THIRTY-NINE

 

 

June 8th, 1887

Boise, Idaho

 

THE THIRD TRY into the valley really did turn out to be the charm. Wade and Sophie went slowly and started a week later to allow the landslide to already have happened and the water level to drop where they needed to cross.

Wade felt even more challenged, since this valley had cost him his life twice already. And yet, he felt as if the valley no longer threatened him.

And Sophie seemed almost completely at ease with it. She had managed, on her own, to get herself, her horse, and three packhorses out alive. As she had laughed about later, “No one from 2018 New Jersey would recognize me now.”

The two of them seemed to not want to let the other out of their sight. And Wade didn’t mind that at all. They worked so well as a team, he wanted her with him.

They slept in each other’s arms every night, something he could never imagine doing with any person before Sophie.

Finally, on June 8th, they made it across the stream and then up and into the wide valley that would be the site for the mining town of Grapevine Springs. It was as beautiful as it looked as a ski resort in the future, only very, very peaceful.

Wade loved it instantly. And he could tell Sophie did as well.

He felt like he was home. A very strange feeling he had never experienced before in his life.

They set up camp, found a perfect spot to build a home at some point, and then worked at panning gold. Both of them hated the process, but they needed to get enough gold to file the claims they needed back in Boise. So they panned until their hands went numb, warmed them up and put lotion on them, then went back at it.

Using that system, they managed three hours a day and found more gold than Wade could imagine them finding.

After just over three weeks of wonderful trout dinners and chapped hands, they reluctantly stored a lot of their equipment and headed back down the valley.

Wade was surprised how much he didn’t want to leave the valley.

And Sophie said the same thing.

Back in Boise six days later, they filed the claims and got Duster to help them with filing the plats for the town site.

That took two weeks. Then with Duster and others with them, they headed back in.

Duster had a foreman who rounded up a crew in the Grangeville area to build the wagon road into the valley and another crew to come in and start building a general store and other structures along the main street, including the town’s first saloon, The Daisy.

It took them just under two months to build the road in, including the bridge over the creek.

As the summer wore on and more and more miners came in and filed claims, the sounds of construction filled the once peaceful mountain valley.

Also, in August, the first piano arrived for The Daisy and from that point forward the valley was filled with music.

The plan they followed was taken directly from their research, and at some point Wade decided he would need to ask Duster what came first, the plan, the research, or what? It just gave Wade a headache trying to puzzle that out.

The summer seemed to flash past as more and more supplies arrived for their general store and more and more miners needed the supplies.

And from everything Wade heard, the gold being taken from the placer claims was high grade and a dozen tunnel claims had been filed and would be starting next spring as soon as the snow cleared.

He and Sophie had hired two men to work their claim for a very high percentage. Neither Wade nor Sophie had any desire to stick their hands back in that freezing cold water.

Wade was surprised how much he loved their store. He never expected to love working a general store, but he sure did. He loved talking with the people, learning a little about their lives and what they loved and didn’t love.

And he helped out with the medical emergencies as well around the valley.

It was the best summer he could have ever imagined. And that was because Sophie was beside him the entire time.