Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 88

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 88
USA > Washington > Ferry County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 88
USA > Washington > Okanogan County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 88
USA > Washington > Stevens County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 88

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

on quartz veins, none of which have been proved by development work. Beyond this is a belt of syenite, extending north on the divide between McFarlane and Gold Creeks, in which are veins carrying a little galena, mispickel and stibnite, and much richer in silver than the ores of the south belt, some tetrahedrite carrying much more both of silver and arsenic. The quartz in the three main veins, which form the letter N and have been traced and located for nearly six miles east and west, seems to have followed in its formation a seam of diorite por- phyry, which is broken and replaced by quartz, sometimes shoving the diorite to the hanging wall, sometimes to the footwall. The ore oc- curs in chutes following the line of breaks in this diorite porphyry seam.

"The characteristic mineral on the surface is a wax-like compact hematite, filling the crev- ives in the quartz, probably arising from the oxidation of the different sorts of pyrites which are found at greater depth. Free metallic gold is very rarely found in the quartz, but fine colors of free gold are generally found in the hematite iron of the surface ore. The charac- teristics of the ore in depth, unoxidized, are a pyrites, compact, hard, crystalized, containing a little gold, a grayer, softer pyrites, carrying traces of zinc and arsenic that is rich in gold ; a further pyrites mineral carrying quite a little copper ; traces of arsenic carrying moderate values in gold; a further sulphuret mineral re- sembling tetrahedrite of complicated composi- tion, carrying considerable silver and gold with a little bismuth, antimony, arsenic and zinc."

In 1887 Mr. J. M. Burns made the first mineral discovery in this belt on Polepick Mountain, near Silver. This property has de- veloped into the Red Shirt mine. The ore car- ries iron and copper sulphurets and assays about $20 per ton in gold and silver. In 1896 the Red Shirt Mining Company erected a twenty- stamp mill and began reducing ore from the dump.

Mrs. M. Leiser, in 1890, made the succeed-

ing discovery, near the Red Shirt. This prop- erty was subsequently purchased by J. S. Crockett who extended the 40-foot tunnel run by the original owners, opening up a ledge of quartz and crystalized lime carrying good val- ues in gold and silver. Following this came the discovery of the Black Warrior. This was, also, secured by Mr. Crockett. A small shaft showed eight feet of pyritic ore between walls of diorite. Other properties in the neighbor- hood are the Mike Malony, Silver Bow, Brother Jack, on an iron cap assaying $20 per ton, and the Panic. On the same and parallel ledges are several promising prospects, including the Brooklyn, Pride of the Hill, Capital and Love Ledge.

Discoveries southeastward to Squaw Creek were made in 1892 by J. W. Draa and Nels Johnson. So broad a belt of mineral was dis- closed that this point became a center of inter- est. On Johnson Mountain the first croppings were found. This was on the left bank of the Squaw, and ledges have been traced across the Methow nearly to its mouth, and over the mountains to Gold and McFarlane Creeks, in one direction, and to Black Canyon in another. The Highland Light is one of the promising properties in this section. The Friday group of five claims is on the left bank of the Methow. Development was commenced here by the Fri- day Gold Mining Company. The ore is best where the ledge is narrowest. It is mainly iron pyrites, chalcopyrite and mispickel, with rare bits of zinc blende. The Diamond Queen group of two claims is on the west of the Friday ledge, on a steep bluff overlooking the river. ' They were owned by the Diamond Queen Gold Min- ing Company. An assay from croppings of the ore chute returned $10.80 in gold and sixty-one cents in silver. Assays from the upper tunnel ran from $3.65 to $32.70 in gold. On the same side of the river beyond this group is the Emer- ald group of three claims. The ledge crops five and one-half feet wide between granite walls. Surface ore assayed $25 in gold, silver and

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

copper ; samples from the face of the tunnel at 53 feet assayed $122 and $157, the matter out- side of the pay streak being mineralized to the value of about $10.

The Hidden Treasure adjoining the High- land Light shows up well for a large amount of development. The Okanogan is another well developed property, located on Johnson Moun- tain. The ledge shows six feet nine inches be- tween the walls, and assays run from $20 to $28 in gold. The original location on John- son Mountain is the Hunter, which has shown up fairly well on development. Values aver- age from $16 to $20 in gold and eight to twelve per cent copper. The Washington group of seven claims belonged to the Methow Mining Company. Two of these are on the Hunter ledge, which is shown to be from six to six and one-half feet wide in an open cut fifteen feet long and ten feet deep on one claim; four and one-half feet wide in a twelve-foot shaft in an- other. It is well mineralized with copper sul- phides on the surface. Another claim is on a stringer three to eighteen inches wide, carrying high-grade ore with free gold often showing. Bill Nye is the name of the last claim in the group. It is, doubtless, an extension of one of the main ledges, although three miles west of the others, showing five feet of similar quartz. Fisher Brothers, of Seattle, made an excellent showing on the Gray Eagle group of these claims, all on the Friday ledge. Development revealed a vein from four to eight feet, with a diorite dike, shoving it first to one wall, then to the other. The Last Chance adjoins the Gray Eagle, which has a well defined ledge three and one-half feet wide with talc gouge on the walls which are diorite and bird's eye porphyry. Ore sent to the Everett smelter netted $39 in gold and a little silver.

On the Highland Light ledge is the Stan- dard and extension, with a ledge from four to four and one-half feet wide. Average samples of this ore assayed $38.60 in gold with a little silver. The Nip and Tuck group of four claims

is on Treasure Mountain. The pay ore assayed $23.50 in gold; $6 in silver. Two miles west of Methow, on Gold Point Hill, is the Larsen group of four claims on two ledges. One of them showed forty inches wide in a double compartment shaft, forty-five feet deep, ore from which assayed from $22 to $78. Good ore bodies have shown up on McFarlane and Gold Creeks, west of Squaw Creek. The Black Jack shows four feet of quartz, well mineralized with gold, silver and copper for its entire width. The Damfino shows forty inches of similar ore. Among other prospects in this immediate vi- cinity are the Parallel, Catherine and Osiola.

Discoveries in the Spokane mines show that the same mineral belt extends through the Methow foothills far up the river. The Spokane is at the mouth of the Twisp river ; the ledge be- tween four and five feet wide, between walls of porphyry, running northwest and southeast. nearly perpendicular, with a slight pitch to the west. Prospecting was begun with a shaft sunk forty feet, showing ore all the way with a wid- ening ledge. The pay streak carries about $50 in gold and silver, and the entire ledge carries good values.

But for the ill effects of early experiments in treating ore development work in the Methow District would, doubtless, have proceeded much faster. Prospectors were led to erroneous con- clusions ; slight showings of free gold on the surface were taken to signify that it was a free gold belt. On this assumption they proceeded. On Squaw Creek a five-stamp mill with one concentrator was erected, and two arrastres were built. Through the stamp mill twelve tons of Paymaster ore were run that barely paid ex- penses. However, experiments are being made with a view to the adoption of the cyanide or some other leeching process and some such method will, undoubtedly, be adopted, where the percentage of copper does not run too high. Mr. L. K. Hodges says :

"The country rock of the district is ordi- narily so hard that tunnelling costs $10 to $12

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

per foot and shafting by contract costs $16 per foot down to the 150-foot level. While the ore is rich enough to pay a good profit over cost of mining, freight and treatment, much better re- sults can be obtained by the erection of a re- duction plant on the ground, and the question" as to the best process now occupies the minds of mining men. The small proportion of free gold is in extremely minute particles; ren- dering amalgamation not worth while, except in connection with concentrators, and the values are mainly in sulphurets. The percentage of copper ranges from two to thirteen per cent. and where it does not exceed the former figure and the action of the solution is not hampered by other ingredients, the cyanide process may be successful. However, experiment will set- tle this question, and now that the mining men have become aroused to the fact that the prob- lem is not to find. the gold bearing rock, but to extract the gold after they have found it, ultimate success is assured."

In the Moses Mining District are located the Multnomah Mining Company's properties, about three miles from the Nespelim Indian agency. They were located and are held under the mining laws of the state of Washington. They comprise the following claims of twenty acres each : Columbia, Excelsior, Niagara, Chalcocite, Multnomah, Hanover, Butte, Mich- igan and Ramsey. Aside from these the com- pany owns one hundred and sixty acres at the mouth of the Nespelim river, together with the Nespelim water power for milling and power purposes. These holdings aggregate 320 acres, besides one of the best and most available water powers in the northwest.

By those acquainted with the formation of the mineral deposits throughout the United States, it is admitted that these properties show favorably. The formation is syenite accom- panied by very little granite, with several dikes of porphyry and porphoritic quartz. The gen- eral trend of this mineralized zone is nearly

north and south, varying in its course to north- east and southwest. The claims of the Mult- nomah Company were located during the sun- mer of 1900 and spring of 1901. While de- velopment work has been conducted steadily the large extent of territory held by the company has prevented more than a practical exploita- tion of the surface sufficient to show the value of the properties. One immense mineralized zone is the mountain upon which are located these holdings, and when they concentrate in the veins of the mines they are found not only highly mineralized, but of surprising extent and size. At a depth of ten feet these ledges assayed from $6 to $40 in gold, copper, silver and lead, the principal value being gold and copper. The Ramsey, three miles distant from the Multnomah, Hanover, Niagara, Chalcocite, Excelsior and Columbia, makes a showing of surface assays running from $10 to $48. In- creased mineralization is shown as depth is gained.

So long ago as 1884 the original mineral discoveries were made on the headwaters of the Twisp river, now in the Twisp Mineral Dis- trict. But general prospecting has been con- ducted in this section not over eight years. And it remained for recent prospectors to define the character of the country's mineral.

As in other sections of the Cascades the country formation is granite broken by numer- ous dikes of porphyry. From oxidation the ledges have assumed a reddish hue which makes them easily tracable, and they carry free gold on the surface in most instances, changing to sulphurets. The ore is sulphide toward the headwaters of the Twisp, and on Twisp Pass rich in copper and showing the same charac- teristics as the older and more developed sul- phide ore belts. E. W. Lockwood, of Wen- atchee, H. M. Cooper and Edward Shackle- ford made the first discoveries in this district in 1884. They located the Washington, but be- ing dissatisfied, abandoned it on account of the

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

remoteness of the location. Subsequently they made other discoveries on the lake forming the source of North Creek, but located no claims.

In 1892 John Gillihan penetrated the dis- trict and located the Oregonian group of eight claims. His partners were James Gaston and F. S. Sanford. This group is at the head of North Creek near the glaciers that feed that stream. The walls are usually of porphyry. One ledge carries ore which assays from $60 to $600 in gold. Other ledges run from $II to $114 in gold. R. P. Dolsen and P. B. Shon- afelt made the next location which was the Derby. This mine they bonded to Frank Ros- enhaupt, of Spokane, for $10,000. The ledge cropped near the Oregonian twelve feet wide and in a sixty-foot shaft and forty-foot tunnel showed quartz carrying $8 to $10 in gold throughout, with a pay-streak of from eight to twenty inches on the hanging wall, carrying $100 and upwards in gold. Discoveries ex- tending from North and South Creeks were made in the summer of 1895, and also up the Twisp to the summit of the pass. The follow- ing year development work was inaugurated. Eight parallel ledges were found on Gilbert Mountain on which thirty locations were im- mediately made. The same belt has been traced across North Creek to Clark's Mountain. Two great main ledges with many cross-ledges are on Goat Park Mountain.

The Mountain Goat is the pioneer claim on Gilbert Mountain. It was the property of P. Gilbert, Nelson Clark, A. Raub, George Witte, Henry Plummer and Frank Thompson. It has two ledges five and three and one-half feet wide, one of them with a cropping so strong that it is visible a mile distant, standing twelve feet high in a perpendicular cliff. A fifteen foot tunnel showed three feet of free milling ore sim- ilar to that of the Derby. Surface assays ran from $95 to $387 in gold.

The Big Eight Mining & Milling Company were proprietors of the Big Eight group, on which the two main Mountain Goat ledges run

through three claims from base to summit of the mountain. Eight parallel ledges continue through the entire group. Ore from the Moun- tain Goat ledges assayed from $27 to $280. Nelson Clark and R. J. Danson owned the Washington in this belt, which has a five-foot ledge showing ore fairly well mineralized. Seven claims comprised the Portland group owned by the Consolidated Twisp Mining & Milling Company. The ore carries $13 free gold throughout, though two assays made of the drillings from the tunnel ran $1,500 to $1,900.

Between walls of granite and gneiss three great ledges crop out on Goat Park Mountain, on the side of a deep gulch on the north slope. They have been traced a distance of 12,000 feet. They show red oxidized quartz carrying free gold, but at from two to ten feet below the surface the ore runs into copper and iron sul- phides. Surface ore assays from $5 to $88 in gold besides good copper values. The Orient group of four claims on these ledges was owned by the Orient Gold Mining & Milling Company. These ledges crop two hundred and fifty feet apart, one thirty-three and the other twenty feet wide. They carry free gold and sulphides, one mill test going $15 in gold. The Ben Lummon Gold Mining & Milling Com- pany had six claims in 1897 on the same ledge, E. W. Lockwood, F. M. Scheble and O. D. Johnson had the Cumberland on Bear Creek, at the foot of the mountain, on a sixteen-foot ledge of copper sulphide ore. The Crown Prince group of four claims was owned by J. H. Shepard, and George and Edward Witte, C. F. Wilke and Henry Ramm had the Mar- shal Ney, on a four-foot ledge showing free gold with black sulphurets and iron and copper sulphides.

Among other, mines and prospects are the Lone Star and Cathedral, on Clark's Mountain, the Daisy, the White Bear, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lulu, the Flossie, Summit, Princess and Yellow Jacket. The Three Links

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

Gold Mining Company owned three claims on the summit of Twisp Pass on a twenty-foot ledge cropping for three thousand feet between walls of porphyry and granite. Surface ore assayed from $4 to $12 in gold; two and one- half ounces in silver and four per cent. copper. The Gold Bar group of five and one-half claims is on several ledges of sulphide ore cropping about twenty feet wide down the mountain side. Assays ran all the way from a trace to $600 in gold with some copper, the average value being about $40. The Hattie group of three claims on Elmer Mountain, near, the Derby, was owned by the Twisp River Mining & Milling Company. These claims were discovered late in 1896. Assays have ranged close to $100 per ton.

The Salmon River Mineral District was once the scene of great excitement throughout Washington. But it suffered with all other Okanogan county districts, an eclipse, owing to its remoteness from means of steam transpor- tation. Following the opening of the Moses reservation the first mineral discoveries were made in the spring of 1886, on Ruby Hill, a steep mountain rising to the height of 3,800 feet above the town. Ledges of quartz carry- ing silver and a small quantity of gold were found in the country rock of granite and gneiss. The ledges run a little west of north and east of south, and pitch about twenty-two and one- half degrees east. They are on the summit of the hill ranging in width six feet and upward. Sulphurets are found carrying from ten to one hundred ounces of silver with rich pockets of native wire and ruby silver, running much higher. and an average of $3 in gold.

John Clonan, Thomas Donan, William Milligan and Thomas Fuller made the orig- inal discoveries. They struck a ledge about eighteen feet. wide which ran uniformly from wall to wall $14 in gold and silver. Here they located the Ruby. It proved to be the lowest- grade mine on the hill. The First Thought. on a parallel ledge, further east, was located

by Patrick McGreel, Richard Bilderback and John Clydostey. This ledge is thirty to forty feet wide on the surface, running about $28 in gold and silver its whole width. The discov- ery of the Fourth of July, showing the richest ledge on the hill, and the Arlington, was next in order in point of discovery. But attention was soon diverted from these properties by the discovery of the Peacock by John Pecar, and the Lenora by James Robinson and James Gil- more, on Peacock Hill, northeast of Ruby Hill.

This mineral belt was found to extend northward beyond Conconully to Mineral Hill, an extension of the same ridge. It closes in Salmon river on the west, and is two miles northwest of Conconully. In the lime belt the ore is all high-grade, carrying black sulphurets of silver. The discoverers of the Ruby sold it to Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Portland, Oregon. This was after a fifty-foot shaft had been sunk. a one hundred-foot tunnel driven and $1,000 taken from a rich pocket. A number of Port- land people formed a large company and in- vested heavily. Mr. Bourne incorporated the Ruby and First Thought separately, organized the Washington Reduction Company, put in a concentrating plant to treat the ores, and ac- quired a number of other claims. In 1888 the Arlington Company, of which Mr. Bourne was president, purchased the Arlington mine for $45,000 cash. This company then began the erection of a leeching plant, but after an ex- penditure of $130,000 on this and other work it was discovered that no water could be ob- tained on the site selected, although there was an abundance on the creek two hundred feet below. Work was suspenden, and of the ore which had accumulated the best was concen- trated at the Washington Reduction Company's mill.

The First Thought, on which Mr. Bourne then went to work, averaged from six to ten ounces of silver and $3 in gold. although there were rich streaks and pockets running up to one hundred ounces. In the meantime the Waslı-

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

ington Reduction Company had erected a con- centrator at Ruby and a cable bucket tramway a mile long from the First Thought mine. When silver dropped to seventy cents the mill was stopped, having produced about $40,000 in concentrates, clear of freight and treatment charges. The Fourth of July was purchased by a syndicate. This is the richest ledge on the hill, with a pay streak four feet wide. One shipment of 20 tons paid $480 a ton gold and silver. The Wooloo Mooloo was one of the first locations on Ruby Hill, made by Hugh McCool and others. The eight foot ledge car- ries black sulphurets, the first two assays from which running 3,000 to 5,000 ounces of silver. The discovery claim on Anaconda Hill was the Anaconda. It was located by Thomas Hig- strun on a twenty-foot ledge of chloride ore. John Rudberg purchased it for $10,000 and re- sold it to Hale & Smith, Zenophon Steeves and J. C. Moreland, of Portland, for $15,500, he retaining one-eighth interest.

"Tenas George" Runnels and J. C. Boone located the Lady of the Lake near the foot of Conconully Lake. This was about the time the first discoveries were made on Ruby Hill, and on the day the Moses Indian reservation was thrown open. They bonded it to O. B. Peck for $40,000, but the bond was subse- quently forfeited. On the west side of Sal- mon river, a mile above Conconully, is the Lone Star, located by Henry C. Lawrence. There is a ledge twenty-four feet wide of galena ore which assays one hundred ounces of silver. A considerable quantity of ore was taken out at an expense of $40,000. The Tougli Nut lies di- rectly across the river from the Lone Star, and is joined by the Homestake. On the north the Lone Star is joined by the John Arthur.

On Mineral Hill, where the Bridgeport Mining & Milling Company bought five claims, there has been considerable development. Double compartment shafts were sunk 125 feet on one claim and 130 feet on another. A tun- nel was run 160 feet on the hill above the latter.

A pair of hoisting engines, boilers, air com- pressor, two machine drills and a saw mill were erected, the whole representing an ex- penditure of over $30,000. A ten ton shipment of ore ran $300, of which $20 was in gold and the balance silver. Adjoining this group is the Buckhorn, on the west. On Mineral Hill is the La Euna. For this property T. L. Nixon, of Tacoma, paid $10,000. The Mohawk is an- other Mineral Hill proposition for which H. C. Lawrence refused $30,000. There is a three- foot ledge of high-grade ore running over 300 ounces of silver. John Stech, of Seattle, paid $4,000 for the Independence, on the same hill. The Pointer adjoins the Tough Nut on the south.

Two mines in the vicinity of Conconully, Salmon River Mining District, which are at- tracting considerable attention at present and upon which development is in progress, are the Bridgeport Mining Company's properties on Mineral Hill, and the Salmon River Mining Company's on Peacock Mountain. These loca- tions are rich in silver, lead and copper. The former company is composed of Bridgeport, Connecticut, capitalists, and the latter of Min- nesota men. Both of these properties bear every indication of becoming dividend paying mines.

About the time of the first discoveries on Salmon river the late ex-Lieutenant Governor Charles E. Laughton organized a company to build a concentrator to treat ores on the cus- toms plan. In the canyon between the Tough Nut and the Lone Star mines he erected a build- ing and put in a plant consisting of a rock crusher, a set of rollers to pulverize the rock, drum screens to size the material and wooden jigs. Much of the mineral escaped with the tailings and the latter were richer than the con- centrates, less than half the value being saved Miners refused to furnish ore when the assay values did not show up and after a two-weeks' run the machinery stopped forever.

The Silver Bluff, a group of ten claims is in the lime belt, which was the property of the

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

Silver Bluff Mining & Milling Company. The Belcher is another claim on the same belt.

There is another "Ruby mine" in the north- ern portion of Okanogan county. Of this prop- erty Mr. M. H. Joseph says :

"Situated in the northern part of Okanogan county on the International Boundary line di- viding the state of Washington and British Columbia, Mount Chapacca, one of the great eastern spurs of the Cascade range, with forty lofty peaks, tower over their neighbors to ele- vations of 7,760, and nearly 8,000 feet above sea level. Wild and rugged in its physical fea- tures and general aspect, it presents a typical home for the numerous mineral veins which traverse it.

"At the eastern base, about two and one- half miles northwest of Palmer Lake and about four miles south of the British Columbia line, is the Ruby mine, now becoming prominent on account of the rich ore it is producing. It was discovered by A. M. and George Reist and is now owned by the Ruby Mining Company, of Mansfield, Ohio, of which J. M. Hagerty, its president, is the leading spirit. The mine is at present managed by Monroe Herman. It is opened by two cross-cut tunnels, the upper one intersecting the vein at about forty feet on its dip. Drifts were driven northerly and south- erly with good results, and the lower tunnel was then started to tap the vein at about forty feet on its dip. It enters the mountain 360 feet above the level of the Similkameen valley and cutting the foot-wall 214 feet from the portal, intersects the vein about eighteen feet in width. The ore contains pyrargyrite, stephanite and other allied sulphantimonites of silver with traces of copper. Pyrargyrite (dark ruby sil- ver) occurs in patches, and native silver, ar- gentite, (arsenical sulphide of silver) are pres- ent. The ore also contains from $2.50 to $3 in gold per ton, a little lead in the form of bright steel galena, and small quantities of zinc blende. The gangue is crystalline quartz. Some of the ore will assay from $200 to $1,000, but taken as

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Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 88

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