Chapter 8

While these operations were going on quite a number of miners were employed. A town bearing the name of Mineral sprang up along the creek. There were three saloons, a hotel and a store in the town, yes and a shoemaker shop, operated by our Main street shoemaker, Martin Calwhite. He stayed with the camp as long as there were a pair of shoes to mend and then moved back to Weiser. The male population of the city was quite sporty, as is the case in all mining camps.

Poker, both stud and draw, were indulged in, some times for considerable stakes, while others, who did not like to go as strong as playing for money, played solo for the drinks. Judge Huston was a great solo enthusiast and when in camp always took a hand. E.A. Van Sicklin, who then had a sheep ranch on the river came up frequently and he, the judge and Darby, proprietor of the saloons, would have an all-day sitting at their favorite game.

Had Boxing Bouts

Boxing was also a great sport and there were a number of miners who were handy with their dukes, as was also Darby and Dan Kerfoot, the owner of another saloon. Dan was a real expert and hard to meet by anyone of his size. Dan had a hall above his saloon where the boxing bouts were pulled off. The late Tom Pence, who was at that time sheriff of this county, and the writer had occasion at one time to make a business visit to Mineral. When it was learned that the city had within its gates two distinguished visitors, the commercial club, if they had one, was called together and decided we should be entertained in a manner befitting our station. It was decided that a prize fight might be something to our liking and it was arranged that two of the younger celebrities of the camp should furnish the fun

Calwhlte Is Matched

Martin Calwhite the shoemaker, and Fred Wing, another resident of the place were matched for the bout. They were of about equal weight and age and equally scienced in the manly art of self defense, and each had as many backers as the other. The bout was pulled off in Kerfoots hall at about eight oclock in the evening. Kerfoot acted as second for Martin, who was one of his pupils, and in whom he took great pride because of his prowess as a fighter. Darby acted in the same capacity for Wing, and Phil Hirsh, another sport, took the position as referee. The hall was well filled with an expectant crowd who were confident of witnessing an entertainment deluxe.

The combatants were brought into the ring by their respective seconds, their gloves put on and examined by the referee to see that neither had any horseshoes concealed within his mitt. When the proper time arrived the beligerants shook hands in real pugilistic style and began maneuvering for an advantage and finally rushed at each other with all the ferocity of a Jack Dempsey or John L. Sullivan. Martin gave young Wing a furious slug in the slats, which his opponent countered with one on Martins jaw, which for a second seemed to daze the voting pugilist but was far from putting him out.

They rushed each other and there was fast and furious in-fighting for a second or two when they clinched and were separated by the referee. After a few more furious passes, time was called and the referee announced that the round was Martin's by one poin. The seconds fanned and rubbed their principals and gave each a swallow of water and made them ready for the next round. They came at each other in the second round with all the ferocity of fighting bulls, each expecting to land a blow that would put his antagonist out, but it was not to be as most of the hardest blows missed their marks.

The round was fought out with desperation to the end, when the referee announced that the round was young Wings by one point thus making the bout a stand-off. He further called the fight a draw, fearing that a fatality would result from one of the sledgehammer blows aimed by the pugilists at his opponent. The referees decision was far from satisfactory to either pugilist or his second for they were satisfied that a knockout would result if another round was fought. After the encounter all hands went down to the bar, highly pleased with the entertainment, especially Tom Pence and the writer, in whose honor the battle was pulled off.

Elect Justice of Peace

The good people of Mineral being desirous that law and order should be maintained in the camp, each election placed one of their citizens, learned in the law, on the bench as justice of the peace. The first to occupy this dignified position of honor was an old Irishman by the name of Tom Manning, an assayer, who could come about as near ascertaining the metalic contents of a piece of ore as a practical miner could guess it, and he was equally qualified as a jurist.

Manning left the camp and the vacancy was filled by the elevation of George Croker, another old Irishman, to the vacant position. Croker was as fully qualified for the eminent position as was his illustrious predecessor. One of the important cases brought to the attention of this jurist was a grand larceny case whereby a cowboy was accused of stealing a horse. The defendant secured the services of Bill Gray, a notorious wag, who made more amusement for the town than any person living there.

Gray was a miner and probably had never been in a court room in his life but he had plenty of gall and approached his duty as councelor with courage and confidence. The state was represented by the complainant the James Brothers and their Bloody Gray. At the appointed time for holding the examination, court convened in Darb's saloon, the only convenient place for the purpose. The learned judge ordered that the statutory requirement of taking the evidence in writing be dispensed with, consequently no record of the evidence was made. After the evidence was all in, the case was presented by the complainant in a few words, when Lawyer Gray opened for the defense.

He produced as authority two volumes which he held bore directly on the case. One was the Adventures of the James Brothers and their Bloody Trail from Missouri to Virginia, and the other was the Life of Wild Bill the Terror of the Black Hills. With these authorities and his powerful eloquence he convinced the learned jurist that the complainant had never had any horse and it was therefore impossible for the defendant to steal one from him. The case was dismissed and the complainant was made to pay the costs.

I have been informed that Judge Croker, after his retirement from the bench, with great learning and care, compiled the opinions of the Mineral court which were published. Ex-sheriff Kennedy was the proud owner of the only volume in existence of this valuable work, which was destroyed in the courthouse fire to his great grief and an irreparable loss to both bench and bar.

Close to Railroad

Mineral has the advantage of being nearer a railroad than any of the other mining districts mentioned, being only four miles distance, with a downhill road all the way except from the river to the siding, only a short distance. Where the Seven Devils district so situated an immense tonnage of ore might be shipped out that would not bear the freight charges out to Council, the nearest railroad point.

Chapter 9

One of the numerous mine owners of Mineral, but not of the first to come, was Joe Weaver, now deceased. He located some claims in tlse district, and as soon as another was abandoned, he relocated that on its past reputation until he had a string of claims exiending from below the town, over Iron Mountain to Mann Creek.

As the law required the performance of at least one hundred dollars worth of work annually in order to legally hold a mining claim this was some problem, but Joe was equal to the occasion. The law also provided that if a holder of a claim would make an affidavit at the end of the year that he had performed the required amount of labor, it was prima facia evidence that he had done so, and a re-locator or jumper was required to prove that such labor was not done, thus throwing the burden of proof on the jumper. If he did not make such annual proof of labor then the burden of proof was on the claimant to establish the fact that he had complied with the law in relation to the requirement.

Old John Mulloy. the sage of Weiser, called these affidavits of labor, "Pincil assessments" , thereby intimating that the required labor to be done was substituted by one of these affidavits. The way this "Pincil assessment" business worked out was admirably stated by G.W. Patterson, Old Pat as he was generally known. Andy Adams, an old Englishman who lived up in Indian Valley where Pat lived, was the owner or part owner in from 15 to 20 claims in the Seven Devils district which required annual assessment work of one hundred dollars each. Old Pat in speaking to a few of his neighbors one day, said:

"Andy Adams hired the best damn working boy that ever was in this valley; he paid him twenty dollars a month, docked him for time going and coming and for Sundays. They went to the Seven Devils, done eighteen hundred dollars worth of assessment work and was back inside three weeks." As it took four days to go and come there were two Sundays during the time they were out there, only fifteen days were used for labor, so it cost Andy ten dollars for hired help in doing eighteen hundred dollars worth of assessment work. Joe did not go to this expense, as he had a simpler method. He would take his pick and shovel and go to the dumps of his claims and pick around removing some of the dirt to give it the appearance of recent work on the claim and in this manner could do his assessment work on a dozen or more claims at a much less expense than Old Andy Adams incurred in doing his work. I forgot to mention that when Andy got home he prepared and sent in for record affidavits of the doing of one hundred dollars worth of labor an each of his claims.

It , was ,a common remark around Mineral in the fall of the year that Joe was out doing his assessment work. One fellow was mean enough to say that he had worked six claims before noon and was going to lay off and rest the remainder of the day, but I have been told that this is an exaggeration and that the working the assessments on three claims was his greatest accomplishment for a half day.

Display Prize Ore

Weiser was the trading place for Mineral residents before the wagon road was built down Snake River, and here they came to file their location notices, always bringing along a quantity of their rock for exhibition purposes. They brought it in such liberality and placed their specimens on the bars of stores and saloons to such an extent as to become a nuisance. It is a part of the code of the prospector to never belittle the discovery of another, and he always rated it as being second only to his own. With the accumulation of evidence of great discoveries out there in the hills, some of the discoverers were able to make sales of interests in their holdings, but at ridiculously low considerations considering the reputed value of the property. They were never able to make a deal with  foxy old John Multoy, who spoke many proverbs, one of which was B'lave nothing you hear and only half what you see," and he ever religiously adhered to it." When a prospector approached him with a view of making a deal whereby Mulloy was to receive a fortune for a mere pittance, he answered by saying. "Ah whats the use of us all being rich? Kape it yourself.

All of the old pioneers of Mineral are now probably at rest in widely separated graves. Some died here , but in the main they departed for other fields where there were reports of great discoveries, such as Cripple Creek, Colorado; Klondike and Tonapah, Nevada. and never returned.

Up in the higher altitudes such as the Seven Devils there is a grayish colored bird, known as Clarks crow in ornothology, but as camp birds, locally. They are terrible thieves, rivaling the black crow or a wood rat. Some believe that they are the spirits of old prospectors who have returned from another world to see if their claims are still where they left them. In this belief I have never shared, and hold it to be a myth, as the old prospector was not a thief and it is a libel on him to connect these feathered marauders with his memory.

About 25 or 30 years ago, Charles Ladd of the wealthy family of bankers and realty holders of Portland, went into Mineral, working under the corporate nanme of Ladd Metal Co. They located and purchased a large number of prospects, which he had surveyed and developed to some extent. After spending a year or more there and a large amount of money, was advised by his experts to retire from the field which he did. He also became interested in the Seven Devils and built a small smelter at Landore, near the mines but this venture likewise proved unprofitable. He turned his attention to Alaska, where I heard he cleaned up a million when he returned to his native Portland and died.

Makes Prediction

It is my belief that some day, under Iron Mountain there will be found a deposit of ores, rich beyond the dreams of avarice. At Rossland, in Canada, when an iron cap was found, a fortune was unearthed beneath it. Why should not the same be true as to our mountain of iron?

And further, if these camps have the merit some would claim, why is it that those who claim to know that great riches lie buried there, do not go ahead and dig out these fortunes? The writer was for some time interested in a group of claims on Rapid River on which we worked several assessments and gave them up as failures and I have not visited them for over 40 years. They were relocated by others who did work on them with the same results we obtained.

I have been practically all over these districts and as attorney secured patents for a large number of claims, and at one time believed with others that great discoveries had been made and that thousands of miners would be working there for a century to come, but now in these solitudes a solemn stillness reigns and the sound of hammer or blast is never heard. Mineral, however, is an exception, where some work is still being done on a small scale and ore is being shipped out for treatment with some profit to owners.