Christian D. Jones is especially noteworthy in the history of Clearwater County because of his example of grit and guts that it took to survive in those days, according to the Clearwater County History series written by John Bradbury.

Jones was born in Wales in 1824. His mother died when he was one-year-old and his father, a sea captain, drowned when he was two. He was reared aboard sailing ships and saw most of the world at a very young age. He was a mate aboard a bark when he arrived in San Francisco in 1849. The young man decided to leave the ship and try mining. He was so successful that he purchased a schooner, but had to beach it on its first voyage to save the crew.

After losing his ship, Jones went back to mining, married and had a daughter whom he took with him when he left his wife in San Francisco. The history says Jones' daughter later became a successful doctor in Chicago.

Jones came to Pierce city in 1861 and mined until 1865, when he left to go prospecting in Ecuador, Peru and Columbia. Then he returned to the States and mined until he came back to Pierce City in 1881.

Jones, H.L. Gray, Theo Thompkins and others as a first thrust toward the present Orofino settled on Orofino Creek six miles above the area where the town is now. They called it "Hell's Delight" because it was Hell to get into, according to the memoire of young John Mallow, Passing of the Pioneers. They cut a trail from Fraser across Ford's Creek and packed their supplies and families in on horses. They afterward made a trail down Orofino Creek to the Clearwater River. They packed their supplies from Lewiston and later Kendrick.

Jones ran a ranch at Hell's Delight for the rest of his years.

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