USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 5
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 5
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 5
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"In the region between these two larger areas of the Peshastin formation there are several smaller exposures of the slate and associated rocks. In some cases these areas are too small to be represented.
"'Nickel Ledge.'-One exceptional phase of the Peshastin formation and its mode of occurrence should be mentioned. At a number of localities on the headwaters of North Fork of the Teanaway, and on the tributaries of Peshas- tin Creek, may be seen narrow belts, or even ledges only a few feet across, of a bright-yellow or light-red rock. Such occurrences are locally known as the 'nickel ledge' or 'porphyry dike.' The universal characteristic of the rock is its bright color, by which it can be recognized at considerable distance. The rock is usually very hard, and its weathered surface is extremely rough or ragged. These yellow or red 'ledges' occur within the peridotite or serpentine areas or in the areas of Peshastin rocks near the contact with the serpentine. In the latter case the 'ledge' is much less homogeneous and includes thin beds of slate and conglomerate. In another locality where the 'ledge' occurs within the ser- pentine area it is associated with a bed of chert. Examined microscopically the rock exhibits no structures that afford any clue to its origin, and the only constituents seen are carbonates and iron oxide. Chemically it is a siliceous dolomitic rock.
"Two explanations of the origin of this 'nickel ledge' might be given. The bands or ledges, which have a general east-west trend, may represent mineral- ized zones in both the serpentine and the slate, or they may have been originally calcareous beds or lenses belonging to the Peshastin formation, in part included within the intrusive peridotite, in part situated along its contact, and thus sub- ject to alteration by this magnesia-rich igneous rock. The latter hypothesis is the one which is better supported by the relations observed. Limestone lenses such as are called for by this hypothesis occur within the Peshastin areas, though they are not known at the serpentine contact, where, however, the pecu- liar magnesian rock does occur. At the western edge of the quadrangle, on the ridge next south of Hawkins Mountain, a ledge of magnesian rock, is, however, parallel with a bed of limestone within the slate series. In this area at least, the relationships plainly point to the altered condition of the former rock being directly dependent on the nearness to the serpentine, with which it is partly in
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
contact. The enrichment of the calcareous rock with magnesia may have oc- curred at the time of the intrusion of the peridotite or later.
"The association of chert and slate with the Magnesian rock is believed to justify the mapping of the latter as also belonging to the Peshastin formation. The principal occurrences of this rock are on the northern edge of the western area of the Peshastin formation and within the serpentine area in the upper basins of Beverly, Fourth, Stafford, Cascade, Fall and Negro creeks. Other outcrops, too small to be represented on the map, may be seen near Blewett and near the junction of Ingalls and Peshastin creeks."
Inasmuch as a large part of the Yakima Valley is basaltic the part of Mr. Smith's report dealing with the Yakima basalt will be of value and we give here a portion of that part of the report.
YAKIMA BASALT.
"Areal Importance .- The Miocene basalt is one of the most extensive for- mations of the quadrangle, and also perhaps the most conspicuous. Approxi- mately one-fourth of the area is covered by the Yakima basalt, but this repre- sents only the margin of the vast region characterized by this basalt and ex- tending to the east and southeast even beyond the boundaries of the state. This series of basalt lava flows of Miocene Age constitutes what is undoubtedly the largest volcanic formation in America.
"The Yakima basalt is well exposed in an escarpment which extends from near Cle Elum Point northward to the northern end of Table Mountain. Through this black wall of rock Yakima River and Swauk Creek have cut their gaps, so that opportunity is afforded for study of the series of lava flows. Sev- eral sheets of basaltic lava can be distinguished, as they form benches on the canyon sides. On the plateau-like areas covered by the basalt its presence is commonly shown by the prevelance of angular fragments of the black, dense rock.
"The lowermost sheet of basalt occurs at different elevations along the escarpment and at other places where the lower contact of the Yakima basalt can be seen. In many localities the relations along this contact are obscured by the presence of landslides. Yet, whether the Yakima basalt rests on the Swauk sandstone, the Teanaway basalt, the Roslyn formation, the Manastash sandstone, or the Easton schist, the contact is more or less irregular, and north of Taneum Creek the contact of horizontal sheets of lava with the underlying schist has a vertical range of 1,500 feet. These relations indicate the amount of relief of the land surface on which the earlier flows of basalt came to rest. The total thickness of the Yakima basalt within this area probably nowhere much exceeds 2,000 feet, although it is known to be much thicker farther south. In several localities along the northern escarpment 1,000 feet is an approximate measure of the thickness of basalt.
"On the north side of Taneum Creek there are two small areas of basalt which represent remnants of a thin local flow that was erupted after the begin- ning of deposition of the Ellensburg sediments. In the area south of this quad- rangle similar later flows interbedded with the upper Miocene sediments were
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
important enough to be separated from the main series and given the name of Wenas basalt. Within the Mount Stuart quadrangle, however, this flow was detected nowhere else .~
"The structure of the Yakima basalt is very simple and is similar to that of the Ellensburg formation, as described in a later paragraph. The occur- rence of the small outcrop of basalt on Dry Creek is the result of a slight change in the gentle dip of the flexed basalt and sandstone, which has enabled the stream to cut through the sandstone.
"The most noticeable feature of the basalt is its columnar structure, by which the sheets of black rock are converted into regular colonnades. Huge prisms, several feet in diameter and scores of feet in length, stand out from the canyon walls in a manner so characteristic of this rock that the term 'basaltic structure' is often applied to it. These prismatic columns owe their origin to the contraction of the cooling lava. The joint planes due to this shrinkage of the rock were normal to the cooling surface, so that now the columnar parting of the rock is vertical wherever the sheets remain in their original horizontal position. Horizontal cracks divide the columns into shorter blocks, which usually, however, fit so closely together as not to detract from the general effect of these rows of columns.
"Petrographic Characters .- The Yakima basalt is a black rock, compact and heavy. The weathered surface is often brownish in color and sometimes gray, but universally the basalt as exposed along the ridges or in the river canyons is dull and somber. Petrographically the Yakima basalt is a normal feldspar-basalt containing basic plagioclase, augite, and olivine, in crystals or rounded grains, with varying amounts of glassy base. Examined microscopi- cally, the Yakima basalt is found to vary somewhat in the quantitative miner- alogic composition as well as in texture. None of the minerals occur as mega- scopic phenocrysts, but the labradorite crystals are more regularly developed than either the augite or the olivine. The olivine is less abundant than the light-brown augite, and also varies more in the amount present in different specimens. Apatite and magnetite are accessory constituents, the latter often occurring in delicate skeleton crystals. Some phases of the lava, especially in the basal or surface portions of a flow, are very glassy and masses of pure basalt glass can be found. The glass fragments seen on Table Mountain have a rounded form and undoubtedly represent bombs ejected from a volcanic center. As a whole the tuff beds and the scoriaceous lavas are less common than the compact basalt.
"A specimen of this basalt from Cle Elum Ridge, about four miles south- west of Cle Elum, was selected as representative of the different flows of the Yakima basalt and it was analyzed by George Steiger. This basalt is dark iron gray in color, aphanitic, and has a rough fracture. The thin section shows its texture to be fine grained, hypocrystalline, with intersertal glassy base. The most abundant constituent is labradorite, slightly zonal. Next in importance is the pale-brown augite, in roughly prismatic crystals, while the olivine occurs in grains. The base is a brown glass containing magnetite in fine dust and skele- ton crystals, as well as slender microlites of feldspar and augite. Slender needles of apatite occur included in the feldspar. The analysis which follows
HYDRAULIC MINING IN KITTITAS COUNTY
Placer, shaft and hydraulic mining has been carried on in Kittitas county since the discovery of gold in that field in 1873. The largest nugget of gold was found in 1898 and was valued at $1,120
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
shows the Yakima basalt to be closely related chemically to the Teanaway basalt. It is much less basic than typical basalt, and would be termed a vaalose in the more exact quantitative classification."
From the standpoint of business interest the most valuable part of this re- port is that dealing with the metals, with coal, and with building stone. We are therefore making copious extracts here of this important part of the subject.
"The three principal gold-mining districts of central Washington are in- ·cluded in the Mount Stuart quadrangle. The Peshastin placers were discov- ered in 1860 and have been worked intermittently ever since. The Swauk placers have been worked rather more steadily since their discovery in 1868. Gold- bearing veins were first located in the Peshastin district in 1873, and in the Swauk in 1881. The mineral veins of the Negro Creek district constitute a ·continuation of those in the Peshastin district.
"Mining in these districts has been conducted by small owners, and it is impossible to secure any definite data regarding production. The output of gold of Kittitas County for the years 1884 to 1895, as reported by the director of the mint, aggregates $764,163. About $5,000 of silver was reported from that county for the same period. The Peshastin district is now included in Chelan County, but during this period it was a part of Kittitas County. The years 1892 and 1895 were seasons of maximum production, and the area prob- ably would have steadily increased its output had it not been for the exodus of miners to Alaska. In view of the activity in these districts in the years preced- ing 1884, as well as the production of the last seven years, it seems that $2,000,000 would be a conservative estimate of the total gold production. In the last five years companies with larger capital have purchased the claims of the small operators, and mining operations will now be conducted more eco- nomically and probably with an increase in the gold production.
"Swauk District .- The Pleistocene gravels along Swauk Creek and many of its tributaries are gold bearing. These alluvial gravels form the terraces, which are especially prominent and extensive at the junctions of Swauk and Williams creeks and of Boulder and Williams creeks. The gravel deposits are from a few feet to seventy and eighty feet in thickness, and while red or yellow at the surface, the gravel is blue below. The upper portions of the gravel also are less easily worked, since induration of the gravel has followed the oxida- tion of the cementing material.
"While fine gold is found throughout the gravel deposits at some locali- ties, most of the gold occurs close to bed rock and in channels other than those occupied by the present streams. The marked characteristic is coarseness. Pieces several ounces in weight are common, while a number of nuggets weigh- ing twenty ounces or more have been found, and one or more nuggets of about fifty ounces have been reported, the largest nugget of the district having a value of $1,100. These larger nuggets are usually well rounded, but on the tributary streams wire and leaf gold is found. The gold is not pure, containing considerable silver, which materially decreases its value.
"The bed rock, which belongs to the Swank formation, is usually of a nature to favor the collection of the gold. The inclined beds of hard shale form natural 'riffles,' and from the narrow crevices in the shale the best nuggets are
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
often taken. The sandstone beds wear smooth, in which case the bed rock is apt to be barren. The old channels, both of Swauk Creek and of its tributaries, vary somewhat in position from the present course of the stream, but only within definite limits. The old valleys and the present valleys are coincident, but, within the wide-terraced valleys of the present, older channels may be found, now on one side and now on the other. Thus, on Williams Creek and the lower portion of Boulder Creek the old water-course has been found to the south of the present channel of the stream, and is in other cases below the bed of the creek. On Swauk Creek the deposits worked are above the level of the stream, being essentially bench workings. Here hydraulic plants have been employed, but elsewhere the practice has been to drift on bed rock. While the endeavor is to follow the old channels, it is found that the 'pay streak' can not be traced continuously. Ground that will yield forty dollars to the cubic yard of gravel handled may lie next to ground that does not contain more than fifty cents to the cubic yard. In the last few years the operations in the Swauk Basin have been on a larger scale. Williams Creek has been dammed and methods have been devised to handle the tailings and bowlders on the lower courses of Swauk Creek, where the gradient of the valley is low.
"The source of the alluvial gold is readily seen to be the quartz veins known to occur in the immediate vicinity. These will be discussed in a following para- graph. The noticeable lack of rounding of much of the gold shows that it has not been transported far, and indeed the limited area of the Swauk drainage basin precludes any very distant source for the gold. It is only along the Swauk within a few miles of Liberty and on Williams Creek and its tributaries that gold has been found in paying quantities, and, as will be noted later, this is approximately the area in which the gold-quartz veins have been discovered. From the outcrops of these ledges the gold and quartz have been detached and washed down into the beds of the streams, where the heavier metal was soon covered by the rounded bowlders and pebbles with which the channel became filled. The conditions under which the gold was washed into the streams probably differed little from those of to-day, except that the streams were then filling up their valleys.
"Peshastin District .- The gravel deposits in the valley of the Peshastin are less extensive than in the Swauk district. The alluvial filling of the canyon- like valley of the upper half of Peshastin Creek is not so deep and does not show the well-marked terraces so prominent in the Swauk Valley. The gravel ap- pears to be gold bearing throughout, and the gold is rather uniform in distribu- tion. The largest nuggets are found on the irregular surface of the pre-Ter- tiary slate which forms the bed rock. While the largest nuggets found in the Peshastin placers are less than an ounce in weight, and therefore not comparable with some of the Swauk gold, the Peshastin gold is fairly coarse and easily saved. The gold is high grade and is worth about eighteen dollars an ounce.
The principal claims on the creek, below Blewett, are owned by the Mohawk Mining Company, which is hydrauliking the gravels with water from the upper Peshastin and from Negro Creek. Work which has been done on Shaser Creek shows the gravels to be gold bearing, and here also the gold is high grade. This fact is interesting, since, while the Shaser Creek drainage
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
basin is almost wholly in the same formation as that of the Swauk Basin, the gold found in the two creeks is quite different, the Swauk gold containing a considerable amount of silver.
"Stream gravels in other parts of the quadrangle, notably on North Fork of Teanaway and on Stafford Creek, have been prospected, but no gold has been found to warrant further work.
GOLD-QUARTZ VEINS.
"Peshastin District .- A few mines in the vicinity of Blewett have been producers for about twenty-five years. The many changes of management and methods of operating these properties, however, make it impossible at the pres- ent time to determine accurately the character of the ore that has been mined or to estimate even approximately the product during this period. Much of the ore has been low grade, and the gold has been extracted by means of arrastras, stamp mills, and a small cyanide plant, but not always with very suc- cessful results. The small stamp mill first built in this district was the first erected in the state of Washington. Another mill, with twenty stamps, has lately been rebuilt under the Warrior General management.
"The best-known property in the district is the Culver group, comprising the Culver, Bobtail and Humming Bird claims, and now known as the War- rior General mine. This mine in its geologic relations and vein conditions is typical of the mines of the district. The country rock is the altered peridotite or serpentine, which exhibits the usual variations in color and structure. The Warrior General and the other mines are located in a zone of sheared serpen- tine, where the mineral-bearing solutions have found favorable conditions for ore deposition. This mineral zone has a general eastward course, and extends from east of Blewett across the Peshastin, up Culver Gulch, and across to the valley of Negro Creek.
"The Warrior General vein has a trend of N. 70' to 80° E. and is very irregular in width. In the walls the serpentine is often talc-like in appearance, while the compact white quartz of the vein is sometimes banded with green talcose material. Sulphides are present in the ore, but are not at all prom- inent. The values are mostly in free gold, which is fine, although in some of the richer quartz the flakes may be detected with the unaided eye.
"The workings in this mine consist of a number of tunnels driven at differ- ent levels in the north wall of Culver Gulch. These follow the vein for different distances, the vertical distance between the lowest tunnel (No. 9) and the highest opening of importance (No. 5) being about 650 feet, and connections have been made between most of the levels. The vein is approximately vertical, although it has minor irregularities. The quartz is seven to eight feet in width in some places, but pinches in others. In the upper tunnel, No. 5, the ore ap- pears to be broken quartz of the same character as that in the lower tunnels, occurring here much more irregularly, although the richest ore has been taken from the upper workings. Some very rich ore bodies have been mined, but they are small and their connections have not been traced. The most exten- sive work has been done from the lowest tunnel, and the latest work here
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
shows that the serpentine, which is so much broken in many parts of this min- eralized belt, is here more solid, a remarkably well-defined and regular wall having been followed for over 300 feet.
"Other properties in the same zone as the Warrior General are the Pole- pick, Peshastin, Fraction, Tiptop, Olden and Lucky Queen. Trese have all produced ore which has been worked in the Blewett mill.
"An interesting feature in the geology of Culver Gulch is the probable existence of a fault. On the north side of the gulch, at an elevation of about 3,750 feet, and near tunnel No. 5, a large basalt dike, twenty-five feet wide, is very prominent. This dike has a trend of N. 26° E., but its continuation is not seen on the south side of the gulch. Fifty feet lower on the south side of the gulch, however, a similar dike occurs with a trend of N. 50° E., but this in turn can not be detected at the point where it ought to outcrop on the north side. If these are parts of the same dike, as seems probable, there has been faulting. Such a fault would cross the Culver vein at a low angle and probably between tunnels 5 and 6. The broken character of the ore in the upper tunnel indicates that movement has modified the vein at this point, and such movement may be connected with this supposed fault. At the time of the examination of this mine, connection had not been made between tunnels 5 and 6, and the relations of the dike to the ore body could not be determined. If the dike interrupts the vein, the mineralization is pre-Eocene in age; while, on the other hand, if the vein continues through the twenty-five feet of basalt, even although it may vary in character with the change of the wall 'rock, or if the fissure in which the quartz has been deposited follows the plane of the fault which it is believed has displaced the basalt dike, then the period of mineralization is not earlier than late Eocene, and the Peshastin gold-quartz may be of the same age as the veins of the Swauk district, a description of which is given below.
"Negro Creek District .- Although this region is a continuation of the Peshastin mineralized zone, no claims in this district have become producing mines. The region has been prospected for many years and a number of small veins have been located, and some ore worked in a small mill and in arrastras. The ore is mostly quartz with some calcite and sulphurets. The veins are irreg- ular and the wall rock is generally serpentine, much of which is sheared and jointed. Many of the locations have been on the red or yellow 'nickel ledges' to which reference has been made; on a preceding page is an analysis of this rock, which has been considered by many prospectors to be itself an indication of ore.
"Swauk District .- The gold-quartz veins of the Swauk are very different from those in the vicinity of Blewett. They are in part narrow fissure veins of quartz with some calcite and talcose material, the wall rock being the sandstone or shale of the Swank formation, of Eocene Age, or in some cases a diabase or basalt dike may form one wall. Quartz stringers running off from the vein are common, and at one locality thin bands of quartz follow the bedding planes of the sandstone. A peculiar type of vein material is locally termed 'bird's-eye' quartz. This occurs in several mines, and may be described as a friction breccia in which the angular fragments of black shale are inclosed in a matrix of quartz and calcite. The quartz shows radial crystallization outward from the separated
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
fragments, and often open spaces remain into which the small crystals of quartz project. The walls of such veins are sometimes sharply defined, but in other cases many small veins of quartz traverse the shattered wall rock in every direc- tion, so as to render it difficult to draw the limits of the vein itself. This tran- sition from the peculiar type of vein into the shattered rock shows the 'bird's- eye' quartz to be due to brecciation along more or less well-defined zones, fol- lowed by mineralization.
"The 'bird's-eye' quartz has its gold content very irregularly distributed. The values are mostly in free gold, with a small amount of sulphurets present. The gold occcurs in fine grains within the quartz or next to the included shale fragments, and the approximate value of the ore may be readily found by panning, while in many cases the gold may be seen on the surface of the quartz, in the form of incrustations of leaf or wire gold; and in a specimen from the Gold Leaf mine perfect octahedral crystals of gold lie upon the ends of the quartz crystals. The silicification sometimes extends into the country rock, and some values are found there. The gold of the quartz veins, like that of the gravels, is light colored and contains a considerable percentage of silver. In the Little York this silver is reported as amounting to about 20 per cent.
"The quartz veins that have been opened in the upper basin of Williams Creek have a general northeast trend, being thus roughly parallel with the basalt dikes. In the Cougar the hanging wall of the vein appears to be a badly decomposed basalt dike, while the Gold Leaf has one vein wholly in sand- stone and shale and another in a large diabase dike. The relation of the veins to the dikes is therefore not constant, but it may be noted that the fractures which have been filled by the vein material are usually approximately parallel to the fractures in the vicinity which have been filled by the intrusion of basalt. That there has been more than one period of fracturing, and that the period of mineralization was not exactly contemporaneous with the time of igneous intrusion, is shown by the occurrence of veins cutting the dikes themselves. It is probable, however, that the two processes occurred within the same geo- logic period and that the ore-bearing solutions derived their heat and possibly their mineral content from the intrusive and eruptive basalt of the area.
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