The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1909-11-12
IT PROMISES TO MAKE A NINE
A Property Close in to O,oville is
Soon to Be Extensively Worked
BY the New York Owners.

The Owasco Gold Mining company,
which is backed by New York invest
ors and New York energy, combina-
tion of forces that can accomplish much
and does accomplish much when prop
erly applied, is making arrangements
to start up active work at an early
date, and when once started to con-
tinue on indefinitely until real pro-
ducing mine is made, or research dem
onstrates the company had been chas-
ing delusion. The property owned
by the Owasco company, which, by
the-way, is patented land, is located so
near Oroville that it can almost be
said to be on the outskirts of the town.
1t embraces the old holdings of the
Okanogan Free Gold Mining company
of vivid memory. The claims are To-
Gated directly on the north bank of the
Similkameen river, and among the
assets is a stamp mill, monument to
faulty ambition, that has been idle
for numerous year. Probably the idle
ness cannot be charged up to the char
acter of the ore so much as the unfa-
vorable circumstances that surrouded
mining in this remote locality at the
time the mill was installed. The claims
are among the Oldest located in the
north part of the county, and the his
tory of the property has certainly been
varied. 1t would be interesting read
ing if the data was at hand upon which
to found story. Much under ground
work has been done, most of it, how
ever, little better than surface pros
pecting. AS stated few lines back
the claims extend down to the Smil-
kameen river, and the mill was con-
structed directly on the bank of the
stream. The mill has been operated,
and the property at one time declared
small dividend, the only dividend so
far as known ever disbursed by min
ing company in the county. 1t has a
record similar in many respects to var
ious other mining properties in this
upper country which can be told in the
single word, mismanagement.
That the property has merit in plain
ly shown in the large amount of crop
ping quartz scattered in ledge forma-
tiOn over the surface of the claims, and
sufficient investigation has been con-
Quoted to show that these leads con-
tinue down to depth. Moreover the
evidence of value is present, and if
means can be applied to extract the
same there is no reason why the pro-
perty cannot be made source of profit |
to the gentlemen from the Empire
state. The great handicap in the past,
when work was under way, was the
remoteness from transportation. The
cost of equiping mine up here under
old conditions was something awful. |
Everything in use had to be hauled up
by wagon from Brewster, and even had
the ore been several times times richer
than it was claimed to be the mine
could not have been worked with my
reasonable hope of a satisfactory mar
gin. The case is different now. A
railroad is within few hundred feet
of the claims, and being only short
distance of the Similkameen Falls
Power plant electric power for operat-
ing purposes can be secured. Under
present and vastly more favorable cir
cumstances the mine can be opened up
and the output treated, on the ground
if so desired, as cheaply as that class
of work can be done anywhere. The
problem of transportation, if the ore is
to be shipped to distance for treatment,
is solved. For easy working to obtain
the best results mine could hardly be
more conveniently located and few
companies have operated in the county
with better looking ground to work in,
or better opportunities to make such
an enterprise success.
The beginning of work by the Owas-
co Gold Mining company will be looked
forward to with lively interest by the
people of Orovllle, and universal
hope that the efforts OF the company
will be happily crowned with success.
The mine is tributary to the town and
the making of an active producer would
meau much for the place. Aside from
the directly selfish interest at stake. if
so it can be called, all who have any
desire to see the county forge to the
front are anxious to see paying mine
opened in the county. There have
been so many failures, failures not
chargeable against the country, for the |
mineral is certainly present in the |
ground that real, genuine ore-out-
putting and income-paying mine would !
be a delightful break in the monotony
and such reward of effort would do
more to advance the mining interests
of Okanogan county than anything else
under the SUI. This company has a
holding possessing the ear marks of
prospective mine, and they will make |
it such il such it can be made.