The Coeur D'Aléne Riots of 1892 [pp. 32-49]

THE COEUR D'ALENE RIOTS, I892.
THE STORY OF A GREAT STRIKE.
T HE mining district known
familiarly as the "Coeur
d'Alenes," Northern Ida / ho, is some thirty miles
long, with an average
width of three to four
miles. The entire region
is mountainous, covered
with pine, cedar, and
tamarack. Streams rise in the eastern
portion, flow through narrow gorges westward, and uniting in the Coeur d'Al6ne
River, empty into Lake Coeur d'Alene.
There is only sufficientspace for the Union
Pacific and Northern Pacific railroads to
run their branch lines through the cafion
parallel to the water courses, from end to
end of the district.
The three principal means of communication with the outside world are: eastward, via the Northern Pacific railroad
through Mullan to De Smet, Montana,
where connection is made with the main
line of the Northern Pacific; westward,
by the Union Pacific railway to Tekoa,
Washington, where connections are made
either south to Boise, the capital of Idaho,
or westward to Spokane, the principal
commercial and railway center of Eastern
Washington; or by the narrow gauge
line of the Northern Pacific to The Mission, where connection by steamboat is
made down the Coeur d'Alene river and
lake to Coeur d'Alene City, Idaho, thence
by broad gauge Northern Pacific railroad
to Hauser, at which junction the main
line east or west can be taken. In addition to these modern means of travel, the
old Mullan stage road from Spokane could
be utilized in an emergency, and a trail
from Burke through Thompson Pass to
32
Thompson Falls, Montana, on the main
line of the Northern Pacific was possible
for pack train, horse, and foot. Scattered
through the district are extensive mines
of galena and silver. In the region about
Murray, on Prichard Creek, are numerous
gold properties.'
The greater part of the miners employed were members of the Coeur d' Alene
Miners' Union, a branch of the Butte,
Montana, Miners' Union, probably the
most powerful and wealthy labor organization in the Northwest,- and had been
on a strike for nearly a year. Their
causes of dissatisfaction may be classified
under three heads: First, reduction of wages;
Second, being obliged to trade at the
company's store;
Third, the unmarried men being forced
to board at the company's boarding house.
The questions of trading at the company's store and boarding at the company's boarding house were local complaints, and pertained mainly to two
localities, Wardner and Gem, and could
not be considered as grievous. In fact,
these adjuncts were established more to
supply the wants of the men than as
sources of profit, so the vital cause of the
1 The aggregate assessed value of the mills and concentrators in the district in I892 was $1,350,000. The principal
silver and lead mines were the Bunker Hill and Sullivan,
value $2,Coo,o000. The Emma and Last Chance, value
$500oo,oo; the Sierra Nevada, $300o,ooo000; the Stem Winder,
$200,oo000,-about Wardner. The Consolidated, $zoo,ooo; the
'Frisco, $500o,ooo000; the Gem, $5oo,ooo; the Black Bear,
$Soo,coo; the Standard, $500,000; the Union, $5oo,ooo; the
Granite, $o500,ooo; the Custer, $5oo,ooo,- these mines were
located in the canions centering about Wallace, none more
than seven miles distant. The Morning and Hunter,
$500,oo0 each, near Mullan. The Poorman and Tiger,
value $500,oo000 each, at Burke - where branch lines of the
Union Pacific and Northern Pacific railroads terminated.
The total estimated valuation of these properties was
$10,050,000.