THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



173 



As a result of a happy accident three 

 men have struck it rich. They were trav- 

 eling through Idaho by team, and one of 

 their horses becoming exhausted they 

 were obliged to camp for the night on a 

 mountain top near Boise City. In the 

 morning the attention of one of the men 

 was attracted by some peculiar looking 

 rock near their camp. Actuated by curr 

 osity the men filled a sack with rock and ' 

 carried it with them to Boise City, where 

 they had it assayed with the result that it 

 was pronounced gold quartz worth $85 to 

 the ton. 



One of the industries that is of com- 

 parative recent origin is that of phosphate 

 mining. This product is valuable from an 

 agricultural standpoint, being used as a 

 fertilizer. Before the year 1841 bone 

 dust was the principal commercial fertil- 

 izer. At that date guano began to be gen- 

 erally used, but the demand for both it 

 artd bone dust was insufficient to su'pply 

 the demand, and attention was directed 

 toward the phosphate industry in 1867. 

 South Carolina and Florida are the prin- 

 ciple producers in the United States, 

 though North Carolina produces some. In 

 1891 the phosphate output for the world, 

 outside of this country was 830,000 tons. 

 The United States produced 757,133 tons, 

 almost as much as the rest of the world, 

 of which the largest portion was from 

 South Carolina. France produced 400,- 

 000 tons for that year and Belgium 200,000. 



The Western Mining World, published 

 at Butte, Montana, claims that as regards 

 the mining output Montana is in the lead, 

 producing one-fourth of the entire output, 

 while Colorado comes next. It further 

 claims that the two states together pro- 

 duce almost one-half of the mineral supply 

 of the United States. 



Although 1897 was a year of financial 

 depression in this country, the official 

 statistics show that the mineral produc- 

 tion was greater than the previous year in 

 everything but silver, which was over two 

 million ounces less than in 1896. The 



aggregate value of the mineral production 

 of the United States almost equals that of 

 all Europe, and its gold output for the 

 year past was about even with that of 

 South America. Statistics prove that .not- 

 withstanding the great Klondike boom, 

 only $2.000,000 worth of gold was mined 

 there last year. 



Klondike, so report says, has a bona 

 fide ghost, which occupies itself in guard- 

 ing one of the richest mines on Bonanza 

 Creek. In 1896 two men became part- 

 ners there in a mine, and me day, while 

 standing near the shaft, they had a slight 

 disagreement, during which one of them 

 fell, or was pushed, into the shaft. The 

 fall killed him. In a short time the other 

 partner was taken sick and died suddenly, 

 and in his last moments raved of having 

 seen the dead man's spirit. Since then 

 several adventurous miners have endeav- 

 ored to work the mine, but invariably de- 

 sisted, claiming that they could not stand 

 the unearthly shrieks and noises. 



THE OVERLAND ROUTE. 



We have to mention Klondike now and 

 then in order to keep up with the proces- 

 sion. Through the kindness of Secretary 

 Woodman we received the pamphlet of 

 the Overland to Klondike via Spokane 

 Route, which contains much information 

 regarding this route, which is claimed to 

 be the "easiest, cheapest, safest." 



The route by way of St. Michael's is a 

 round-about one, and he who goes by way of 

 Chilcoot or White Pass will find the crowd 

 very great and the packing charges cor- 

 respondingly high. 



The Spokane route is the overland route 

 by which a man can ride his horse from 

 Spokane to the head waters of the Yukon 

 river, half the distance being over a weH- 

 traveled road and the remainder over a 

 trail cut thirty years ago by the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company. 



As one entirely unacquainted with any 

 of the routes, and who has no intention 

 of going to the Klondike, the writer is of 



