The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-08-16
MINES IN THB CASCADES.

thlag but hiils
This tosn ~ fast developing from =
railroad into mining town. for almost
every man N Il has az least one claim.
and here parties outfit with horses ard
Supplies 70 20 north 20 the Chewah car
yen and Red hfIl or south 20 Icicie river,
peshzsffn creek. Negro creek ard other
strains sowing from Mount Stuarts gla-
cssrs and snowfelds. Here your correspon-
dent Joined company with a party whtca
was go.n 70 Red hill, ssfsy-three miles
north and which made. all told, q csvsl-
csds OF nine horseren ard packhorse-
These we're L r. Williams. Of Spokane;
secretary OF the lie Ros mining company:
John G. Williams, secretary OF the Red
hin mining company; Thomas Ferguson.
former postmaster OF Inter bay; Carl
Christensen. Tony Preston. Andrew Jen-
sen, Charles Harvey and A. 7. Estes. or
Leayenworth-
Crossing the railroad. the last tie TO
civilization. the party rode Up Chumssick
creek. where a few years labor have. with
the aid OF irrigation. made the bottom
lands into fruitful fields and where the hills
furnish feed for cattle and horses, AMI
timber for log houses and fences. Here
A good wagon road runs up the valley
by a gradual ascent through the pine
woods and laurel bushes 10 the summit
or the Beaver creek divide. On the NOUN
talns at each side ridges OF sandstone
stand out and great boulders. strewn
among the trees tell the nature OF the
rock forming the couniry. A steep de-
scent along a winding road brings you
to the Beaver creek fiat, on which Is an
other string OF good farms. Through this
fat the creek runs into the Wenatchee
and through IL too the Chewah enters the
game stream a mile and half further up.
After four miles travel from the Beaver
creek divide you come TO Charles Shugarts
ranch. eighteen miles from the town, and
o mile or two further the road fades into
a trail and becomes lost in the woods.
which now close more thickiy around yol.
Mr. Shugart's experience forms good
illustration OF what the average pioneer
settler has TO so through. He and his wife
came here five years ago with winters
supply OF provisions and 80 cents in cash.
They built a rough house and Mr.. Shusart
went 70 work on neigh0oring farms down
the valley TO get vegetables. His neigh
oors were all bachelors. and his wife went
TO Peshastin, over twenty miles away. to
enjoy the sight OF another woman About
the middle OF the winter the husband went
up me Chewah TO the mouth Of Maple
creek 10 trap animals for their furs, leav-
Ing his wife and three children TO brave
the SHOWS alone. He caught few marten,
lynx, fox and bear, enough 10 tide them
successful as a trapper Now ne has a
weil-tiiled farm, with fields of timothy, a
good herd of mich COWS and several
horses. He has just cut a timothy field
which averaged feet inches In height.
and from which he took one stalk measur-
ing feet Inches. The opening of the
mineral country above has begun to bring
him the prosperity for which he waited 50
long and endured hardships common 70
pioneers.
Over the Trail,
From shngart's the trail runs through
forests OF taller. denser pines, among
whlch hrs begin to mingie over benches TO
the summit OF hill, from which IL de-
sends by a steep decline along a BLUM
overlooking the river. The water flows
clear over a pebbIy bottom. so clear indeed
that hundreds of feet above one can distln-
guish the stones in it's bed Across the
stream is a broad fiat. overgrown with frs.
on whose heads, with their fresh, new
growth. one looks down. as from window
on the heads of street crowd at great
public junction. The trail winds on over
level. timbered benches, across streams at
muddy fords. mile after mile until IL de-
scends into a great level park where rich
pine grass grows under the pines and frs
ana IL spiotched with patches of bright
yellow by the golden rod I'm fun bloom.
Here A. W. Purdy, who worked on a pile
driver on the Seattle tide fats when Val
entine scrip was al premium. has made
his home for four years. He came in with
the Great Northern engineers. and, finding
this rich SPOT, made his home there. and
has been trapping and prospecting I'm the
neighboring mountains ever since. being
the last settler this side of the mining dis
triets.
The timber grows larger and thicker
from this time forward and the mountains
on each side are higher and more rugged
Eight miles above Purdy's. Rock creek Is
crossed. gray cliff veined with quartz
shining on the mountain on the other side
OF It's canyon. Behind this. half a mile up
the creek. is the P.-I. mine To the left
on the mountain across the Chewah. great
cliffs OF conglomerate swell dome-like
among the timber. and a few miles furth-
er, in ciump OF FRS AZ the mouth OF Ma
pie creek. which leaps IN cascades from
the opposing heights, Is the camp Of the
Champion group. on one wall OF the can
yon the red iron stains tell plainly where
the ledge lies. Great suoH-clsd mountains
now heavs In sight in front and TO the left.
among which the Chswah river and Buck
creek have their source but the equal
heights TO the right are too close above 20
be visible. Above Nock creek Is a broad
fat whore a forest fire has spread devas-
tation. killing and biackening all the stand
charred logs and causing one q the party
10 call Il the Inferno. The name would
have been fitting, had net nature nereg-
fully covered the nakedness OF the land
with a rich garment Of blue flowers. which
show their every tint ss they wave in the
wind
Nature has PLAYED some queer tricks with
some OF these trees. ONE tail three-foot
ar tree grew straight fer some thirty feet.
then split into i've trunks four OF which
formed a perfect square. Of which the
afth occupied the exact center. all con-
tinuing their perpendicular upward growth
without a faw. Another Or had had is
grain twisted into an upward spiral o. con-
veN fiatlnF. perfect as though the work 81
human art. Wherever the slope OF the
mountains favored snoWslides the smaller
timber had been bent daWnhn. and had
Afterwards struggled ~ again TO the per-
pendcuiar with the curve stili In the hutt
81 its trunks.
The brush Is row thicker and ioEs and
rocks more frequently obstruct the traa
A few niles further and a sandy lat AZ
tbe mouth o. Phelps creek - reached. tha
last level land below the summit. Here the
snowy SUBMITS spread wider 20 the leff
and In 'front.' ard one can see Rel mountain
pushing hss broad shoulder ~ Ueen the
CheWah river aad phr'ps creek The
mountains have dark. cilH-3ike SUBMITS.
with rough. rocky slopes beneath. on whlch
the snow th3ckly Piled gisStenS iu the san-
light. and thriy sides are cleft with wo~xeS
through which cascades leap 10 the valley.
Crossing Pheips creek. the t~aH almost
Immediately begins the ascent az sha
mountain 20 tAe rseht. and s8g-1ags in \
r,aaxv course - the FRS beach. over many
faglen LOGS ard through rntSy creekea9s.
ever watch TIRE horses plunge desperately.