GALENA DAILY ADVERTISER
VOL. 16 NUMBER 114
Monday morning, February 8, 1864
Page 1 Col. 2 NEW FALL AND WINTER GOODS, ST. LOUIS STORE, J. M. SPRATT "Is now receiving his usual heavy and well selected stock of FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC DRY GOODS, CARPETS, AND FLOOR OIL CLOTHS, all of which will be sold at the lowest Cash Prices and for CASH only. CARPETS If you want a new Carpet Cheap, go to the St. Louis Store. DRESS GOODS If you want a new dress, go to the Saint Louis Store. CLOAKS AND SHAWLS If you want one cheap for cash, go to the Saint Louis Store. BALMORAL AND HOOP SKIRTS If you desire a splendid Balmoral or Hoop Skirt go to the St. Louis Store. FLANNELS OF ALL KINDS If you are in want of Silk warp unshrinkable Shaker--wide blanket- home spun or fancy colored Opera Flannels, go to the St. Louis Store. DOMESTIC & BLEACHED MUSLINS The cheapest place to purchase the above is the St. Louis Store PRINTS AND DELAINES Come and see for yourself. We are selling them at such reduced figures as put them again within reach of all. CLOTHS, SATINETS, AND CASHMERES If you want a good article and cheap, go to the St. Louis Store TICKS, STRIPES, CHECKS AND DENIMS Cheap for cash at the Saint Louis Store No. 167 Main Street Opposite NEWHALL's Drug Store Page 2 Col. #1 ---"Gold was quoted in New York, yesterday, at $1.58" IDAHO RELIABLE INFORMATION--THE COUNTRY AROUND BANNOCK CITY--RICHNESS AND EXTENT OF THE GOLD FIELDS--THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES--PRICE OF PROVISIONS--ROUTES TO THE MINES--CURIOSITIES. "We surrender a large portion of our space this morning to the publication of the following letter from the Idaho Gold Mines, believing it, in view of the existing and growing excitement in regard to that region, the most interesting matter we can publish. The writer of the letter is John G. MARTIN, formerly of the firm of J. MARTIN & Sons, of this city. John went to Pike's Peak in 1860, afterwards to Oregon, and last spring took a stock of goods through to Bannock City, where he is now in business. Having traveled extensively through all the Western mining country, and being a very close observer, his statements may be relied on as strictly accurate. It will be seen that he gives an impartial account, and while drawing a glowing picture of the rich yield of some claims, shows that others scarcely pay expenses. Viewed in the most favorable light, gold mining in Idaho, as well as elsewhere, is little better than a lottery, and those who have got a safe thing here, had better not abandon it for an uncertainty. Mr. MARTIN encloses a pure sample of dust, which sells there for $16 per ounce. _______________ West Bannock City, I. T., Dec. 15, 1863 EDITORS GAZETTEE: Permit me to call the attention of some of my friends to a few remarks which may be interesting to many of your citizens. This place, although in its infancey--it is not yet ten months since the first house was erected--is now a large city. It ranks as the fourth city on the Pacific coast. San Francisco, Sacramento and Portland are the only places that surpass this in population or trade. It is located in 44 deg. 10 min. N. and 38 deg. 15 min W., in the Salmon Mountains, on a small stream called Morse's Creek, one of the four forks of the Boisee River. The others are the North, Middle, and South Forks. On the head of these tributaries is what is termed the Boisee Basin, 60 miles long by 20 wide, surrounded by high mountain ranges, the river passing out through a deep canon. This basin is well timbered with the finest of pine; but nothing else, except in the streams, there are some willows; these are in the basin. This basin has heretofore been the summer resort for the Snake and Bannock tribes of Indians. The climate here in summer is warm, dry, mild and pleasant, lasting until late in the fall. Snow commenced falling on the 10th inst., and indications are that it falls very deep--10 to 12 feet on the level. On the ranges around the basin snow has been falling since September. A few words in regard to the richness of the mines, and also their extent and resources, will be sufficient. The discoveries that have already been made in Placer Diggings cannot be worked out in the next five years, and the quartz ledges will never be exhausted. There are a great many claims that I know pay from $100 to $150 to the man per day. There are claims where this town stands that will pay $100 per day to the man. These claims are 200 feet wide and 3,000 feet long. Creek claims here contain two to three acres. There are five thousand claims recorded in this district, (No. 3) and there are five hundred other districts as large as this. A great many claims here will not pay more than $8 to $10 per day, and there are plenty that will not pay $5. But a ground that will not pay half an ounce is not considered worth working. There will be employment for twenty thousand men in this basin while the water lasts in the Spring--which will be from the first of March to the last of June--at $7 per day or $8 per night. A great many quartz ledges have been discovered here, but there has not been much attention paid to them. They are as rich as Wa______ ever was. The richest of all have been discovered on the Oyhee. It is said to exceed the celebrated Comstock ledges by far in richness. There are also new and rich discoveries being made every day in Placer and Quartz Diggings, east of here. But these mines, like all others, are liable to be overstated abroad, though I think this is far the best mining ground that has ever be discovered in this Western country.--The expense of working claims is very high. Diggings that will not pay $10 to the man are not very profitable. There are a great many disadvantages here, but the greatest are lack of water and distance from market. But ditch companies are at work all over the country, and the mining season of next summer may be prolonged several months. There are streams being brought in through ditches 16 or 20 miles. Everything is very high here, owing to the distance from market. All provisions have to be brought from Oregon and California, except some flour from Salt Lake City. The nearest point to the Columbia river is Walla Walla or Umatilla Landing, 350 miles over what mountaineers call a bad road, (and I think you will agree with them). Teams never make the distance from the Fort here (40 miles) in less than a week. The rates of freighting from Salt Lake City have been from 20 to 33 cents per pound, and not another pound can come in till spring, as the mountains are impassible. Provisions may hold out; if they do not, you can imagine the consequences. The following are OUR selling prices at present: Flour, 40 cents per lb; Bacon, 80 cents per lb; Potatoes, 40 cents. per lb; Onions, 50 cents per lb; Beef, 25 to 30 cents per lb; Coffee, 75 cents per lb; Sugar, 65 cents per lb; Ker. Oil, $8 per gal.; Syrup, $6; Hay, 20 cents per lb; newspapers, $1; postage on letters, via Salt Lake, $1. Wells, Fargo & Co., have established offices here, and propose carrying mail regularly, three times per month. They will cross the range on snow shoes. I would say to those contemplating a journey here, by water, that they cannot get here before the 15th of April. Leave Portland, Oregon about the middle of March, and take the steamboat to Cascade Falls, on the Columbia river, (50 miles), then railroad six miles round the Galls, then steamer to the Dallas, (50 miles). then railroad 15 miles to Celilo, then steamer to Umatilla Landing (100 miles). Here Indian ponies can be bought for $35, and the Blue Mountains can be crossed almost any time after the 15th of March. But to those that propose crossing the plains, I would recommend the north side of the Platte river to the Sweet Water, (I have traveled both), thence to the Mormon ferry, on Green river, then up the west bank to the Soda Springs, (There have been some discoveries made on a branch of Snake river, 20 miles east of the Springs,) and then to old Fort Hall, crossing Snake river and the Desert (60 miles) to a small stream; then to the new military post at the foot of the mountains, 40 miles from here. There are some curiosities that I would also mention. The Steamboat Spring will be found on the bank of Bear river, 3/4 mile west of the Soda Springs, and bout 50 yards from the road. This is truly a curiosity that will never be forgotten. But the greatest natural curiosity west of the Rock Mountains, is the great Shashone Falls. (The following description of these falls, cut from a California paper, and enclosed by our correspondent:) There are two distinct and separate falls, which I will denouminate the "Upper" and "Lower" Falls, two miles apart; the Lower Fall is the highest of the two, having an altitude of 220 feet, of which, 198 feet is so near perpendicular that the whole volume of water in the Snake river makes a clean plunge over it. The Lower Fall is located 100 miles below Fort Hall, and 40 miles above Salmon Falls; to any person who has ever traveled the Emigrant road between these localities, the place could be easily found. From the point where this Emigrant road crosses Rock Creek, the Lower Fall is distant five miles, in a course ten degrees east or north, can readily be found by any one who will ride across to the river from the crossing of Rock creek. Our party took our animals, including loaded pack mules, down the river bank above the Falls, and found a good camp with plenty of wood and grass, and the river easily accessible for animals to water. In order to give a description of the locality of this Fall, let the reader imagine a vast undulating sage plain, a narrow gorge about 1,200 to 1,500 feet in width, and 800 to 1,000 feet in depth, cut through the centre of this plain, with Snake river running in the bottom of the gorge, the sides of which are perpendicular walls of basaltic rock, with occasionally a slide or a chasm breaking off the crest of the cliff, rendering the river accessible to man, and he will have something like a correct idea of the general outline of the country in the vicinity of the Falls. The river above the Lower Fall flows smooth and placid as a mirror through this enormous gorge, until it reaches the very crest of the Fall, when it breaks over the first cataract of 22 feet, in four distinct channels, all uniting a few yards below preparatory to making the final leap of 198 feet. The main cataract is a perfect "horseshoe", and immense coumnlar rocks like abutments at each heel; over this "horseshoe", in clouds of foam and spray, pours the great Snake river. Below the Fall there is a basin, 1,200 to 1,500 feet in diameter. Immediately at the foot of the cataract the water of the basin is rough, the waves rolling and breaking against the rocks in shore like surf on a sea beach; but immediately below, the river flows on again, as smooth and calm as though its tranquility had never been disturbed by a plunge of 200 feet. We succeed in measuring the height of the main cataract by letting a rope, with a stone tied to the end, down from the top of a rock near the crest of the cataract, until the stone struck the surface of the water below, and then measured the rope with an extemporized yard-stick: The altitude given --198 feet--is as near correct as we could make it with the facilities at hand; the only chance for any error to have occurred was in the yardstick, which should it have occurred would not have varied the height more than a foot or two. The Upper Falls is two miles above the Lower, the intervening country terribly cut up with chasms, rendering it entirely impassable for animals; buy by making a circuit of four or five miles and approaching the river is accessible for animals by means of an enormous chasm, cut into the cliff bordering the gorge of the river. This chasm, about one-half mile in length, opens out upon the river at the Falls, and forms a small plateau upon which there is plenty of grass for a small camping party; animals can be watered at the river 400 yards below the Falls. This fall is as dissimilar from the lower one as possible, not only in the cataract itself, but in the surrounding scene, which is by far less imposing and devoid of that magnificent grandeur that characterizes the surroundings of the Lower Fall. The river at this Fall is divided into two channels by a huge rock at the top of the Fall and in the very centre of the river, thus forming two distinct cataracts; the one on the south side having an altitude of 180 feet, over which about half the water of Snake rive makes a clean leap. On the north side the rock is broken about the crest of the cataract, which causes the stream to assume the appearance of a "rapid" before reaching the cataract, and very materially reduces the altitude of the latter. Above the Fall the current of the river is strong and swift; below, the stream rolls off from the foot of the cataract in foaming rapids. The Upper Fall is much best known to travelers in this section of the country; it was visited in the year 1849 by some officers of the regiment of mounted riflemen that crossed the Plains that year; again last year by one CRAWFORD, who accompanied the emigrant escort train to Oregon, from whom I received the first account I had ever heard of the "Great Falls". From the "signs" about the falls, I judge there have been ten or twelve persons there this year, previous to our visit, from a scrap of paper with "M. CRAWFORD" written in pencil mark on it; found in the crevice of the rocks. This was evidently a party from Captain CRAWFORD's emigrant escort which passed down this side the river to Boisee Valley this season. There are very serious doubts whether the Lower Falls had ever been visited by white men previous to the visit of our party; at all events there are no evidences about the Falls of anybody but Indians ever having been there." Page 2 Col. #3 --"The Government is preparing a cemetery for the final resting place of soldiers who may die in the service, including those killed at Chickamauga and the various battles at and near Chattanooga." Page 3 Col. #2 HOME AGAIN "J. A. PACKARD, Esq., of this city, having leased a plantation near Vicksburg, is again at home spending a few days with his family. He will return to Vicksburg, shortly." DEATH OF AN OLD CITIZEN "Gen. Jean Baptiste BEAUBIEN, who is said to have been the oldest resident of the Northwest, died at Napierville, on Tuesday of last week, aged 85 years. He came to Illinois over sixty years ago." A DANCE "The furloughed soldiers of this city, and their ladies, had a fine time in the shape of a dance, at the DeSoto House, last Friday evening. We hope the brave boys will enjoy themselves as well as possible during their short stay with us." ARRIVAL OF COMPANY D "Company D, of the 45th Regiment, arrived home yesterday (Sunday) morning. A Committee of citizens met them at the depot, and took them to breakfast at the DeSoto House. They are a fine looking, well dressed company of men. A complimentary supper will be given them at the DeSoto House this week." J. B. GOUGH "This eloquent temperance lecturer has been lecturing in Chicago, and has been invited to speak at McGreger and other cities west of Chicago. We are sorry to see that there is no prospect that the people of Galena will be entertained this winter by a single lecturer from abroad. Can't we even have one lecture? Guess not." COLD BATHS "The people, horses and cattle of Rockford have recently been seized with a mania for cold baths in Rock River. Last Wednesday a cow, while out taking an evening walk on the ice, broke through. She immediately bellowed for assistance, and was soon helped out. The Rockford Democrat says that "last Thursday afternoon, about two quarts of whiskey took a man down to the river and walked into a hole with him." A person who happened to be near by, fished him out. On the same day, a Mr. TWOGOOD, while crossing the river with his team, broke in, and came near losing his life and team." DEATH OF "YANKEE" "Joseph HAYDEN, familiarly know as "Yankee", formerly of Galena, was found dead in his room last Sunday, at Waterloo, Iowa.--Many of the older citizens of this place will doubtless recollect this eccentric individual, who, while living here, used to amuse this community to no small extent with his perfect imitation of the crowing of chantieleer, the gobbling of a turkey, and the whistling of a steamboat. From this place he moved to Dunleith, where he stayed three years, after which he took up his residence in Dubuque, and engaged in the peanut and candy trade. Whenever he walked the streets of that city, his odd appearance created as much excitement among the boys as would the presence of Tom Thumb and his troupe.--Last June he moved to Waterloo, and continued in the peanut business. During the last three or four weeks before his death, the boys were a great source of annoyance to the poor man. They snow-balled him, entered his room and broke up his dishes, etc., till he resolved to commit suicide, and thus terminate his earthly troubles. He took a large dose of poison, and was found dead in his room last Sunday afternoon. He was a well-educated, honest man, and possessed talents as a speaker, but his mind had evidently suffered some injury." DUBUQUE ITEMS "Last Friday evening, George MORTON, a teamster of Dubuque, was taking a load of reapers from Dunleith to Dubuque, and when within ten feet of the Iowa shore, the ice gave way, precipitating horses, sleigh and reapers into the river. The horses were drowned, and the sleigh, with its contents, lost. Mr. MORTON jumped just in time to save his own life. The horses were valued at $250. A short time previous to this C. H. MERRY's team broke through, but the horses were saved." "Last Friday morning a fire broke out in a smoke house on 13th street, and before the engines arrived the boys had extinguished it by pelting it with snow balls."