The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-23


Gold, silver and Copper Mines.
Texada island, in the Gulf Of Georgia,
british Columbia, first took prominent
mart as q mineral zone when twenty-five
10 thirty years ago the Puget Sound iron
Company erected at Irondale. WASH. 2
large smelling plant for the purpose OF
treating the large bodies Of manganese de-
posted upon their Texada properties,
which they had purchased from the late
Cant Clark, ct al, at Victoria, b. c., IN
conjunction with the hematitc ore had
acquired a short distance from Irondale.
The company constructed wooden tram
wsy from what Is known as the Prescott
mine. about half mile west OF their
other larger deposit, the Paxton mine.
and began to ship the product OF their for
mer mine from there to lrondale via
Nanaimo.
The pig iron manufactured by this COM
pany has been considered to be Of the
most tenacious quality obtainable on the
continent, the Union Iron works, OF san
francisco, mostly. II not entirely. con-
trolling the output for years. With the
rise In duty in the early sos the works
closed down with about 10000 tons OF pig
iron in stock. Since then no attempt has
been made to reopen on any commercial
scale. and for about seven years nothing
was done with the valuable iron deposits
The company decided to do some explora-
tion work about three years ago upon the
properties to ascertain IL those heavy iron
deposits, which are estimated to have up
ward of five millions of tons Of very rich
iron ore, were the cap or apex OF hcavy
bodies of the richer and more valuable
ores of copper. gold and silver.
With this view. supported by the opin-
ion of prominent mining experts, the COM
pany commenced to sink a shaft about
400 feet above the sea level and shortly
afterward augmented by installing an en-
CINE and boiler WIN hosting gear. and
have already sunk shaft about 176 feet
with numerous levels east. west and north
from the same Some very nice copper ore
has at times been encountered and 1t Is
fully expected that in a short time the
deposits, as predicted. will reward the
companys efforts.
Discovery OF Gold.
During the fall of 1888 some Of the en-
ployes Of the company during hunting and
fishing trips through the adjacent portions
of the island discovered numerous outcrops
Of mineral south. east and northwest Of
the iron deposits. and Mrs. c. MILAN, wife
Of the blacksmith, during one of these
trips found free gold as float on the sur
face Mr.. MILAN at once took hold Of
some mineral claims and for years has
worked those claims and has taken out
hundreds of ounces of the yellow metal
During the fall of 1888 and spring of 1889
an influx of residents from the Coast cit
ies acquired several hundred claims, upon
which more or less desultory exploiting
was done. then the stoppage Of the iron
works came and Texada dropped back to
quietude.
Amongst the old claims are the Golden
Slipper. Gold Bug, Niggar Baby. Minerva,
Twin Brothers, Nutcracker, and the old
claims staked by Hugh Kirk--one of those
veteran prospectors who lost his life during
the big blizzard of 1893.
The following year these people COM
menced their Surprise shaft. The rich ore
encountered decided them to form a COM
pany and install a double hoisting engine
on the property With steam they con-
tinued downward to depth of about 375
feet with big body Of ore and finely de-
but Is chiefly fine concentrating PROPOSE
ton.
The occasional discovery of free gold by
them again brought the island prominently
forward In 1895 as a gold producer, when
another wave of excitement flooded the
island with prospectors from Vancouver,
Nanaimo Comox and Victoria. The result
of this work was the formation of several
mining companies.
The foremost of these was the Texada
gold mines at Kirk Lake. where a shaft 100
feet deep was sunk. obtaining free gold
from surface to bottom of shaft, and good
returns from three shafts begun in differ
ent parts Of the properties. The Comox
boys Joined together and sunk shaft, the
Enterprise seventy-fve feet deep with fair
ly good showings of copper.
Erection of a 5O-TOn Shelter.
The Lorndae sunk two shafts on very
well defined assures. one of which carried
rich deposit Of free gold The Silver
Tip was begun on the summit of Millers
mountain in an outcrop OF rich blend. No.
shaft was sunk 100 feet which changed
to copper, silver and gold vein, then No.
shaft, with a goodly plant and all the
heavy buildings was commenced, and sunk
to about $50 feet in depth. showing some
remarkably fine ore assaying close up to
the 500 mark. The Texada island NJ. &
S. Company sunk upon some of the veins
on their property and found fairly good
deposits of copper and silver and other
metals. A Victoria company took out some
extremely rich ores of gold but. unfortun-
ately being too near the salt water, the first
storm flooded the shaft and then filled 1t
UP with gravel until is position was unten-
able. yet there Is free gold strewn over
the bottom Of the shaft
The rich copper mines of the east coast
have warranted the erection of a snlelter
plant there capable of handling fifty tons
home market which has long been needed
for the disposal of ores. The old mines
which have not been doing much of late
will In the near future become sources Of
supply to the Van An1a smelter.
The older mines of fexaua need better
means OF transport from mines to snelter
as those above mention ID properties could
with reasonable facilities become iinpcr-
as the distance from these works to smelter
is only some four 10 six miles, and those
mines may readily ship their products by
water or BY team to the island market
some OF the old ninas have OF late sent
IONS or ore across the TRUNK road to the
local smelling and sanrling works at Van
Anda. RAFnRE Pearl.