288  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1904.         [bull.  260. 
A  hydraulic  elevator  was  operated  for  some  time  in  the  bed  of 
Prichard  Creek  about  a  mile  below  Murray,  and  some  dredges  were 
working  near  Delta  in  1004 ;  but  the  scene  of  activity  had  definitely 
shifted  by  the  year  1888  to  the  lead-silver  mines  of  the  South  Fork. 
The  principal  events  in  181)0  were  the  completion  into  the  district 
of  the  tracks  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  and  Oregon  Railway 
and  Navigation  Company,  the  partial  destruction  by  fire  of  Wallace 
and  Wardner,  and  the  first  shipment  of  rich  ore  from  the  Mammoth 
mine.  The  old  narrow-gage  line  was  absorbed  by  the  Oregon  Rail- 
way and  Navigation  Company  and  its  tracks  were  replaced  by 
those  of  standard  gage.  Most  of  the  larger  mines  were  by  this  time 
equipped  with  concentrating  mills. 
At  the  beginning  of  1892  most  of  the  South  Fork  mines  stopped 
work,  ostensibly  to  secure  better  freight  rates.  Wages  at  this  time 
were  $3.50  a  day.  In  the  following  April  a  reduction  was  made  in 
wages,  followed  by  a  strike  of  the  union  men.  The  Frisco,  Gem,  and 
Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mines  attempted  to  resume  work  with 
nonunion  men,  and  in  July  were  attacked  by  armed  strikers.  Troops 
were  called  into  the  district  and  for  a  time  order  was  partly  restored. 
In  July,  1891,  a  second  attack  was  made  upon  the  Gem  mine,  and 
in  December,  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mine  closed,  rather  than 
accede  to  union  demands.  In  June,  1895,  it  resumed  partial  opera- 
tions, paying  $3  a  day  to  miners.  The  Tiger  and  Poorman  mines 
consolidated  in  this  year. 
In  May,  1898,  the  Empire  State  Mining  and  Development  Com- 
pany Avas  organized  to  control  the  Last  Chance  mine  and  to  acquire 
additional  territory  west  of  Milo  Gulch.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  process  of  consolidation  that  afterwards  resulted  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  Federal  Mining  and  Smelting  Company.  The  county 
seat  Avas  this  year  moved  from  Murray  to  Wallace,  iioav  the  largest 
town  in  the  district. 
The  opening  of  the  year  1899  found  the  miners'  unions  still 
determined  to  enforce  their  demands  upon  the  mine  owners,  and  in  a 
particularly  bitter  mood  against  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  Com- 
pany, Avhich  maintained  its  right  to  employ  nonunion  labor.  On 
April  29,  a  force  of  several  hundred  men  attacked  the  buildings  on 
the  company  at  Kellogg.  The  office  of  the  mine  Avas  rifled  and  both 
office  and  mill  were  totally  destroyed  by  dynamite. 
After  this  episode,  500  regular  troops  Avere  sent  into  the  disJ 
trict  and  martial  law  Avas  proclaimed.  The  mines  Avere  closed  until 
June,  when  the  Standard  mine  reopened  with  men  brought  from 
Missouri.  The  other  mines  resumed  Avork  one  by  one  as  they 
secured  nonunion  miners.     From  that  time  to  the  present  no  man 
