The. first undulations of the tide of travel that will undoubtedly set in to the Big Salmon country next season are already beginning to be felt and ere the hoary frosts of winter give way to the balmy breezes of spring that country will be overrun with prospectors, miners and people looking for business locations.
Mr. T. R. Carpenter, who has valuable placer holdings on several of the
creeks, will leave on Monday of next week to commence the erection of a first class hotel at Commercial Center, the new townsite on the south fork of the Big Salmon, of which he is one of the original locators.
The building will be in Z shape and the dimensions over all 48x60 feet.
The outer walls will be of logs and the inside wainscoted, clothed and papered. The finishings are to be of hand-sawed lumber, in the work of getting out which Mr. Carpenter will employ three men.
The main, or central part, will be made into three compartments divided by hallways, consisting of dining room, ladies' sleeping apartments and a bunk room. The front of the building is to the west, facing the river, and at one end overlooking the river will be an annex to be used as a barroom. A wide verandah will run in front of the barroom a distance of 20 feet, and then making a turn in the shape of an L pass along the entire length of the main building. On the opposite end of the main building from the bar, and to the rear, will be the kitchen. The verandah will be enclosed with railing, leaving an entrance at either end.
As we mentionod above, Commercial Center is located on the south fork of the Big Salmon at the bridge on the road to Livingston creek, from which camp it is distant about two miles. It is an ideal location for a town situated as it is in a large flat almost surrounded by low heavily wooded hills. There are already several dwellings, one hotel and a large barn, belonging to Mr. Wiesdepp, who runs a pack train between Mason's Landing and the Big Salmon, in the town, and Mr. Carpenter has just received contracts from Seattle parties to put up two store buildings, one of which will be used by a general merchandise and the other a grocery firm. In the general merchandise store will also be located a druggist.
Commercial Center is an appropriate name for the town as it is in easy reach of all the gold bearing creeks that have as yet begn discovered in the district. It is distant from Peters & Cavanaughs' claim on Livingston creek, two miles; Summit creek, two miles; Martin, four miles; Moose creek, five miles; May creek, five miles; Little Violet, six miles; Cottoneva, five miles; St. Germain, four miles.
Mr. Carpenter expects the Seattle parties from whom he received the contract to arrive with their outfits as soon as the trails are in good shape for traveling.
