The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1916-12-09
new DISCOVERIES


that they never cease unless it be
to give the genii a chance to stop
long enough to take another and
transcendent start for new and
unexploited fields enriched by
ages upon ages of accumulated
fertility.
Nearly century ago the Hud-
sons Bay Co. was attracted
hither by the grassy ranges and
splendid hunting grounds where
herds of cattle and horses could
be fed and ware rooms filled with
precious furs for their trade which
extended to the aristocracy of the
Orient and to the crowned heads
Of the world. It's capacity for
maintaining herds and producing
pelts from wild animals made it
prosperous country for fifty
years. Then the discovery of
gold brought the ardent wooer of
wealth from the uttermost cor
ners of the globe to prospect the
sands along the shores Of the Co.
lumbia river, and another era of
history making swept the slopes
of the Inland Empire. By this
time the campfires Of the pros
pector had been supplanted by the
fireside Of the homesteader and
agriculture took the place of plac-
er mining; but, even yet fortunes
in the making had not commenced
to materialize until quartz mining,
80 years ago, paved the way for
industrial and commercial de-
velopment according to the newer
order of things. The man, in
Stevens county, with a thousand
dollars, all his own, had scarcely
been known up to 80 years ago,
but the discovery of the Old Do
minon, the Bonanza, and the
Eagle followed by hundreds of
prospects stirred to excitement
the passing throng; money circu-
lated plenteously and trade and
business performed with abound
ing celerity in response to the
pulsations of the new progress.
Twenty-seven years ago the
railway came through the Colville
valley, active and populous bust
ness centers sprang up on places
where wild forests had grown for
ages; fortunes were made from
the manufacture of lumber from
the moaning pines, and the indus
trial desert was transformed into
a garden of paradise. On the
summit of Gladstone mountain less
than Is months ago three strug-
Cling and destitute prospectors by
accident uncovered a boulder of
lead in soil Of volcanic ash
where it had lain for uncounted
centuries. They delved into the
soil and rocks and found more and
more of it. Capital came to their
assistance, as did the mamma come
from the clouds to nouriSh the
Hebrews under Moses, and the
paupers of two years ago who
have kept their interests in the
Electric Point mine are among the
millionaires of today. The Old
Northport smelter, for years
derelict on the scrap heap of the
past, last year was sold for $780,
900. 1t had been optioned for
years for less money, but it pos
sessed a little geographic merit.
The purchasers thought they had
paid a great price for it, but, it
is said, they found, on clearing
the old foundation upon which to
rebuild, enough copper bullion
wasted into the gravel from the
old furnaces to pay for the plant.
Within the last year this smelter
has marketed the greater portion
of $1O,0OO,0O0 of bullion, much of
which was extracted from the
mines of Stevens county.
Now, a new and overruling in
dustry has been awakened almost
in the backyards of the farmers
Of Stevens county. Magnesite.
Who ever heard of magnesite until
n