1 88 1. 5 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 



to contain every where a small quantity of gold and silver. It is gener- 

 ally covered with an impalpable soil that produces a dust excessively 

 annoying to the traveler, and sustains a general growth of sage brush. 

 In places, however, the rock is bare and looks like a congealed stormy 

 sea. Three buttes are set on the surface of this lava plain, and each has 

 probably been a local volcanic vent ; but it is probable that most of 

 this eruptive material has been an overflow from great fissures of which 

 the position is not indicated on the surface. Snake River crosses a 

 portion of this plain in a canon, at the head of which are the great 

 Shoshone Falls, 20S feet in vertical altitude. 



An alluvial plain borders Snake River for 200 miles, abounding in 

 black sand which contains much gold. This is, however, extremely 

 fine, having been transported a long distance from its place ol origin, 

 and therefore difficult of separation. New and promising methods 

 and machines are about to be tried in the exploitation of these ex- 

 tensive deposits. A wide mountain belt extends from the north side 

 of the lava plain to and beyond the British line, and is apparently 

 a good mining country throughout. Already a great number of 

 productive and promising mines are opened in the southern portion ot 

 this belt. In the Wood River district the veins are not large, but nu- 

 merous, regular and persistent, and the ore of high grade — mostly 

 argentiferous galena, carrying $100 to $500 in silver to the ton. 

 Near Challis, further north, is the celebrated Ram's Horn mine, located 

 on a true fissure vein, generally not more than five feet wide, but con- 

 tinuous for more than five miles. The wall rocks are slate, the vein- 

 stone siderite (carbonate of iron), the ore gray and yellow copper, 

 yielding $100 to $1200 in silver to the ton. A few miles west of Challis 

 is the mining town of Bonanza, where are located the celebrated 

 Charles Dickens and Custer mines, carrying both silver and gold. 

 Still further West in the Saw Tooth range, a high and very picturescjue 

 mountain chain running north and south, recent discoveries of valu- 

 able mines have been made. From this district north to the Canadian 

 line, a broad mountain belt extends over northern Idaho and north- 

 western Montana, a country which abounds in veins of silver, copper 

 and gold. Among the mines now worked in this region the most cele- 

 brated is the Drum Lomond, in Montana. It is opened on a large 

 vein of rich quartz, and is owned by an old miner who cannot read, but 

 who is said to have refused a million of dollars for the property. It is 

 probably worth much more than this. 



Most of the mountainous districts of Idaho and Montana are cov- 

 ered with coniferous forests, consisting of the Douglas spruce and the 

 northern nut pine, Pinus fiexilis. The smaller plants form an Alpine 

 flora of much interest, including many beautiful flowering species ; 



