The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-09-23
Some Rich Strikes Lately Made
at Harrison Lake.
TONS OF ORE IN The SHELTER.
Picked Specimens That Assay as High
Runs Well Into the Hundreds per
Ton-A Loomis Prospector Who Is
Rapidly Making Fortune by
Developing Washington Mines.

the PoSt-tnIslltse3ce Office and pulled out
OF a little sack two specimens Of ore from
Lake Harrison. One. which ne claims was
/ taken from a considerable body Of ore. as
sayed $3.50: the other, a picked specimen.
was indeed a beauty. fairly bristIing with
| the rich auriferous deposit and assayed.
/ 90 the happy owner claimed. S27.e
According to his statement the first pros
| pectors 10 enter the Harrison lake region
were Tousaint and Fader who went there
/ last March They have sunk a seventy
/ fve-foot shaft and have drifted seventy
| six feet. with the intention OF going 10.
/ They have struck It rich all the way
/ through, and are sure they have a mag
nifiicent body OF ore
j. Brown, he says, is another lucky man
who has been at work on the same range.
/ His assays have ranged all the way from
| s. so TO s. 500.
The same gentleman reports that Mr..
| Trethney. OF Vancouver. is working a
| mine in the same region. and has good
1 lot OF ore already in the smeter He has
| shipped about 80 or 80 tons TO Everett
| His assays range from SOC 10 $50. and he
| has an unlimited quantity of ore in sight.
| These mines, the same prospector says,
are on the same lead IS the recently re-
| ported strikes in the Mount Baker district.
/ He has seen some assays from the latter
! which went as high as Sl0.7Si, and thinks
| there are many new fields yet undeveloped
which will prove just as rich.
1 Nobody but tried and experienced
| prospector need go up there" said ne.
| There Is no room for thinkers and tender
| feet. But take man who knows what
| he is about, put him in there. and my word
| for it, he will come out with a fortune"
| Speaking of the development of Wash
| ingUon mines, Charles II. Ballard. the
| Okanogan county civil and mining engi-
| Deer. drove into LOOMS the other day with
| a large quantity of sample specimens Of
| quartz from, the claims he IS developing
/ on Slate creek and. according TO the
| Palmer Mountain Prospector. set the town
| on fire with the handsome exhibition. No
| such stuff has been seen in Looms since
| the palmy days when the old Black Bear
| was turning out dizzy-looking truck, and
| the managers thereof were recklessly run
| ming 4 good property into bankruptcy
| says the Prospector. The claim from
| which the quartz was taken is known as
| the Mammoth, one OF q group of six loca-
| tons consisting of. besides the first named
| the Paddock, Keystone, June Bug. Casa
| Grande and Seattle. This group Mr.. Bal
| lard holds unuer bond and lease extend
! ing to 1900. He has been industriously en-
| gagged for the past two or three months
| opening up the Mammoth. upon which
| some work had been done. and Is In on a
| cut and tunnel some 100 feet. Billiards.
| holdings are not confined TO this single
| group. although from the nature and value
of the veins it would seem that he not
| only had his hands full with the six com
hined claims, but had the promise Of a
! fortune larger than one man could con-
| yeniently spend during an ordinary lie
time. one mile northwest of TINS group
Is another half dozen locations that he
| holas under a similar bond and lease, In
| Guiding the Mountain View Finale. Keno.
Mountain oak. Black Hawk and Grand
| Prize. that show very handsome lodges.
| Three miles south of the Mammoth IS stih
| another group of FIVE claims that he has
| control Of, embracing she Idaho Buckeye,
| Morning star Okanogan Belle and Even
| inc Star. also showing good strong leads.
| Mr. Ballard made many assays on the
| rock from the Mammoth, continues the
! same paper. and TO check up and convince
| himself that there was no mistake he had
| fifteen or twenty assays made. Some Of
| these assays were startling The values
ran all the way from sl2 to $4,000. a num-
her running into the hundreds. with one
| made al the mine reaching SIS 600. Much
Of the roc, which is a beautiful white
quartz shows free gold, but the richest
assays came from very black streak In
a large specimen the character q which
no one who examined it could name, al
though some suggested that s. might be
telluride Mt Ballard IS inclined 20 be eX-
ceedingly conservative and modest in his
/ calculations q the average value OF the
ledge putting II A. $50 Even az those
| figures he has a fortune in the Mammoth
alone The ledge waves. AS most lodges
do but he has fully five feet or this
! quartz l. lays nicely to work as the vein
runs up and down the face Of the mount
ain. TIE tunnel follows In on the ledge
| and he has sunk a WINE 70 q consA4er-
able depth az The end Of the tunnel II IS
| the intention 20 commence opening a tun-
| mel some distance below and cut into the
| lead 30 feet untl under the Wine men
toned. II the values hold out at that
| depth L is easy for Mr.. Ballard 20 figure
| up what he has blocked oUt. He believes
| when that labor is completed he viii have
. ia sight between $50 GO and 100000 worth
| Of ore Il Is the intention 20 pat IN The
whole winter opening up me proposed new
| tunnel and next summer he viii set up
! mill 20 handle the output.
! The location Of the mines that Mr.. Bal
lard Is operatlong is high IN near the top
I OF the lOrdly Cascade range. on the west
/ slope in WhatcCm county The Mammoth
is four miles from the summit proper
twelve miles south IF the flgh parallel. and
about dfty-fve miles on an air lire west
| Of LOOMS Il Is on Slate creek. small
| tributary CT Ruby creek. that has enjoyed
the ~Gsation q mining boom
| in past years and which in
| turn IS feeder 70 the Ska
sit river. Slate creek So q familiar name
/ among mining men and at one rme
hazy romance Il fabulous placer deposits
on that stream aroused the cupldity Of
gold hunters The country IS wild. broken
and PERCEPTIONS. and dinicult 81 access,
although a TRAN leads up over The divide
through the Nethow valley. This trail
Is the ore that Col Hort constructed a
couple Of years ago with such "A grand
flourish and then suddenly abandoned the
| couutry ana the claims tbat the trail was
/ constructed 20 reach. Much excitement
was created ar the time Gel. Hart cut this
path through a wilderness and dug way
through great banks % snow The move
usnt was accompanied by "A wild star1-
pede Of proSpectors in THAI direction who
/ staupeded out faster than fhcy went Ira
when Hart suddenly called II his force
and threw up his enterprise, Nc ore
never penetrate the true .u0aTdness Of
this gigantic dzzle. II may have been a
/ legitimate proposition. bat always looked
ike a roaring farce. II was an expensive
experiment. however. as thousands II good
hard dollars were blown into z useless
pathway. which i wisely expended upon
Z enc q the many claims Hart held under
bond would have proven whether the
lessxes were of sufficient value 70 Justify
4 further investment or not Anyhow, the
( trail vas constructed. and a very nice oee
a. that for which AIr Ballard and others
having occasion 70 travel in tEat direction
are no doubt duly thankful IL has long
been understood that good quartz leads
existed In that vicinity. aud in faci the