The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1910-09-30
CHOICE TUNGSTEN ORE.

There was shipped from this place,
Tuesday, for exhibition at the Spokane
Interstate fair a large quantity tung-
stem ore, the like of which has never
been produced by any property in this
state containing a like character of
mineral and it is doubtful if it could
be surpassed in quality by any tung.
stem producing mine in the country.
The shipment was not in the nature of
small cabinet specimens niggardly shot
through with this rare mineral but
large and weighty chunks of ore in
which mineral far predominated .over
the quartz in which it is deposited. II
Il a display that will no doubt draw
the attention of mining men at the fair,
and will be an attraction in that de-
partment, which is always large and
varsed in character, representing the
mineral products of the country ad-
iscent to and in a large measure trib-
utary to Spokane.
The tungsten ore of which this men,
ton is made comes from a group of
claims known as the Cathedral Peak
group located and owned by Herbert
Curtis, young man of considerable
experience as a prospector and miner.
The claims are situated at consider
able altitude some 30 miles northwest
Of Loomis, near Cathedral peak,
prominent land mark in that noun
famous stretch of country. 1t is near
the headwaters of the east fork of Ash
nola creek, and not a great distance
from the Similkameen valley and the
railroad. Mr.. Curtis located the claims
several years ago, and has done much
prospecting and development work
uopn them. The deposit, which seems
to be quite extensive, has been opened
up in a number of places. Tunnels
have been run in on the ledges 40, 60
and 200 feet, and the ore is present in
all the workings. This summer he
stripped of the ledge at point where
the work of investigation has not been
heretofore carried on, uncOvering the
ore body for 100 feet, where it is ex-
posed in almost solid mass. There is
/ large quantity of ore on the dumps,
and tons of float, the accumulation OF
ages, scattered over the hill side. Ex-
perts, familiar with the nature of that
mineral, who have examined the de-
posit declare it to be one of the largest
and most important discoveries OF tung-
stem that has so far been made in the
county, and from the evidence in sight
vtlzB Of the most val,&ab.e. ----- --.' .'s-s
An authority on minerals states tina
the principal ores of the tungsten vari-
ETY. are wolframite, hubuerite and
scheelite, and it may be said here that
the ore in question is of the wolframite
variety, the most important and valu-
able of the three mentioned as const!-
tuting tungsten. The ore enters larg-
ly into the manufacturing of steel, and
Is used for toughning friction steel,
armor plate and projectiles. 1t is also
being extensively used in the making
Of electric lights and apparatus, and
the demand is growing more rapidly
than the supply, making it one OF the
most valuable ores now produced. 1t
Is safe to predict that at no distant day
the claims now owned by Mr.. Curtis
will be worked to great profit, as
there is ready market for all the
tungsten ore that can be produced, and
evidently in this case no end to the ore
produceable.