Okanogan County, Washington - Chapter 2: Passing Events, 1891-1903, 1904 (part 2 of 2)

John Clonan, Thomas Donan, William Milligan and Thomas Fuller made the original 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 lowestgrade 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 discovery 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 Gilmore, 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 sil\-er. The discoverers of the Ruby sold it to Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Portland, Oregon. Tliis was after a fifty-foot shaft had been sunk, a one hundred- foot tunnel driven and Si, 000 taken from a rich pocket. A number of Portland people formed a large company and invested heavily. Mv. Bourne incorporated the Ruby and First Thought separately, organized the Washington Reduction Company, put in a concentfating plant to treat the ores, and acquired a number of other claims. In 1888 the Arlington Company, of which "Sir. Bourne was president, purchased the Arlington mine for $45,000 cash. This company then began the erection of a leeching plant, but after an expenditure of $130,000 on this and other work it was discovered that no w-ater could lie obtained on the site selected, although there was an abundance on the creek two hundred feet below, ^^'ork was suspenden, and of the ore which had accumulated the best was concentrated at the Washington Reduction Company's mill. ! The First Thought, on which ]\Ir. 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 \\'ash- ington Reduction Company had erected a concentrator 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 prodviced 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 tirst locations on Ruby Hill, made by Hugh jMcCool and others. The eight foot ledge carries 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 Higstrun on a twenty-foot ledge of chloride ore. John Rudberg purchased it for $10,000 and resold 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, Ijut the bond was subsequently forfeited. On the west side of Salmon 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 am expense of $40,000. The Tough Nut lies directly 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 Alining & 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 tunnel was run 160 feet on the hill above the latter.

A pair of hoisting engines, boilers, air compressor, two machine drills and a saw mill were erected, the whole representing an expenditure 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 Buckhom, on the west. On Mineral Hill is the La Euna. For this property T. L. Nixon, of Tacoma, paid $10,000. The Mohawk is another Mineral Hill proposition for which H. C. Lawrence refused $30,000. There is a threefoot 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 attracting considerable attention at present and upon which developmeut is in progress, are the Bridgeport Mining Company's properties on Mineral Hill, and the Salmon River Mining Company's on Peacock Mountain. These locations are rich in silver, lead and copper. The former company is composed of Bridgeport, Connecticut, capitalists, and the latter of Minnesota 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 customs plan. In the canyon between the Tough Nut and the Lone Star mines he erected a building 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 concentrates, less than half the value being saved Miners refused to furnish ore when the assay values did not show up and after a two-weeCs' run the machinery stopped forever.

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

"At the eastern base, about two and onehalf 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. AI. 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 southerly with good results, and the lower tunnel was then started to tap the xe'm 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 pyrargj-rite, stephanite and other allied sulphantimonites of silver with traces of copper. Pyrargyrite (dark ruby silver) occurs in patches, and native silver, argentite, (arsenicd sulphide of silver) are present. The ore al.so contains from $2.50 to $3 in gold i)er 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 it comes the shipping ore is assorted to run over .'^100 per ton. Thirty tons shipped to the Hall mines smelter, at Nelson, British Columbia, after deducting the treatment charges, gave net returns of $2,742, and twenty tons shipped, from which returns have not yet been received, will average 200 ounces of silver per ton, in addition to the gold value, as shown by assay of sack samples. The lower grade ore separated in assorting is being piled on the dump, to be concentrated at the Gold Zone mill, about two and one-half miles distant, which the company has leased for a year for experimental purposes. Although the ore is going to the smelter at present, it is evidently a natural concentrating product.

"There is considerable talc and talcose material in the vein which, while carrying good values, will not pay to ship, and a method will be adopted for its treatment at the mill not yet decided on. The Ruby mine is now paying expenses, Avith very little stopping required. At present the ore is sent down the hill by an aerial tramway to a small bin at the base of the mountain, but a survey of the mine has recently been completed, and it is intended at an early date to start a new tunnel for the vein at an elevation of only one hundred feet above the level of the valley, which will give an additional vertical depth to the mine workings of 259 feet and admit of driving northeasterly and gaining a depth of 2,000 to 2,500 feet on the vein. The vein is traceable at the surface fully 1,500 feet. New buildings have been lately erected for an office, a boarding house and a comfortable bunk house for the men employed, of whom there are sixteen on two shifts. An additional force will be required upon the starting of the new tunnel."

to come in and open up the many veins exposed. A satisfactory gold-copper property is known as the Goat Creek development, consisting of one shaft on the vein and 400 feet drift work with a few raises. Distant three miles is the American Flag mine, a large low-grade proposition averaging $6 to $10 in gold and silver, and shows 1,000 feet development. Formerly a twenty-stamp mill was operated successfully, but the increasing baseness of the ore made it unprofitable, and a cyanide plant is now being erected.

"J- JM- Hagerty, chief owner of the Ruby mine, Okanogan county, has secured the Golden Zone concentrator to be installed at once on Ruby property. Sufficient ore from the two tunnels on the Ruby can probably be taken to keep the concentrator going steadily. While the upper workings are supplying funds, a main tunnel at the base of the mountain will probably be started several hundred feet below the other tunnels. When that tunnel cuts the ledge the Ruby should be in shape to supply a larger plant than the Zone. Previously only high-grade ore has been handled, and there is lying on the dump a great quantity of lowgrade, now able to be treated profitably."

said to have actually occurred atout eighteen years ago. Among the numerous stories concerning this event the following appears the most probable, as it is vouched for by a number of responsible parties: A government expedition was traveling through the Methow country. "Captain Joe," an old Methow Indian was employed to guide the party through the country. They were camped at one time on the headwaters of \\'ar Creek, a tributary of the Methow. One morning, while hunting horses, Joe stumbled across a big gold ledge cropping out of the mountain. Breaking of¥ a piece he put it in his pocket, but said nothing to the government party concerning his "find," until the next day, wdien he exhibited the rock to Col. F. S. Sherwood, now of Colville, Stevens county, who was one of the party. They went back to the neighborhood of the ledge, but could not find it. When Col. Sherwood arrived in Portland he showed the piece of ore and it produced great excitement. Quite a number of prospectors at once started out to hunt for the ledge, but to this day all efforts in this direction have proved unavailing. More recent discoveries on Squaw Creek have reminded many of the "find" made by "Captain Joe."