The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-08-06
The Skagit Mines a Humbug.
From the Evening Telegram.


what has been called the Skagit mines,
and many of our people are on the eve of
taking their departure for the @gold
fields" we have taken pains to become
informed of the value of the district, and
do not hesitate in denouncing it as a
fraud of the first water. We arrive at
this conclusion upon the best of evil
dence, which we give, hoping we will
not have occasion to again explode this
bauble. We extract as follows from a
letter written by Colonel Larrabee and
published in one of the Seattle papers,
which is interested in keeping up
THE sKAGIT BOOM.
ssI see no reason to change the opinion
formed when I first saw Skagit gold last
fall. think the time is not far distant
when the twelve miles of Ruby creek
will be one continuous fume, thus ex-
posing it's entire bed. Anywhere at the
shore the color is obtained easily. Just
above our claim the Nip and Tuck boys
took out in few days 43 ounces, mostly
coarse gold, and this with the rudest ap
pliances. n A few days ago a
man saved with q rocker ~ ounces with
three hours work, and this at the mouth
of the creek, six miles below Nip and
M.
have been mining
FOR THIRTY YEARS
In California, Mexico, Cassiar, and even
in South America and Australia. /
have conversed with number of these
men, and they all agree that the indica-
tions are far better here than any they
have seen elsewhere. The man
who opens his store first, and where he
finds men at work with skill and energy,
trusts them until the first clean up-that
man will make his pile" The above let
ter is fair sample of those written by
parties interested in keeping up the ex-
citement in regard to the Skagit mines.
Mr.. Larrabee, the writer, is a lawyer
who owns share of the claim near the
Nip and Tuck ground. He is also inter
ested in town lots
IN RUBY CITY,
A city on paper only, there being only
two or three cabins and few tents on
the site. He speaks of what old miners
say of the indications. Now let us see
what one of these same old miners says
over his own signature. Mr.. J. E..
Bummel, who has had an experience of
% years in the mines of this coast, spent
several months prospecting on Ruby,
Canyon and Granite creeks, and for the
benefit of his friends published, in a
Seattle paper, full report of his pros
pecting operations, from which we ex-
tract the following: cat the. Tunnel
House L saw several men rocking. They
were making from 40 to go cents per day.
on to Ruby I saw other parties working
with no better success. These were men
trying to make few dollars to take
ar1f Of fhn nfru moi To
have to beg their way. I camped on
Ruby creek for several weeks. Those
mining there were making about the
same. They could get about
ONE CENT PROSPECT
To the pan in a two-inch strata of gravel
with from five to twenty-five feet of dirt
on top that would not prospect one color
to the pan. There is not a color found
outside of the main stream, and not
enough in this to justify the working of
it. Even if this stream contained gold
in paying quantities it would take from
So, 800 to S., 900 to open every claim, so
poor man would have no show. But
they never will be opened. They call
them creeks, but the meaning of the
word is lost when applied to Ruby or
Granite, for they are rivers, and large
Ones There is not half an ounce of
gold-dust being taken out day for all
the men in the so called mines. The
prospecting and mining that has been
done on Granite and Canyon has been
very unsatisfactory, and proved those
streams to be worthless. Where bed
rock was reached, only
FEW FINE CoLORS
Could be found. There Is some fine
looking gold going the rounds, but it
was never taken out of the Skagit. I
have been offered one half of claims on
Ruby creek if I would bear the expenses
of opening them, but after thorough
examination could find nothing to JUS
tify ne in doing so. Claims can be had
down, and balance on bedrock. You
can't sell $50 worth OF grub here at any
price. I have seen tea, coffee, bacon
and sugar offered at five cents per pound
in a camp, but no buyers. There will
be no trail for animals this year, for
there is nothing found to justify the
building of it. There has been
THREE MILES OF BRUSH
Cut out on the supposed trail for which
the citizens of Seattle pretended to have
raised money for, but at the rate they are
working it will take them three years to
put it through, and it will cost $4,000.
My advice to miners is to go slow and in
the opposite direction from Skagit." We
have before US another letter from
Eugene Murphy, an old California
miner, which was published by the Red
Bluff Sentinel, June 29th. Mr.. Murphy
is even more emphatic in his denuncia-
tion of the Skag1t country than Bum
mel. He spent some four or five months
in the pretended mining regions, and in
that time fully satisfied himself of their
worthlessness. In his report he says
'"rhe Skagit region is God-forsaken
country. There is but one claim opened
and that is failure. The immigration
to the diggings is at present slim, three
persons leaving to one coming in. The
mines amount to just nothing at all, the
best spots yet found paying but 81 30
per day to the man. There is
NO DEMAND FOR LABOR,
As there is no ground that will pay to
work. Those hopeful ones who always
look on the bright side of everything
still think there may be something found
in the country, but nine-tenths of the
miners, majority of whom are old
hands at the business, are Disguised with
the country. There are no hill claims
whatever, the hills being common solid
rock, the only indication of color being
obtained in the beds of the creeks. I
brought some quartz with me to San
Francisco and had it assayed. It tpanned
out from ST to So 10 to the ton-nig-
pa r11u moor bouo crof all r mont Of