The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-14
WENT DIVING FOR GOLD,
Capt. Henry Finch's Success on the
S1miIkameen.

Capt. Henry Finch, one of the best
known men on the great lakes, was q
caller at the Great Northern yeSter-
day. The captain is on his way East
to buy some heavy machinery which he
will use in mining in the far North
west. For the past two winters the
captain has been engaged in placer
mining on the Similkameen river, in
Okanogan county, Washington, and he
has found it so profitable that he will
buy additional facilities to work the
deposits.
There are few lake captains who will
not remember Capt. Finch. He has
been in every position in the lake serv-
Ice, from cabin boy to captain, from
scrubman to the captain Of a life saw
ing crew. and, on top of all, he has
been a submarine diver, and winds up
with being a miner. The captain is
now operating manager of the Similk-
ameen Mining company and hopes to
grow rich off this venture
Capt. Finch says he was born In Os-
wego, N. Y, and for long time en-
gagged in the coast trade. He then
came West and went into the lake
service. For twelve years he was a
master Of a lake boat and then joined
life saving crew at Manistee, Mich,
and a year later he was made captain
of the crew. In 1887 he was transferred
to Michigan City, Ind, where he re-
manned as captain for many seasons.
During his term as a life saver, the
captain assisted seventy vessels in dis
tress and aided in saving $50 people
who were in peril. He has been in the
submarine diving business for twenty
years and is an expert in this line.
The stories of gold in the Western
waters induced the captain to leave his
station at Michigan City two or three
rnn i - y
country and Immediately realized that
the immense masses of disintegrated
gold quartz which has been in the pro-
cess Of diSintegratiOn for centuries
must be in the river bottoms, and he
knew that he could use his submarine
diving outfit in searching the bottom
of the river. He began in a small way
and the first week he brought up gold
nuggets worth all the way from
cents to $40. After probing around on
the bottom of the river for a while
the captain collected his nuggets and
came back East to collect some appa-
ratus he had been thinking about for
months. He secured a boat, fitting it
out with hydraulic pumping appara-
tus with which he expected to suck up
the gold-bearing dirt in the bottom of
the river. The captain discovered that
the bottom Of the Similkameen was full
OF holes into which vast deposits of
gold had been washed by the water
The problem of getting the dirt out
was simplified by the invention of the
pumping apparatus. Capt Finch had
some difficulty in getting his boat up
into the wild country. He solved the
problem by sailing up the Columbia
river from Wanecha, and from the Co
lumbia he turned up the Okanagon at
Virginia City. He forced his way up
this river until he struck the Similka-
meen, where he commenced operations
at favorable point. The captain be-
lieved that with his improved machin-
cry he will be enabled to suck up
thousands of dollars worth of nuggets
from the bottom of the river. The EN-
tire eastern flank of the Cascade range
is composed of low grade gold bearing
ore, and for centuries this ore has been
washing down into the streams. Capt
Finch believes that the bed of the river
is veritable mint.