156 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
from its upper end to the Cour d’Alene mining district, described 
below by F. L. Ransome, and thence across the mountains to Missoula. 
Between mileposts 66 and 67 the railway crosses the line between 
the States of Idaho and Washington, the exact point being indicated 
by a sign at the roadside. 7 
The State of Washington has a land area of 66,836 square miles, 
It was admitted to the Union in 1889. In 1910 it had a population 
of 1,141,990. Owing to its position on the coast, the 
first settlement in what is now Washington was 
made at a comparatively early date. The places 
to be occupied first were the posts of the Hudson’s Bay Co. Of 
these Fort Vancouver, on Columbia River, established in 1824, was 
the headquarters; and Forts Walla Walla and Nisqually were out- 
Washington. 
lying posts to the east and north, respectively. 
by value, about 85 per cent of Idaho’s 
annual output of metals, lies high on the 
western slope of that northward pro- 
longation of the Bitterroot Range which 
is sometimes called the Coeur d’Alene 
Northern ific swings n 
down the valley of Clark Fork and then 
westward by Pend Oreille Lake. 
From the east the district is served by 
a branch of the Northern Pacific which 
leaves the main line at De Smet (change 
at Missoula) and, following the old Mullan 
wagon road, crosses the range by a high 
pass at the head of St. Regis River. From 
Spokane, on the west, the traveler may 
oose an all-rail route via the Oregon- 
Washington Railroad & Navigation Co.’s 
a1 
Lake, or he may proceed by one of three 
sGiLW oa 
ne, 
y Coeur d “Alene. 
at the north end of the lake, and there 
m Railroad & Navigation Co.’s 
Vashingto: 
line to Wallace, in the heart of the district, 
road across the 
tains 56 years ago. It contains almost no | 
arable land, and the timber, while good 
enough for mining purposes, would prob- 
ably not have been sufficient inducement 
to bring railwaysinto the region. Mining 
is the one paramount industry of the dis- 
trict, and upon it all others depend. 
Approximately 5,000 men are employed 
in the mines and concentrating works, 
and the total population of the district is 
estimated at 12,000. 
Wallace, the principal town and the 
seat of Shoshone County, contains 3,000 
people and is situated at the confluence 
of Canyon and Ninemile creeks with the 
South Fork of Cceur d’Alene River. This 
n-Washington Railroad & 
Navigation Co.’s line from the west and 
the Coeur d’Alene branch of the Northern 
Pacific Railway from the east make it the 
chief distributing point of supplies for 
the distri 
Although the Mullan road passed 
through what is now the most productive 
part of the district, 20 years elapsed 
before anyone realized that the steep, 
thickly forested hillsides visible from the 
road concealed great deposits of lead- 
silver ore. It was not until 1884 that 
attention was called to the mineral re- 
sources of the region by the exploitation 
of the gold-bearing gravel and quartz 
veins on Prichard Creek, in the’northern 
part of the district. Discovery of the 
lead-silver veins on the South Fork of 
Coeur d’Alene River soon followed, and 
by 1888 these had overshadowed the gold 
