The Sumpter miner. [volume] (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905, 1899-12-20
"SUMPTER IS ABUTTE."
Is New; Being New, Is Wicked
and Interesting.

tle HdiSyon udyS OI tne muule elXntleS-
when the camp was new and lusty and Just
trfle more wicked than II Is today-and
compare 1t closely with this golden dot on
the eastern Oregon map, neither will lose
by the comparison. Sumpter is REV.
glaringly, painfully new. Being new, 1t
is also wicked. Being wicked, it Is also
interesting, and because II is new and
wicked and interesting, and because also
the gold mines Of the surrounding coun.
try are rich enough to satisfy the dreams
Of an opium.eater, and because also more
rich mines at the rate of dozen year
are being added to the list Of dividend.
payers In the district, and because also
enough Butte people and Spokane people
with push and snap and go have come to
the camp to make il success, Sumpter Is
Butte. ...
tor thirty years Sumpter, from the SO.
cial standpoint, has been In the gentle
hands OF two separate and distinct species
Of slow.pokers, each superior to the other
In some particular regard-Oregonians
ard Chinamen. The former, during all
the intervening time since 1876, have
stood by and watched the Cinnamon
work. The latter, during these twenty-five
years, have taken out of the placer
diggngs a sum Of gold variously esti.
mated at from ten to twenty-five million
dollars. The Oregonians herded cattle In
the foothills, grazed sheep on the noun.
I lin slopes, and never made further inves.
tigation into the richness of the district
than to occasionally inquire OF the China.
men II they didn't want to buy some beef.
got It straight from an old California
prospector that the way the Oregonians
discovered gold in this district was through
cowboy down on Camas prairie, who
loaded up on red.eye and held up China.
man bound for the WeIls.Fargo express
office at Pendleton. This was some time
In SO.
Sumpter-the Sumpter Of today-was
born last year. This vouches for the
youthfuness Of the camp. After II be.
came known that a syndicate composed Of
Standard Oil company people, who, in
1897, paid three.quarters Of a million dol.
lars for the Bonanza mine, sixteen miles
from Sumpter, were producing a monthly
average Of $4,000 in gold; and after the
Red Boy mine began pounding out half
that figure, and after the North Pole joined
the list, and with dinky stamp mill
began to make millionaires Of its owners,
and after General Charles r. Warren
came to town and began systematic dis.
semination Of facts regarding the camp,
and after English 4 Son took hold
Of the Golconda mine and began digging
out ore at the 2so.ft level, which, In the
language of the Alaska miner, was "gold,
carrying some quartz"-Sumpter began
to live. For six months she wore swad.
ding clothes; at the end Of that time the
camp assumed swagger airs, blossomed
out as city Of some metropolitan preten-
tons and began to hum.
To the Butte people In Sumpter who
have taken the bull by the horns and In.
cidentally taken flier in real estate and
mines, the sound Of this hum Is pleasant
music. All the Montana men in this camp
stand to win big money. Some Of them
already have cleaned up snug sums. Gen.
eral Warren, Of course, Is the king bee
around here. c. r. Booth, ex.Mayor
Dugan, W. +. Cobban and some Of the
others have irons In the fire which will
pan out heavily when the time Is ripe.
They are all quite happy and not the least