The Indians never made their travel routes in the bottom of canyons. They always kept to the high lands for better sight paths and protection, and never in traveling did they descend from the high ground to the low lands unless there was ample open land for protection from ambush by enemies.

Just how much gold was transported over the Old South Nez Perce Trail will never truly be known. For certain, it was a fabulous sum. Best estimates run as high as one hundred million dollars. When one who is familiar with mining operations considers the scope of such operations in the surrounding area of Elk City,…the old workings at Leggett, Meadow, and Newsome Creeks with the hundreds of small tributary gulches and streams, then goes on to the Moose Creek diggings; over Elk Summit to the Elk City Basin; farther on to the Red River Valley and its many tributaries; then over into Dixie and the Salmon River section, he is willing to agree, that the larger estimate is a fair one.

On passing through these ghost mining areas today, one can easily see that multiple millions upon millions of tons of dirt, sand, and gravel have been moved, sifted, washed, and piled up, in every area that was mined. There are several places where the sheer walls of the washed-out ground stand in all their nakedness, hundreds of feet high. Huge holes in the ground have been washed out into which entire city blocks could be dumped, buildings and all, and still not fill the cavity.

Huge quantities of gold taken out from Warrens, Idaho Country on the south side of the Salmon River far below Salmon City, and even as far away as Virginia City, Bannack, and other Montana towns flowed over this arterial mountain highway called the Old Nez Perce Trail. Attempts to estimate the amount of gold routed over this trail have been made by taking the shipments out of Lewiston by express, and again by the receipts at the United States Mint in San Francisco. These methods are extremely inaccurate. A great deal of gold was taken from the country by individuals; much of it went to other sections of the United States and its wilderness territories, unrecorded, by traveling merchants in exchange for goods or services. These merchants were all doing their own transporting with their own pack trains. No type or kind of tally sheet or receipt was ever made out as a record of the amount of gold taken in from the sale of such goods.

Warrens Diggings

Many miners, after securing a stake, scattered in many different directions, and after they left the country, no matter what mint or assay office received the gold, it was completely impossible to trace its origin. But the Old Nez Perce Trail was definitely a golden highway. It served a real purpose to the white man in the time of his need.

Virginia City, MT

It is now a closed book, its romantic pages, if they could be read, would tell tales of love, intrigue, frightening excitement, and hair-raising adventure!

Traveling about 15 miles southeast of Elk City after leaving the Old Nez Perce Trail you will come upon the Red River Hot Springs. The great springs are located at the head of the East Fork or North Branch of the Red River just over the divide from the head-waters of Meadow Creek, a most important tributary of the Selway River. The Red River Hot Springs have been noted for their medicinal qualities every since the early prospectors first reached this isolated country. The Springs had been used extensively by the Indians before the coming of the white man. When there was only a horse trail to the Springs, many mountain men have taken their friends who were so crippled up with rheumatism that they could not even sit upright in the saddle on the back of a horse, but had to be lashed to the saddle horses, as they traveled to the baths. After a stay of a few weeks, the afflicted sufferers could saddle their own horses and ride out unassisted. Today there is a nice resort at the Springs with a full hotel and restaurant.

Dixie, ID

Southward for 14 miles from the U.S. Forest Service, Red River Ranger Station lies the mining settlement and Post Office of Dixie, Idaho. Today it is nothing more than a ghost mining town with a handful of residents who brave the elements and live there year around. In the early days it produced very large quantities of placer gold. Later on at the time of the Buffalo Hump and the Thunder Mountain gold booms, Dixie flourished and many great quartz mines were opened up. The lack of good transportation for taking out the gold made it impossible to produce a profit for the mine owners. Most of these mines continue to lie dormant because the cost of producing the finished gold still exceeds the revenue recognized from mining operations. Old timers know that “the gold is still in them thar hills,” and one day when better and less expensive transportation is made available, we will once again see it mined profitably. Dixie (5,600 feet above sea-level) is on the Salmon River slope, southward across a mountain range from the Clearwater River. It can be reached by a good and maintained mountain road.

In the early days of Elk City there were a large number of Chinamen successfully engaged in placer mining. These people had emigrated directly from Asia and many were addicted to the use of opium. It was extremely hard to get the narcotic, and various devices were resorted to in procuring it. The mail was sometimes used until an incident occurred in 1893 which put an immediate end to this practice. At the time, the mail for the area came in though Mount Idaho, which was about sixty miles away to the northwest over the Old Nez Perce Trail. All mail was packed-in during winter in a locked mail sack on the mail carrier’s back. When this particular incident occurred, the mail carrier was Mr. Jack Anderson. In his mail sack were several tins of opium, with tobacco labels on the cans. As Anderson trudged along his route, mile after mile, the sharp edges of the cans began to bruise his shoulders. The mail sack was very heavy, containing not only letters and papers, but many parcels.

Jack Anderson stopped the first night to camp at Ten Mile Cabin. He prepared his supper and before rollin up in his blankets to sleep, he decided to remove the cause of his sore shoulders. He looked all around the cabin until he discovered a large wooden club of sorts and, laying the locked mail-sack on the frozen ground, he pounded it until he had flattened the tin cans inside. Opium is a sticky substance, much like molasses. When the cans were pounded flat the opium ran out and covered the contents of the mail bag until all of the letters and papers were glued together in one great mass.

Anderson slept soundly while the opium did mischief inside the mail sack. In the morning he started on the last lap of his journey to Elk City. He reached the Elk City Post Office and the sack was unlocked and opened,…but this most important mail could not be opened or delivered. This event marked the end of the opium trade by mail into Elk City, Idaho Territory.

Tales and stories could go on and on about things, people, and events that had occurred on the Old South Nez Perce Trail forever. With so many miners in and out of the area and with so much history and special events happening to the people who lived and settled there, hundreds of books could be written. Suffice it to say that the settlement and limited development of this precious, valuable, and beautiful Central Idaho area still bustles with activity of all types and kinds, as well as human endeavors and developments.

There will be more pioneer tales told in the weeks, months, and years ahead around this digital campfire about many more characters who lived on and around, and who traveled the Old South Nez Perce Trail. Keep checking this website everyday for new and exciting tales from yesteryear, and other stories and articles for today’s readers.

End of Part II of II of the OLD SOUTH NEZ PERCE TRAIL

Peace and Love to All of You……………………….Poppa Bear