Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-03-17
TIE TiEREE BELTS,

Although Washington Territory has
never had regular geological survey,
AMI we have no Clarence King, like Cali
tornia, to point out our coal and mineral
belts, our hardy pioneer prospcctors are
demonstrating the fact that we have
them. nevertheless.
The late developments in coal and iron
in the Skaget Valley seems to have taken
many of tie fithle,s ones by surprise,
and we hear the remark frequently, Jim
Conner is not as much OF IA lunatic as he
7 Mas taken to be
/ Many there are who have had conf
dehc@IGerrit the first, and have been salts
fed that the Skagct Valley only needed
/ thorough prospecting to reveal her eX-
haus,l,ss wealth, and show that she OUT
ranks all other portions of Puget Sound
/ in coal, iron and timber Indeed it is
| only REASONABLE to suppose that the largest
! valley and the largest river should de-
| vcop in resources according to their
magnitude. The present is only the be-
/ ginning, and biz finds may he expected
in the near future, all the way from the
foot hills to the Sank, and above. have
! good reason for believing that anthracite
/ coal will yet be discovered IN the Sank
/ Valley, or between the mouth OF that
river and Goodcll's place on the upper
Skaget.
Tins brings us to the gold belt. The
! the "phiz" of many "doubting Thomas,'
for it is well known that large portion
of the community regard the Skaset
mines ms eltcctually dead All such may
be assured that the Skagct mines are mot
deal but slecpeth," thanks to the few
brave boys who stuck 10y, and who con-
tinued to stick by, we'll satisfied with
| their success, and confident Of their PROS
poets for the future. Enough gold has
| been taken out on the Skaget to warrant
| the belief that there is more where that
came from, and although strays frCm
home, that home will yet be found in the
shape of paying quartz lodges. lock
! for Il boom in the Skaget gold mines in
| the futurc-not such boom as the first
| GOD forbid, but based on certain
knowledge that satisfactory returns await
the investment Of capital wisely managed.
1t only needs railroad up the valley to
cause shrcwd men to look into this matter.
and the coal, roa and timber will soon
send that creeping up that way.
The gold belt brings US 20 the summit
of the Cascade Range, and we have only
to go down into the valley OF the Methoro
and Okanagan to be in the center Of the
silver belt. | anticipate, Of course, that
this will be sneered ut as n wild idea Of
visionary. People who do this will no
geological AMI meteorological surveys OF
the ecu itry just across the British line,
the country through which those rivers
! flow, and in which they have their source
presents the same geological features, and
ahounds in galena and other slver-bear>
ing ores, identical with The celebrated Sill
yer belt of the Nevada Basin. The Simil>
kamecn silver mines, with the late rich
silver find in the Kootenay country, to-
! gether with those OF Marshall Blinn and
others in Okanagan Valley, on the Amer
! lean side of the line, establish the theory
beyond n doubt that we have silver belt
in Moses land. extending from the British
line south to the Columbia River. All
that is necessary to start silver boom
that VIII knock the Constock into the
shade is for the Government to keep
Moses and his band in the Grand CooleP,
where they prefer to stay, aud turn tie
prospec,ors loose in the Okanagan coun-
try. OBRERvER.