The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-11-13
DRIVEN 70 HIS FORTUNE.
Dopnea Oat In the SPOKANE Fsres
He Sought for . Mine Until He
Foand 1.-THE Great SlOean Conn
try-rhe Clayoquct sound Finds.

The Spokane fire Of fssa was blessing
In disguise to me-" said J. c. Eaton, the
principal owner of the Whitewater mine IA
the SLOGAN district, as he sat at the Nortn-
ern. INDUCING In "reminiscences he was
accompanied by his brother. {. H. Eaton
1T destroyed everything ! had" he con-
tinued, land forced me TO make . fresh
start. ". c. Price, of San Francisco. Of
fered TO loan me money TO begin again. but
! told him | was going out into the NOUN
tzins either 10 work a miner or 10 md
mine. I prospected from British Columbia
10 Mexico and spent $500. which Mr.. Price
advanced. before finally bought the
whitewater in 1892. No mineral had been
discovered on the claim. / found the first
myself. | knocked il out with a pole pick
and il paid SEA ton. Practically never
dollar has been put in the mine I paid MIR.
Price back his s. 900 In 1895 and il is now
paying him a nice dividend for he Is my
partner in the property. Ii has so far paid
$500 in dividends. besides paying for its
own equipment and development. and We
expect TO pay another dividend of so. go
on November Is.
When first went in there in 1892. Steve
Bailey. the proprietor of this hotel, and
both packed our supplies on our hacks
from New Denver to Three Forks. before
the trail was made. Then / did my own
cooking: now We seat ~ men at the first ia
bic and employ over 100. The first ton OF
ore l shipped cost over 500 for freight and
treatment: now I ship and treat ore for so
to 80. paid 80 ton TO pack ore from the
mine to kaslo; now i take Ii down for s..
The first treatment charge l had was so:
now. when ore runs low in lead. get rate
OF $50 for freight and treatment combined
shipped the first ore which ever left Kaslo
in 1882. packing IL IL miles on mules; now
we have a railroad which has been the
making of the country. We could not ship
n-fh a q ore hfrt fnr "a
This year there has been an immense in
crease in production. The most We had
produced In any month up to September
was II cars: in October we shipped 80 cars.
or 500 tons. and October shipments of both
the railroad and the navigation company
were the heaviest In their history. Here
are the assays OF six carloads which We
shipped lately. ranging from SIS to l4e ounces
silver and about IS per cent lead. The
winter is the best time for shipping ore. az
We can sled or rawhide ii down the noun
tain over the snow. We had Is inches Of
snow on November and began shedding
ore that day.
The SLOGAN country has paid more men
something than any other silver-lead coun-
try ever saw. AS rule. II you get ore at
all il is shipping proposition. | don't
know of any slver-lead country where the
ore wouiu stand the cost of shipment the
SLOGAN country did at hrst. There is sill
City northwarl clear to the Canadian Pa
clfic railroad. which has not been scratched
over. I know myself of a mineral country
100 miles long and 30 miles wide. From Slo-
can City north. the ore is silver-iead. but as
yoI go south to SLOGAN crossing, you run
Into gold-bearing formation.
We are shipping all our ore to the Ever
cit smelter. but have not sold the mine 10
that company. The talk of the Puget
Sound Reduction Company's buying the
Whitewater was due to an examination by
| some friends Of the company with view
to purchase, but they did not buy.
Il can only speak of new developments on
the kootenay lake side of the mountains.
| One claim on " oodhury creek has been
| opened up by Mr. Scowden for some
English people and he packed sample lot
| OF ten sacks on mems backs 10 the railroad.
| Ainsworth district is looking up first rate
| and Is shipping some ore 10 the Pilot Bay
| smelter, which has been started By Braden
| Bfos.-supposed tn represent the Omaha &
Grant people--after a two years shutdown.
| The Crows Nest railroad will hiring In
| cheap fuel and that viii mean cheaper re-
| ductinn. That Is .he last thing we need
The price of silver has not affected pro-
| duction now. bur IL will in the future II is
| almost impossible to hunt for 5S-cetf, sill
| yer. and prospecting has been reduced one
| half
| THE Klondike excitement has struck our
| country. like every other section. know
| six or eight men who have already gone
| and have no doubt that every man working
| for wages is working with that end in view
| do not know that they will he any worse
| on II man works for wages or engages
IN business in city. he gets little more
l than his living. II he joins the last stam-
| pede to A new mining camp. he get. his lIv-
| ing anyhow and then he has hope in addi-
| tion-hope of A competence for the rest ~
his life. And most OF us get little beyond
| 4 living eNcepf that hone