Peter Netzel

Coeur d'Alene Gold Bust Peter Netzel

COEUR D'ALENE GOLD BUST is the tale of a short-lived gold stampede to northern Idaho that occurred in the early 1880's, as told through newspaper accounts of the times. In 1881, a lone prospector by the name of A. J. Pritchard, who had been grub-staked by a rich widow, discovered gold along the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River in Idaho Territory. He set about filing claims to tie up much of the land. Through Pritchard's boastful talk and letters to friends, as well as the promotional literature put out by the Northern Pacific Railway, promising "free gold in North Idaho for the price of a ticket on the railroad," word got out that there was a fortune to be had for anyone willing to come there and seek it. Hundreds of people flocked to the area. However, once they got there, most of them had their dreams shattered. The promised gold bonanza did not exist. They returned home penniless and defeated. In an ironic twist, this book, COEUR D'ALENE GOLD BUST, ends with the tale of how it was a small burro that made the richest find of all in the Coeur d'Alene gold stampede of the 1880's. Despite mighty efforts and sacrifices put forth by hundreds of fools with gold fever, who endured untold harsh conditions in search of a gold bonanza, it was not one of these two-legged jackasses-but a four-legged one-that made the biggest fortune of all from what turned out to be the great Coeur d'Alene gold bust.