cANsn.ME.]  COEUR    D'ALENE    DISTRICT,  IDAHO.  285 
(lows.  Ill  this  second  uplift,  however,  the  region  affected  appears 
to  have  been  elevated  as  a  great  block  without  general  folding. 
At  just  what  period  in  the  vast  interval  between  Algonkian  sedi- 
mentation and  post-Triassic  granitic  intrusion  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
rocks  were  folded,  squeezed,  and  faulted  it  is  impossible  to  say.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  the  principal  deformation  was  effected 
at  the  time  of  the  granitic  intrusion. 
HISTORY  OF  MINING  DEVELOPMENT. 
The  story  of  the  opening  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  region  to  mining 
enterprise  goes  back  to  the  year  1842,  when  a  mission  was  estab-  / 
lished  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  St.  Joseph  River, 
i  navigable  stream  which  empties  into  the  head  of  Coeur  d'Alene 
Lake  about  5  miles  south  of  the  embouchure  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
River.  In  1846,  however,  the  mission  was  moved  to  its  present  site 
m  the  latter  stream,  about  25  miles  from  the  lake,  and  for  many 
fears  Father  J.  Joset  and  the  missionaries  associated  with  him  were 
;he  only  white  inhabitants  in  this  whole  region.  The  Coeur  d'Alene 
[ndians,  about  300  in  number,  lived  chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
nission. 
In  1854  Lieut.  John  Mullan,  acting  under  instructions  from  the 
A^ar  Department,  began  explorations  for  a  wagon  road  over  the 
Joeur  d'Alene  Mountains  to  connect  Fort  Benton  with  Fort  Walla 
-Valla.  These  preparations  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  Indians, 
vho,  after  defeating  a  small  force  of  regular  troops,  were  subju- 
gated in  1858.  In  the  following  year  work  on  the  proposed  road  ! 
v3ls  begun  under  a  Congressional  appropriation,  and  the  task  -seems 
o  have  been  finished  in  18Gl.a  The  new  road  crossed  from  the 
nouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River  to  the  mission  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
liver.  Thence  it  followed  the  main  stream  and  South  Fork  to  a 
>oint  about  3  miles  east  of  the  present  town  of  Mullan.  Here  it 
urned  south,  crossed  the  divide  through  the  Sohon  or  St.  Regis 
'ass,  and  continued  down  the  St.  Regis  de  Borgia  River,  following 
e  route  later  taken  by  the  railroad  to  Missoula. 
Roughly  constructed  as  it  was,  this  road,  now  familiarly  known 
s  the  "  Old  Mullan   road,"  wTas  for  many  years  the  only  line  of 
avel  into  the  region  to  whose  early  development    it   substantially 
ntributed.     It  traversed   what  afterwards  proved   to  be  the  most 
roductive  part  of  the  district,  but  the  discovery  of  the  lead-silver 
eposits  was  reserved  for  a  later  date. 
The  first  prospecting  in  the  region  appears  to  have  been  by  Thomas 
rwin,  who  in  1878  located  a  quartz  claim  near  the  Mullan  road, 
Mullan,  Cant.  John,  U.  S.  Army,  Report  on  the  Construction  of  a   Military  Road  from 
fort  Walla  Walla  to  Fort  Benton,  Washington,  1863. 
I! 
