The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-02-22

tnasing. n IL possibly .aoo. There arr
fve tcTns, whose positions are sndicat-
ed On TIE map: Virginia city. Ruby
Conconnfilly. Loonasreon and ORC. vir-
giniA City. on ahe CosuxaesR. is \ COX
lection OF half a dozen houses. II IS the
present terminus % the seeanahoat ifns
ca the Columbia river. II has gen
eras stcre. ard hotel IL protected
Virginia City is the northern terminus
% the Steamboat line running On the
Columbia from wenafchee. a station
on the Great Northern railroad. Racy.
the next town aeove Virginia 70 the
north. - thirty-six miles by rvasi from,
thar place Il was formerly prosper-
Gus mining town. with several hundred
Inhabitants. Since the decline Of sfl-
yer the population has shrunk 70 sew
erai dczen- II has q Store. a hotel. a
hne school building ard about 1aa
dwelling houses. Ccnconnlly Is the
county seat of okanoean county. II is
situated at the bottom Of deep val
ley. beside a beautiful lake. and was
half destroyed last spring by a finsi.
caused by q ctcudhurst in q neaghbor-
ing gorge. Its present population is
go or 500. There are a large general
store. several saloons. q courthouse. a
scsroo{house. a god hotel. livery sta
BILE and blacksmith sfop. There are
several lawyers located here. Loonais-
Inn Is a town OF $50 to 200 people. II
has two hotels. q store. several saloons
and. a livery stable. Orc IS we'll situ-
ated at the junction of the OiSanogan
and Simsnkarneen rivers, on a level
plain 1t has a population Of about
100. two hotels. store and saloons.
Between Loonliston and Orc Is the
sometime town Of Golden. with fifty
or sixty houses and FIVE or six inhahi-
tants. The other towns Indicated on
the map have only an imaginary exist
ence
All the towns named are on the
stage road. which is the only means
OF communication with the outer world.
This road runs from Coulee CITY, the
terminus Of the Central Washington
railroad, TO Penticson. at the foot of
Okanogan lake. In the Dominion of
Canada II strikes the Columbia river
at BRIDGEPORT a townsite on the south
bank about seven miles above the
mouth OF the okanogan There Is a
fine hotel at Bridgeport, a saw and
flour mill and about two dwellings,
AT Bridgeport the road divides; one
branch crosses the Columbia by ferry.
goes across the southwest corner Of the
reservation and crosses the Okanogan
by ferry seven miles above Its mouth.
The other runs along the south bank
OF the Columbia and crosses the Co
lurnbia by ferry at Virginia. These
branches reunite at Ophir postoffice.
ten miles above the mouth Of The Okan-
ogar- The road leaves the Okanogan
nea-r Alma, and runs up the canyon of
Salmon creek to Ruby. Ii strikes the
river again az Orc. There Is fairly
good wagon road along the west bank
OF the river beyond where the stage
branches on, and number OF cross
roads. The distances along the stage
road are as follows: Coulee CITY 10
bridgeport. forty-eight miles. Bridge
port TO Virginia ten miles: Bridgeport
TO Ruby. forty-four miles: Ruby to
Conconuly. six miles; conconully TO
LoNaniston. twenty miles; Loomiston TO
Orc. twenty-five miles. Orc 10 pentic-
ton, forty miles. From Penticton a
steamer runs up okanogan lake to YER
non. the terminus of a branch of the
Canadian Pacific. Passenger rates are
as follows: Coulee City TO ConconuIly,
$40: Virginia TO ConconnlIy. s.; Concon-
ully to Orc. "a. Orc TO Penticton, S.
A ton OF freight costs about twice as
much as one passenger, but most OF the
freight Is hauled by private teams
From Virginia to Wenatchee on the
boat the rate Is S. per ton. Scarcely
any freight comes across from Canada,
because OF the customs duties.
The okanogan country Is important
chiefly because OF It's mineral deposits
These are In the upper portion. near
the towns OF Ruby, ConconulIy, Loom
iston. Golden and Orc. Near Ruby are
the Chloride and Ruby Hill silver dis
trfcts. The Ruby Hill mines were
worked for about three months last
year. but shut down because OF the
decline in silver. The ore was concen-
trated at the Ruby mill. and In the
form OF concentrates shipped by wagon
at 500 per ton to couiee City,
and thence BY railroad via Spo-
kane 10 Tacoma. where II was
reduced and refined. After the fan in
price the freight charges ate up the
profits. At Conconuliy are the Mineral
HiH silver mines. which have been only
partially developed. and east OF Con-
conully toward the river are the Lime
Belt and Pisle Greek districts, not de-
veluped at all. Between Looonalsson
and Orc are extensive gold and silver
deposits. known as the Palmer Noun
tain and Wanicott lake mines. as yet
almost untouched. ard southwest of
Loomiston are the Mount Chapara gold
and silver mines. said to te rich, but
quite undevelopefi. TIE country soon
to be opened east OF the river Is said
10 be equally rich. Copper is said TO
occur near 0soycsss lake. Attempts have
been made to work a number OF these
mines. notably at Conconuiiy and
about Golden, but they were not sue
cessfui, and no work Is now being
done except at smaller placer mines
along the streams. Specimens from
many places assayei very well, but
there was lack Of capital and transrsor-
tation was very difiiuit. SO that the
recent hard times brought everything
to standstili before 1t was fairly
begun.
Apart from mining. the chief re-
source OF the country Is stock raising.
Many ~ the lower hills being covered
with bunch grass. are excellent for
stock. and there are several large cat
tie ranches. The chief market is found
fr, thu Sound country the catfis icing
driven across Ersuntain trail. Cen