constant discussion in British Columbia, Can- ada, and Great Britian concerning the Great Inter-oceanic Rail- way. 52 Attention was called to the possession of fine ports at either end of the line Halifax and Esquimault and to great coal deposits near them. At least one man, however, with re- markable prescience, thought that Burrard's Inlet, the present 49 Id., p. 450. Original documents concerning the last three expeditions are found in works cited, pp. 442-461. In addition to the desire to hunt gold, im- migrants from Minnesota were impelled by general discontent of the border counties in the years following the Sioux outbreaks and the Civil War. On this aspect consult Hilger, David, Overland Trail, Con. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. VII, pp. 257-270. 50 Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions during the Civil War, p. 69. See also Puget Sound Herald, Sept. 10, 1858. 81 Relations between the United States and N. W. British America, Ex. Doc., ?>7th Cong., 3d. Ses., Exhibit D., St. Paul, April 17, 1861, p. 27. 52 The titles of two books of the time are suggestive : Rawling's America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and Milton and Cheadle, The Northivest Passage by Land. [268] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 133 location of Vancouver, was destined to be the great port of the Pacific, rather than Victoria. 53 Rivalry with the United States in the building of a transcontinental line was a conspicuous mo- tive, and mention was made of the desirability of the railroad in case of war with the United States. The designs of France in Mexico, also, were regarded with suspicion and it was sug- gested that one object of the French Emperor in acquiring Mex- ico was to bid for the Oriental trade by building a railroad from Vera Cruz to Acapulco and putting on a line of steamers from the latter port to China and Japan. 54 The importance of the Red River settlements and of the great country westward from them was dilated upon, and Lytton wanted to erect these into an independent colony; but the Hudson's Bay Company pos- sessed these lands by charter (not by license to trade, as in the case of British Columbia), and the Company naturally was slow to fall in with changes which might interfere with the fur trade. 55 A project more generally favored than that of making the Sel- kirk settlements a Crown colony was that of incorporating them into a union of all the British North American possessions. All of these plans received fresh impulse when, in 1862, the magnifi- cent Cariboo field put British Columbia finally on its feet, and the announcement was made of the discovery of gold on the up- per Saskatchewan. British Columbia was to be another Cali- fornia and the Saskatchewan field another Colorado. It is im- portant for the student of the history of these movements to realize in addition to the really remarkable achievements of the period, the glamour and enticement of the seemingly roseate im- mediate future. While full fruition of these aspirations was to be postponed for another generation, some interesting and important steps 53 "I have more than once discussed the feasibility of this grand scheme with Colonel Moody, of the Royal Engineers a question in which he felt great in- terest. His fixed idea always was that Burrard's Inlet, from its situation,, depth of water, and other natural advantages, was destined to be the great emporium of commerce on the Pacific, at the terminus of the railway." Barret- Lennard, Travels in British Columbia, pp. 181-2. 54 Macfie, Van Id. and Br. Col. pp. 367-8. 53 Report of Sir Edmund Head, Governor of the Company, Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col. pp. 54-55. The company, however, shipped wire to the Selkirk settle- ment for a telegraph line to British Columbia. [269] 134 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN were taken in the decade following the founding of British Columbia. The year 1859 witnessed the beginnings of steam- boat transportation on the Red River of the North, when a steam- boat was brought across from the upper waters of the Mississippi and launched in Red River as the Anson Northrup. In the same year the Hudson 's Bay Company established a town on the Minnesota side about fifteen miles north of the present Fargo, North Dakota, and named the new town Georgetown in honor of Sir George Simpson, then Governor of Rupert's Land. A stage line was put on by Burbank & Company between George- town and St. Paul. A second boat, The International, was built at Georgetown and launched in 1862. Its motto was "Germi- naverunt speciosa deserti, ' ' and on its first trip it took 150 miners >enroute for Cariboo. 56 For the organization of the overland route two interesting com- panies were promoted and chartered. The one, whose chief pro- jector was Mr. W. M. Dawson, was called The Northwest Trans- portation Company. Its mainspring was in Canada, where there was eager desire for participation in the traffic with British Columbia. 57 This company proposed to establish steam commun- ication with Ft. William, at the head of Lake Superior, and then to place half-a-dozen small river steamers on the chain of rivers and lakes which run from that to the foot of Ihe Rocky Mountains with a few easily surmounted portages. 58 The last phase suggests the inadequacy of the conceptions with regard to the new regions which was even more conspicuous in the English plans of the time than in the Canadian. In England there was largeness and elaborateness of projection in regard to the new countries and the ways of getting there, but also a certain fumbling incapa- bility of execution or of grasping real conditions, which was in marked contrast to the straightforward, quickly adjustable en- terprise of Americans. It was simply the difference, of course, 58 The foregoing data are from a Sketch of the Northwest of America by Mgr. Tache, Bishop of St. Boniface in 1868. We should not over rate the part of the mining country in bringing about these beginnings of transportation because the time had about arrived, anyhow, when the Selkirk settlements had to hav better communications with St. Paul. 57 Canadian News, Mar. 20, 1862, quoted in Hazlitt's Cariboo, pp. 92-3. 6S Hazlitt's Cariboo, pp. 105-6. ; [270] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 135 between those who were familiar with conditions and those who were not. This characteristic was well illustrated in the British Columbia Overland Transit Company, Ltd., which was organized in London with a proposed capital of half a million pounds and an imposing directorate of ' ' eminent ' ' and ' ' respectable ' ' names. The object was "to establish a transport system for mails and passengers by carts and relays of horses" to British Columbia. The route was to be by Montreal, St. Paul, Pembina, Carlton House, and Edmonton. The time from England to the gold diggings was to be about five weeks. In regard to this time a correspondent of the Times, "Canada West", wrote that the shortest time would be three months, more likely four or five, and perhaps all winter. To this Secretary Henson, of the com- pany, replied that " 'Canada West' proves that his calculations are based on thorough ignorance. For instance, he gives ten days from St. Paul to Red River; whereas two days is the time now occupied by the steamers which run on the Red River from Georgetown to Ft. Garry." [The Secretary seemed to think the distance from St. Paul to Georgetown negligible.] "Canada West" replied that last season he had journeyed from St. Paul to Georgetown, that the trip occupied four days, and that thence to Ft. Garry by steamer took three or four days more. Still another correspondent sent a letter from his brother stating that he had made the trip from Red River to Victoria, but that it had taken seven months and that he had nearly starved to death on the road. 59 Several parties of considerable size did go through to Cariboo from St. Paul by the overland route, most with success, but some with death and suffering. The Victoria Colonist, however, summarized the route by saying that the way was easy to the Rockies, but extremely difficult thence to Cariboo, and that there was a tendency to go down the Columbia via Col- ville and Portland. 60 The Overland Transit Company seems to have vanished without accomplishing anything. The signifi- 69 These letters are republished in McDonald, Br. Col. and Van. Id. pp. 403-417. Their details seem unimportant, but they illustrate the interest taken in Eng- land in the projected route. 60 Barret-Lennard, Travels in British Columbia, pp. 187-198 ; London Times, Jan. 1, 1863; San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Aug. 1, 1863; McNaughton, Mar- garet, Overland to Cariboo, (a journey of 1862). , [271] 136 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN cance of all these attempts and aspirations lies in their realization in the great railway system which, in a unified Canada, stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the only complete interoceanic railway. There remains to be considered the ocean routes by which immigrants went from England to British Columbia. Most of the many books published in the mother country at this time concerning the new colony discuss the routes thither, compare cost of passage and give detailed directions. 61 In this respect they were like the numerous emigrants' guides in the United States. The two routes most favorably mentioned were the one by way of St. Thomas, Panama, and San Francisco, which was held to be the shorter, but the more expensive; and the other around the Horn, which was thought to be the cheaper and more suitable, therefore, for families. Alternative routes were to go to New York and thence to Aspinwall, or to proceed from the former city across the continent. The whole transportation bus- iness from Panama to San Francisco and from there to Victoria was controlled by Americans a fact deplored in the British Colonies, particularly with respect to the mails. 62 The effects of the mining advance into the Inland Empire, it may be safely asserted, were widely distributed among agencies of trade and transportation. Perhaps the movement in this respect might be likened to an immense spider's web, throwing out from a central area of intense activity far reaching cords. For example, Macfle, Van. Id. and Br. Col. pp. 519-26 ; Rattray, Van. Id. and Br. Col. pp. 177-82. 62 The cost of transportation to British Columbia was greater than to any other British Colony. Passage from London to New Zealand or Cape of Good Hope cost 20 and to Australia 16. whereas to Victoria, via the Horn it cost 30 and via Panama 77 ; colonization circular issued by Her Majesty's Emi- gration Commissioners, in McDonald, Br. Col. and Van. Id., p. 469. [272] PART III SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE MINING ADVANCE [2731 TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 139 CHAPTER IX COMPONENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY The elements of population which composed the mining ad- vance will be the first subject of inquiry in this chapter. One fact stands out prominently, and that is that the popu- lation was very heterogeneous. In addition to an original basis of French half-breeds and of mountain-men, representatives from all parts of the United States and from every quarter of the globe were to be found, Americans, Canadians, Englishmen, Germans, Frenchmen, Italians, Spanish, Chinese, Mexicans, Chilanos, Australians, Hawaiians. One observer of the throngs wrote: "Within a few hours, I have met in the streets of Vic- toria persons who had respectively crossed the Andes, ascended Mont Blanc, fought in the Crimea, explored the Northwest pass- age, seen Pekin, ransacked Mexican antiquities, lived on the coast of Africa, revelled in the luxuries of India, witnessed Se- poys blown from British guns, wintered in Petersburg, and en- gaged in buffalo hunts on the great prairies of North America. ' n In estimating the intelligence of the mining population account should be taken of the extensiveness of the miners' travels and of the diversities of their contacts. As to the proportions of the different elements in the popula- tion we may gain some general ideas, but we can arrive at no precise figures. When the first steamer from San Francisco arrived at Victoria in the Fraser River rush, she had on board 400 men enroute for the mines ; of this number there were about sixty British subjects, with an equal number of native-born Americans, the rest being chiefly Germans, with a smaller pro- portion of Frenchmen and Italians. 2 The Victoria Gazette stated 1 Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., p. 412. 2 Despatch of Gov. Douglas, Cornwallis, New Eldorado, p. 357. [275] 140 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN that, of the whole number of passengers carried up to July, 1858, by the Surprise the principal steamer then running up Fraser; River nearly one-half were Irish and a large proportion Italian and French, but added that in July more Americans were com- ing. The proportion of Irishmen was particularly noticeable^ also, in southern Idaho. The population at The Dalles (which; was an index to that of the upper country) was said to have been composed of "Saxon, Celt, Teuton, Gaul, Greaser, Celestial andp Indian". 3 Statistics from Port Douglas, in British Columbia! give the following data for a population numbering 206. Coloured men 8 Mexicans and Spaniards 29 Chinese 37 French and Italians 16 Central Europe 4 Northern Europe 4 Citizens of the United States 73 British subjects 35 4 A census of Ft. Hope in 1861 showed 55 British subjects and 111 foreigners. It is certain that in British Columbia during | the mining period the British element in the population was greatly in the minority, and that the largest single ingredient of population was furnished by citizens of the United States. 5 More- over, a very large proportion of the men engaged in the mining rushes possibly not far from one-half were not Americans or Britons; and, furthermore, of those styled Calif ornians, (and hence Americans) a very large proportion were of other than Anglo-Saxon nativity. If these facts be true, then we may fairly raise the question whether the enterprise, adventurous- ness, and adaptability which were characteristics of the mining population and, especially the spontaneity which was shown 3 San Francisco Bulletin, Nov. 13, 1862. 4 Paper by Rev. Mr. Gammage quoted by McDonald, Br. Col. and Van Id., p. 166. 5 "Our American friends especially are our pioneer miners, our principal trad- ers and our chief packers." Colonist. Jan. 2, 1862. "The tone of society has become decidedly more British since 1859 ; but still, as then the American ele- ment prevails." Macfie, Van. Id. & Br. Col., p. 379. [276] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 141 In working out the laws of the mining camps, were quite so peculiarly Anglo-Saxon as has been thought. 6 While the mining camps were very heterogeneous in popula- tion, still, certain elements are more conspicuous in some places than elsewhere. In British Columbia, after the opening of Cari- boo, English, Cornish, Scotch and Welch were to be met with more numerously than in other parts of the mining areas. So, too, Oregonians (and men from the Sound) were distinguished in the Nez Perces mines, Missourians and Pike's Peakers in Boise Basin, and people from Minnesota in Montana. This does not mean, of course, that other elements were not present in all these camps. In the Montana camps, in particular, there was a curious mingling of eastern ' * tenderf eet " and western ' ' yon-siders ", who were amused at each others ' lingo ; the tapaderas of the lat- ter were to the former toe-fenders machiers, saddle-scabbards cantinas, handy-bags. 7 But whatever elements of population prevailed in one or the other place, there was one everywhere present, everywhere respected, everywhere vital the Calif ornian. To Fraser River, Cariboo, Kootenay; John Day, Boise, Alder Gulch, Helena, went the adopted sons of California youngest begetter of colonies, carrying with them the methods, the cus- toms, and the ideas of the mother region, and retaining for it not a little of love and veneration. " Idaho", said the World, "is but the colony of California. What England is to the world, what the New England states have been to the West, California has been and still is to the country west of the Great Plains. Her people have swept in successive waves over every adjacent district from Durango to the Yellowstone. She is the mother of these Pacific States and Territories. ' ' 8 6 It seems to the author that, while the British people have shown marked efficiency in seizing new lands for colonies and in governing them, they have shown no special aptitude as colonists. From 1660 onward the immigration to the colonies now forming the United States was largely continental ; and the Amerilan frontiersman was not an Englishman, although often of English ante- cedents. The western Canada of today would lack much in its population, if the American pioneers were not there. 7 Owyhee Avalanche, Nov. 11. 1865. 'Idaho World, July 15 and Oct. 14, 18(55. The career of Henry Comstock, who gave his name to perhaps the greatest lode known in history, was typical In wanderings of that of many Californians ; though, we may hope, not typical in its ill-fortune. Comstoci; in 1862 struck a quartz lead at John Day (S. F. [277] 142 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Another element of population represented everywhere, but often entirely overlooked in characterizing the mining popula- tion, was that of the women and we mean here respectable women. It is true that a large majority of the population was made up of men, especially at the beginning of a rush, but al- ways some women began soon to arrive and formed in many districts an appreciable element. Some of the women were sur- vivors of the fur-trading regime and were to be found at the old posts ; as a general thing, also, there were pretty sure to be women at the road houses and stopping places. So, early in the winter of 1862-3, in the region now known as Montana, out of a total listed population of 670, 59 were respectable females ; and in the years immediately succeeding numbers of the most venerated of the pioneer women of Montana came. 9 Southern Idaho, as has been mentioned before, was conspicuous for the number families residing there, many of which had left Missouri because of war troubles. In the Grande Ronde Valley and at Auburn a young single man had quite good chances of getting a wife from immigrant girls. At Victoria, besides ladies in the fam- ilies of citizens, a cargo or two of young women, according to the custom of new colonies, was brought from England. Even in far-away Cariboo there was a kindly Mrs. Lee to extend help to the minister's wife in her time of greatest need, and ever and anon on his travels the minister found it pleasant to see a "sonsie" Scotchwoman beaming a welcome and to hear her Scots tongue. 10 Another indication of the presence of women was that a good many divorces were granted by legislatures ; but, on the other hand, that in all the papers almost from their first issues were notices of marriages. It is true, however, that most Daily Bulletin., Aug. 29, 1862) ; at Christmas he was in Auburn (Id. Jan. 2, 1863) ; the next fall found him at Alturas, near Boise, where he was running five arastras and a saw mill. (Id. Aug. 30, 1864.) In 1868 he resided in Butte City, his intellect darkened, but his hand still skilful and his heart sympathetic for the poor. lie worked a small claim, but imagined that he still owned the Comstock lode (Mineral Resources, 1868, p. 505.) At last, 1870, he shot him- self at Bozeman, and his body was found in a hole back of the jail, not a cent in his pocket. He was buried at the county expense (Anaconda Standard,. Dec. 16, 1900). 9 Contributions Historical Society of Montana, Vol. I, pp. 334-54. 10 Occasional Papers, Columbian Mission, Report for 1869, pp. 64 and 69. [278] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 143 I ladies were to be found in the families of professional men, mer- I chants, and farmers, because the miners themselves were too I roving to get married, but there were some exceptions. At any I rate, it seems worth calling attention to the fact that the dearth I of good women in the mining regions was not so complete as is , often assumed. There are two classes of the population, the negroes and the I Chinese, to which I wish to give separate treatment; to the one la brief statement, to the other more extended discussion. The negroes were seldom, if ever, found in the mining camps, I but about four hundred of them came early in the mining move- Iment to Vancouver Island and British Columbia, the majority I of them settling in Victoria. They came from California, and 'their purposes as explained by one of themselves, were as follows : (1) To better their political conditions, since in California they were disfranchised and without legal protection of life and property. (2) Not to seek "particular associations", but to "enjoy those common rights which civilized, enlightened and well-regu- lated communities guarantee to all their members." (3) To make this country the land of adoption for themselves and their children. 11 By working at draying and like employments and investing their savings in land, many of these colored people became well- to-do. Clergymen fresh from England or Canada, took high philanthropic and religious grounds toward them, although the Bishop noted that the negroes found it difficult to get used to the ways of the Church of England, since they had been reared Bap- tists and Methodists. But trouble arose with the white Ameri- cans, notwithstanding that most of these in British Columbia were, during the war, ardent supporters of the Union ; and there was a serious riot in a theatre. The whites remonstrated, also, at admitting colored people to the churches, and, when one zealous divine took up the cause of Africa and coloured people flocked to him, the whites left promptly to be followed by the negroes, in 11 Letter of J. J. Moore, British Colonist, Feb. 5, 1859. [279] 144 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN order to be in a more fashionable church. 12 But the latter were treated by the English officials as any other citizens were treated. The Chinese were a very important economic part of the min- ing advance, but not of it socially. Sooner or later they were found in every town, along every trail, in every mining camp. Debarred from the camps so long as claims paid "wages" or bet- ter, they were welcomed later to buy the claims, once washed, which no white miner would consent to touch. There was great hostility to them because of their lowering wages and living hardly, but the time was sure to come when the miners' meeting of every district would admit these patient, quiet, laborious men, clothed in cheap garments. It was seldom that the Chinaman worked for the white man, but he often paid large sums for his claim as high in some cases as $8,000 and he paid in cash, or the white owner of the claim took out of the sluice boxes each Saturday night a certain amount until paid. The Chinese were not so skillful as the Americans in the use of machinery, but their industry enabled them to extract much gold from the abandoned claims. Undoubtedly America owes considerable to them for saving treasure which might otherwise have been wasted. Of their numbers it is hard to get a just estimate. In Montana they were thought to number 800 in 1869, and in British Colum- bia in 1868 they numbered 1800 out of a total population of 13,800 and in Vancouver Island 200. 13 As camps waxed old in the American territories, the Chinamen generally outnumbered the whites. A pioneer states that twelve hundred of them came into Warren's Diggings, when they were allowed to come. 14 Many of them came direct from China, but many also from California. They were generally brought in droves by some Chinese contractor; for example, forty Chinese were sent to Idaho from Virginia City, Nevada, at one time by Yong Wo and Company. 15 The men sometimes were contracted, sometimes bought, and sometimes kidnapped. 16 The masters provided the 12 Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col, pp. 388-392. 13 Mineral Resources, 1869, p. 140. Despatch of Gov. Seymour Feb. 17, 1866 in Churchill and Cooper, British Columbia and Van. Id. p. 21. 14 Hofen, Leo, His. of Idaho County, MS., p. 4. 15 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, May 19, 1865. 16 McDonald, Van. Id. and Br. CoL, pp. 299-300. [280] TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 145 outfit and required both, repayment of expenses and profits for themselves. 17 Not all, however, were coolies, for there were not a few fine looking and independent men. Numbers of the Chinese, as usual, engaged in the laundry business, and some in other forms of business or in farming. A flourishing colony of them congregated on Pandora Street, Victoria. A good many of them everywhere became well-to-do and some wealthy, but 'others lost fortunes gambling after the fashion of the whites. 18 In the treatment accorded them by the whites there was a fair measure of equality before the law. In British Columbia, of course, the Chinaman was treated with perfect civic equality, and in American territories there are records of white men being brought to trial and convicted for assaulting or killing them. 19 But in the matter of taxation there was a decided difference : in British Columbia a Chinese miner paid the same tax as any other miner, while in the American territories he was singled out for exceptional and heavy taxation. In Idaho a law was passed (styled a law for taxing foreign miners and copied directly from the California law) which required every Mongolian to pay a tax of $5.00 per month ; if the tax were not paid, the property could be sold on three hours notice. 20 Moreover, the law included as foreign miners all Mongolians, whatever their occupations, a provision, however, later declared invalid by the courts. 21 Yet the Chinese miners were forced to pay the exceptional tax and, moreover, were sometimes robbed by officials under guise of watchmen" and "collectors." 22 For the regular tax, on the other hand, there was some justification, from the fact that China- men acquired comparatively little property which* could be reached by ordinary taxation. In Montana Chinamen were taxed by a law compelling all male persons engaged in the laundry business to pay a tax of fifteen dollars per quarter; "It is admit- ted," said Gov. Ashley, "that this section is oppressive and was intended to compel the Chinaman to pay an unjust tax." 23 " London Times, March 25, 18G2. 18 Reminiscences of Harvey, A Chinaman at Yale, MS. Idaho World, Nov. 18, 1865. 20 Goulder, Reminiscences, Chap. 49 ; Idaho World, Feb. 3, 1866. 81 Idaho World, March 24, 1866. ^Knapp, Statement of Events in Idaho, MS. p. 6. 28 Contr. His. Soc. If on., Vol. 6, p. 267. [281] 146 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN The white miners always looked on the Chinamen as inferiors. When the latter were admitted into the John Day diggings, the Dalles Mountaineer said: "It is to be hoped that by another year each honest miner in this country will have his dozen coolies delving in his claims. There is an eminent fitness in this relation of the races." 24 Indeed "foreigners" to the miners did not mean the " unnaturalized Russian, Greek, Finn, Frenchman, or Irishman," but the Mongolian. 25 In Montana it was thought that the public was undemonstrative either for or against them ; although, occasionally "we hear of outrages inflicted upon some one of them in the same manner, and perhaps as frequently, as dogs or cattle are maltreated." 26 From the first contact with the Mongolian in the mining regions, therefore, whether justly or unjustly, there has been a feeling with regard to him on the part of the whites, different to that held toward other races. But that his part in the economic development of those regions was an important one admits of no doubt. 27 Having now considered the various elements of the population, let us next see how the white portion of it lived. The characteristic abode in the mining regions was a log cabin, roofed with shakes or (particularly in Montana) with dirt. In storms the latter roof leaked, much to the distress of lady house- keepers. Green cow-skins were often nailed on the floor in lieu of carpets. A cabin of one of the bachelor miners, as it appeared at the beginning of winter is thus sketched : "To the left of the stage road leading to Idaho City, stands a log cabin, ten by twelve feet in size, the roof extending eight feet from the main building, a pile of pitch wood to the left of the door; over the wood hangs a fore and hind quarter of a beef. Under the same porch is seen a hand sleigh used for sledding wood and articles from town. We open the door and go in. Description is almost 24 Article in Mining and Scientific Press, Vol. 12, 1866, p. 259. 25 Goulder, Reminiscences, p. 354. 26 Mineral Resources, 1869, p. 40. 27 A fine field for investigation lies in the history of the Chinese on the Pacific Coast, particularly if one could get at Chinese sources. A still wider field pre- sents itself in the activity of this race in all the mining regions of the Pacific. "The number of Chinese to be met with all over the world", says Barret-Leon- ard, "wherever gold has been discovered, is a singular and characteristic fact." Van Id. and British Col, pp. 147-148. [282] TRIMBLE -MINING ADVANCE 147 impossible, but I will endeavor to depict the scene. On the left of the room is stored any amount of provisions, over which are fixed two bunks one above the other. To the right of the fire- place stands a small table on which are piled books, papers, and many other small articles too numerous to mention ; and still to the right is a goods box nailed to the wall for a cupboard, which is filled with all kinds of cooking traps. On the right hand side of the room is the window, one pane of glass constitutes the size, under which is placed the dining table. The right-hand side of j the room is ornamented with a large mirror and pictures : among them are seen Abraham Lincoln and his secretaries, generals, Ibrts, battles, etc." 27a In respect to these latter ornaments, it may be observed, many miners would probably have preferred pictures of Jefferson Davis and of Southern generals ; but the description is fairly characteristic of the ordinary miner 's cabin in the winter time. Places of business, also, were for the most part of logs, although in the first stages of towns tents were often used; as a town prospered, substantial buildings of sawed lumber or of stone were usually erected. Owners of general stores often built cel- lars as warehouses for storing goods, a precaution against the fires which many times swept mining towns. Frequently several firms carrying on different lines of mercantile business occupied the same store, which very likely served also as office for some doctor or lawyer ; and at night the various occupants (with probably a guest or two) quite generally used the scene of their day-time endeavor as sleeping quarters. 28 The appearance of one such store, thus used, reminded an English traveler in the in- terior of British Columbia of the robber's cave in the Arabian ^Nights. The staple foods were bread, bacon, beans, coffee, and (in British Columbia) tea. In the towns, of course, there was: greater variety; but a man, by paying a good price, could gen- erally get such luxuries as eggs and butter. Fresh meat was usually obtainable at reasonable prices in the summer time, when 27 a Mullan, John, Miners' and Travelers' Guide, pp. 126-128 ; cf. also, descrip- tion of cabin in Diary of J. H. Morley MS., May 22, 1863. * Sanders, Col. W. F., Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana, MS. [283] 148 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN drovers brought cattle and sheep on foot to the camps. Fish, also, were often used, there being fine trout in Montana and salmon on the west side of the mountains ; but miners who could make $5.00 per day or more could not profitably spend much time in fishing or hunting. Still, prospecting parties, in par- ticular, found game useful. Fresh vegetables and potatoes were much sought, in order to avoid the terrible scurvy. Miners at Oro Fino in the winter of 1861-2 packed potatoes on their backs fifteen or twenty miles through deep snow, in order to stay th| ravages of this disease. "Uncooked potatoes sliced up and soaked in vinegar were far from affording a very appetizing dish, i but it proved a sovereign remedy for the scurvy." 29 Far the| greater portion of the food stuffs were imported from outside the mining regions from California, the Willamette Valley, Utah,! and the States. Consequently, when insufficient supplies were laid in, and winter snows blocked the trails, miners in lone camps were sometimes reduced to boiling ferns, or oats, or the inner i bark of trees in order to stave off starvation ; while merchants in | town often ran flour up to monopolistic prices, $1.50 per Ib. or higher, a procedure which generally produced flour riots. 30 There were many restaurants and hotels in the town and road- houses along the trails, but except when traveling (and often then) experienced miners did their own cooking. Amusements and companionships the miner had to have, and, in reaction from the hard labor on the claim, he generally sought eagerly those forms of amusement offered to him in the towns. He was bound of course, to be attracted by horse-racing and prize-fighting ; there were always men around who wanted to match their favorite colts, or to aspire to pugilistic honors. Saloons abounded in all towns, and generally sold villainous concoctions; but they were the only places where a man could freely find companionship, and "some of them were kept by men of intelligence whose general impulses were excellent. ' ' 31 Other saloonkeepers were like the one at Yale, who when the miners 29 Goulder, Reminiscences, p. 233. so It was considered very creditable to the Hudson's Bay Company, when American speculators at Victoria had cornered the market, that the Companj broke the corner and refused to profit by the miners' necessities. 31 Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana, Col. W. F. Sanders, MS. [284] TRIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE 149 were well "slewed", would dispense with the scales and take goodly pinches of gold from the extended pouches. 32 Nearly everybody drank, and getting drunk was a venal transgression : the members of the Philipsburg, (Mont.) Pioneer Association- composed of "those who have assisted in opening up for settle- ment and civilization" California, Idaho, and Montana in their resolutions "Reserve the right to get decently drunk." Liquor was generally taken straight and at one gulp. Vigorous men with the health of pure mountain air surging within them could drink safely an amount of liquor that would have crazed an of- fice denizen. On the other hand, the ill effects of drink were by no means escaped: the "Miners' Ten Commandments" speaks of men broiling in the sun, or emerging half drowned from prospect holes and ditches, of gold dust and the comforts it might have purchased lying at the bottom of a damaged stomach, and of ' ' all the unholy catalogue of evils," that follow in the train of excess. 33 Some of the men who played heroic and conspicuous parts in the ranks of the Vigilantes of Montana afterwards went to pieces through drink. Billiard tables were to be found in almost every saloon, and were much patronized British travelers wondered at the numbers of these tables in Victoria. Gambling was exceedingly common and open. In almost every town could be heard the cry that brought back to Californians the times of '49 :" Make your game, gentlemen, make your game all down no more game's made." The men who ran the gambling houses were not all the sleek, lizard-eyed villians which occasional writers portray, but some of them conducted their business with fairness and would tolerate no crooked work. As a class they were brave, virile, and generous-hearted. A man knew when he went into the game that there was a percentage in favor of the house. Still, a number of games regarded as legally unfair are enumerated in a law of Montana which forbade ' ' three card monte, strap game, thimble-rig game, patent safe game, black and red, any dice game, two card box at faro. ' ' Undoubt- edly much of the terrible wastage that left many of the miners 32 Reminiscences of William Stout of Yale, MS. 33 The "Miners' Ton Commandments" is a somewhat ludicrous portrayal of the miner's life, but should be read by one who wishes to know many of the failings and of the aspirations of that life ; a copy is printed in Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., pp. 418-422. [285] 150 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN exposed to an impecunious old age was produced by the gaming table. 34 An innocent form of diversion was the theaters, one or more of which were to be found in every town of any importance. Troupes of players, male and female, were often encountered by travelers, making the long journeys from town to town. A glimpse of a theater at Walla Walla is given by a newspaper correspondent. The room was a dismanteled barroom, and the platform was flanked by blankets. Mrs. Leighton and a troupe presented the play "Naval Engagements" to the "highly marine population of Walla Walla. Thirty-five ladies graced the dress circle and 162 gentlemen laughed with delight on board benches at the expense of one dollar each. ' ' 3r> The hurdy-gurdy or dance houses were features of every center. One of them is described as follows : "At one end of a long hall a well stocked bar and a monte bank in full blast ; at the other a platform on which were three musicians. After each dance there was a drink at the bar. The house was open from 9 P. M. until day-light. Every dance was $1.00 half to the woman and half to the proprietor. Publicly, decorum was pre- served ; and to many miners, who had not seen a feminine face for six months, these poor women represented vaguely something of the tenderness and sacredness of their sex. ' ' 3G Most of the hurd- ies were German women, who followed the business for gain the majority homely enough, but some good dancers. It is a mis- take to confuse these dance halls with houses of prostitution; seldom did one of these women become a prostitute, and some of them settled down in the country and became good wives. 38 The lighter side of the dancing was sung in Cariboo Rhymes : 1 ' Bonnie are the hurdies ! The German Hurdie-Gurdies ! The daftest hour that e'er I spent Was dancing wi 'the hurdies ! " 39 34 Montana Post, Jan. 21, 1865. 35 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, June 25, 1864. 38 Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi, p. 480. 38 A very much respected pioneer told me that he had known a number of these women and had heen acquainted with their later careers, and that all had turned out well. 39 Jeames' Letters to Sau-nie, quoted in Bancroft, His. Pac. States, Vol. XXVII, p. 519. [286] TRIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE 151 The other side was presented by the Montana Post, which as- serted that the hurdy-gurdy houses exercised a most pernicious influence, particularly in that they helped to pauperize labourers ; too often they were scenes of quarreling, violence, and drunk- enness. There seemed to be a "desire to run everything in the shape of amusements beyond all safe limits. ' ' 40 There were houses of prostitution in practically all towns, and vice flaunted itself more openly than in older communities. "A bespangled and flounced woman of costly garments" was not in- frequently seen on the streets, while on the trails might occasion- ally be met small companies of "things calling themselves women", dressed in men's clothing and with revolvers strapped to their waists, and some of these even dared the rugged trails to Cariboo. 41 For the -steady part of the population there were gathering places seldom taken into account in the history of mining com- munities. Quiet citizens would gather in some store, as that of George Chrissman at Bannack City and of Pfouts at Virginia City, and there, seated on stools, benches, and boxes, would tell strange experiences or discuss grave questions. But generally the talk fell naturally on mines; for, to "find mines, to plant mining communities occupied industrial attention." 42 There were halls where fraternal organizations might gather, or a neighborhood dance be held. Miners of studious tastes might form public libraries, as at Helena. 42a Church buildings, also, were early erected in most of the larger towns, and in them Sun- day schools were carried on, more or less regular preaching serv- ices held, and occasional special meetings called. In trying to find out the characteristics of the population, at whose amusements we have glanced, two extremes are to be avoided: The one is the view of those superficial writers who, 40 Montana Post, Jan. 14, 1865. 41 Pilgrimage of W. 8. Haskell and Family to the gold regions in 1864, MS. entry May 4 ; San Francisco Daily Bulletin, July 18, 1863. 42 Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana, Col. W. F. Sanders, MS. * 2 a Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. VII, p. 187. The Historical Society of Montana was incorporated in 1865 by H. S. Hosmer, C. P. Higgins, John Owen, James Stuart, W. F. Sanders, Malcolm Clark, P. M. Thompson, William Graham, Granville Stuart, W. W. DeLacy, C. E. Irvine, and Charles Baggs. Contr His Soc. Mont., Vol. II, p. 19. [287] 152 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN seizing on the unusual, unconventional, or abnormal features of the life of the mining communities, and especially regarding the exploits of desperadoes, conclude that ruffianism and violence were the normal qualities of these communities; the other (and the more forgiveable) is that of some of the pioneers who, look- ing back through mellowing years, and remembering the good and true men who formed the majority of the mining populace, forget some of the undeniably bad blots upon the society of the time. In truth, for the observer wishing to be impartial, a great deal depends upon one 's point of view. If he undertakes to apply to mining communities the conventional standards of conduct which ruled in the sixties in quiet villages of the East, he will find sufficient transgressions to shock him ; and these standards were precisely those that were applied by some of the writers of the time. They inferred that, since miners generally were profane and reckless and did not keep the Sabbath, often gambled and drank, and wore weapons habitually, therefore they were violent, ignorant, and depraved, ready for any depth of sin or crime. Moreover, the impressions given by such witnesses are some- times confirmed by some of the pioneers themselves who, finding the outrageous side of life most eagerly listened to, put to the fore in their accounts murders, robberies, and brawls. On the other hand, the impartial student, without in the least denying or seeking to palliate what was ugly, will not overlook essential traits of manhood, but will remember that most of the mining populace were young men, far from the restraints of home ; that they had come, many of them, from the less exhilarating atmo- sphere of lower altitudes, to the splendid invigoration of moun- tain air and outdoor life, and, consequently, effervesced with energy; that their excesses were often reactions against the monotony of their toil ; and that many of them earned large sums of money quickly and, feeling certain that they could replace them easily in the apparently endless succession of new fields, spent their treasure prodigally. Above all, he who seeks a just estimate of mining populations, as of any other, will make gen- eral statements cautiously. Perhaps the best way of approaching the matter is to start with [288] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 153 the observation of a careful and experienced participant in the mining advance, who wrote that "Society was divided into two classes the good and the bad. ' ' 43 This observation is, of course, true of society in general, but to that of mining camps it is par- ticularly apropos, since ties of friendship and associations, in the absence often of more defined regulations of society, were pecu- liarly close. The "bad" classes were represented in some camps by an in- ferior lot of hangers-on who were lazy and unenterprising ; but a lazy man stood a good chance of starving, and the hobo class was conspicuously absent. 44 It took a man to face the long journeys to the mines and the vicissitudes of life there. There were also some mere rowdies who might participate in a riot at times, but who were easily cowed by Judge Begbie in British Columbia or by the mere mention of a vigilante committee in the territories. 45 But the really bad class, the class that did so much to give a bad name to mining communities, were the desperadoes. These were often brave men gone wrong, who had formed criminal tendencies and associations in California, and who continued their evil as- sociations in the various camps of the northern interior, until finally they were graduated into very bad, overbearing, and dangerous criminals. Many of the murders so often mentioned in characterizations of mining communities, were simply killings of one or the other of these men by another of the same class ; but not infrequently, allured by large amounts of treasure carried by travelers, or by a rancher's scattered horses (both a form of plunder not hard to dispose of), and emboldened by the unor- ganized and unprotected condition of society, these villains banded themselves together for most atrocious rapine and mur- der, directed against quiet citizens. The numbers of this class, however, were very small compared to the whole population. One of the most noticeable characteristics of the miners as a class, on the other hand, was that they were law-abiding and or- derly. The very nature of their occupations made them that. Men who were seriously working rich claims, or making large 43 Butler, Life and Times in Idaho, MS., p. 9. 44 Conversation with Judge W. Y. Pemberton, of Helena. 45 Pemberton. J. D., Van. Id. and Br. Col., pp. 130-1. [289] 154 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN wages, could not afford to commit crimes, if they wanted to. Most of the miners, moreover, were men of good antecedents, a fact as true) of the large foreign element as of the Anglo-Saxon. The Germans and Frenchmen who came to the mining regions were not gutter spawn, but often younger sons of good families, or peasants; and they were well trained to obedience to law. Moreover, the men who came from California had had good training in participating in the evolution of customs and laws of the mining camps ; and, besides, being now older than when they had first gone to California, they were the more inclined to ways of steadiness. 46 The testimony of the sources in regard to the law-abiding instincts of the miners is clear and practically unan- imous, and this is especially true of the sources dealing with British Columbia. Although the officials there had been warned that these men were the ragtags and off-scourings of the universe, they were surprised to find, like Judge Begbie, that the miners "manifested a great desire to see justice fairly done and great patience with the difficulties which the magistrates and the ju- diciary have had to contend with." 47 Again, the same distin- guished judge observed, "There was on all sides a submission to authority, a recognition of the right, which, looking to the mixed nature of the population, and the very large predominance of the Californian element, I confess I had not expected to meet. ' J48 The proportion of the law-abiding element in the American ter- ritories is probably fairly expressed by Mr. Hailey, who says, ' ' I think I may truthfully say that ninety-five per cent of these people were good, industrious, honorable and enterprising, and to all appearances desired to make money in a legitimate way. ' ' The law-abiding instincts of the miners and as well another chief characteristic, their virility, are interestingly brought out in a letter, tinged perhaps with idealism, to The London Times: 46 These considerations with respect to the foreign element, were earnestly presented to me by Dr. James S. Helmcken, son-in-law of Sir James Douglas and Speaker of the first Assembly of Vancouver Island. He had every oppor- tunity to observe the miners closely and had no reason to be prejudiced in their favor. 47 Quoted from Judge Begbie in Pemberton, J. D., Van Id. and Br. Col., p. 130-1. 48 Journal of the Koiial Geographical Society, Vol. XXXI, p. 247. 49 His. of Idaho, p. 91. [290] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 155 ''All who come to British Columbia, be they gentle, be they simple, whatever their class or previous calling, must be men, true men, resolute", persevering, cheerful, temperate men, men of dauntless character. They need not be strong men, particularly, but if not strong in body, nor particularly inured to hardship as to constitution, they must be hardy in mind. They must be of the stuff on which England's glory is founded. If they are puny, or complaining, or talkative, imaginative fellows, they had better stay at home where they are. In a state of society more or less artificial they may find a living, but not here. They will die, and scarcely, if at all, be regreted by anybody. Here we revert to first principles in all things ; and I am happy to say the miners of British Columbia as a body are the very finest fellows I ever caine across hardy fellows, heroes, in a kind of way. Of course there are exceptions, but I speak of the mass, and I make no distinction of nation. We have British subjects, English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, French, German, Dane, Swede, Norwegian, Spaniard, Italian, Mexican, United States, Confederate States in fact bone and sinew, life and energy, skimmed as the cream from the manliness of all nations. That is my opinion of the miners of British Co- lumbia, and I would wish it to be openly declared as against all who may gainsay it; don't let anybody believe they are a people unsafe to live among. I mention this because absurd tales are told (and I am sorry to say the foolish practice among them of carrying revolvers gives a sort of color to it) of the wild reck- lessness and violence of the miners. If a person will mind his own business, keep a civil tongue in his head, look straight into a man's eye, and fear nobody, he will lead as quiet a life as he can desire. As a body the miners are above average intelligence, and fully recognize the value of law and order, and are always ready to maintain it." 50 The virile qualities of the miners are emphasized, also, by another English observer, as follows : ' * In- tent on speedy gain they are ready to brave every risk, face every hardship and privation. Dauntless, fearless, and restless, they will brook no opposition nor restraint, but with a wild self-de- The London Times, Jan. 30th, 1862. [291] 156 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN pendence of character plunge wherever gold attracts them, de- fying everything, and surmounting all obstacles. " :>1 Besides being law-abiding and virile, the average miner was in- telligent. In a population ' ' coming from all parts of the world, drawn from every social grade, animated by the most diverse ideas and principles, differing in every essential particular nec- essary to social or moral organization", the abrasions of society were themselves educative. 52 Not a few of the miners were men of education. Books, magazines, or newspapers were found commonly in the cabins, and were often conned to good advan- tage in winter. One of the first things that Morley did on set- tling down at Bannack (Montana) was to order magazines from Salt Lake ; Goulder at Oro Fino (Idaho) in the long winter even- ings read Scott 's novels to his comrades ; in British Columbia the Bishop found miners at Cariboo possessing copies of Gibbon, Macaulay, Shakspeare, and Plutarch. 53 Since the miners, how- ever, were rough in appearance, travelers sometimes misjudged them. Mrs. Leighton, journeying on the upper Columbia in the '49, looked with suspicion on the miners aboard, but found them interesting on acquaintance: one of a company collected for a wagon trip ' * looked like a brigand with his dark hair and eyes ' ' ; but when in addition tQ showing thorough knowledge of the country through which they were passing he talked about the "soft Spanish names of places in California", and of "the primi- tive forms in which minerals crystallized", and told of the gal- lantry of the miners when the ' * Central America ' ' was wrecked, she concluded that he would have been * * interesting anywhere. ' ' 54 The Bishop of Columbia thought that his congregations at Vic- toria contained a "larger proportion of shrewd, thinking, intel- ligent educated gentlemen than any in England out of Lon- don. " 54 The characteristic most dwelt upon, however, by participants in the mining rushes was enterprise. This characteristic is em- 81 Cornwallis, Tlie yew El Dorado, p. 10. 62 The Gregonian, June 28, 1861. 63 Morley, J. IL, Diary, MS., Sept. 21, 1862; Goulder, W. A., Reminiscences, p. 221-2 ; Extracts from the Journal of the Bishop of British Columbia, 1862-3. 54 Leighton, Caroline C., Life at Puget Sound, with Sketches of Travel, pp. 93-99. 5! a Columbian Mitswm. Occasional Papers, 1862, p. 7. [292] TRIMBLE -MINING ADVANCE 157 phasized, rather naively, in a few lines of rhyme from Idaho City : * i I 'm standing now upon the hill That looks down on the town. I 'm thinking of that mighty will Which never can bow down ; I mean the will of Enterprise That made our nation grow, And from these Indian wilds built up The town of Idaho." 55 Enterprise is placed foremost by the Montana Post in an esti- mate of the mining population an estimate which mentions, also, some other interesting characteristics. ' ' The great features of our people," it said, "are enterprise, restless activity and con- tempt of danger or privation. Hospitality is general and un- affected. There is a sort of rough, though genuine courtesy much in vogue among mountaineers, that makes them excellent com- panions in danger or hardship. Men of education may meet their fellows here. Majors, colonels, judges, and doctors in- clude about one-third of the adult males, but the reverence usually accorded to those high-sounding cognomens is left at home ; and in the gulch Major Blank wheels, while Colonel Carat fills." 00 Nicknames were often used, "extemporized from some per- sonal eccentricity, some notable expression, or event of experi- ence. " If a man seemed educated, he might be called * ' doc ' ' or "cap", a large man would be called Big Bill or Big Jim. Fre- quent reference to place whence he had come might result in * ' Eattlesnake Jack " or " Oregon Bob ' '. One man who was fond of displaying an array of initials and titles was called "Alphabet McD ". These designations were sometimes especially handy, in cases where an individual had some delicacy about his real name. 57 ' Boise News, Aug. 20. 1S64. 56 Montana Pest, June 28, 1865. 57 Material for this paragraph is found mostly in Macfie, Van Id. and Br. Col., p. 414. This author makes another observation which I have not come across elsewhere, when he says that the "intense pitch to which the feelings of people are strung in a gold-producing country is a frequent cause for insanity", p. 410. [293] 158 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN The mining population was one extremely nomadic often disastrously so to the individual. The old wander-lust stirred the blood mightily, and especially so in the spring. The call of new and rich diggings, even though deceptive, was seldom re- sisted. "What a clover-field is to a steer," wrote the Oregonian with somewhat crude humor, ' ' the sky to the lark a mudhole to a hog, such are new diggings to a miner. Feed him on a success- sion of new diggings, and his youth would be perennial. ' ' 58 For- gotten were rheumatism, toil, and disappointments when reports of big strikes circulated. An old miner on being asked by the Bishop of Columbia why the old-time miners had not realized fortunes, answered that they were "always agitated by news of rich diggings" and that they gave up good paying claims on hear-say reports, and often came back impoverished. "I my- self," he added, "if I hear of anything better cannot keep quiet; I must be off." 59 That humor lightened many of the troubles of the miners and played over and through their experiences, is suggested by a few specimens that glimmer through our sources. The humor was sometimes irreverent and grotesque ; as, for example, concerning a supposedly conceited nominee for the Legislature, an unfriendly critic remarked, "If that chap is elected to the Legislature, God '0 mighty 's overcoat wouldn't make a vest pattern for him". It was generally picturesque, descriptive, and full of slang, as "two squaw-power," concerning two Indian women paddling a canoe; "Boston jackasses," applied to men labouring under packs to Salmon Eiver; "jawbone" (signifying credit) and " gumticklers " and "flashes of lightning" different kinds of liquors. Sometimes the humor was grim ; as talk of a vigilante organization for a "mid-air dance", or, on rumor of the asser- tion of Indian titles to miners' claims, the remark that the In- dians would need to be " armor-plated. ' ' A pun might crop out ; as in commenting on lack of interest in education on the part of a quartz community, it was remarked that "a large majority of the fathers prefer the development of feet to the head." A more subtle form appeared in the case of a miner who by re- 58 Oregonian, July 12, 1862. 69 Journal of Bishop of Columbia, p. 15. [294] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 159 peated experiences having found an acquaintance of no account, characterized the unfortunate by saying, "I have panned him out clear down to bed rock, but I couldn't raise the color." The profanity of the miners was omnipresent, exuberant, "diabolical", and habitual. Men were not unlikely to swear unconsciously when their thoughts were really of higher things. One miner was over-heard by the Bishop of Columbia swearing roundly as he defended the Church; "What would society be without it ? " he asked with an oath, ' ' I tell you it has a refining influence." 60 Lack of observance of Sunday was everywhere prevalent. On that day the miner, (if he discontinued usual labor) washed and patched his clothing, cooked up food for the next week, mended broken tools ; or he went to town to get his pick sharpened, get the mail, settle his accounts, meet his fellows, and have a good time. Sunday, indeed, in the towns was generally the liveliest day of the week. Dance halls, saloons, and gambling houses ran full blast, and usually there was a horse-race or prize-fight. Business places were all open. The rector at Cariboo had hard work getting church officers from among the business men, be- cause any one accepting an office would be expected to close his store on Sunday and would thus be at a disadvantage. An Idaho law which forbade court procedures on Sunday had to be modi- fied so as to permit taxation of packers who waited until Sunday to bring in their trains, and to allow issuance of attachments on that day, in order to stop absconding of debtors. 61 In extenua- tion of this Sabbath-breaking, it may be said that the men really had few, except reminiscent, motives for observing the day, and that in the mining season it was necessary to push all work hard ; another reason for Sunday work appealed to steady men like J. H. Morley, who writes, "Thinking of loved ones at home, it seems no sin in this savage country to exert oneself on their be- half , on the Sabbath. " 62 In addition to what has been said in preceding pages in regard to the relations of miners to women, two or three other phases 80 Journal, p. 45. 91 Occasional Papers, Columbian Mission, 1869, p. 66 ; Idaho World. Jau 6 1866. 62 Diary, July 19, 1863. [295] 160 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN need to be presented. In the American territories there seems to have been a clearly marked antipathy to miscegenation, while in British Columbia this feeling was less clear. In Idaho, the legis- lature passed a law forbidding cohabitation with Indians, Chi- nese, or Negroes. In British Columbia, if we are to believe the reports of the clergy, there was noticeable resort to concubinage with Indian squaws, or * ' klootchmen, ' ' as they were there called. "In all these settlements," writes the Rev. James Reynard on a trip in the interior, "the great, the crying evils are Indian con- cubinage, and the poor neglected half-breed families." Again, as he comments on the degradation, which the Indian connection at last produced, he exclaims, "English mothers and sisters! do you know how your sons and brothers live away from you?" 63 There was, however, little abandonment of Indian families by white fathers. One fact stands out conspicuously through ab- sence of literature of the time, whether north or south of the line : namely, there is no mention, so far as the author 'a reading extends, of any outrages committed upon white women by men of the mining advance, although, as we have seen, women were present in all mining communities. Rough society undoubtedly was, and in many respects, unat- tractive ; individuals there were who were sordid, mean, violent, disgraceful. But taken as a whole, for qualities of real man- hood chivalrousness toward women, hardihood, industry, intelli- gence, enterprise, and submission to law the mining population was worthy of respect. Mining society, however, was very heterogeneous and inco- herent a fact which made formal organization difficult; yet there were certain interesting bonds of union. In the first place, men from a given locality naturally grouped themselves with other men from that locality. Thus Califor- nians, Pike's Peakers, and Minnesotians especially at the start in any camp were inclined to act together. These groupings, however, made more difficult the establishment of law and in- creased the opportunities for the lawless classes to make trouble, since law-abiding citizens were not at first acquainted with the men of like mind from different sections. 63 Occasional Papers, Columbian Mission, Report of 1870, pp. 62-3 and 65. [296] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 161 Again, friendship in the mines formed a very real bond of union. In the midst of dangers and trying experiences men were drawn together into peculiarly close and enduring relation- ships. A man could count on his friends standing by him and he by them through every vicissitude of fortune. In sickness friends nursed a man ; if he got lost or was in danger of freezing, they hunted for him and succored him, or buried him ; if he was out of money, friends ' ' staked ' ' him. If he, on his part, found a new prospect, he would surely let his friends know of it and stake off claims for them; if a friend got into a fight, he would see that there was fair play; and, if that friend were in great danger, would hazard his own life in his defense. One of the very essentials of manhood was violated if fidelity to friends was lacking. It was the strength of such associations as these that helped to make more difficult the task of establishing law and order; for criminals themselves had their friends, some of whom might be well-intentioned citizens. It took a high degree of daring and determination for leaders on the side of law, in trying to bring criminals to justice, to confront not only the criminal, but his friends. On the other hand, when desperadoes shot down a good citizen, they would have to reckon with the lat- ter 's friends; as in the case of Lloyd Magruder, of Lewiston whose murderers were followed from Lewiston to San Francisco by Magruder 's friend, Hill Beachy, and brought back to the gal- lows. 64 Another tie that tended to unite separated " units of society " was Masonry. Brother Masons soon became known to each other, and lodges were formed in a number of places. T. M. Reed of Florence, elected Speaker of the Assembly of Washing- ton Territory in 1862, was a leading Mason. 65 The claim has been made that Masonry was an active, though quiet, force in bringing about order in Montana, and it is undoubtedly true that many of the leaders in that work were Masons. 68 w 'For an account of this case, see Hailey, His. of IdaJio, Chap. 14. Other sources for this paragraph are Cornwallis, The New El Dorado, p. 207 ; Contr. His. 8oc., Mon,, Vol. I, p. 124; remarks by Judge W. Y. Pemberton. Leaving a friend as narrated by Goulder in the case of some Jew traders, was an excep- tion to usual custom, Reminiscences, pp. 224-227. 65 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Jan. 2, 1863. Contr. His. Soc. Mon., Vol. VII, p. 186; Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways, [297]-- 162 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Of peculiar interest was another organization, which could not exist in British Columbia, but which in the Territories was conspicious and active. This was Fenianism. Local circles of Fenians were formed in many mining towns. The Owyhee circle numbered one hundred; strong organizations existed at Idaho City and Virginia City, and in Helena when, on St. Patrick's Day, 1869, twelve hundred men paraded, Fenian sentiment was rife. 67 These circles were given definite organization, having as officers a Center, Treasurer, Secretary and Committee of Safety. In Idaho there was, also, a territorial organization, of which John M. Murphy was Head Center, and a territorial convention was held in 1866 at Idaho City in the Hall of the Fenian Broth- erhood. 68 The Brotherhood in Idaho was affiliated with the national organization ; when a rupture occurred in that, however, the territorial Council was instructed "to adopt a line of policy in consonance with our brethern of California." 69 The Terri- torial Council and Center had entire control of the organization, save for the convention, and could act at any moment. 70 Each local center was to report monthly the number of members, their age, and whether married or single. The object was to be ready to co-operate in the grand simultaneous rising of Irishmen in Canada, England, and Ireland. England was vulnerable to the Fenians of Idaho and Montana, it was thought, in the possible seizure of British Columbia and the Hudson's Bay Company's territories. Strong and brave Irishmen would hew their way through the provinces and cross the sea, while their brethren at home were keeping England busy. Money was collected, and military training was carried on. It was sought to include in the ranks all Irishmen and, also, those who sympathized with their cause; the result of the latter classification being the in- clusion of many not Irishmen. Participation in American poli- tics was disavowed, but The Idaho Statesman charged that in Idaho Democratic politicians made use of Fenianism. 71 The so- Owyhee A Blanche, Jan. 16, 1869 ; Idaho World, June 30, 1866 ; Contr. His. 8oc., Mont., Vol. VI, p. 107. Idaho Wor7<7, May 28, 1866. 69 Id. 71 Idaho Weekly Statesman, April 22, 1866. [298] THIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 163 cial side was not passed over by this war-like brotherhood; a notable Fenian ball was given on one occasion at Idaho City by the Emmett Life Guards. 72 In bringing this chapter to a close, it may be profitable to give some special attention to the immigration to British Columbia from Great Britain. British Columbia, it was asserted, was especially suited to Eng- lishmen. "With respect to the colony", wrote a correspondent of The London Times, "I can safely say from some experience in these things in my many years of wandering service and knowl- edge of several colonies, that of all in the wide range of British empire not one is so well adapted for Englishmen in every re- spect and to found a family in. All may, with ordinary indus- try and prudence, gain a comfortable independence at an early period and many may make fortunes. The climate is that of Surrey or Kent rather earlier and safer in the spring as to agriculture and always with a thoroughly grain ripening sum- mer. ' ' 7?> The crags and dells of some parts of British Columbia seemed to Scotchmen very like those of their native land, and to English wanderers Christmas at Victoria, much more than at Melbourne or Calcutta, seemed like a Christmas at home. These considerations, intensified by the reports of the marvelous riches of Cariboo and promulgated in the columns of the greatly re- spected Times, produced early in 1862 a furore for migration to this splendid land of promise. 74 In England at this time, in addition to the usual poverty and misery among the poorer classes, there was the distress caused by the Civil War in the United States. In books on British Columbia written by Englishmen at this period, there constantly recur references to the crowded condition in England, the little chance that there was to rise in the world, and the hopeless out- look for old age. "The subject of emigration," wrote Mr. Mac- fie, "ought to be regarded by the Government and philanthro- pists as the most important national question that can engage public attention, for there is none more vitally connected with 72 Idaho World, June 30, 1866. "The London Times, Jan. 30, 1862. 74 Johnson, Very Far West Indeed, p. 1. [299] 164 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN the amelioration of poverty and the reduction of crime. You can have all sorts of societies, etc., but people ought to be taken out of debasing conditions." 15 In the old world, it was asserted, society was overburdened with the numerical strength of the labouring class. In new society conditions were reversed; the laborer there was "welcomed, not repulsed. His strong frame there represents one added unit of production from a boundless and untouched field of wealth which would otherwise be fallow, not an additional supplicant for the alms of society, derived from a circumscribed and over-farmed enclosure." 76 "If it were pos- sible," wrote Hazlitt, "to show many of those who are there [at Coventry] in a state of actual distress a high road by which they may secure for their industry and skill a sphere in a new land, by which they may find a home, and a vigorous one, in this dis- tant colony great good would no doubt be done. ' ' 77 In order to enlighten the distressed classes and to assist them to go to the new colony, it was suggested that emigration lectur- ers should be provided by the Imperial Government for giving instruction in the advantages of colonization. "Young crimi- nals/' it was urged, " susceptible of reform, might be sent with the consent of the colonists. ' ' 78 Since the Government of British Columbia was straining all its resources to construct roads, it had no money for free and assisted passages (such as were granted by other distant colonies) nor for taking care of immi- grants on arrival, and it was felt that the mother country ought to help pay the expenses for these objects; but the Imperial Government was following a policy of economy in the founding of British Columbia, and no aid was given. Private philanthro- phy was more generous, and the Columbian Emigration Society was formed as an adjunct of the Columbian Mission. Consid- erable money was contributed to the cause, among the prominent contributors being Miss Burdett-Coutts, the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and Cavan, Lubbock, and Company, each of whom gave "Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., p. 514. 76 Johnson, Very Far West Indeed, pp. 275-6. 77 Hazlitt, Cariboo, p. 80-81. "Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., p. 516. [300] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 165 one hundred pounds. Under the auspices of this society two ship-loads of female emigrants were sent to the colony. 79 A noticeable feature of the attitude of British philanthropic workers toward emigrants to British Columbia, as revealed in the various books of the time, is paternalism one might almost say grand-motherliness. Emigrants were to be incited to go. and were to be assisted and directed at every turn. Some of the directions were sufficiently ludicrous; as when one author includes in a long list of ' ' necessaries ' ' eighteen white or printed shirts, six coloured shirts, three dozen collars, and twenty-four pocket handkerchiefs. 80 At the auctions on the street corners in Victoria, one might see put up articles utterly useless to men expecting to face the rough up-country dress-suits, dressing cases, and even, in one instance, an elaborate wash-stand. 81 Men who knew conditions, however, advised very simple outfits, such as those used by American frontiersmen. The large emigration of 1862, while it contained a sprinkling of experienced Welsh and Cornish miners and of veteran colo- nists from Australia and New Zealand, for the most part was made up of men without capital and utterly unused to manual labor clerks, impecunious university men, "prodigal sons, and a host of other romantic non-de-scripts who indulged in visions of sudden wealth obtainable with scarcely more exertion than is usually put forth in a pleasure excursion to the continent of Europe." 82 Governor Douglas was besieged by applicants for positions, who bore letters from influential persons in England. Answering a letter of a member of Parliament, who had men- tioned two emigrants he wrote as follows : ' ' The number of re- spectable young men now arriving from England and other parts of the world is very great and many of them I fear will be disappointed, unless they are prepared for the roughs and: smooths of Colonial life and have a command of capital sufficient to embark in farming or in the opening and working of mining claims ; either of these pursuits being highly lucrative, and would 'Hazlitt, Cariboo, pp. 80-82; Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col.,. pp. 493-7; Sir James Douglas, Correspondence Book, pp. 64-67, MS. ^Hazlitt, Cariboo, p. 86. 81 Johnson, Very Far West Indeed, p. 49-50. 82 Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., p. 76. [301] 166 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN afford a profitable return, but without pecuniary resources or the capacity to labor their condition will be deplorable." 83 The dreams of these immigrants faded, when, on arrival at Victoria, they found themselves still hundreds of miles from Car- iboo, and facing a journey which involved endless privations and discomforts on the way and hard manual labor at the end. Many went part way and turned back, but a few went through and did well. Hundreds of young gentlemen who had arrived at Vic- toria with jaunty air and much luggage were reduced in the following winter to chopping wood and grubbing stumps to es- cape starvation. They found that the class distinctions, to which they were accustomed at home, were of no avail in the vigorous Bnd impartial life of the new colony ; Oxford or Cambridge m?n might be found laboring for servants now prosperous butchers, draymen, or returned miners on whom they had looked down at home. 84 Such men, naturally, were bitterly disappointed in the coun- try, and their letters and narratives complained greatly of tK privations which they endured in this uncivilized part of the world. In commenting on these complaints, The London Times printed a suggestive editorial, part of which read as follows: * ' The emigrant to British Columbia would find a soil as fertile and a climate as agreeable as those left behind him. The colony, in fact, was precisely what so many people have sighed for in the struggles of a home career. It was a Britain without competi- tion and without social difficulties, where the land was still un- appropriated and men were worth more than money. What might have been done in England before the landing of Julius Caesar might be done in British Columbia at the present day. It could only be done, however, at the same cost and that fact should never be forgotten. When England was all common, 83 Sir James Douglas to Hon. C. Fortesque M. P., Correspondene Book, MS., p. 67. A different kind of British participation in the life of the new colony at this period was manifested when British capital began to come into the colony more freely. The Bank of British Columbia was founded by English capitalists and had, besides the main office at Victoria, agencies at Nanaimo, New Westminster, Yale, and Cariboo. Id., p. 33 ; Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., p. 87. 54 Macfie. Van. Id. and Br. Col, p. 412. This author observes (p. 77), that even if the immigration had been of a sort best suited to a new country, "A much larger number came than the country, with a deficient supply of roads was prepared to receive." [302] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 167 and any man might have an estate for the choosing, England was without roads or bridges, or the other adjuncts of civilization. It was just as hard to get from the Thames to the Humber as it is to get from Victoria to Cariboo. Improvements and prop- erty came together. No accommodations can be expected on No Man's Land. * * * British Columbia is open to occupiers only because it has never been occupied, and a country which has never been occupied cannot be traversed without difficulty or settled without hardships. 85 Through trials, indeed, a process of selection was going on. Authors who wrote before 1862 urged immigration indiscrimi- nately, but those who wrote after that time are careful to point out classes which might come and those who should stay at home. It was to be remembered that the problem of life was simplified in the colonies, and that there were no aristocratic middlemen who spring forth from the * ' luxurious habits and super-abundant wealth of thickly-populated districts. 88 Hence, educated men persons not nationals were excluded from trade on the Fraser Eiver. 9 In fact there was a tangle of interests at this time, and Gover- nor Douglas, standing at the central point of the swift whirl of events and somewhat apprehensive of the American advance, with strong feeling of loyalty to the great company for whose interests he had so long planned and toiled, yet with some promptings of imperialism and with growing ambition for dis- tinction in the Colonial Service, by no means, indeed, unmind- ful of the welfare of the miners, pursued a conservative and tentative course. All legislation for British Columbia up to the formal announcement (in November, 1858) of the annulment of the Hudson's Bay Company's License to Trade and of the establishment of the new government was exigent and temporary. On the whole, British Columbia may be counted fortunate that there was available in her hurried birth throes at the time of a great mining rush a man who knew thoroughly the country, who was intimately acquainted with the Indians and with Indian 8 See Steven's letter to Secretary Cass, Cornwallis, New El Dorado, p. 336 also, for various points of view consult id., pp. 392-400. ' British Columbia Proclamations, p. 7. [326] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 191 habits, and who was trained in a great administrative system a man masterful and firm (if at times, perhaps, mistakenly so) and at any rate, a man who applied himself with diligence and devotion and thoughtfulness to a great work. The British co- lonial administration system did not always have at hand men of the calibre of Douglas, and so, in any comparison of the gov- ernmental systems north and south of the Line, it is at least fair to make allowance for the happy coincidence, in the case of British Columbia, of a formative time and a superior leader. The home government was not dilatory in taking the necessary steps for the establishment of government in "certain wild and unoccupied territories on the northwest coast of North America, commonly known by the designation of New Caledonia. " The act to provide for the government of British Columbia was passed August 2, 1858. In the preamble it was declared that "it is desirable to make some temporary provision for the civil government of such territories, until permanent settlements shall be thereupon established, and the number of colonists increased ' '. The most important clause was that which empowered Her Maj- esty by orders in council "to make, ordain and establish, and (sub- ject to such conditions or restrictions as to her shall seem meet) to authorize and empower such officer as she may from time to time appoint as Governor of British Columbia, to make pro- vision for the administration of justice therein, and generally to make, ordain, and establish all such laws, institutions, and or- dinances as may be necessary for the peace, order and good gov- ernment of her Majesty's subjects and others therein", provided that all such orders in council, and all laws and ordinances, "shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as con- veniently may be after the making and enactment thereof re- spectively." It was to be lawful for her Majesty, whenever she might judge it convenient by an order in council to empower the governor to constitute a legislature to be composed of a Council or Council and Assembly, "to be composed of such and so many persons, and to be appointed or elected in such manner and for such periods, and subject to such regulations, as to her Majesty may seem expedient". Appeals in civil suits might be taken to her Majesty in council in the same manner as suits [327] 192 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN in Canada, but subject to such further regulations as her Maj- esty, with the advice of the Privy Council, might enact. No part of the colony of Vancouver Island was to be comprised within the new colony, but on the reception of an address from the two houses of the legislature of Vancouver's Island, her Majesty might annex that colony to British Columbia. The act was to continue in force until the end of the then next session of parlia- ment. 10 Some interesting features are found in the debates in parlia- ment upon this act. There was very considerable hostility shown towards the Hudson's Bay Company and, therewith, adverse criticism of Governor Douglas. Some members showed compre- hension of the trials of a young mining community; as, for ex- ample, Mr. Roebuck, who declared his belief that lynch law really might be a beneficial institution. Mr. Gladstone some- what passionately protested against the mode of founding a col- ony as outlined in the act, for it allowed too autocratic power, he asserted, to the Crown and to the governor of the colony. Sir E. Bulwer Lytton in defense said that the immediate object was to establish temporary law and order; and added that, besides the promising outlook in gold mining, "more national, if less exciting, hopes of the importance of the colony rest upon its other resources * * * and upon the influence of its mag- nificent situation upon the ripening grandeur of British North America." 11 The position of governor was conferred upon Mr. Douglas on strict condition of his giving up all connection with the Hud- son's Bay Company; but he still continued to be governor of Vancouver Island. Matthew Bailie Begbie was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and other officials were named by the Crown for the positions of Colonial Secretary, Treasurer, Attorney General, Commissioner of Lands and Sur- veyor General, Collector of Customs, Chief Inspector of Police, Eegister General and Harbor Master. 12 The new colony was 10 British State Papers, 1858-9, pp. 739-42 ; a copy of the Act is found also in Cornwallis, New El Dorado, pp. 317-22. 11 Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, pp. 1096-1121 and 1762-1770. 12 The London Times, March 24, 1859 ; British Columbia Proclamations, p. 151. [328] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 193 formally declared at Langley, November 19, 1858. Proclama- tions were issued at the same time which declared English law in force in British Columbia and which indemnified the gov- ernor for previous acts. 13 Before we proceed to discuss the main features of the admin- istration of Governor Douglas, it may be well to make some inquiry as to his personality. In stature above six feet and well-proportioned, he exhibited in his bearing a certain stateli- ness, tinged, perhaps, with self consciousness. His face was clear-cut, though at this period weather-beaten, and his fea- tures suggested most prominently intellectuality, determination, and quickness of action. His manner was generally austere, but on occasion agreeable and even jolly. Both by training and temperament he was masterful, and at times autocratic and arbitrary. 14 But he was a just man, and on the whole managed to get along well with the miners and to command their respect and a measure of their affection. 15 He worked hard, and even hostile critics admitted that he possessed ''considerable energy, with some ability and power of organization." Though these critics constantly harp on the idea that he was unfit for office because of having "lived beyond the pale of civilized life for more than thirty years", they concede that he was "not in- different to mental culture," and that since becoming governor * ' he has read hard for information. ' ' 16 One of the best ways by which to get a just view of the real 14 British Columbia Proclamations, pp. 23-27. 14 In the San Juan affair, for example, the conduct of Douglas was precipitate and arbitrary ; most serious consequences were averted mainly through the mod- eration of the officers of the British fleet. Governor Douglas had given Cap- tain Hornby authority to prevent the landing of the United States troops and the erection of military works. See letter to Cap. Hornby, Correspondence Book, MS., 2nd of Aug. 1859. Again, writing to Mr. Chartres Brew concern- ing the payment of miners' licenses the Governor wrote, "The miners must be prepared with coin to pay their dues when demanded. The time of the officers cannot be taken up in weighing out small portions of gold dust."- Miscel. Letters, MS., Vol. I, p. 215. 16 "The moral habit of the man was justice",-Letter of Mr. G. M. Sproat to Mr. E. O. L. Scholefield; "The boys all thought a good deal of him", Remin- iscences of Wm. Stout, MS. 18 Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., pp. 363-95 ; McDonald, Br. Col. and Van. Id., p. 272. A friendly observer wrote that "it seems astonishing how he gets through his work ; but, as he sticks close, at it early and late, I suppose an active life suits him." The London Times, Jan. 19, 1859. [329] 194 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN character of Governor Douglas is by the perusal of the letters in his Correspondence Book, 1859-1864, which is in the provin- cial archives at Victoria. These letters were, for the most part, informal, many of them being written to friends. Humor is lacking in them, though there is an occasional touch of sarcasm. But there is in them no trace of lamentation, conceit, malicious- ness, or unmanliness. They show constant courtesy, very con- siderable thoughtfulness and kindliness, rather wide per- spective, and some capacity for enthusiasm, together with a meas- ure of characteristic pompousness ; and, in general, they are sin- cere, vigorous, wholesome. While for the composition of his- letters he may have at times relied upon others, often he wrote them himself, and he had command of plain, direct English. 17 There was no doubt of the whole-hearted devotion of Governor Douglas to his work : ' * I cannot express, ' ' he wrote near the close of his official career, "the interest I feel in the welfare of these colonies, they have for years been the objects of my tenderest care. Every step in the process of construction has been anx- iously studied 'V s The estimate of Governor Douglas's work by the Imperial Government was shown by his being created Companion of the Bath and later raised to be Knight Commander of the Bath. Through most of the career of Sir James Douglas in the serv- ice of the Crown, however, he encountered much obloquy and opposition. This was, in part, due to the formation in Victoria of a factious opposition party, headed by James Cooper, Har- bour master of Victoria, and Amor De Cosmos, editor of the British Colonist; in part, to a real grievance of the people of British Columbia. 19 17 For example in a letter, apparently of his own composition, he wrote to a magistrate : "I must enjoin upon you and all other magistrates in British Columbia to permit no relaxation in the laws of the land : let their provisions be rigidly enforced and all the powers of justice arrayed against offenders in order that rogues and vagabonds of every degree especially thieves and gamblers may be rooted out of the country". Letter to Mr. Bevis, Miscl. Letters, MS., Vol. I, p. 63. Mr. G. M. Sproat says that he had seen Douglas revise the drafts of some of his letters five or six times. Note from Judge F. W. Howay. 18 Letter to Mr. Good, Correspondence Book, Dec. 10, 1863. 19 De Cosmos' own account of his warfare against Douglas carries rather a flippant tone. He was a native of Nova Scotia who had gone to California, and from fhere "sick and tired of the heat of the interior," had come to- [330] TRIMBLEMIMING ADVANCE 195 The people of that colony (whose demands were voiced, in particular, by New Westminster) disliked to be ruled by a Governor who resided most of the time at Victoria and whose interests, they thought, would lead him to favor the merchants of Victoria at the expense of British Columbia. 20 Moreover, it was asserted that a free British people were under an autocratic rule and were refused representative institutions how differ- ent, they said, was the condition in the American territories and that Governor Douglas desired to perpetuate this state of affairs. The Governor believed that representative government was not feasible, until the British element in the colony would become stronger. 21 Moreover he was probably not averse to autocratic rule. "I, James Douglas " was prominent at the heads of his proclamations. His powers, indeed, were very extensive : he issued a proclamation enabling the Governor to convey Crown lands and followed that by an ordinance on the same subject; the full power of taxation was in his hands, and he raised large sums ; he incurred an indebtedness of more than half a million dollars; and he promulgated a code of laws for the mining regions, and created an effective administration system for carrying it into effect. 22 While there was danger of abuse in such powers if exercised unworthily, and while Governor Douglas persisted, perhaps, somewhat too long in post- poning representative institutions, yet some sound arguments may be adduced in defense of such a system for newly-formed mining communities, as he administered. A thoughtful obser- ver wrote as follows concerning conditions in the mining corn- Victoria. He had been but few months in Victoria when he prepared a peti- tion for the removal of Governor Douglas on the ground that he was obnoxious to the people and that in him the Hudson's Bay Company interests predomi- nated ; and he obtained for the petition one hundred seventeen names. "That agitation", says De Cosmos, "went on from year to year. It did not have any effect." De Cosmos, Governments of British Columbia. MS. 20 See supra, p. 113. Indeed it did seem strange for the Governor of British Columbia to issue a proclamation for legalizing acts of His Honor Chief Justice Begbie, while the latter was in Victoria : British Columbia Proclamations, p. 32. 21 British Columbian, Feb. 28, 1861. 22 British Columbia Proclamations, pp. 55, 67, 121, 129, 139, and 142. One extreme form of tax was that of $5 upon every load of a pack animal proceed- ing to the mines ; such an outcry was raised against this tax both by the miners and by the merchants of Victoria, that it was never put into force, Id., p. 73 ; San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Apr. 2, 1860. [331] 196 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN munities south of the Line : * ' The people east of the Cascades are wanting in some of the most essential elements and conditions for a successful representative government. They are mostly scattered about in mining camps without families or any of the conservative influences of home, or on the road going to and fro in search of better luck. The majority of them are in no way attached to the soil, and may be in Cariboo or Australia a year hence. Yet of all people, they have most need of a gov- ernment not the complex and elegant machinery of a repre- sentative one, commencing with a primary meeting and ending in a legislative enactment a year afterwards, but a simple executive 'government with ample power for emergencies and a somewhat summary method." 23 The unprejudiced historian may, perhaps, wisely sum up the matter in the words of one, who, while naturally favoring Governor Douglas, yet presents reasonable considerations: ''The necessity of a representative government has been urged upon arguments which, however legitimate in themselves, become fallacious under certain circum- stances. Indeed, it is difficult to perceive how, with hastily accumulated population, chiefly consisting of foreigners of many nationalities, it would have been possible to organize a system of representation adequate to the end in view. It may further be questioned whether any purely representative gov- ernment, hastily convened, could have accomplished so speedily, and it has proved judiciously, that which has been effected under a system, which, if less accordant with our constitutional ideas, has certainly in the present case; answered the desired end." 24 One fact, at any rate, stands out prominently in any com- parison between the executive government of British Columbia and those formed on the representative principle in the Ameri- can territories : namely, that in British Columbia, crime was promptly and justly dealt with, and that there never was a lynch- ing nor a vigilante committee, nor occasion for either ; while in the American Territories there was scarcely one important camp which did not have some "statistics of blood" and where there 23 Correspondent of San Francisco Daily Bulletin, June 30, 1863. 24 Anderson, Alexander Caulfield, History of the Northwest Coast, MS. [332] TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 197 was not some sort of lynching or some form of a vigilante committee. 25 Not that there were no murders in British Colum- bia 1 , for there were such occasionally, and criminals sometimes escaped across the border; but generally on the committing of a crime a magistrate was soon on the spot, and instant measures were taken for bringing culprits to justice without delay and without interference of the people. It is safe to say, I think, that order was as well kept and law as well administered in British Columbia during the mining rushes, as in any older community having good law and order. It is fair, on the other hand, to remember that the United States was in the midst of a trying war, and that the best administrators of the northwest had been withdrawn for service in the war, but still the differ- ence is so pronounced as to suggest that it arose mainly from the differences between the systems of government in the two regions. There was no essential difference in the characteristics of the mining populations ; Cariboo in the United States would have been an ideal field for road-agents and vigilante commit- ties, and Kootenay was near the border. But in British Co- lumbia there was Law, and an Executive, arid a Chief Justice, and a Magistracy that expected obedience, and the mining pop- ulation rendered obedience willingly. Of all the forces that in the mining camps of British Columbia made for law and order none was more potent than the work of His Honor, Matthew Baillie Begbie, Judge of the Supreme Court. Something of the character of the man we catch in a letter to Judge Begbie from Governor Douglas, written near the close of the latter 's term of office, which does honor to both men: "I may truly say that my official intercourse with you has been profitable and of the most agreeable character, and when differences of opinion have arisen, they never gave rise to asperity of feeling or language, being I am persuaded in every case the- result of honest conviction and of a sincere desire to promote the public good." 26 Active, indefatigable, decisive, yet rea- 25 One instance of a lynching in British Columbia is narrated by Johnson, Very Far West Indeed; but this author, as before mentioned (p. 52, note), needs corroboration, and in this instance the story is without any corroboration what- ever. 26 Correspondence Book, Oct. 28, 1863, MS. [333] 198 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN sonable, quick to seize on the most telling mode of punishment, the judge traversed the great highways and the rough trails, holding his assizes in every important town, now sentencing a Chinaman to imprisonment for assaulting another, now caution- ing an Indian "very seriously " and sentencing another to have his hair cut off , again fining heavily a white man for selling liquor to Indians or giving judgment in some mining dispute. Un- trammeled by those niceties of legal verbiage which, in the United States, so often become the mumbo-jumboes of the lawyers, he dispensed a robust and honest justice which made him a terror to evildoers and, in the eyes of the law-abiding, a worthy representative of a great governing race. 27 In respect to fostering development of the country, on the other hand, the American territorial system contrasted favorably with the English colonial system as applied in British Columbia. The Imperial Government was willing to furnish protection from outside powers, but insisted that the colony from the start should be self-supporting with respect to internal affairs. Lyt- ton repeatedly wrote to Douglas that the colony must not look to the mother-country for financial help ; such help would ' ' in- terfere with the healthy action by which a new community provides, step by step, for its own requirements. It is on the character of the inhabitants that we must rest our hopes for the land we redeem from the wilderness. " 28 An English author of the time commented on this policy as follows: "The contrast between the United States and England in caring for the growth of new territories is decidedly unfavorable to the latter, Eng- land in defining land to be erected into a colony and passing an act of parliament to that effect, leaves to the settlers, how- ever few and impotent they may be, the task of establishing leading communications, executing surveys, and completing postal arrangements. If the population be unequal to these undertakings, they must be postponed till colonial finances be- come capable of sustaining them. The Federal Government, on 27 Some of the items of this characterization are drawn from the old Police Record Book from Hope, which His Honour, Judge Frederick W. Howay, of New Westminster, permitted me to use. 28 Quoted by Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., p. 509. [334] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 199 the other hand, assumes the responsibility of giving effect to all works of magnitude necessary to bring an infant settle- ment to maturity, and indemnifies itself for the outlay incurred, by mortgaging the lands and the revenues derivable from the customs and other territorial sources." "It invariably turns out that works urgent and useful, thus undertaken, are speedily made to defray the cost of construction. The Americans have learned that whatever contributes to augment national wealth by developing the resources of new territory is not inconsistent with public economy." 29 "The English," wrote General Harney on a visit to Victoria in 1859, "cannot colonize success- fully so near our people; they are too exacting." 30 The senti- ment in favor of annexation to the United States, which was at times quite apparent in British Columbia during the colonial period, was in part due, probably, to the conviction that the colony would be more prosperous as a territory. Such a colony as British Columbia, as a matter of fact, had very different relations with the mother country, as compared with those exist- ing between an American territory and the Federal Government : the territory was directly dependent upon the central govern- ment, and differentiation between the activities and functions of that government and those local to the territory is difficult to trace clearly; but the government of the British Colony had powers and, correspondingly, responsibilities in internal affairs nearly those of a nation (as, for example, the collection of cus- toms and the establishment of a postal system ) and the opera- tions of the central power and those of the colonial administra- tion are easily distinguishable. The instrument which the Imperial Government had ever at hand for the protection of the infant colony was the fleet, but the fleet, in reality, afforded something more than protection against outside powers. One of Her Majesty's vessels, as we have before mentioned, was stationed at the mouth of the Fraser to enforce the collection of licenses from the miners. The marines were available for the prompt aid in case of any seri- ous outbreak, how effective that aid might be was apparent in 29 Macfie, Van. Id. and Br. Col., pp. 511-12. 30 Thirty-sixth Cong., 2 sess., Sen. Doc., 2 No. 2, p. 109. [335] 200 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN the case of the so-called McGowan riot at Hill's Bar. Moreover, besides support to the civil authority, other advantages were derived from the presence of vessels of the fleet, though these applied most directly to Victoria. In the first place, there was the expenditure of money in the colony. Again, "the security given by the presence or proximity of a strong naval force inspires confidence in legislation, in Government, in all the varied interests of life, in short ; while to the success of commerce this security is peculiarly essential." Then, too, "the good effects on social life of friendly intercourse with so many edu- cated men, possessing the manners and habits of gentlemen, as compose the body of officers in a squadron, need only to be mentioned to be understood. ' ' 31 In the process of shaping forms of government both north and south of the Line there was, in one respect, an interesting,^ and important similarity. Just as Iowa copied her forms of ^ law and administration in part from New York, and Idaho and Montana imitated California and Nevada, so British Co- lumbia derived perhaps the most important portion of her law and administrative system that having to do with mines from Australia and New Zealand. Both the colony and the- territories, moreover, showed some preference for the latest models; in the case of the territories, for that of Nevada, in that of British Columbia for New Zealand. The derivation of the British Columbia code is clearly revealed in a letter of Governor Douglas, August sixth, 1860, to Sir Henry Barkly, K. C., Governor of the Colony of Victoria, which reads as follows: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's Despatch of the 4th of May, 1859, date Melbourne, Victoria, No. 9, together with ample stores of information which you have been kind enough to enclose. "It was found imperatively necessary to proceed to legisla- tion here, with as little delay as possible. Accordingly, there- fore, before the arrival of the full and minute pjarticulars which your Excellency has so kindly procured and arranged, a code of Laws was published on the 31st of August last, and The London Times, Aug. 14, 1863. [336] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 201 the 7th of September last, a few further rules and regulations being added on the 6th of January last. I have the honor to en- close copies. "It will be apparent to your Excellency that these have been framed on the experience of the Australian Colonies, and prin- cipally on that of Victoria, Th*e precedent chiefly followed was the New Zealand Code, tvhich in fact had, equally with this Colony, the benefit of the previous legislation in Victoria and New South Wales. 32 And in addition to the New Zealand Code, of which a copy had been procured, portions of the Codes in Victoria and New South Wales were also consulted, although only portions and those not of the latest dates were procur- able." 33 Another portion of this illuminating letter reveals a pride in law and order on the part of the English administrators scarcely characteristic of American territorial governors. It is as follows : "I most sincerely congratulate your Excellency upon the condi- tion of the Criminal Calendars in Victoria to which you refer. It is with heart-felt satisfaction that I can for my part refer to those in British Columbia, where the only two serious of- fences committed by white men since the proclamation of the Colony (19th Nov., 1858) have been one burglary in which the criminals were seized and delivered up to the regular authorities by the inhabitants ; and one murder committed at Lytton about a month ago, in which there is reason to believe that the criminal immediately escaped beyond the frontier. The only other cases have been a few petty thefts. "There are seven Justices of the Peace and about fifteen con- stables in the entire Colony, scattered over a difficult country, about five hundred miles in length. "I venture to think that such a state of circumstances speaks volumes for the readiness with which a politically disaffected population acknowledges the general good tendency of the Eng- lish Law; and I submit that the very heterogeneous and roving 1 population of British Columbia may claim to be at least on a par with that of the Victoria Gold Fields." 34 32 Italics not in MS. 33 Correspondence Book, MS., pp. 44-47. 34 Id. [337] 202 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN The most important administrative feature of the system de- rived as above was the constitution of gold commissioners for the mining regions. There were no officials such as these in the United States, although the need frt for 1867, Con. His. Soc. Hon., Vol. V, pp. 130-131 and 156-7. 60 It was urged in British Columbia, in defense of rigid taxation of miners, that, while the miners received the good of such improvements as roads, etc., for which heavy indebtedness was incurred, many of them were likely to go away, leaving to the more stable inhabitants the payment of the debts. [349] 214 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN within the territories. 67 In the matter of salaries, however, interesting comparisons are possible. The Governor of British Columbia in 1863 received 3,000 ($14,550), the Judge of the Supreme Court 1,200 ($5,820), and the Colonial Secretary 811 ( $3,880 ). 68 Governor Seymour, however, the successor of Governor Douglas received a total sum of 5,450 ($26,432.50), the items of which were for transport 1.000. furnishing of residence 1,000, and salary 3,450. 69 Such a salary for a col- ony having less than fifteen thousand population certainly did not accord with American ideals. The Governor of Idaho re- ceived from the Federal government a salary of $2,500, the Chief Justice and two associate justices each $2,500 and the Secretary $2.000. But these salaries represented much less in reality, because of being paid in depreciated greenbacks, while those of British Columbia were paid at par. 70 Extra compen- sation, however, was voted by the territorial legislature, the governor receiving $2,111, the supreme judges $9,229 and the secretary $2,754. 71 Except for the great discrepancy in the governor's salaries the salaries of the other officials, with the extra compensation, were not greatly different; and the Gov- ernor of British Columbia was expected to meet expenses such as did not ordinarily fall to the governors of territories. 7 - Moreover, the expenses of the territoral legislatures were not inconsiderable; in addition to $4 per day and transportation at the rate of $4 for every twenty miles travelled for each member, the first two sessions of the Idaho legislature cost in extra compensations more than eighteen thousand dollars. 73 67 There was some mention in 1861 of making Washington Territory a state, but the Overland Press argued that the territorial condition was to be preferred, because the United States government bore nineteen-twentieths of the expense. Overland Press, Nov. 21, 1861. 88 Schedule of Salaries, 1863, MS. 69 Ordinance to grant to Her Majesty 135,639 for 1864. Government Gazette, Feb. 20, 1864. 70 Organic Act of Idaho. "Hailey, His. of Idaho, p. 119. 72 Of course the extra compensation could not always be depended upon, and it was ordered discontinued by Congress in 1870. 73 Hailey, His. of Idaho, p. 119. No blame attaches to members of the Legis- lature, for expenses of all sorts were very high. In fact salary schedules appli- cable to agricultural territories were very inadequate for mining regions. [350] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 215 CHAPTER XII. THE EVOLUTION OF ORDER AND LAW IN THE AMER- ICAN TERRITORIES In the establishment of forms of order for the society which the mining advance deposited among the mountains south of the Line,, two forces worked. The one was extraneous and of national origin, the other indigenous to the mountain regions and derived from California; the one was the United States territorial form of government, the other the forms of organ- ization characteristic of mining camps. Let us consider first the former. 1. The territorial form of Government. The mining advance brought about the organization of two new territories. The rush to the Nez Perees mines in 1861 and to Salmon River in 1862 resulted in the passage by Congress, March 3, 1863, of the act creating the Territory of Idaho, and the rush to Grasshopper Creek and to Alder Gulch in 1862, and 1863, brought about, May 26, 1864, the creation of the terri- tory of Montana. Prior to the formation of Idaho Territory, the mining re- gions later embraced in it (and also that part of Montana ly- ing west of the Rocky Mountains) were in the Territory of Washington; and the first steps toward governmental control of these regions, therefore, fell to that Territory. The Wash- ington Legislature, previous to the division of the Territory, created the counties of Shoshone, Nez Perce, Idaho, Boise, and Missoula, all of which were more or less effectively organized, and from most of these members were sent to the legislature. In the governor's message for 1861 attention was called to the necessity for a code of mining laws for "the great, the controlling interest of our Territory," and it was suggested [351] 216 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN^ that the laws should be liberal and just, "such as have been found to work well in California and other mining districts." Many franchises for roads, ferries, and bridges were granted at different sessions. One important deficiency in the working of territorial government was indicated in the message of Gov- ernor Pickering, in 1862, in which he mentioned the lack of sets of the territorial laws, particularly in the new counties. The Federal government was urged by the territorial legisla- ture to secure to miners the right to work in the Nez Percys country which, it was asserted, was covered by "improvident and unjust treaties," and to extinguish the Indian title to the Boise country. But while the legislature was thus zealous on behalf of the mining regions,, political control by the Puget Sound country was endangered by the rapid growth of popu- lation in the eastern section of the territory, and division of the territory was agitated. In the interior the project was favored by Lewiston which hoped to be the capital of the new territory, but opposed by Walla Walla which hoped to become the capital of the old territory; while on the Sound the people perceived the danger that the capital might be removed, and that they might be included in inconvenient taxation. 1 Divi- sion was favored, also, by W. H. Wallace, territorial delegate to Congress (who became the first governor of Idaho Terri- tory), and it met finally with general acquiescence. Thus came into being the new Territory of Idaho. The creation of the Territory of Montana appears to have been a simple process springing directly from the exigencies of the mining advance. Hon. Sidney Edgerton, who had been appointed the first Chief Justice of Idaho Territory, arrived at East Bannack in the fall of 1863. The great rush to Alder Gulch was at that time in full tide, and thousands of persons were living on a spot that a few months before was but a wilder- ness. In the stern conflict which took place in the next few months following Judge Egerton's arrival between the elemental forces of order and disorder the authority of the chief justice does not seem to have been asserted. Judge Edgerton was a man Overland Press, Men. 3, 1862; San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Jan. 7, 1863 [352] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 217 not lacking in ability and decision, but the office of territorial justice did not carry with it as much weight and fitness for dealing with crises as did that of judge in British Columbia. The citizens of Bannack and of Virginia, remote from the cap- tal of the territory and involved in a critical struggle between the forces of order and disorder, felt that there was need for a new territory and requested Judge Edgerton to lay their case before the authorities at the national capital. A winter jour- ney back to Washington resulted in the Organic Act for Mon- tana Territory, and in Judge Edgerton being appointed the first Governor. 2 In delimiting the new territories little or no attention was given to natural physiographic boundaries. The worst disre- gard of physiographic considerations occurred in the case of Idaho, where regions decisively separated physiographicaliy and affiliated naturally with adjacent regions in other terri- tories, were joined together. There early began in this terri- tory a movement for the formation of a new territory more conformed to physiography, which has persisted in varying ways to the present day. A proposition was made in IS 65 to create such a division by running a; line from the southwest Corner of Montana along the Salmon Eiver Range, to the line of the Columbia and the Okanogan. "This would embrace," declared The Lewiston Radiator which was the champion of redivision, "that section of country which by physical forma- tion and identity of interest among its population, naturally belongs to one political community, to a great degree separated from Boise on the south, Washington on the west, Montana on the east, and barred from political affinity with the people of the north by the British line." The population of the new territory would be 8.000 or 9,000 at the start, and territorial organization would soon be followed by statehood. The region would thus become better known, arid immigration would in- 2 Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. Ill, pp. 336-338. Congress was not averse to forming new territories at this period, since the administrative offices could be filled by Union men, and the Republican party organization thereby strength- ened. The origin of the names Montana and Idaho has been a matter of considerable dispute ; they seem first to have gained currency in Colorado. [353] 218 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN crease. "Nature herself," the article continued, "has marked out the boundaries of the Territory proposed as shown, and it matters not how much man may attempt to improve upon her work, he cannot neglect to follow her and succeed in such man- ner as obedience to her teachings will warrant." 1 Opposing arguments were put forth by The Idaho World, which inti- mated that the project arose from the disappointed ambitions of aspiring gentlemen, because of the removal of the capital from Lewiston to Boise. The territory was large, it was ad- mitted, but the material interests (mainly mining) were more nearly identical than those of any territory or state on the Coast. "Western and eastern Oregon are not homogeneous; California has its mineral districts and its 'Cow Country'; Washington Territory its Sound interests and those of a distant interior. Still, they all manage to exist and prosper and so has Idaho. If strict identity of interest is to prevail in the lo- cation of boundaries, every mining camp and school district would be entitled to a separate Territorial existence." 4 Perhaps it was the desire to overcome the effects of physio- graphic separation which induced the Republicans of Idaho to hold their second territorial Convention at a remote spot on the trail from Lewiston to Idaho City, and about one hundred miles from the latter place. 5 The blare of bands, the gather- ings in hotels, and the stir and noise of great crowds were ab- sent at this con/ention. The only buildings anywhere around was Packer John's cabin, a small log hut roofed with shakes. The delegates ate in this cabin and slept under the trees adjoin- ing, while their horses grazed peacefully around. The great work of the convention was the selection of a nominee for dele- gate to Congress, this office then being very highly prized. In the first election in Idaho Territory, when the majority of the people were in the northern part, the Republicans had been 3 Lewiston Radiator, Feb. 4, 1865, in San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Men. 7, 1865. *The Idaho World, Feb. 4, 1865. 5 A description of this Convention is found in Goulder's Re minis censes, pp. 280-287. 6 Governor Stevens of Washington Territory and Governor Wallace of Idaho Territory resigned the office of Governor in order to be elected as congressional delegate. [354] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 219 successful; but the discovery of the Boise mines drew thither many people from Missouri, and their arrival, with some con- tributing causes, made the Territory Democratic for several decades. Montana also was Democratic during the early min- ing period. In both territories conventions were regularly held almost from the start, and regular party machinery was or- ganized. This party method of arriving at the will of the peo- ple and of carrying on government was in decided contrast to the simple and swift procedure that obtained in British Co- lumbia. In connection with the organization of parties in the new territories the question arises as to the prevalence of secession sentiment in these territories. As was natural, people who came from the border states, or from farther south, were earnestly sympathetic with the Confederacy ; and it was natural, also, that this sympathy should find expression, and that there should be more or less friction with ardent Unionists (of whom there were many), and with the Federal administration. Sentiment among the American miners in British Columbia was clearly for the Union, and citizens of Victoria made contributions to the care of Union soldiers and to Lancashire sufferers to the latter $12,000. 7 In northern Idaho sentiment was more divided and passions seemed to deepen, as the war went on, and people came in from the East. " Among the people at the mines and along the line of March/' wrote a newspaper correspondent in 1861, "I heard but little of Union or Disunion. Those from the Seceding States had not much to say beyond sad regrets that the country should deliberately go to war with itself. 8 There were, however, at the mines occasional " rough scenes and personal collisions," some- times attended by fatal consequences. 9 Yet the fiercest seces- sionists and the most uncompromising abolitionists were often the closest of friends. In southern Idaho, however, passion ran much more high. "The left wing of Price's army," as the Union men styled the rougher element from the border states, contained undoubtedly many reckless men accustomed to vio- T San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Mch. 23, 1863. * Id., July 28, 1861. 9 Goulder, Keminisicenses, p. 207. [355] 220 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN lence, who tried to terrorize Union men.' Affrays and duels were not uncommon. The most noteworthy of these (and one which brought the community to the verge of deplorable con- flict) was that between Pinkham, a Union man originally from Maine, and Ferd Patterson, a secessionist born iri Tennessee, which resulted in the death of the former. 11 In both Idaho and Montana determined objection was made to the iron-clad oath by some of the members of the legislatures. 1 - The attitude of some of the members of the legislature in Idaho may be learned from the majority report of the Committee on Military and In- dian Affairs, concerning a bill providing bounties for territorial volunteers who might have been wanted for garrison duty in the territory. Governor Lyon in urging the matter said- in his characteristic fashion, "I feel it will be a rare privilege for the great hearted, whole-souled mountaineers, ranchmen, and miners, to contribute in this way their support to a government beneath whose starry flag their cradles were rocked and that still flings its protecting shadow over their fathers' graves." The report of the committee, however, asserted that from the third of March, 1863, to December seventh, 1863. "more than 30,000 persons, thrown promiscuously together, into a crude and most irregular form of society, were obliged to remain in the same chaotic condition, without judicial tribunals, without officers, without law;" and the first evidence given that the General Governntent intended to exercise any care over them, was the advent of a class of political hackneys, sent among them by the Administration at Washington, "a set of officials more intent on securing personal advantage than on promoting the welfare of the individual community." "Has the Mother Government grown so weak and become so impoverished during the "sixty days' rebellion" the report con- tinued, l i that it can exercise no care over the people of the prov- inces, except to send tax gatherers and officials to rule over them and eat out their substance?" The bill failed to pass. In 10 Butler, J. S., Life and Times in Idaho, MS. 11 An account of this celebrated case may be found in Langford, Vigilante Days and Wans, Vol. I, pp. 182-211. ** Journals of the Council and House of Representatives of Idaho Territory, 4th session, pp. 298-9. [356] TRIMBLE MIXING ADVANCE 221 Montana, while there was some friction, on the whole, a happier state of affairs prevailed, particularly in the relations of the citizens to each other. Possibly the acute conflict there waged with the criminal element helped to allay controversy. 13 A care- ful characterization of Montana conditions has been left by Col. W. F. Sanders, who described them as follows. "There was considerable bad blood extant concerning the war, about which the communities radically differed. I think upon the whole as much philosophy and good nature was manifested as under the circumstances we had any right to expect. There were, of course, some hot headed men who would have been glad to have created trouble, but the good sense of the more moderate people prevailed and matters did not culminate in any difficulty. ' ' 14 In the appointment of territorial officials by the United states government a prime qualification was staunch Unionism. Not that the appointees lacked ability ; although part of them were mediocre, others were men of energy and of some distinction, who grasped quickly the conditions surrounding them and strove honestly to fill worthily their offices. 15 But there was constant going and coming, there was not time for eastern men to become familar with western conditions, and there was no such identifi- cation with and devotion to the community, as characterized the work of Governor Douglas and of Judge Begbie in British Colum- bia. 16 One misses, especially, in officials in the territories, the firm assertion of authority and the insistence upon obedience to law which was characteristic of the government of British Co- lumbia. Leniency to criminals, acquiescence in punishment directly inflicted by the people, lack of decision in treating grave crimes, and over attention to minor obliquities (such as prize- 13 Contr. His. Soc. Mon., Vol. 4 ? p. 127. 14 Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana, Col. W. F. Sanders, MS. The above extract, written by a pronounced Republican, was read by me to Judge W. Y. Pemberton, of opposite political affiliations, who gave it unqualified endorsement. is There was one noteworthy defalcation in the case of Horace C. Gilson, Sec- retary of Idaho Territory, who absconded with twenty-five thousand dollars. That such crimes were not lacking in British Columbia, also, would appear from a report of the British Columbian that within a few weeks the Post Master General, Harbour Master, and Colonial Treasurer became defaulters. British Columbian, Jan. 2, 1862. 16 For a resume of the officials of Idaho and a characterization of a number of them consult Hailey, History of Idaho, Chap. XXXV. [357] 222 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN fighting, gambling, and Sabbath breaking) were apparent in administration, south of the Line. The comparative levity of American officials towards the most grave transgressions of order is illustrated in an incident narrated in the biography of Governor James M. Ashley. It would be a mistake to think of Mr. Ashley as a weakling or a coward; for he was a noted fighter for abolition and the rights of negroes, long a member of Congress, chairman of the Committee on Territories, and always an uncompromising radical. The quotation is as follows : "One of his most interesting experiences was connected with an old fashioned western lynching. A miner near Helena had 'struck it rich', and brought his gold into town to exchange it for greenbacks. This done he went to the nearest saloon and proudly exhibited his roll, with the natural result that he was followed from the saloon to a quiet spot outside of the city and there assaulted and robbed. He lived long enough to give a description of his murderers. These were soon apprehended by a vigilance committee and brought to trial in the most public way in a large hall in Helena. Governor Ashley knew of this, but recognizing the absolute necessity of protection being afforded the miners, who for the most part lived in lonely cabins, and knowing the lack of a secure jail to hold criminals for a long time which the regular process of courts allow the criminal on trial, and also, aware of his inability to cope with the vigilantes even if he so desired, he did not try to interfere. At this juncture a New England lawyer appeared on the scene, whose name, according to the writer's best recollection, was Judge Gillette. The judge was horror struck at the idea of any man being tried except by the regular course, like most other New Englanders who have gone a long way from the rec- ollection of the Boston Tea Party, and other similar informal events that took place in good old Massachusetts, and it was hard for him to imagine that any state of affairs admitted of any de- parture from the strict rules of the law. He, therefore, called upon Governor Ashley and made a typical academic law and order speech. The Governor suppressing his strong tendency to laugh, made a rejoinder with all earnestness. ''Now, Judge," said he, "you must see how helpless I am. I [358] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 223 have no force capable of dealing with these vigilantes, and if I should go down to the hall and make any attempt to stop the proceedings, it would simply result in a disgraceful showing of contempt for my authority ; but I know these people are liberal, and that they would be willing to hear what anybody has to say on the subject. Now, suppose you go down to the hall and ask to be heard, and make them the same kind of a speech you have made me. I think they will listen to you, and we will see what the result is." Gillette thought the suggestion a good one, obtained a hearing and made a speech. After he concluded his stirring appeal for law and order there was a moment's silence and some man in the rear yelled out : * * Judge, that 's a damn fine speech. Go on with the trial!" 1 ' The next morning the Governor became aware that something exciting was going on across the gulch which lay in the rear of his house, and emerging from the kitchen door and shading his eyes, he looked across and saw hanging from "Hangman's Tree" the bodies of two men, while a large concourse in the vicinity were indulging in foot races and other amusements. After uttering a slight exclamation the Governor turned around, went in the house, and the affair was a closed incident so far as he was concerned." 17 Looking at this occurrence from the point of view usual in the American territories, Governor Ashley 's conduct was reasonable and defensible; from the point of view of government in British Columbia it is incomprehensible. Magistrate O'Reilly or Judge Begbie, it may safely be affirmed, would have been instant and strenuous in asserting the dignity and supremacy of the law, and Governor Douglas would have exhausted every resource in supporting these officials. But in truth the American officials lacked authority and prestige. The most vital and the widest authority south of the Line was that of the Legislature, but this authority was not administrative and was shared, formally, by the Governor. The Organic Act of Idaho declared that the legislative power should extend to "all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the Con- 17 Governor James M. Ashley's Biography and Messages, Contr. His. Boc. Man. Vol. VI, p. 192-3. Cf., also, Charge to the Grand Jury, 1864 and 1866, by Chief Justice H. L. Hosmer ; Pioneer Reminiscences by Lyman E. Munson Id Vol. V, pp. 235-252 and p. 209. [359] 224 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN stitution of the United States and the provisions of this Act"; but no law was to be passed "interfering with the primary disposal of the soil", and it was provided further, "That, whereas slavery is prohibited in said territory by the act of Congress of June nineteenth, 1862, nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize or permit its existence therein." In exercising their authority, the legislatures both of Idaho and Montana adopted the Common Law of England, "so far as the same is applicable, and of a general nature, and not in con- flict with the special enactments of this territory." They also provided practice acts. Some classes of laws passed by these legislatures are of special interest. One of these groups was with regard to occupation of the public lands. The object was to secure to the occupants peace- able possession and as much of title as could be given prior to patent from the United States; in other words, the object sought was a legalization of squatters' rights. The law of Montana, conceding to the United States paramount right, gave rights to the occupant against all others. It sanctioned a claim of one hundred and sixty acres on declaration and record ; such a claim was declared a "chattel real, possessing the character of real estate," could be sold by deed, and was subject to execution. Mining locations were excepted from agricultural occupancy. 18 In Idaho there was an "Act for Maintaining and Defending Possessory Actions on the Public Land in this Territory." Claims were to be of not more than 160 acres, in compact form and clearly bounded; within 90 days after recording, improve- ments to the value of $200 were to be niade. Any citizen, or one who had declared his intention to become a citizen, might maintain action for interference with or injury to the posses- sion of land. Miners, however, might go upon such lands, if they contained mines of any precious metals, and work such mines "as fully as if no such claim for agriculture or grazing purpose had been made thereon;" provided, however, compen- sation were made for crops planted prior to location. 19 An Act of the Territory of Montana had reference to an 18 The Montana Post, Jan. 21, 1865. 19 Laws of Idaho, Second session, p. 421-2. [360] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 225 interesting custom, not without significance in the evolution of law. This act forbade ranchmen and stable keepers from using stock left with them, without the consent of the owner. Since the prices of feed in the mining camps prohibited keeping animals in towns for any length of time, persons found it prof- itable to establish ranches a few miles from the towns, where horses and pack animals might be corraled and herded. A ranch generally had an agent in the town to whom the stock was intrusted, and who was notified when the owner was in need of it. Not infrequently both ranch keeper and agent were in league with road agents, and in consequence, it was often a matter of great difficulty for a man who desired to carry treasure without the gang knowing it. Moreover, if a man had a good horse, it was not unlikely to be used by the ranchman or his friends or to become permanently "sick" or' 'lost". On the other hand, when vigilantes arose, it was difficult for roughs in town to leave unobserved, and an honest ranchman might furnish mounts for vigilantes who needed them. 20 One of the most striking and important features of territorial legislation in connection with the mining advance was the grant- ing of numerous franchises for roads, ferries, and bridges. These franchises, of course, conferred monopolistic privileges, and they were the subject of much execration. Conditions in re- spect to franchises, from the point of view of opponents, were dis- cussed by Governor Ashley, of Montana, as follows: "A large majority of these private acts conferred extraordinary privi- leges on a few individuals, and, of necessity, excluded from the enjoyment the great body of our citizens. And I speak with, moderation when I say that many of these so-called laws author- ized persons to do acts which were little better than legalized highway robbery. The whole territory was shingled with special franchises so that travelers and packers, and freighters, found in every canyon, on almost every water-course, and on many broad and level plains, a toll collector, who demanded, as a condition to the passing of each, from one to three dollars. The smallest amount demanded at any toll gate, as a rule is one doUar. 20 McConnell, W. J., Idaho Inferno, MS. p. 4; Contr. His. Soc. Hon., Vol VI, p. 279-80. [361] 226 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN At rickety bridges, which are often unsafe for man or beast, from one to three dollars." A majority of all the acts, memor- ials, and joint resolutions passed by the early Montana Legisla- tures, the Governor claimed, were of a private character. Con- gress finally amended the Organic Act so as to prohibit special charters. 21 Washington Territory, (during the period when it included the mining regions) and Idaho Territory were just as lavish. 22 Valid grounds for defense of the conduct of the legislatures, however, are not lacking. There was very urgent need for roads, ferries, and bridges in the mining regions. If one can imaging how the country was when civilized society entered it, how formidable were the obstacles to communication, and how difficult and even dangerous traveling was, he can more readily under- stand how natural and insistent were the demands of the mining population upon the legislatures. How were these demands to be met? Recourse could be had to the Federal government for these purposes only rarely on the plea of military or postal necessity, and the aid given was far too slow for the needs of a mining people; the legislatures on their part had, as we have seen, extremely scanty revenues, and the expense of getting work done was great on account of the high prices in the mining dis- tricts. Shrewd men, of course, were willing under special privi- leges to undertake the work, because of the prospect of good gains, and many of the honored names of the territories were to be found among the owners of franchises. It should be noted also that limitations were generally placed upon franchises by the legislatures, especially upon such as were of special impor- tance. The rates of toll to be charged were often specified, and generally these rules were to be subject after a year or two to the control of the county commissioners. There was always a time limitation of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, and sometimes it was provided that the county commissioners could take over roads, bridges, or ferries on payment of cost. Failure to make - 3 Ibid. 22 Another practice of the territorial legislatures, which was reprobated by executives was the granting of divorces. The Legislature of Montana at its first session granted 9 divorces, and the practice was persisted in by the Legis- lature of Washington in spite of earnest opposition by governors. [362] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 227 improvements within the specified time might result in void- ance of the franchise and certainly in the lapse of legal right to collect tolls. Generally there was some special taxation, though not very heavy. There was a tendency, moreover, to place all such special acts under general law, and also to relegate such matters largely to the county commissioners. 23 Notwithstanding its imperfections, the machinery of Ameri- can territorial government in the mining regions worked gradu- ally toward ordered processes of law. As a matter of fact, whatever might have been, it ivas the means through which these territories settled down to the conditions usually obtaining in American communities. But the great defect lay in the slowness of administration in comparison to the sudden needs of mining camps. While Congress was legislating for one set of conditions and officials journeying slowly over the plains, conventions and elections being held, legislatures gathering and county organiza- tions being effected, the mining population might jump hundreds of miles in a week, fill a gulch with unorganized society, and cre- ate conditions imperatively demanding instant readjustment in the application of the forces of government. The fundamental trouble was that a system of government which had been evolved for the needs of an agricultural population, in regions generally not rugged, failed to meet the demands of communities of miners in mountainous regions. In the one case, population came in leisurely, with the intention of permanency, and did not con- centrate densely ; in the other it came in with utmost haste, having little idea of abiding, and gathered in more compact communities.. II. Forms of organization characteristic of mining camps. The looseness and ineffectiveness of the American territorial' machinery which, when revealed in the lack of control of crime,. made imperative the robust procedure of the mining camps,, may be illustrated by a report from the county auditor of Madi- son County, then in Idaho Territory, to the territorial auditor: 23 Lavs of Washington Territory, 1858-1861, Vol. II, pp. 86, 116, and 130; Laws of Idaho Territory, First Session, pp. 645 and 647. [363] 228 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Virginia City, Idaho Territory, Aug. 3rd, 1864. B. F. Lambkin, Territorial Auditor, Lewiston, Idaho. Dear Sir: Enclosed find simply a report of the amount of money received by the County Treasurer of Madison County. We have st re- bellion here and can do nothing with the revenue law of the Territory. Our merchants have held indignation meetings and all refuse to pay the license, and about nine tenths refuse to pay the poll tax. The laws are very odious and unpopular with the whole people, and what makes it worse is the fact we are sep- arated from you and are soon to be organized as Montana Ter- ritory. The Governor is already here and another drawback is, we have no published copy of the law, and we cannot show ; authority for collecting taxes. We have nothing but an old bill introduced into the House or Council but is not a certified copy >f the law Yours truly, R. M. Hagaman. Mr. Hagaman wrote again three weeks later that the Governor was about to commission the officers of the new territory, and added , "this will dissolve I suppose our connection with. Idaho." 24 Still more significant of the weakness of the territorial sys- tem, when applied to criminal conditions, was a defect brought out in a decision of the supreme court of Idaho Territory. The decision dealt with the validity of criminal law in the terri- tory between the passage by Congress of the Act creating the territory, March, 1863, and the enactment of a criminal code by the first legislature in the session which began in Decem- ber. It will be recalled that this was just the period when thousands of adventurers rushed into Boise Basin, and when the need of law was very great. During this period two men had been tried for murder and adjudged guilty, the one re- 24 Report of the Territorial Auditor of Idaho Territory, December 1, 1864, p. 8. [364] TRIMBLEMINING ADVANCE 229 ceiving a sentence for imprisonment for ten years, the other for twenty. These men were brought before the Court in 1866 by writ of habeas corpus and were ordered released on the ground that, at the time the crimes were committed, no statute against this crime existed in the territory. The opinion of the court was based on the following considerations: By the Organic Act, Idaho was formted out of portions of Washing- ton, Dakota, Nebraska, and Utah Territories. The Organic Acts of these territories in so far as they applied to the new Territory were at its formation repealed and became nullities. Hence, statutes based on them, so far as affecting this territory, were invalid, since the fountain of authority was stopped. "The uniform practice . . . conclusively establishes, we think, the principle that the laws of the old organization have no force in the new political community, unless by special pro- vision." In the act organizing this territory there were no provisions recognizing former laws an impossibility, indeed, since the territory was formed from four territories. Nor was there any similarity to conquered or ceded territory, in which case laws pass with the people and the soil, because this case was that of dismemberment of old territory. No statute, there- fore, existed, and the court ordered these proven criminals set at liberty. No such incident occurred in British Columbia, nor would it seem a possibility there. While this decision may not directly have done serious damage in Idaho, yet this atti- tude on the part of those charged with administering law in preferring theoretical and technical considerations to plain, common-sense justice was particularly unfortunate in these min- ing communities in their formative period; and it made neces- sary forms of organization which should attain swiftly and more surely indispensable ends. 25 The form of organization to which miners always turned naturally was that of the mining camp. A mining camp in the mineral regions of the United States, as is well understood, was not merely a collection of claims or of cabins but gener- ally, also, an organized form of local government. Each The full text of this opinion is given in the Idaho World, Aug. 25, 1866. [365] 230 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN camp or, to use the more technical term, district had its customs and rules, and to enforce them a judge, recorder, and some sort of executive officer. The position of Miner's Judge in a prosperous camp was very important, and he was gener- ally kept busy continually hearing cases. All sorts of cases were tried before him and argued by attorneys, who were to be found in every large camp cases of assault and battery, suits, and all the manifold disputes concerning rights to claims and to water which arose in the camp. Disputants might have a trial by jury, if they would agree to pay the jury enough to make up for loss of time on their claims. In case of dis- satisfaction, appeal might be taken to a miner's meeting, which was the final source of authority. The miner's meeting was quite like a New England town meeting except that it was frequently held on Sunday. In this meeting the district voted its rules and regulations, elected its officers, decided when claims should be laid over, heard appeals, organized for mil- itary purposes, and sometimes tried cases especially the more serious ones, such as robbery or murder. Cases might be tried by the meeting itself, or left to a jury appointed by the meet- ing. This mining camp organization originated in California and spread thence everywhere with the mining advance in American territory; and even in British Columbia it began to be used by the miners before they learned that there it would not be needed. The mining camp was, as an institution, a remarkable example of the American instinct for order when formal law was dilatory and weak, and it contributed greatly to the evolution of law and order in the American territories. 26 There is an interesting example of the informal working of the mining camp in an action of Brown's District, Bivens Gulch, Montana Territory, in 1864. The meeting was held in the saloon of J. H. Hughes in Bagdad City, for the purpose of settling a dispute between "W. P. Allen and Company and Caleb Perry. Wila Huffaker was called to the Chair, and E. T. Headley was appointed Secretary. On motion, the Chair ap- pointed six citizens as a committee to try the case and render - 6 A careful and interesting account of mining camps is that by Charles How- ard Shinn, Mining Camps. A study in American Frontier Government. [366] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 231 a decision according to the evidence and testimony advanced before them. The committee reported that Allen and Company were entitled to receive $100 from Perry. Perry, however, de- clared that he would pay nothing. The following resolution was then adopted: "Whereas, It is a notorious fact that Caleb Perry will pay no debt unless by force ; and Whereas, after having agreed to abide by the decision of a jury of six men appointed to make such decision, and then dis- puting the right of such jury to try the case, and refusing to make any settlement, Resolved, That the miners of this district put Mr. Allen in possession of the claims of Caleb Perry and assist and protect him in working the same, until he shall have taken out $100 clear of expenses." Perry was then notified that unless he complied with the decision within twenty minutes Mr. Allen should be put in possession the following day. Perry refused to comply, and a committee was appointed to carry out the will of the meeting. Perry, however, promised next day to pay Allen from the first dust taken out, but on leniency be- ing shown, paid other debts first. Another meeting was held, and it was resolved to put Allen and Company at once in pos- session. Perry was called in, and the resolution was read to him, "to his great disgust." The resolution was carried out. 27 " But local government by the miners had its defects. In the first place, charges of monopolization of mining ground were repeatedly made in all sections of the, mining regions south of the Line. In Owyhee on Jordan Creek the first twenty- nine discoverers appropriated all of the available ground by making mining laws which allowed to each a discovery claim of three hundred feet, a location claim of the same size, and in addition three hundred feet for a friend.- 8 In Boise Basin there was much outcry against monopoly. 288 - An expedition of forty-two miners which prospected in 1863 far up the South Snake, thinking that prospects were favorable for good dig- 27 The Montana Post, Nov. 5, and 26, 1864. 28 Maize, Early Events in Idaho, MS; San Francisco Daily Bulletin, June 6, 1864. ^a "Such land monopoly [as at Boise] and such mining laws were never heard of," San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Oct. 20, 1863. [367] 232 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN gings, organized into a miners' meeting and adopted the fol- lowing regulations: 1. That every person present should be regarded as a dis- coverer, in each and every gulch found by any party or mem- ber of a party. 2. That each member, as discoverer, should be entitled to five claims of 200 feet each along the gulch viz., l i a discovery claim and a pre-emption claim in the main gulch, a bar claim, a hill claim, and a patch claim." "These liberal and disinter- ested regulations," one of the party wrote, "were voted in the affirmative with gratifying unanimity and the chairman was just about to put the question to the meeting whether there was any more business before it, when a big burly Scotchman named Brown, who had apparently been turning the subject over in his mind, jumped up and inquired with great earnestness, "But Mr. Chairman, what shall we do with the rest of it?" The question, it was reported, was received with roars of laugh- ter. 29 A mining convention in Summit District, Montana, as- serted that legislation was needed to regulate the district laws and the power to make them; "Fifty men may make the laws of a gulch which may contain ten times that number before the end of the month.'-' 30 In the region around Helena, a cor- respondent wrote to Judge Hosmer, "A perfect monopoly ex- ists among the early claimants. Some 20 or 25 persons first preempted Last Chance Gulch and when they had exhausted the names, they went above or below and formed new districts, and thus they continued, carrying their exclusiveness into other gulches in the vicinity, as they were discovered; and to enable them to hold this number of claims they passed laws to suit themselves, postponing representation to suit their conven- ience." 31 At a "miner's mass meeting" at Helena, at which there were said to have been 800 people present, the principle was expressed that no man should "hold more claims thaoi he can represent by actual labor," and the determination was an- nounced to break down these "gambling-speculative paper 29 Contr. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. I, pp. 113-143. 30 The Montana Post, Dec. 10, 1864. 81 The Montana Post, Feb. 25, 1865. [368] TRIMBLE .MINING ADVANCE 233 titles and put picks and shovels in their place." The evidence from so many localities would indicate that, in the American system of free competition in the exploitation of the public domain, as manifested in the mining camps, there was a percep- tible tendency to petty monopolization a tendency under gen- eral governmental regulation from the start in British Colum- bia. Something is to be said, however, on the other side. It was true that, so far as the rules went in some of the mining dis- tricts, a man could hold claims in more than one district, and that the requirements of representation were not strict; but, as a matter of fact, very few men did hold claims in more than one district. Why were not alert men, moreover, who pro- spected far at much expense, or who got up in the middle of the night to take part in a stampede, entitled to special priv- ileges? Here were fellows, on the other hand, who loafed around for a week to see whether new ground would turn out to be good, and then wanted a share of the rewards of the en- ergetic, and would try to get a majority in miners' meeting in order to reduce the size of claims. It was well to remember what the crowd got that tried to jump the claims of some dis- coverers across the Prickly Pear three or four of them were killed, and the rest stampeded. There were always people who were discontented with other people because they had some- thing, and there were always natural agitators glib of tongue, and sometimes intelligent men and skilled miners, who liked to get up mass meetings and try to overthrow established ways. In reality, there was no such thing as monopoly in the mines. 32 Another, and a real, defect of the system of local mining law was that the miner's meetings were, like all popular bodies, liable to gusts of feeling, and sometimes made sudden reversals of judgment. For example, when, at Virginia City, two des- peradoes had been condemned to death for a flagrant murder and were on the point of being executed, because of the clamors of some women and the intercession and sharp practices of 32 1 have tried in this paragraph to express the views of practical miners. For some of the considerations I am indebted to Judge Pemberton of Helena. [369] 234 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN friends, they were let off. 33 It is not denied, of course, that there were executions firmly and justly conducted by miner's courts. But there might come times when the roughs were so numerous and so well-organized as fairly to dominate for a while the mining community and then society fell back upon that summary instrument for protecting itself, the vigilante organization. At the outset of our discussion of this interesting phase of the evolution of law and order in the American mining camps, it is well to make clear the difference in the procedure of the vigilantes and that of the ordinary miners' courts or meetings. When a man was arrested by authority of the latter organiza- tions, he was brought to trial, and the determination of the case, finally, was in the body of the people; when a man was arrested by the vigilante organization, his trial had already been held and the punishment determined in secret by a few citizens. The mysteriousness, swiftness, and certainty with which the vigilantes worked awed the most formidable desper- adoes. It is not the purpose of this work, however, to give a circumstantial account of the thrilling and picturesque achieve- ments of the various vigilante organizations which came into being in the mining regions of our study, but to try to set forth some of the conditions which produced them and determined their efficiency and, especially, to describe so far as our mate- rial will permit their methods of organization. 34 Since the conditions in Montana were such as to produce a remarkably thorough and effective vigilante organization, let us turn our attention to the organization in that territory first. Nowhere was the inadequacy of the territorial system in the mining regions attended by more grave consequences than in western Montana. When, in 1862, the mining movement thither began to assume noticeable proportions, that part west of the Rocky Mountains was in Washington Territory and dependent for authority to form legal local government upon the legisla- 33 Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways, Vol. I, p. 359-70. 34 For narratives and descriptions of the deeds of the desperadoes and of the circumstances of their punishment the reader is referred to the following works: Dimsdale, The Vigilantes of Montana; Langford, Viglante Days and Ways; Bancroft, Popular Tribunals. [370] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 235 ture which met on Puget Sound; the part east of the moun- tains, on the other hand, belonged to Dakota Territory, whose legislature convened at Yankton a thousand miles or more down the Missouri. The mining community which was forming on. Grasshopper Creek was, therefore, within the jurisdiction of the latter. There was a constant tendency in the criminal ele- ment of mining camps, it may be observed at this point, to migrate from older camps where order had begun to evolve to these new camps, where, for a while at least, unrestrained by authority, they might commit crime. On the other hand, it was very difficult for the honest miners and citizens in these exposed camps, having come from many and diverse sections, and therefore being unacquainted with each other each intent, moreover, on his own work and purposing to make as much money as he could and get away as soon as possible it was difficult for these to organize in opposition to violent and des- perate men. Such organization became doubly difficult and dangerous when the roughs themselves were leagued together. Such was the case in East Bannock in 1862-3. A gang of ruf- fians gathered there, coming immediately from Florence, Lewis- ton, or Walla Walla, but with a schooling in crime that ex- tended back to Nevada and California. Some of them had learned disrespect for law by experience of its leniency as ad- ministered by regularly constituted authorities. Qualities of manhood were not wanting among some of their number; cour- age, skill in the use of arms, education, ability to use good lan- guage, fidelity to friends, personal attractiveness, and social charm-qualities which gave to them so wide a circle of friends as to make harder the task of punishing them for their vil- lanies. But robbery and murder became with them a business. They bound themselves together by oath, adopted special marks of identification, and arranged means of communication. 35 Their chief was Henry Plummer. Plummer was a man of good manners, somewhat fastidious as to dress, usually quiet in de- meanor and self-controlled, a good student of human nature, and keen to direct and take advantage of public opinion; but 35 The names of the gang and a description of their organization may be found in Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways, Vol. II, p. 93. [371] 236 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN he was also venomous in animosity and so unscrupulous and determined as to let nothing stand in his way, and he was noted for his skill with the revolver. This remarkable man so in- gratiated himself with the community as to be elected miner's sheriff, and he chose as some of his deputies members of his own gang. 30 The inclusion of East Bannock and neighboring camps in the new territory of Idaho in the spring of 1863, did not weaken the power of the band; for Lewiston, the first cap- ital, was on the other side of almost impassable mountains, and the legislature did not meet until the next winter. The dis- covery of Alder Gulch that same spring, on the other hand, the inrush of thousands of people (many of them unused to Western ways), and the production, circulation, and transpor- tation of many thousands of dollars worth of gold dust gave to the desperadoes opportunity for more bold and extensive op- erations. Villianies multiplied. No traveler was safe from at- tack; merchants were compelled to extend credit with no hope of repayment; men who knew the authors of the outrages were killed, driven away, or silenced by threats; citizens who made any open stand for law were marked for death. The miners' meetings and juries were swayed by the desperadoes and their friends, or terrorized. Robberies, assassinations, and murders became increasingly common and wanton; the criminals more defiant and insolent. The total number of men killed mounted to over one hundred. The crisis came, December, 1863, in the murder in an atro- cious manner of a young German. George Ives, a prepossess- ing member of the gang, conspicuous for the number and bold- ness of his crimes, was brought to trial for this crime before a great miners' meeting at Nevada City. An advisory com- mission was chosen, and lawyers appeared for the prosecution and defense. Delay of more than a day by bickering and al- tercations was ended by the announcement of the miners that the case must close at a certain hour. The commission, with the exception of one man, voted guilty. Then came a period M Plummer was not a county sheriff under regular legal authorization. He even schemed to become deputy United States Marshall, and nearly all the mem- bers of the Union League at Bannack favored his appointment ; id. Vol. I, p. 382. [372] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 237 of hesitation such as had before unnerved the friends of jus- tice. The crowd swayed to and fro, the friends of the pris- oner swore that he should not die, everywhere were confusion, doubt, and anxiety. The occasion demanded a leader of more than ordinary courage and decision. It was at this juncture that Col. W. F. Sanders moved "That George Ives be forth- with hanged by the neck until he is dead." The motion was carried, and Ives was hanged within an hour. Some account, at this point, of the character and career of the man whose leadership at this critical time was so decisive for the cause of order, may not be amiss. Wilbur F. Sanders was born May 2, 1834, at Leon, New York, of New England an- cestry, and he was educated at Phelps Academy. He removed at the age of twenty to Akron, Ohio, where he taught school and studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1856. At the outbreak of the Civil War he recruited a company of infantry and enlisted in the 64th O. V. I. He was in active service un- til ill health compelled him to resign, and he then went in com- pany with his uncle, Judge (afterward Governor) Edgerton to Montana. In the formative era of Montana from the mining camp stage, through the territorial period, to established state- hood no man more devotedly labored for the best interests of the community nor better served the cause of law and order than did Colonel Sanders. A candidate for Congress several times, though unsuccessful, at the entrance of Montana to state- hood he became United States Senator. He died July 7, 1905. 3T Senator Sanders was a man of great vigor, activity, and power of initiative. His two leading characteristics were in- trepidity and honesty. He was a "superb warrior" and de- lighted in fighting in a minority, if he believed that he was in the right. His was not a nature given to compromise, and he spoke out fearlessly against corruption. The very intensity of his courage and integrity, however, made him sometimes not absolutely just, and the poignancy of his speech produced enemies. His power as an orator was very great. Men who heard him at the time of the Ives trial say that his eloquence 37 Mr. Sanders was also President of the State Historical Society and Past Grand Master of the Masonic order. [373] 238 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN was terrible. He had a marvelously modulated voice and an exceptionally easy and precise command of English. His ad- dresses on historical and social themes reveal power to discern conditions clearly, breadth and vividness of characterization, profound comprehension of contemporary tendencies, and mucl social earnestness. The style of these addresses, even in thi reading, compels one's attention by its rapidity and breadth. 5 The main tendency of the life of this pioneer leader may learned from some words written by him about the time Mon- tana became a state. The man "who does nothing to make th( community wiser and better," he wrote, "will never know th< real luxury that pertains to identification with the foundei of these communities." The labor of the first pioneers he ex- plains, has been accomplished, but there now remains the found- ing of the State. "It will be a very unsatisfying conscioi ness when we recur to the present time if we shall only have it to say that we made a- fortune for ourselves, that we were a mere observer of events, when we are also conscious that we did nothing to strengthen the intellectual and moral force that out of the chaos of incoherent life is to evolve law and order. ' ' 89 A stern and, under the circumstances, a necessary first step in the evolution of law and order in Montana was the forma- tion of a vigilante organization. A few of the citizens of Ne vada and Virginia; started the movement the day after the exe- cution of Ives, and the organization spread secretly and swiftly, until it came to embrace a majority of the citizens in the dif- ferent camps who were resolute to bring about a better state of affairs. Paris S. Pfouts, a merchant of Virginia City, it is now known, was president of the vigilantes, and Col. Sanders was legal adviser and, as one pioneer recently expressed it, "the life of the thing." Among the executive officers were John X. Beidler, Neil Howie, and John Featherston a trio unsurpassed for coolness and daring, to whom Montana; owes 38 For example consult Con. His. Soc. Mon. Vol. IV, pp. 38-48 and 122-148. 39 Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana, by Col. W. F. Sanders, MS. My chief sources for the above characterization are conversations with Judge W. Y. Pemberton and James U. Sanders, son of Col. Sanders ; also the Maryville Mountaineer, July 13, 1905, and the Butte Miner, July 8, 1905. [374] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 239 much for brave enforcement of order against desperate odds. 40 Other leaders or "captains" were James Williams and Richard Kenyon. Among these leaders were both ardent secessionists and unionists. The main headquarters were at Pfouts's store in Virginia City, and a notice of a meeting was given by post- ing the symbol, 3 7 77. Miners formed the rank and file of the organization. The vigilantes went promptly to work, with the purpose not simply of driving the murderous crew to other communities (as was the effect of some vigilante movements), but to end the careers of the criminals. "If a man a'int fit to live here,' 7 remarked one vigilante, "he a'int fit to live nowhere." One of the desperadoes earliest captured revealed the names and the method of organization of the gang. 41 "Within a month more than a score of criminals were summarily executed, 'in- cluding Plummer. The work was done for the most part quietly and by small groups of men. 42 One must admire not only the valor of these American citizens in risking their lives to effect the capture and execution of these desperadoes, but also their determination in making long journeys in the depth of a severe winter. The effect of this heroic work was health- ful. Criminals were cowed, and reckless young men who were drifting toward crime were appalled. Violent crimes for awhile ceased, and citizens worked and traded and traveled in com- parative security. "There was an omnipresent spirit of pro- tection, akin to that omnipresent spirit of law which pervaded older civilized communities." 43 Summary methods of Ameri- can citizens in the mining regions attained by a more difficult and dangerous process ends not unlike those attained by sum- mary government in British Columbia. Two documents have survived which reveal something of methods of organization of the vigilantes in Alder Gulch. 40 Photographs of these men are reproduced in Contr. His. 800. Mon. Vol. V. r op. p. 210. 41 Dimsdale, Vigilantes of Mont. (ed. 1882) p. 120-21. 42 On occasion, as at the capture and execution of five of the band at Vir- ginia City, the miners assembled in large numbers and acted in military forma- tion. ^Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways, Vol. II, p. 232. [375] 240 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN The first is a copy of their regulations and by-laws, and is as follows: "This committee shall consist of a President or Chief, an Executive officer, Secretary, Treasurer, Executive committee Captains and Lieutenants of Companies, and such gentlemen of known worth and integrity, as the Captains, Lieutenants and other officers enumerated above may deem worthy of be- ing made members. "The President shall be the supreme ruler of the committee, shall reside in Virginia City, and shall have power to appoint Captains to raise Companies wherever and whenever he deems the interests of the committee require the same to call together the Executive Committee whenever the same should be con- vened to order the arrest of any suspicious or guilty person, to preside at all meetings whenever present, and to have such other powers as would naturally devolve upon one occupying his position. "A majority of votes of the Executive Committee shall con- stitute an election for President and he shall hold the office un- til his successor is appointed and accepts the position. "The Executive officer shall have the government and con- trol of all Captains, Lieutenants, and companies, shall see that all orders of Chief and Executive committee are duly executed, shall have the selections of all persons sent out upon any ex- peditions of the Executive committee and choose a leader for the same and in case of the death or absence of the chief shall assume the duties of the office of President, until a new Presi- dent is chosen. The Secretary shall keep a correct record of all things proper to be written, the names of the Chief, Execu- tive officer, Secretary, Treasurer Executive committee and the names of the Captain and Lieutenants of Companies. "The Treasurer shall receive all monies belonging to the committee, keep a true account of the same and pay them out again upon orders of the Executive committee attested by the Secretary. "The Executive shall consist of seventeen members to wit: The President, Executive officer, Treasurer, Secretary of the Committee, four persons to be selected from Virginia City, three [376] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 241 from Nevada, one from Junction, one from Highland, one from Pine Grove, two from Summit, and one from Bivins Gulch, any eight of whom shall constitute a quorum. It shall be the duty of the Executive committee to legislate for the good of the whole committee, to try all criminals that may 'be arrested, to pass upon all accounts that may be presented, and if just to order the same paid by the Treasurer and to take a general super- vision of all criminal acts that may be committed within this Territory or come under their notice. "The Captain of Companies may be appointed by the Presi- dent, or the Executive officer, who shall" hold their offices until elected by the Companies themselves, every Captain shall have power to appoint one or more Lieutenants. The Captains and Lieutenants shall have power to recruit their companies from men of integrity living in their midst, and when any one com- pany outside of Virginia City numbers over fifty effective men a division should be made, and two companies formed from the same and officers elected from each. "It shall be the duty of the members to attach themselves to some company and whenever any criminal act shall come to their knowledge to inform his Captain or Lieutenant of the same, when the officers so informed shall call together the mem- bers of his company, (unless the Company has chosen a commit- tee for such purpose) when they shall proceed to investigate the case, and elicit the facts and should the said company conclude that the person charged with any offense, should be punished by the committee, the Captain or Lieutenant will first take steps to arrest the criminal and then report the same with proof to the Chief who will thereupon call a meeting of the Executive and the judgmjent of said executive committee shall be final. "The only punishment that shall be inflicted by this com- mittee is DEATH. 44 The property of any person executed by this committee shall be immediately seized upon and disposed of by the Executive Committee for the purpose of paying the expense of the Committee, and should the person executed have 44 As a matter of fact, there were exceptions. Two lawyers, Smith and Thur- mond, who sympathized with and defended the criminals, were banished, and one- man was whipped. Imprisonment was impossible, because there were no jails. [377] 242 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN creditors living in the Territory, it shall be the duty of the committee to first pay the expenses of the committee and Execu- tive and funeral expenses afterwards, pay the residue over to some one for the benefit of said creditor." The second document is the Vigilante oath, as subscribed to by one of the "companies," and was as follows: "We the undersigned uniting ourselves in a party for the Laudible purpos of arresting thievs and & murderers & recov- ering stollen propperty do pledge ourselvs upon our sacred honor each to all others & solemnly swear that we will reveal no secrets, violate no laws of right & not desert each other or our standerd of justice so help us God as witness our hand & seal this 23 of December 1863. " 45 Justifiable as the organization of the Vigilantes of Montana undoubtedly was under the circumstances, nevertheless there was felt to be danger of misdirection or of misuse of a weapon so terrible; and this was the more true after the most critical time had passed, and careful citizens were again intent on their own business. In some cases, more conspicuous else- where than in Montana, men of criminal character would join the organization as a shield for their own misdeeds, and these, with other despicable or chance characters, might work excess. One man was executed at Nevada, the victim of whose shooting afterwards recovered ; and another was hanged at Helena after trial by the civil authorities, sentence for three years, and par- don by the Executive. Because of past cases of doubtful or wrongful justice in the infliction of the death penalty, some of the old Californians in Montana were opposed to the organiza- tion of a vigilante committee; and the well meaning citizens who took part in the movement were zealous to uphold the reg- ular civil authority and willing to quit their organization, when that authority proved itself thoroughly competent to main- tain order. But the civil authorities had first to establish their com- petence. In the meantime, the people, realizing the beneficence of 46 Original copies of the Constitution and Oath given above are in the Montana Historical and Miscellaneous Library. The oath itself and the signatures of the signers (of whom there were twenty-four) are in the cramped writing .hands more used to the pick than to the pen. ' [378] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 243 the work done by the vigilantes, were inclined to uphold them. The judges, themselves, recognized the temporary necessity for the work of the vigilantes. Judge Munson, insisting in a confer- ence with other judges that the courts should take cognizance of some of the executions, was told by one of the judges: "I am content to let the vigilantes go on for the present ; they can attend to this branch of jurisprudence cheaper, quicker and better than it can be done by the courts besides we Jiave no secure jails in which to confine criminals." ^ A grand jury in one of the districts is reported to have presented to the court in lieu of an indictment, "That it is better to leave the punishment of criminal offenders to the Vigilantes, who always act impartially,, and who would not permit the escape of proved criminals on technical and absurd grounds." 47 The Montana Post claimed that there was "No jury as immovably fair, impartial and un- assailable, as the cold, stern, lynx-eyed, iron-willed and even- handed Executive Committee," 48 In other localities covered by the mining advance besides Montana there was recourse, as occasion demanded, to vigilante organization. At Lewiston there was a Protective Association composed of two hundred and fifty good citizens, which had a president, secretary, and executive committee, and was modeled on the plan of the San Francisco Vigilante Committee. It was said to have hanged three murderers and to have exiled about two hundred thieves and gamblers/' 9 Renegades from the mines were active in Walla Walla, and stockmen were especially troubled by their running off stock from the neighboring hills and sell- ing it in Walla Walla. Summary executions brought order. At La Grande, Oregon, a vigilante "lodge" was formed having as some of its leading members the Meachem Brothers, Doctor E. A. Stockton, and Lawyer Bacon. 51 In Southern Idaho, unity such as prevailed among the sup- porters of law and order in Montana, was. unfortunately, lack- 4 Contr. His. Soc. Mon., Vol. V., p. 209. 47 Id. 48 Quoted in the Idaho World, May 26, 1866. 49 San Francisco Daily Bulletin, May 5, 1863. 50 Ritz, Settlement of the Great Northern Interior, MS., p. 19. 61 McConnell, Idaho Inferno, MS., p. 54. [379] 244 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ing. The situation here was complicated, and it is only with difficulty that one can arrive with some clearness at certain phases of the situation, which need careful elucidation as part of our study/' 2 It seems certain that in Southern Idaho, crime was prevalent to a degree such as in other communities had been held to war- rant the formation of a vigilante committee. There was fre- quent mention in the papers of murders and robberies. The district attorney stated in the district court in 1865 that, since the organization of Boise County, there had been sixty deaths from violence, and yet not a single conviction. 53 The Idaho World, the leading Democratic paper and an opponent of the vigilante organizations, while attributing the lack of legal exe- cutions to the delay in organizing the territory and the courts, admitted that no one had been hanged for murder by due pro- cess, and that the vigilantes had hanged none but roughs. 54 These latter were undoubtedly numerous, some of them congre- gating at road houses along the thoroughfares and others in the towns. The livery stable of David Updyke at Boise City, in particular, had the reputation of being a rendezvous for a bad crowd. 55 The first movement toward vigilante methods of suppression occurred among the ranchers of the Payette Valley, who had lost considerable stock at the hands of insolent ruffians and could get little satisfaction from lawful authorities. As an example of the inutility of legal procedure at the time, the case of one gentleman may be mentioned who, when a horse worth fifty dollars was stolen and taken to Boise City, sued out an attach- ment and recovered the animal but at an expense of seventy dollars. A small organization of the ranchers was effected, thieves were pursued long distances, several of them were exe- cuted, and thievery in the valley was summarily checked/' 6 The . 52 The main trouble is that politics entered into the situation, and that the sources are influenced by political affiliations. 53 The Idaho Statesman, Sept. 3, 1865. 54 The Idaho World, Oct. 2, 1865; April 28, 1866. 65 As to the career of Updyke, see Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways, Vol. II, Chap. XXII. 56 The leading spirit of this organization was Mr. W. J. McConnell, who gives an interesting accoiint under the caption of Idaho Inferno, MS. Mr. McConnell later became Governor of Idaho and United States Senator. [380] x TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 245 vigilante movement was manifested again in August* 1865, in the attempt to take Patterson from jail ; and an atrocious murder in Boise City at Updyke's barn (April, 1866,) was followed by prompt hanging at the hands of a vigilante committee. A little later Up dyke himself was hanged with a companion on the Rocky Bar Eoad; some authorities claim that this was done by the Boise vigilantes, others by an organization of Overland em- ployes. 57 Updyke had been the Sheriff of Ada County, regularly elected as such, but being charged with embezzlement he had resigned. He was a man of genial character, who made many friends, and he was a leading Democratic politician. The Idaho World claimed that his execution was really a murder, having for its ob- ject getting possession of the money that was on his person, ' ' gratification of personal hate, and to get a powerful political foe out of the way. ' ' The organization of a vigilance committee, the World claimed was mainly for the purpose of carrying the summer elections against the Democratic party. 58 This charge that the vigilante organizations of Southern Idaho were poli- tical in purpose and inimical to the Democratic party, was again and again reiterated. The World admitted, however, that at the time of the Patterson affair, " There were undoubtedly many who went into the organization with the laudable desire of free- ing the community of much which is deservedly the object of reprobation with every good citizen, having no ulterior objects in view other than that of the good society." But there was a legally constituted (government in Idaho, so the Democrats! argued, and the majority of the people were in favor of civil government, not of mob rule. 59 On the other hand, the Re- publicans charged that the Democratic political organization, having the power, did not enforce the laws; "make the people- believe that you are in good faith trying to enforce it (the. law),'" said The Statesman, "and we shall hear no more of vigilance committees and lynch law." GO The situation appears to have 67 The latter view, for example, by McConnell, p. 55 ; the former by Lang- ford, Vol. II, p. 352. 68 The Idaho World, April 14, 1866. 39 Id., Oct. 2, 1865. 80 The Idaho Weekly Statesman, Sept. 3, 1865. [381] 246 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN been that there were politicians in both parties who were willing to place party advantage above the good of the community, but that the majority of the number of both parties were sincerely desirous of more orderly government; that those of the people who tried to act through vigilante organization were confronted by the fact that they put themselves in an attitude of antago- nism to the regular authorities, while the people who upheld the authorities, and particularly the political organization of the dominant party, were hampered by the fact that they were in political affiliation with, and dependent upon, men for votes, whose character they could not defend. At any rate, the situa- tion was such that neither the extra legal organization nor the legal authorities could deal decisively with the criminal element, ;and so the evolution of law and order in Idaho was slower and more confused than in Montana. 61 Reviewing in conclusion, the prominent features of the differ- ent governmental forms applied under the British and under the American auspices in the mining advance, we see, on the one hand, government concentrated largely in the hands of an effici- ent executive, who made laws and organized administration on summary methods; on the other, representative government, under hampering conditions, working tardily .and painfully towards order, and meeting local or occasional reinforcement. Under the former society was from the first under control, and there was a tendency to restrain individuals for the benefit of society a restraint at times verging to over repression; under the latter individualism was feebly controlled from above, but 81 A curious fact in the party politics of Idaho at this time is the connection between Fenianism and the Democratic party. The leaders of that party in Boise County (which was far the most populous county in the Territory at that time and with political power proportionate to population) were on close terms with or members of the Fenian Organization. On the Invitation and Re- ception Committees of a Grand Fenian Ball given by the Emmett Life Guards were E. D. Holbrook, Democratic candidate for Delegate to Congress, James Crutcher, Democratic Sheriff, Street, the Editor of the World, Mix, nominee for representative, and a number of other prominent Democrats. John M. Murphy, the Secretary of the Democratic Territorial Central Committee, was the State Centre of the Fenian Brotherhood. For substantiation of these statements com- pare lists of Democratic nominees in the Idaho World, May 12 and June 26, 1866, with the leaders at the Fenian Ball, published June 30, 1866. It was charged by Republicans that Fenianism was being used by Democrat politicians. Idaho Weekly Statesman, April 22, 1866. [382] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 247 had to generate within itself forces of order, and it tended to undue license hurtful to society. The American system devel- oped a country the more swiftly, the British the more safely. Under hoth systems strong men labored courageously and well to adjust forms of order to unorganized society. [383] 248 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY I. MANUSCRIPT SOURCES The most important manuscripts for this study are located in three libraries specified below. Only manuscripts of chief weight for this work are mentioned. 1. The Montana Historical Library at Helena. Bradley, Lieut. James H. (a) Affairs at Ft. Benton 18311864. (b) Effects at Ft. Benton of the Gold Excitement in Montana. (c) A General View of the Settlement of Montana. Benedict, Gilbert. Diary of an Immigrant of 1864. Haskell, Wm. S. Pilgrimage to the Gold Regions, 1864. Howie, Neil, Letters. Hough, Rev. A. M. The Establishment of our Mission in Montana Notes from my Diary. Morley, J. H. Diary. (Of special value for Bannack and Alder Gulch.) Sanders, Senator W. F. Sketches of Early Settlers in Montana. i Williams, Capt. James. Interview and Autobiographical Sketch. Williams, A. M. and Wheeler, Wm. F. History of Mining in Montana. Vigilante Constitution and Oath. [384] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 249 2. The Library of the Academy of Pacific Coast History (The Bancroft Collection). Ainsworth, Capt. J. C. Statement. (Refers particularly to 0. S. N. Co.) Anderson, Alexander Caulfield. History of the Northwest Coast. Ballou, William T. Adventures. Branstetter, J. H. The First Discovery of Boise Basin. Bristol, Sherlock. Idaho Nomenclature. Butler, J. S. Life and Times in Idaho. Coghanour, David. Boise Basin. Deady, M. P. History of the Progress of Oregon after 1845. De Cosmos, Amor. The Governments of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Douglas, Sir James. Diary of Gold Discovery on Fraser River. Private Papers. Evans, Elwood. The Fraser River Excitement. Farnham, Edwin. Statement. (Concerning Salmon River and Warren's) Finlayson, Roderick. The History of Vancouver Island and the Northwest Coast. Hofen, Leo, History of Idaho County. Hutton, James H. Early Events in Northern Idaho. Joset, Father. The War of 185558. Knapp, Henry H. Statement of Events in Idaho. Maize, H. B. Early Events in Idaho. (Deals particularly with Owyhee) McConnell, W. J. The Idaho Inferno. Ritz, Philip. Settlement of the Great Northern Interior. Roder, ;.Capt. Henry. Narrative Concerning Bellingham Bay. Schultze, Mrs. Theodore. Anecdotes of the Early Settle- ment of Northern Idaho. 3. Provincial Library and Archives of British Columbia, Victoria. There are two classes of material here which deserve special consideration. The first pertains closely to Sir James Douglas [385] 250 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN and includes his Letters and Proclamations. The letters are found mainly in his Miscellaneous Letters and in his Correspon- dence Book. Douglas's letters to the gold commissioners and magistrates in the various mining districts in British Columbia very urgently required these subordinates to furnish full and detailed reports. After a persistent search, which was made possible by the help of the officials of the Parliamen-t buildings (and in particular by the courtesy of Mr. Arthur Campbell Reddie, Assistant Provin- cal Secretary), these reports and letters from the gold commis- sioners were found among a mass of material in the archives of the secretary's office. They constitute a most satisfactory and reliable source for the history of the early period of British Columbia mining. The commissioners were men of considerable education, who were placed in positions of responsibility wfore- in it was more to their interest to give a true account of what was occurring than to exaggerate, and their letters were not intended for publication. If these letters could be sorted out, edited, and published, they would furnish valuable material not only for British Columbia history but for the general history of the precious metal industry. II. NEWSPAPERS One of the significant features of the mining advance was the swift establishment of newspapers in all important centers. The miining population wanted the news and was willing to pay for it; in particular there was demand for news of the Civil War. The following newspapers were selected as representative: The Washington Statesman. (Walla Walla) The Idaho World. (Idaho City) The Boise Statesman. (Boise) The Owyhee Avalanche. (Silver City) The Montana Post. (Virginia City) The British Columbian. (New Westminster) The Cariboo Sentinel. (Barkerville) Other papers of the mining regions were the Golden Age, (Lewiston), The Rocky Mountain Gazette, (Helena), and The Dalles Mountaineer. [386] THIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 251 Papers more remote from the mining region were in direct touch with them and contain much valuable information. Of this character were the Victoria Gazette and Colonist. In the Sound country, among others, were the Puget Sound Herald (Steilacooni), and The Pioneer and Democrat (Olympia). At Portland was The Oregonian, with correspondents in many camps. The San Francisco Daily Bulletin, whose columns ranged the whole vast mining field, is the best single newspaper source. The wide sweep of its news items and of its editorial surveys emphasizes the fact that San Francisco was the metro- polis of the American mining movement. The London Times contained reports from correspondents in British Columbia and valuable comments on conditions. Mention should also be made of The Mining and Scientific Press, a magazine published at San Francisco. 1 III. CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTS AND BOOKS 1. Government Reports. Up to the outbreak of the Civil War comprehensive informa- tion was furnished by the army administrators. Their reports are to be found in The Reports of the Secretary of War. The sudden dearth that falls on the opening of the war is signifi- cant as revealing the withdrawal of these trained administrators. About the same time came the officials of the Indian department, whose reports are to be found in The Reports of the Commis- sioner of Indian Affairs. In 1866, with the appointment of Mr. J. Ross Browne as United States Commissioner of Mining Statis- tics, came new and indispensable sources. The reports of Mr. Browne and of his successor Mr. R. W. Raymond, entitled Min- eral Resources of the United States appeared from 1867 to 1876, and these must be studied by any one wishing to know the mining history of the period. Other important sources are the Journals, Records, Session Laws and Reports of the legislative bodies and officials of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. For British Columbia we have Papers regarding British Co- 1 Hon. C. B. Bagley, of Seattle, possesses one of the most valuable collections of newspapers on the Pacific Coast. I am greatly indebted to him for cordially allowing me to use it. [387] 252 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN lumbia presented to Parliament by Command of her Majesty. The official Gazette, published at New Westminster, is also im- portant. Of a semi-official character !and valuable are fthe Occasional Papers of the Columbian Mission. On the Indian question invaluable are the Papers relating to the Indian Land Question. 2. Private publications. A noticeable feature of the bibliographical material for British Columbia is the large number of books concerning that colony, which were published in Great Britain during the early years of the colony, a fact indicating the great interest of the public and the government. Some of them are as follows : Barret-Lennard, Capt. C. E. Travels in British Columbia. (London, 1862) Cornwallis, Kinahan, The New Eldorado. (London, 1858) Emmerson, John, British 'Columbia and Vancouver Island, (Durham, 1865) Hazlitt, W. C. British Columbia and Vancouver Island. (Lon- don, 1858) Hazlitt, W. C. The Great Gold Fields of Cariboo. (London, 1862) Johnson, R. Byron. Very Far West Indeed. (London, 1872) MacDonald, D. G. P. British Columbia and Vancouver Island. (London, 1862) Macfie, M. Vancouver Island and British Columbia. (London, 1865) Mayne. R. C. Four years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island. (London, 1862) Milton and Cheadle. The Northwest Passage by Land. (Lon- don, 1865) Rattray, A. Vancouver Island and British Columbia. (Lon- don, 1862) [388] TRIMBLE MINING ADVANCE 253 Wyld's New Map of the Gold Fields on the Fraser's River. Printed at London 1858 and 1859 by James Wyld. Geogra- pher to the Queen. A number of pamphlets concerning British Columbia were is- sued from Ottawa, New Westminster and Victoria. References to some of these are found in the text. In the American territories works by contemporary observers were rare. Mention may be made of the following pamphlets. Angelo, C. Idaho. Campbell, J. S. Six Months in the Neiv Gold Diggings- Dimsdale, T. J. The Vigilantes of Montana. Leighton, Mrs. Caroline C. Life at Puget Sound, with Sketches of Travel. Langley. Pacific Coast Directory. Mullan, John. Miner's and Traveller's Guide. There are valuable passages also in Our Neiv West, by Sam- uel Bowles and in Our New States and Territories and Beyond the Mississippi by Albert D. Richardson. Some comparatively recent publications give satisfying mater- ial for the earlier time. Of these the Contributions to the His- torical Society of Montana are very serviceabls. Valuable articles have been published also in the Oregon Historical Quarterly. Hailey's History of Idaho and Goulder's Reminis- cences furnish suggestive and important material. 3. General and Secondary "Works. Bancroft, H. H. British Columbia. 17921887 Bancroft, H. H. Washington, Idaho and Montana. Bancroft, H. H. Popular Tribunals. Begg, A. History of British Columbia from the Earliest Dis- covery to the Present Time. Lyman, W. D. The Columbia River; its History, its Myths, its Scenery, its Commerce. [389] 254 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Mean3 T , E. S. History of the State of Washington. Schafer, Joseph. History of the Pacific Northwest. On mining law the following may be consulted: Davis, John F. Historical Sketch of the Mining Law in Cal- ifornia. Lindley, Curtis Holbrook. A Treatise on the American Law Relating to Mines and Mineral Lands within the public land States and Territories and governing the acquisition and enjoyment of Mining Rights in the Public Domain. (Con- tains a succinct and scholarly historical review, Vol I pp. 5-115.) Yale, Gregory. Legal titles to Mining Claims and Water Rights in California under the Mining Law of Congress of July, 1866. [390] Economics, Political Science, and History Series VOLUME I (Complete in three numbers, with title-page, table of contents, and index.) No. L The geographical distribution of the vote of the thirteen states on the Federal Constitution, 1787-8, by Orin Grant Libby. 1894. 8+116 p. 2 pi. 75 cents. Out of print. No. 2. The finances of the United States, from 1775 to 1789, with especial reference to the budget, by Charles Jesse Bullock. 1895. 8+158 p. 75 cents. No. 3. The province of Quebec and the early American revolution. A study in English-American colonial history, by Victor Coffin. 1896. 17+288 p. 75 cents. VOLUME n (Complete in four numbers, with title-page, table of contents, and index.) No. 1. New governments west of the Alleghanies before 1780, by George Henry Alden. 1897. 7+74 p. 50 cents. No. 2. Municipal history and present organization of the city of Chi- cago, by Samuel Edwin Sparling. 1898. 188 p. 75 cents. No. 3. Congressional grants of land in aid of railways, by John Bell Sanborn. 1899. 130 p. 50 cents. No. 4. 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