Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 117

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western History
Number of Pages: 992

USA > Washington > Chelan County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 117
USA > Washington > Ferry County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 117
USA > Washington > Okanogan County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 117
USA > Washington > Stevens County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 117

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Six miles above Rock Island, on the road to Wenatchee, and near the line of the Great Northern railroad, are two enormous heaps of basaltic rock, in the exact form of Indian te- pees. From a distance they appear tattered and discolored from long usage. Those fa- miliar with Indian habitations can almost ini- agine the appearance of smoke through the ragged opening near the top. On nearer ap- proach they are found to be about fifty feet in diameter at the base, and one hundred and fifty feet high. During the last trouble with Chief Moses' tribe a desperate battle took place there and here young Chief Moses, son of the fa- mous warrior, was killed by a detachment of General Howard's men. The soldiers desig- nated these huge rocks "Twin Tepees," but they are now termed locally "The Two Dead Indians."

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

Ten miles northwest from Wenatchee is the beautiful Mission Valley. On the north it is bounded by the Wenatchee river; on the east, south and west by lofty mountains. The Mis- sion canyon averages sixty rods in width and is three and one-half miles long. Through this canyon flows Mission creek. All varieties of fruit and vegetables grow here in lavish pro- fusion. From the winds and cold it is shel- tered by vertical mountains, rising from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. The scenery is magnificent. Above Mission river this canyon widens into a beautiful level valley, containing about 3,000 acres. Brender's canyon, which opens into Mission Valley, is another handsome place. There is something entrancing about this Mis- sion, whether it is the air, the river, the moun- tain scenery, or all combined.

In August, 1903, L. M. Hull, as secretary, sent in a report from the Chelan County Hor- ticultural and Floricultural Association, to the United States Promological society. It was at the request of Charles H. Ross, who is chair- man of the Washington committee of that as- sociation, and the report was made to him. The points covered are answers to interrogatories from Mr. Ross :

"This fruit section, consisting of territory mostly found in Shelan county, is commonly known as the 'Wenatchee Fruit Belt,' from the fact that the country immediately sur- rounding the town of Wenatchee has for sev- eral years past shipped considerable quantities of its product east and west, over the Great Northern Railway. Also for the seasons 1901 and 1902 Wenatchee successfully competed for premiums at Washington State and Spokane Inter-State fairs. There are, however, other sections equally good for fruit raising, viz : Mission, Entiat, Chelan, Malaga, and Orondo, the latter country being situated about twenty miles up the Columbia river, in Douglas county.

"To illustrate the importance of this sec- tion as a fruit producer, permit me to say that

Wenatchee growers, within a few minutes drive of the town of Wenatchee, won seventeen medals at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposi- tion, this being more than one-third of the number won by the state, which was forty-two. These figures, coupled with the fact that the state of Washington won the gold medal for the best sustained display of fruits speak for themselves. The conditions governing the production of fruits in this district, briefly stated, are somewhat as follows: Altitude immediately on the Columbia river at this point, six hundred feet, with gentle slope to the foot-hills of the Cascade mountains, a distance of from three to four miles. The cli- mate is such that all the semi-tropical fruits are grown with remarkable success. On the uplands back from the valley are also success- fully grown fruits of many kinds, making a long season for certain varieties. For instance, strawberries are on the Wenatchee markets from May until the latter part of July. All the fruit sections of this district are irrigated excepting a few farms in Douglas county, and the Lake Chelan country."

Late in February, 1900, the Chelan county Horticultural Society was organized. This was at the time when the creation of the county had become an assured thing by an act of leg- islature then in session. The first official act of the association was to elect a county fruit in- spector, which election was promptly ratified by the county commissioners, in accordance with the state law. The inspection of nursery stock, however, was not the only thing that the fruit growers had in view when they decided to organize. Section 1, Article 3, of the con- stitution reads as follows :

"The object of this association shall be to guard against the introduction of fruit insect pests into the county, the destruction of such pests as already may be here, and the promo- tion of any enterprise that may redound to the benefit of the horticultural and floricultural in- dustry of the country."

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This provides for a wide field of operations, and clearly sets forth the aims and purposes of the society. During the four years of its ex- istence the association has sought in various ways to disseminate information of benefit to fruit growers. It has annually arranged for, and borne the local expenses of farmers' insti- tutes, the lecturers being furnished by the state agricultural college. These meetings have al-

ways been of much interest and value. It goes without saying that a Wenatchee five-acre fruit ranch will make as much work and more in- come than a hundred and sixty-acre grain farm. It is quite probable that so marked a feature will become the small holdings of We- natchee flat proper that in the future it will be known as the city of small farms.

CHAPTER III.

MINES AND MINING.

Within the confines of the present county of Chelan is located the first quartz mine ever opened in the state of Washington so far as the records show. It is the testimony of Mr. McKee, an old prospector and miner, that he prospected the Chelan district as early as 1875, making a trip up Lake Chelan long before there was a white man in the country. Since that period mining has been followed in a desult- tory manner, and it was not until July 20, 1896, that the great strike of the Holden mine was made by J. H. Holden, a Colorado mining man. This mine is situated ten miles up Rail- road creek, which flows into Lake Chelan.

While this is not the only mine in the Lake Chelan country it is believed to be well within the facts to state that it is at present the best developed property on the lake. By the Chelan Leader the Holden mine is claimed "ac- cording to the showing and assays to be the most monumental ore body existing in the en- tire Pacific northwest, without exception."

This valuable property consists of three full claims, extending diagonally across the face of a steep mountain side. The showing pre- sented so early as July, 1901, was amazing.

The editor of the Leader asserts : "So vast was it that he naturally hesitated to attempt to tell its dimensions, lest his reputation for truth and veracity should be seriously injured." For a distance of three thousand feet the ledge is ex- posed on the surface, and from the highest to the lowest exposure the depth is fully seven hundred feet. At the date last mentioned Tun- nel No. I, near the highest point, had cross-cut some eighty feet all in ore. Near the lowest outcrop a cross-cut tunnel has been run hun- dred and twenty-eight feet, all in ore, without finding the hanging wall and with surface indi- cations that at least seventy-five feet more would have to be made to gain the other wall. An average assay gave $18.75 through a dis- tance of ninety feet in this tunnel (No. 2). A conservative estimate of the value of the ore in sight, placing the depth at 400, and the length on surface at 3,000 feet, and width at 100 feet. rating the value per ton at $12, gave a result of $120,000,000.

Since that period a tunnel over 500 feet in length, 500 feet lower down, has been run, and recently struck the ledge after first cutting a twelve-foot stringer that had been encountered

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

above. The tunnel is now run all in ore of rich quality. Eight hundred feet is the present to- tal depth of the ledge. While clearing away for an ore dump near tunnel No. 2 workmen uncovered a vein of galena, the extent of which is unknown. But it is believed it will furnish all the ore of this quality necessary for smelt- ing purposes. The highest assays taken from all points on the ledge give the value of $52, and the lowest $5.90. This property is owned by the Holden Gold & Copper Mining Com- pany, of which J. H. Holden, the discoverer, is president. The Chelan Transportation & Smelting Company, which has a contract with the Holden company to transport and smelt its ore for a term of years, has let contracts which will probably insure the completion of a twelve- mile railroad from the lake to the mine. Of this remarkable mine the Chelan Leader, of date November 21, 1901, said :

"The total length of the property is 4,500 feet, and the ore body is known to extend at least 500 feet above the floor of cross-cut tun- nel No. 2. The known width of the ore body thus far is 119 feet-and is probably 75 feet more, or nearly 200 feet in width. But let us take the length of exposed ore, 3,000 feet; place its width-to be within bounds-at 100 feet, and the known height of the ore at 400 feet, which gives a total of 120,000,000 cubic feet of ore. It takes 10 cubic feet of solid ore, or 12 (some say 13) feet of loose ore to make a ton. At 12 cubic feet to the ton it equals 10,- 000,000 tons of ore, which at $18 per ton, the lowest average of all the assays, gives the stu- pendous value to the ore now in sight and easily demonstrable of $180,000,000. Or to let it down still lower, place the average value of the ore at $12 per ton, and it still shows the value of the ore in sight to equal the enormous sum of $120,000,000. Where can anything ap- proaching this mine in magnitude and wealth be found? Certainly not elsewhere in the state of Washington.

"Taking into account the fact that the Hol-

den mine is a true fissure vein ; that the hang- ing wall has not yet been reached; that there is more ore in sight than can be exhausted for a generation or two to come, without going a foot lower, or increasing a foot in width; and that almost, invariably, large copper ledges go down for thousands of feet-well, the possibili- ties of this wonderful proposition are simply staggering.

"Tunnel No. 3 has been started below the largest cross-cut tunnel and is expected to tap the ledge some 400 feet deeper. When the ledge is reached by that tunnel it will be con- nected by a shaft with the upper workings, and the whole mine can be worked downward on the gravity principle. On the 12th day of No- vember, 1900, the Holden group passed under the control of the Drummers Development Company, of Spokane, under a seven years' lease from the Holden Gold & Copper Mining Company. This company will push the work of getting the ore ready for shipment which, as has been shown, is a comparatively easy propo- sition. At the time of the execution of the lease another company, composed principally of the stockholders of the Development company, but separate and distinct from it, was organized under the name of the Chelan Transportation & Smelting company, to take care of the trans- portation and smelting end of the proposition. The Holden ore is what is known as self-flux- ing smelting ore. The latter company entered into contract with the former to transport and smelt the ore at minimum price per ton, and to have a smelter in operation at the expiration of the first two years. The of- ficers of the company are: Fred R. Thompson, of Seattle, president; G. A. Gordon, of San Francisco, vice-president ; Thomas Malony, of Olympia, secretary and treasurer ; R. D. John- son, of Spokane, general manager.

The Entiat Valley bids fair to be noted at no distant day for its mining industries alto- together, aside from its rich agricultural re- sources. Extensive ledges of copper and gold

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

are known to exist far up toward the head of the Entiat river. They are gold-bearing min- erals as well as galena, and they present a virgin field, having hardly been prospected to an extent. The most prominent and best developed mines in the Entiat valley are near the lower end and easily accessible. They were discovered during the years 1902-3 by Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Crum. They were farmers who had settled a short distance up a spring branch, flowing into the Entiat river. At pres- ent Mr. and Mrs. Crum are located on a pro- ductive ranch. From the town of Entiat to the mines the distance is about ten miles by a roundabout road, although an air-line route would fall within two or three miles. The pre- cipitiousness of the mountain renders such a road impossible. These mines are known as the Rex and Ethel. The ledge extending in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction is about six feet wide between well defined gran- ite walls, faced with talc. The ledge matter is decomposed quartz, carrying free gold, easily panned and exceedingly rich. In close con- tact to the walls are particularly rich streaks, while the middle strata runs much lower in values. Still, with proper appliances for treat- ment it is all "pay ore," the latter assaying $10 per ton. Some picked samples have shown assays running over $1,700 per ton. The pres- ent development consists, aside from a number of open cuts, of an 80-foot tunnel, run in on the ledge, and an upraise to the surface of between 70 and 80 feet, all heavily timbered, which is necessitated by the loose, crumbling nature of the ledge. For about 300 feet the ledge is easily traced on the surface.

Only a few rods away from the tunnel and higher up on the mountain is another open cut on another vein in five or six feet. At the grass roots the vein pans coarser gold than the first ledge mentioned, some of the particles being half as large as a pin head. One pan test yielded nearly a teaspoonful of yellow metal. At the point of development the altitude

of these claims is about 2,000 feet above sea level. At the ranch, one mile below, a two-stamp mill has been installed, with an ex- cellent wagon road leading to it. At this mill the ores are crushed, the values being saved by a sluice box and riffles, similar in all respects to placer mining. It is the opinion of Mr. Crum that he saves, in this crude manner, an average value of $40 per ton. Mrs.Crum is herself an enthusiastic and successful prospec- tor. About one and one-half miles above the Rex mine she recently located the North Star claim, at an elevation of 2,200 feet, with three feet of hard quartz, well mineralized between granite walls.

Of the Horseshoe Basin Mines the Chelan Leader, of date August 14, 1903, says :

"T. S. Burgoyne is president of the Horse- shoe Basin Mining & Development Company, which owns the Black Warrior on one ledge and three claims on another and parallel ledge, known as the Davenport Nos. 1, 2, and 3. The Black Warrior was located about 1891 by Messrs. Pershall and Kingman, who also dis- covered and located the Davenport later. They are east and west ledges, the Black Warrior lying at an altitude of 6,000 feet, and the Davenport (outcropping and surface develop- ment) at between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. The Black Warrior varies in width from 20 to 30 feet, with a pay streak of two to eight feet, car- rying galena and chalcopyrites, with silver values. A ton of the Davenport ore shipped to the smelter gave a return of $74 in lead, copper, silver and gold. Assays on the latter have given as high as $28 in gold, $91 in silver and $35 in lead.

"To develop the Davenport two companies. the one under consideration and the Cascade Gold & Copper Mining Company, are running a joint tunnel, and a force of men and ample supplies were taken in last fall, and work was continued during the whole winter for the first time in the history of Horseshoe Basin. The snowfall was over 50 feet and sometimes it

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took the men days of tunnelling through snow to find the mouth of the tunnel after a night or a day or so lay-off. They have built comfort- able cabins this year and electric drills are be- ing installed and Mr. Burgoyne thought they would be in operation within ten days. The tunnel is now 75 feet in, but the work will pro- gress much faster with the electric drills. They have 300 feet more to go to strike the ledge, at a depth of 700 feet, which will probably be ac- complished by January 1, 1904."

The Baker Mountain Mining Company, in which Judge O. P. Mason, of Seattle, is inter- ested, owns properties located on the head- waters of Thunder creek. Associated with Judge Mason are Fred Mears and R. S. Mears, of Minneapolis ; R. B. Mears, of Topeka, Kan- sas; J. M. Allen, Minneapolis ; Professor Ed- ward M. Shepard, Springfield, Missouri, state geologist, and who is also connected with the United States Geological Survey, and Henry S. Volman, of Milbank, South Dakota, editor and proprietor of the Grant County Re- view. Judge Mason reports these properties as being in a very prosperous condition. A 300-foot tunnel is in process of construction, which will cross-cut one of the ledges on the company's property. It is the intention of these parties to install a 55-ton Vulcan smelter. The company's property is about 30 miles from Stehekin, just across the Park creek divide from Horseshoe Basin. Judge Mason is presi- dent of the company.

Speaking of the Emerald Park mines the Chelan Leader, of November 6, 1903, says :

"The Copper Queen group of eight claims is situated above and back of Dumke's lake, at an altitude of 6,000 feet above sea level, and about five miles from Lake Chelan, at Railroad creek bar. The width of the ledge is six feet. The point of discovery is against a steep cliff. A tunnel was begun 100 feet lower, in which the ore was struck almost at once. Besides sev- eral open cuts this tunnel has been run in 25

feet. The ore is pyrites of copper and gold and assays show an average to the ton of $102.70. This is the average of the whole six feet of the ledge.

"These claims were first discovered about four years ago and the company has been peg- ging away at development work since, until now they have what promises to be a valuable mine. It is a tramway proposition, by which the ore can be landed cheaply and expeditiously upon the lake shore. Aside from the mineral value of the claims they are situated in the midst of the finest scenery in the lake country. Mr. A. L. Cool, one of the owners, was for- tunate in securing a homestead claim on the shore of Duinke's lake-which is about 1,000 feet higher than Lake Chelan-before the for- est reserve law went into effect." .

Seventeen claims are owned by the Cascade Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company, lo- cated at Doubtful lake, on the headwaters of the Stehekin river, in Cascade Pass, on the present Great Northern survey, and 25 miles west of Stehekin. Concerning this property Mr. Rowse said :

"The company is capitalized at $850,000, and we have a group of very rich claims up there at Doubtful lake. Over $20,000 has been expended in development work and several tunnels are in over 200 feet. A saw mill is now being built, which we expect to finish this winter, and then we shall be in a position to erect many good frame buildings. Four of the claims have been put in shape for shipping ore. All the claims are so located on a moun- tain side so that one tunnel can pass through all the ledges, opening them up at a depth of from 300 to 3,000 feet. This tunnel will so drain the mines that there will be no expense for pumping plants. There is plenty of timber and water to be had. The veins in these mines are true fissure and are from four to fifty feet in width, giving values in gold, silver, copper and lead. Returns from the United States

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Survey office at Seattle, A. McCollough, B. A., M. E., Tacoma and others, give $22.60, $88.36, $75.08, $110 and $57.56 per ton.

"We will install compressor drills and a concentrator this coming spring, and just as soon as possible we will also put in a smelter plant. We are working continually on the mines and expect to make still greater showing by spring."

The officers of this company are George L. Rowse, president, Seattle; Charles M. Baxter, vice-president, Castle Rock, Washington; W. A. C. Rowse, secretary and treasurer, Kelso, Washington. The headquarters of the company are located in Seattle.

The Doubtful Lake camp, which lies to the westward of Horseshoe Basin, and nearer Cas- cade Pass, was discovered by the Rowses, George and John, partners, but not relatives, in 1886. This was three years before the dis- covery of mining opportunities in Horseshoe Basin. Their principal location was the Quien Sabe.

Eighteen miles up Railroad creek from Lake Chelan is an extensive molybdenite mine, the only development of the kind in the state of Washington, if not in the United States. It is the property of the Crown Point Mineral company, with headquarters at Seattle. Tis mine is unique in mining experiences in the Pacific northwest, or on the continent for that matter, there being only six places in the world where molybdenite is mined in paying quan- tities-Sweden , Norway, Bohemia, Saxony New South Wales and in Chelan county-and nowhere in the five former places are so large pieces, or "kidneys" found as in the latter place. The metal is among the rarest known to geologists: Few people have ever heard of it, and still fewer have any idea of its uses or value.

Molybdenite is a rare and precious metal, which occurs in granite, gneiss, mica schist and granular limestone. It is found in thin, foli- ated, hexagonal plates or masses ; is very flex-

ible, feels greasy and will leave a trace on pa- per like soft graphite, which mineral it resem- bles, but is much more flexible, and its color is a bluish gray. In chemistry alone over three thousand tons are used annually. The moly- bdic acid sold by wholesale druggists at thirty- five cents per ounce and molybdenum powder, quoted at $2.62 per kilogram, or $2.380 per ton, are extracted from molybdenite. This metal is in great demand in the manufacture of armor plate, crucible vessels, self-hardening tool steel, in coating large cartridges used in rapid-firing guns on battleships, also in gun metal, in the manufacture of jewelry, or as a lubricant, and heat has no effect on it whatever.

The company has two veins of molybdenite and the white quartz in which it is found also carries free gold. On the same claims, not far from the molybdenite mine is a thirty-foot ledge, carrying gold, silver and copper of a gross value of $103.32 per ton. Considerable of this molybdenite has already been shipped to the United States gun works, located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One shipment of between 900 and 1,000 pounds was made late last fall, which realized $4.50 per pound. Mr. Rubin, who has charge of the development work of this property, has succeeded in secur- ing a piece about eight inches square, which is to be shipped to the St. Louis World's Fair.

The country rock of the Lake Chelan dis- trict is granite, amid which lie great dikes of porphyry. The ledges are usually in the con- tact between these two rocks in the Meadow creek district, their course being slightly south of west and north of east. In 1891 the first prospecting was done from row boats on the lake, whence the croppings of mineral were could be descried along the mountains on each side. The heights were scaled the following year and more thoroughly explored. The Blue Jay, on the east bank of Meadow creek, one thousand feet above the east bank of the lake. was discovered by Captain Charles Johnson, of Lakeside. It is now being developed by the

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Chelan Gold Mining Company. The red iron cappings of the ledge rise in a series of big swells on both sides of and above a slide, in which the crumbled, iron-stained rock slopes for 200 feet down to the west bench. It is a clearly defined ledge of iron and copper py- rites from 30 to 45 feet wide between walls of porphyry and granite, the line of cleavage be- ing marked by seams of quartz. Eight feet of the ledge is white quartz, and ten feet diorite, exactly like that of other sulphide districts. Assays of surface ore showed that it carried $8 in gold, twelve per cent. copper, and a little silver. The Blue Jay has been traced eastward where it widens to sixty feet on the two Gem claims, owned by Captain Johnson, and on the Blue Jay extension, owned by O. Graham, of Anacortes, where a 30-fooot open cut and tun- nel showed it to be well mineralized, with a pay streak carrying $10 to $19 in gold and half of that in silver. Further extension eastward traces the ledge through the Winnipeg, owned by A. Crumrine, the two Iron Cross claims of Messrs. Turner and Bull, and onward to the summit. Five distinct ledges parallel with the Blue Jay have been traced, some of them to the summit of the Methow range.

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Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 117

Author: Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western History Number of Pages: 992

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western History
Number of Pages: 992