USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 76
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The actual yield of the mines could not be determined. About Jackson- ville and on the head waters of the Illinois River they were very rich in spots. While five dollars a day only rewarded the majority of miners, it was not uncommon to find nuggets on the Illinois weighing forty-six, fifty-eight, or seventy-three ounces. Sac. Union, April 23, July 28, and Sept. 10, 1858; Dana's Great West, 284. The Jacksonville mines also yielded frequent lumps of gold from six to ten ounces in weight. The introduction of hydraulics in mining about 1857 redoubled the profits of mining. As much as $100.000 was taken from a single beach mine a few miles north of the Coquille River. About the spring of 1859 quartz mines were discovered in Jackson county, which yielded at the croppings and on top of the vein fabulous sums, but which soon pinched out or was lost.
About 1857 a discovery was made of gold in the bed of the Santiam and its branches in Marion county, but not in quantities to warrant mining, although a limited extent of ground worked the following two years paid
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QUARTZ MINES.
from four to six dollars a day. Or. Statesman, Aug. 11, 1857, Sept. 28, 1858; Or. Argus, Aug. 20, 1859. In 1860 reputed silver quartz was found on both the Santiam and Moballa rivers, and many claims were located. But it was not until 1863 that undoubted quartz lodes were discovered in the Cascade Mountains on the north fork of the Santiam. A camp called Quartzville was established at a distance of about fifty miles from Salem and Albany in the autumn of that year, and in the following season some of the leads were slightly worked to show their character, and yielded twenty-one dollars to the ton, a little more than half in silver. Portland Oregonian, July 29, 1864. The most noted of the veins in the Santiam district was the White Bull lode, situated on Gold Mountain, where a majority of the leads were found. It was eight feet wide and very rich. The Union company of Salem removed a bowlder from one of their claims, under which they found first a bed of gravel and earth several feet in depth, then bastard granite, and beneath that a bluish gray rock with silver in it. Beneath the latter was a layer of decom- posed quartz overlying the true gold-bearing quartz. Out of this mine some remarkable specimens were taken. The hard white rock sparkled with points of gold all over the surface. In some cavities where the quartz was rotten, or at least disintegrated and yellowed, were what were called eagle's-nests; namely, skeins of twisted gold fibres of great fineness and beauty attached to and suspended from the sides of the opening, crossing cach other like straws in a nest, whence the name. This variety of gold, which is known as thread gold, was also found in the mountains of Douglas county.
The Salem company took out about $20,000 worth of these specimens, and then proceeded to put up a quartz-mill. But the mine was soon exhausted, and the treasure taken out went to pay the expenses incurred. This out- come of the most famous mine discouraged the further prosecution of so costly an industry, and the Santiam district was soon known as a thing of the past. It was the opinion of experts that the gold was only superficial, and that the true veins were argentiferous. A company as late as 1877 was at work on the Little North fork of the Santiam, which heads up near Mount Jefferson, tunnelling for silver ore. At different places and times both gold and silver have been found in Marion and Clackamas counties, but no regular mining has ever been carried on, and the development of quartz-mining by an agricultual community is hardly to be expected. Surveyor-general's rept, 1868, in Zabris- kie, 1046-7, MS., Sec. Int. Rept, 1857, 321-6, 40th cong. 3d sess. ; Albany Regis- ter, July 28, 1871; Corvallis Gazette, Sept. 1, 1876. I have already spoken of the discovery of the mines of eastern Oregon, and its effect upon the settle- ment and development of the country. No absolutely correct account has ever been kept, or could be given, of the annual product of the Oregon mines, the gold going out of the state in the hands of the private persons, and iu all directions. In 1864 the yield of southern and eastern Oregon together was $1.900,000. The estimate for IS67 was $2,000,000; for 1869, $1,200,000; for 1887-8, over $1,280,000; and for 1881, $1,140,000. Review Board of Trade, 1877, 34; Ried's Progress of Portland, 42; Pacific North-west, 32-3; Hittell's Resources, 290. The annual yield of silver has been put down at $150,000, this metal being produced from the quartz veins of Grant and Baker counties, the only counties where quartz-mining may be said to have been carried on successfully.
The Virtue mine near Baker City deserves special mention as the first quartz mine developed in eastern Oregon, or the first successful quartz opera- tion in the state. It was discovered iu 1863 by two men on their way to Boisé, who carried a bit of the rock to that place and left it at the office of Mr Rockfellow, who at once saw the value of the quartz, and paid one of the men to return and point out the place where it had been found. Upon tracing up other fragments of the quartz, the ledge from which they came was discovered and Rockfellow's name given to it. Walla Walla Statesman, Sept. 5, 1863; Idaho Silver City Avalanche, Nov. 11, 1876; Portland Oregonian, Sept. 16 and Oct. 7, 1863. The Pioneer mine and two other lodes were dis- covered at the same time. An arastra was at once put up, and the Rock-
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MINES AND MINING.
fellow mine tested. The first specimens assayed by Tracy and King of Port- land showed $1,300 in gold aud $20 in silver to the ton. Id., May 17, 1864. In the spring of 1864 Rockfellow took J. S. Ruckel of the O. S. N. Co. into partnership. and two arastras were put at work on the ore from this mine. A little village sprang up near by, of miners and artisans, dependent upon the employment afforded by it. In July $1,250 was obtained out of 1,500 pounds of rock. The gold was of unusual fineness, and worth $19.50 per ounce. I.l., July 21, 1864. A tunnel was run into the hill, intended to tap the several ledges at a depth of 300 to 500 feet, and a mill was erected on Powder River, seven miles from the mine, on the travelled road to Boisé. It had a capacity of 20 stamps, but ran only 12. It began crushing in October, and shut down in November, the trial being entirely satisfactory. In May 1865 it started up again, crushing rock, the poorest of which yielded $30 to $40 to the ton, and the best $10,000. Up to this time about $75,000 had been expended on the mine and mill. A large but unknown quantity of gold was taken out of the mine. Rockfellow & Ruckel sold out, and about 1871-2 a company, of which Hill Beschy was one and James W. Virtue another, owned and worked the mine. It took the name of the Virtue Gold Mining Company. In the mean time Baker City grew up in the immediate vicinity of the mill, where Virtue followed assaying and banking, dependent largely upon the mine, and which became the county sest. In 1872 the new company erected a steam mill with 20 stamps, and other buildings, and employed a much larger force, extending tunnels and shafts. In 1876 a shaft was down 600 fcet, connecting with the various levels, and the vein had been worked along the line of the lead 1,200 feet. The quartz is of a milky whiteness, hard, but not difficult to crush. It yields from $20 to $25 per ton, with a cost of $5 for mining and milling. All the expenses of improvements have been paid out of the pro- ceeds of the mine, which is making money for its owners. A foundery was es- tablished at Baker City in connection with the mine, which besides keeping it in repair has plenty of custom-work.
The Emmet mine, 500 feet above the Virtue, had its rock crushed in the Virtue mill, and yielded $22.50 per ton. Baker City Brd Rock Democrat, Feb. 14, 1872; Silver City Aralanche, Jan. 8 and Nov. 11, 1876.
Among the many veins of gold-bearing quartz discovered simultaneously in the early part of 1860, that found by the Hicks brothers returned thirty ounces of gold to a common mortarful of the rock. On the 13th of January George Ish discovered a vein in an isolated butte lying twelve miles from Jacksonville, in a bend of Rogue River, which yielded on the first tests twelve dollars to every pound of rock. Two bowlders taken from the surface, weigh- ing forty and sixty pounds respectively, contained one pound of gold to every five pounds of rock. No part of the rock near the surface contained less than ten dollars to the pound, and from a portion of the quartz fifteen dollars to the pound was obtained. The first four hundred pounds contained 404 ounces of gold. From a piece weighing four pounds, twelve and a half ounces of gold were obtained; 800 pounds of rock produced 60 pounds of amalgam. John E. Ross, who had a claim on this butte called Gold Hill, realized an average of $10 to the pound of rock. One piece weighing 14 pounds gave up 36 onnces of gold. Sac. Union, Feb. 16 and 27, 1860; North- ern Yreka Journal, Feb. 9, 1860; Siskiyou County Affairs, MS., 24. The rock in the Ish vein was very hard and white, with fine veins of gold cours- ing through it, filling and wedging every crevice. It appeared to be a mine of almost solid gold. Thomas Cavanaugh, one of the owners, refused $80,- 000 for a fifth interest. Ish and his partners went east to purchase machinery to crush the quartz. In the mean time the casing rock was being crushed in an arastra, and yielded $700 a week, while the miners were taking out quartz preparatory to setting up the steam mill which had been purchased. When less than 600 tons of quartz had been miued it was found that the vein was detached, and to this day the main body of the ore has not been found. The expenses incurred ruined the company, and Gold Hill was abandoned after $130,000 had been taken out and expended. Surveyor-general's rept, in
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GRAVEL-MINING.
Zabriskie, 1041. Nor was the Ish mine the only instance of rich quartz. When veins began to be looked for they were found in all directions, A mine on Jackson Creek yielded forty ounces of gold in one week, the rock being pounded in a common mortar. In May a discovery was made on the head of Applegate Creek which rivalled the Ish mine in richness, producing 97 ounces of gold from 22 pounds of rock. Ten tons of this quartz yielded at the rate of $2,352 to the ton. Sac. Union, Aug. 30, 1860, and March 15, 1861; Or. Statesman, March 18, 1861.
Notwithstanding that a number of these flattering discoveries were made, quartz-mining never was carried on in Jackson county to any extent, owing to the expense it involved, and the feeling of insecurity engendered by the experiments of ISGO. In 1866 the Occidental Quartz Mill Company was or- ganized, and a mill with an engine of 24 horse-power was placed on the Daven- port lead on Jackson Creck. Arastras were generally used, by which means much of the gold and all of the silver was lost. Within the last dozen years several mills have been introduced in different parts of southern Oregon. The placers have been worked continuously, first by Americans and after- wards by Chinamen, who, under certain taxes and restrictions, have been permitted to occupy mining ground in all the gold districts of Oregon, al- though the constitution of the state forbids any of that race not residing in Oregon at the time of its adoption to hold real estate or work a mining claim therein. The first law enacted on this subject was in December 1860, when it was declared that thereafter ' no Chinaman shall mine gold in this State un- less licensed to do so as provided,' etc. The tax was $2 per month, to he paid every three months in advance, and to be collected by the county clerk of each county where gold was mined on certain days of certain months. Any Chinaman found mining without a license was liable to have any property be- longing to him sold at an hour's notice to satisfy the law. Ten per cent of this tax went into the state treasury. If Chinamen engaged in any kind of trade, even among themselves, they were liable to pay $50 per month, to be collected in the same manner as their mining licenses. Or. Laws, 1869, 49- 52. The law was several times amended, but never to the advantage of the Chinese, who were made to contribute to the revenues of the state in a liberal manner.
The product of the mines of Jackson county from 1851 to 1866 has been estimated at a million dollars annually, which, from the evidence, is not an over-estimate. Hines' Or., 288; Gilfry's Or., MS., 51-3.
The first to engage in deep gravel-mining was a company of English capi- talists, who built a ditch five miles long in Josephine county, on Galice Creek, in 1875, and found it pay. A California company next made a ditch for bringing water to the Althouse creek mines in the same county. The third and longer ditch constructed was in Jackson county, and belonged to D. P. Thompson, A. P. Ankeny & Co., of Portland, and is considered the best min- ing property in the state. It conducted the water a distance of twenty-three miles to the Sterling mines in the neighborhood of Jacksonville. Another ditch, built in 1878, eleven miles long, was owned by Klipfel, Hannah & Co., Jacksonville, and by Bellinger, Thayer, Hawthorne, and Kelly of Portland. It brought water from two small lakes in the Siskiyou Mountains to Applegate Creek, and cost $30,000. Ashland Tidings, Sept. 27, 1878. The results were entirely satisfactory. A company was formed by W. R. Willis, at Roseburg, in 1878, with a capital of half a million for carrying on hydraulic mining on the west bank of Applegate Creek. They purchased the water rights and improvements of all the small miners, and took the water out of the creek above them for their purposes. J. C. Tolman of Ashland in the same year brought water from the mountains to the Cow Creek mines. The Chinanien of Rogue River Valley also expended $25,000, about this time, in a ditch to bring water to their mining ground, and with good results. Duncan's South- ern Or., MS., 10. Thus, instead of the wild excitement of a few years in which luck entered largely into the miner's estimate of his coming fortune, there grew up a permanent mining industry in Jackson county, requiring the
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MINES AND MINING.
investment of capital and making sure returns. In a less degree the same may be said of Douglas county, and also of Coos when the hydraulic process is applied to the old sea-beaches about four miles from the ocean, which are rich and extensive.
It was not until 1866 that silver ledges received any attention in southern Oregon. The first location was made one mile west of Willow Springs, in Rogue River Valley, on the crest of a range of hills running parallel with the Oregon and California road. This was called the Silver Mountain ledge, was eight feet in width at the croppings, and was one of three in the same vicinity. Jacksonville Reporter, Jan. 13, 1866; Jacksonville Reveille, Jan. 11, 1866; Portland Oregonian, Jan. 27, 1866. In the following year silver quartz was discovered in the mountains east of Roseburg. Some of the mines located by incorporated companies in Douglas county were the Monte Rico, Gray Eagle, Excelsior, and Last Chance, these ledges being also gold-bearing. This group of mines received the name of the Bohemia district. E. W. Galc and P. Peters were among the first discoverers of quartz in Douglas county. Roseburg Ensign, Sept. 14 and 21, 1867; Salem Willamette Farmer, July 9, 1870. On Steamboat Creek, a branch of the Umpqua, James Johnson, a California miner, discovered a gold mine in quartz which assayed from $500 to $1,000 to the ton. Owing to its distance from the settlements and the difficulty of making a trail, it was neglected. The Monte Rico silver mine, in the Bohemia dis- tiict, yielded nearly two hundred dollars per ton of pure silver. In 1868 the Seymour City and Oakland mines were located, all being branches of the same great vein. John A. Veatch describes the Bohemia district as pertaining as much to Lane as Douglas county, and lying on both sides of the ridge sepa- rating the waters of the Umpqua and Willamette. He called it a gold-bearing district, with a little silver in connection with lead and antimony. Specimens of copper were also found in the district. Id., July 12, 1869. John M. Foley, in the Roseburg Ensign of August 29, 1868, describes the Bohemia district as resembling in its general features the silver-bearing districts of Nevada and Idaho. There is no doubt that gold and silver will at some period of the fu- ture be reckoned among the chief resources of Douglas county, but the rough and densely timbered mountains in which lie the quartz veins present obsta- cles so serious, that until the population is much increased, and until it is less easy to create wealth in other pursuits, the mineral riches of this part of the country will remain undeveloped.
The other metals which have been mined, experimentally at least, in southern Oregon, are copper and cinnabar. Copper was discovered in Jose- phine county on the Illinois River in 1856, near where a vein called Fall Creek was opened and worked in 1863. The first indications of a true vein of copper ore were found in 1859, by a miner named Hawes, on a hill two miles west of Waldo, in the immediate vicinity of the famous Queen of Bronze mine, and led to the discovery of the latter. The Queen of Bronze was pur- chased by De Hierry of San Rafael, California, who expended considerable money in attempts to reduce the ore, which he was unable to do profitably. The Fall Creek mine was also a failure financially. Its owners-Crandall, Moore, Jordan, Chiles, and others-made a trail through the mountains to the coast near the mouth of Chetcoe River, a distance of forty miles, where there was an anchorage, superior to that of Crescent City, from which to ship their ore, but the expenditure was a loss. In this mine, as well as in the Queen of Bronze, the ore became too tough with pure metal to be mined by any means known to the owners.
The first knowledge of cinnabar in the country was in 1860, when R. S. Jewett of Jackson county, on showing a red rock in his mineral collection to a traveller, was told that it was cinnahar. The Indians from whom he had obtained it could not be induced to reveal the locality, so that it was not until fifteen years later that a deposit of the ore was found in Douglas county, six miles east of Oakland. The reason given for concealing the location of the cinnabar mine was that the Indians had, by accident, and by burning a large fire on the rock, salivated themselves and their horses, after which they had
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COAL-FIELDS.
a superstitious fear of it. Rogue River John, on seeing Jewett throw a piece of the rock upon the fire, left his house, and could not be induced to return. Portland West Shore, Nov. 1878, 73. The owners erected a furnace capable of retorting six hundred pounds per day to test the mine, and obtained an average of forty dollars' worth of quicksilver from this amount of ore. The mine was then purchased by the New Idria company, which put up two fur- naces, capable of retorting three tons daily. The assay of the ore yielded from sixty to eighty pounds of pure quicksilver per ton. Fuel being plenty and cheap made this a profitable yield. The mine was owned entirely in Ore- gon. The officers were A. L. Todd president, A. C. Todd secretary, J. P. Gill treasurer, J. W. Jackson superintendent, T. S. Rodabaugh agent. Gill, Rodabaugh, and Jackson composed the board of directors. The cost of open- ing up the Nonpareil mine was 840,000. Roseburg Plaindealer, Sept. 20, 1879. Partial discoveries of tin bave been made in Douglas county, but no mine has yet been found. Among the known mineral productions of the southern counties are marble, salt, limestone, platina, borax, and coal. The latter mineral was discovered about the same time near the Columbia and at Coos Bay.
The first coal discoveries at Coos Bay were made in 1853 near Empire City and North Bend. The first to be worked was the Marple and Foley mine, about one mile from the bay, which was opened in 1854. It was tried on the steamer Crescent City in May of that year, and also in S. F., and pronounced good. S. F. Alta, May 6, 12, 1854. The first cargo taken out was carried in wagons to the bay, and transferred to flat-boats, which conveyed it to Empire, where it was placed on board the Chansey for S. F. The vessel was lost on the bar in going out, but soon after another cargo was shipped, which reached its destination, where it was sold at a good profit. This mine was abandoned on further exploration, the next opened being at Newport and Eastport, in 1858. James Aiken discovered these veins. The Eastport mine was opened by Northrup and Symonds, and the Newport mine by Rogersand Flannagan. The early operations in coal at Coos Bay were expensive, owing to the crudi- ties of the means employed. The Eastport mine was sold in 1868 to Charles and John Pershbaker, and subsequently to another company. According to the S. F. Times of March 6, 1869, the purchasing company were J. L. Pool, Howard, Levi Stevens, I. W. Raymond, J. S. Dean, Oliver Ehlridge, Claus Spreckels, and W. H. Sharp. Rogers sold his interest iu the Newport mine to S. S. Mann. These two mines have been steadily worked for sixteen years, and are now in a better condition than ever before. Several others have been opened, with varying success, the Southport mine, opened in 1875, being the only successful rival to Newport and Eastport.
The coal-fields at Coos Bay appcar to extend from near the bay to a dis- tance of five miles or more inland, through a range of hills cropping out in gulches or ravines runuing toward the bay, and on the opposite side of the ridge. The strata lie in horizontal planes, having in some places a slight in- clination, but generally level, and have a thickness of from eight to ten feet. They are easily reached by from three to five miles of road, which brings them to navigable water. The same body of coal underlies the spurs of the Coast Range for hundreds of miles. It has been discovered in almost every county on the west side of the Willamette, and along the coast at Port Orford, Yaquina and Tillamook bays, on the Nehalem River, and in the highlands of the Columbia. A large body of it exists within from one to seven miles of the river in Columbia county. Discoveries of coal have also been made in castern Oregon, near Canon City, and on Snake River, three miles from Farewell bend. Roseburg Independent, Nov. 1, 1879; Oregon Facts, 15-16; Corvaliis Gazette, April 13, 1867; Portland West Shore, Feb. 1876, and Jan, and March 1877; S. F. Mening and Scientific Press, Dec. 14, 1872; Gale's Resources of Coos County, 45-56; Browne's Resources, 237; Resources of Southern Or .. 10-12.
With regard to the quality of the coals in Oregon, they were at first classed by geologists with the brown lignites. 'This name,' says the Astorian of Aug. 29, 1879, 'is an unfortunate one, as it is now proved that the coals called
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IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
lignites are not formed of wood to any greater extent than are the coals of the carboniferous period. It gives the impression of an inferior coal, which in the main is a mistaken idea, for coals of every quality, and fit for all uses, can be found in the so-called lignites of the Pacific coast.' An analysis of Coos Bay coal, made in 1877, gave water 9.87, sulphur 3.73, ash 10.80, coke 50.00, vola- tile gases 26.40. S. F. Call, June 23, 1867. Another analysis by Evans gave carbon in coke 60.30, volatile gases 25.50, moisture 9.00, ash 4.70; specific gravity 1.384. Or. Statesman, Aug. 18, 1857. It varies in appearance and character in different localities. At Coos Bay it is described as a clean, black coal, of lustrons chonchoidal fracture, free from iron pyrites, with no trace of sulphur, burning without any disagreeable odor and comparatively little ash. It cakes somewhat in burning and gives off considerable gas. This descrip- tion applies equally well to the coal on the Columbia River, where it is has been tested, and to the mines on Puget Sound. In certain localities it is harder and heavier, and the same mine in different veins may contain two or more varieties. Later scientists speak of them as brown coals, and admit that they are of more remote origin, and have been subjected to greater licat and pressure than the lignites, but say that they occupy an intermediate position between them and the true coals. U. S. H. Ex. Doc., x. 206, 42d cong. 2d sess. It would be more intelligent to admit that nature may produce a true coal different from those in England, Pennsylvania, or Australia.
The cost of producing coals at Coos. Bay is one dollar a ton, and fifteen cents for transportation to deep water. Transportation to S. F. is two dol- lars a ton in the companies' own steamers of seven and eight hundred tons. In 1856 it was $13 per ton, and coal $40. The price varies with the market. Relatively, Coos Bay coal holds its own with the others in market. The prices for 1873 were as follows: Sidney, $17; Naniamo (V. I.), $16; Bellingham Bay, $15; Seattle, $16; Rocky Mountain, $16; Coos Bay, $15; Monte Diablo (Cal.), $12. S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 14, 1873. Prices have been lowered several dollars by competition with Puget Sound mines. The value of the coals exported from Coos Bay in 1876-7 was $317,475; in 1877-8 it was $218,410; and in 1878-9 it was $150,255. This falling-off was owing to competition with other coals, foreign and domestic, and the ruling of lower prices for fuel. Still, as the cost of Coos Bay coals laid down in S. F. is less than four dollars, there is a good margin of profit.
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