The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1909-09-03
ONE OF THE RESOURCES
Of the Many in Okanogan
County that Promise to
Produce Wealth.
A LAKE Of ALMOST PURE SALTS
Located Within a Short Distance
of the Town of
Oroville.

Few people really realize the extent,
character and number of the resources
that are to play a prominent part in
the future prosperity of Okanogan
county. Those that have already been
made productive, and others in vari-
Gus stages of investigation and devel-
opment are, of course, patent to every
body, but there are sources of wealth
sill in the hills to be discovered, or
made creative of incomes, of which
little is yet really known, or, at least,
have been indflerently investigated
with an aim to be made valuably pro-
ductive. 1t is not generally known
that within a very short distance of
Oroville exists one of the largest de-
posits of EPSON salts extant. Yet this
is absolutely true. No great effort has
yet been made to commercially utilize
this remarkable exposure of salts, or
arrange to place it upon the market.
Recently correspondence has been
opened with chemists with the object
of having the salts put upon the mar
ket, and it is possible thai at an early
date parties interested in that charac-
ter of medicinal product may be in
duced to take hold of the property.
The reason assigned for failure to
i,1tn h, -
remoteness from the centerof greatest
population, where naturally the larg-
est demand exists, the cost of tranSpor
tation being SO great as to leave no
margin for the operators.
The discoverer of this salts deposit
was f. McCammon. of this place
Probably it is hardly correct to say
that Mr.. McCammon is the first man
who had his attention attracted by the
wonderful lake and its peculiar incrus-
talon. but that gentleman is one of the
most enthusiastic minerologists in this
upper country, with an investigating
turn of mind, and if his attention is
every attracted 10y any formation of an
unusual character he does not rest un-
til he has aScertained the nature of the
find. Tue supposition prevailed that
the crystalline lake was a horaX de-
posit. One day when out prospecting
Mr.. McCalnmon drank some of the wa
ter He discovered that those who had
pronounced the lake borax had guessed
wrong. He sent samples of the crys-
tails east for analysis, and the returns
showed them to be 90 per cent salts.
Several residents of Oroville are asso-
ciated with Mr.. McCammon in the
ownership. As heretofore stated the
company is hopeful of interesting out
side capital in the proposition to the
end that some returns can be secured
from the property.
The lake, or pond, upon which the
salts form is located at considerable
elevation above the valley, less than
three miles northwest of Oroville. The
lake is a irregular oval in shape, about
1000 feet in length and 200 feet wide,
situated in a depression Of the foothills.
Thorough prospecting around the shore
line shows the lake to he in bed of
magnesia. A strange feature is that a
shovel or drill, or any metal left in the
water over night is coated with copper.
At this season of the year the surface
is glittering sheet of snow whteness.
and the crystalized crust some six
inches thick will bear the weight OF a
man. 1t can be readily removed in
large slabs almost wholly free from
all impurities. Last winter hole was
sunk to a considerable depth near the
center of the lake, and no obottom found
to the salts. The salts were deposited
in vericolored layers. white, green and
yellow. In summer water shows thro'
the crust in small circular spots, with
ridges of mud between as though forced
up from below. The quantity in sight
is enormous, and seems sufficient to
supply the whole country. 1t would
really seem that this remarkable and
wonderful deposit of a medicament so
generally in use, and for which there
is so large and steady demand, could
be made a source of large profit to any
company that could place it on the
market.
plIT&-