The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-09-05
0R0 PLACER COMPANY
A New Combination to Work
the Sand and Gravel of
the Similkameen
WILL START IN At RICH BAR
Where Thousands of Prospectors
Took OCT Quantities of Gold
Over Fifty Years Ago

Il has been known for some time
that through the efforts of Frank Grif-
& an company had been organized to
dredge the Similkameen river, west
of Oroville, and work the bars and
banks Of that stream for placer gold,
but by request mention of the move
ment was withheld until such time
as organization had been perfected
and plans formulated for carrying
out the project. The restriction of
silence has been removed and this
paper Is at liberty to announce that
the organization has been completed
under the name of the Oro Placer
company, with head Office at 7O4 New
York block, Seattle, with branch
ofice at Oroville. Not only is the
company now possessory of habita-
tion and name, but preliminary steps
have been taken to begin prospecting
for pay dirt.
The company will start initial op-
erations in and on the Similkameen
river at Rich Bar, short distance
above the falls, a name fixed upon a
bend In the river since. period far
back in the discovery of the country.
Two car loads of material consisting
Of a Knocked down scow of large di-
mensions, and necessary timbers. have
arrived at the point where work is to
( commence. The railroad company
has put in a spur at Rich Bar espec-
tally for the benefit of the Oro Placer
company and needed material can be
unloaded directly at the point where
mining operations are to be conducted.
Machinery to be used In the process
Of pumping and washing the sand
and gravel is now on the way from
Plttsburg. A cook with three tents,
to accommodate the employees, were
sent In last week. The tents are up
and the chef prepared to feed those
requiring provender. Preparations
for actual work will be hastened as
rapidly as possible, and the company
expects to be able to start in testing
for values by the 18th of October
This Is by no means the first effort
to recover gold by the dredging and
hydraulic processes along the Simil-
kameen river since the time nearly
sixty years ago when Rich Bar was
the scene of one of the sensational
placer mining excitements Of those
early days. Heretofore all efforts to
take out gold in paying quantities
have failed not because the gold is
not there, II colors and assays are in
dications Of the presence of precious
metal, but from extraneous causes,
such as lack of capital to carry
through the efforts to a point of pro-
ductiOn, or because of mismanage-
ment. The present company is not
entering upon the undertaking with
any fervered promises as to what is to
De done. or heralded by a press bu-
reau 1t is simply business prop
osition, backed by men who know
what they are doing. AS indicative of
the earnest intentions of the officers
ol the company the president very
modestly says in a letter announcing
the beginning of operations: 81 know
the many failures that have been
made by people all along the river,
ana all | ask is your good wishes and
KIND Indulgence, and we will keep the
public Informed as to our progress.
mus the present operators are not
gong into the enterprise blindly, nor
are they ignorant of the nonaccomp-
hsnment of others who have started
placer mining operations on the Simil-
Aameen on large scale only to fail
oeiore the point of production was
reached.
mat Is the manly tone for a COM
pany to assume when starting upon
an enterprise that has fair promise
VI succeeding, and yet is following in
path that is marked with headstones
:" failures. Those who are financing
uae oro Placer company know well
"nat they are doing, and seem to
nave little fear of failure. In the first
pace the members of the company
nave mad experience in placer mining
~" not new and unknown venture
.'' them, and should they fail it will
Dc because the values in paying guam
'"es are not present in the sand. and
:" because they are novices in the
business. Furthermore they did not
""e hoid OF the enterprise and invest
."o,' money until they had carefully
aua most thoroughly examined the
e'ound' and had scores of assays