The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-10-18
Interesting History of Phoebe, Nevada
Chico. F. VanWagenen)

which, up to that date, had amounted
to nearly four and one-half millions
When Phoebe once began to go
doWnhill, it slipped over the rock at
great pace-whch is usually the case
with mining camps at that stage of
the game. In 1876. the failure of the
Bank of California (where the two big
companies had all their spare cash de-
posited was the coup de grace" BY
1877, the output had declined to less
than hundred thousand dollars in
value and, before the end of the fol-
lowing year-in which the great rush
to Leadville began-it was practically
forgotten by the outside world. The
population fell from it's maximum of
10000 to half that number, then to
5000, 1000, 1000 and down to 800 in
1898. This. was low water mark. From
that, it slowly climbed to 400 or $50,
which has been it's rating during the "a
years that have since passed, with oe-
casional spurts upward as, when in
1890, attempts were made to unwater
the. big mines, in 1907 when the rail-
road came, and in 1912, when the New
ada-Utah company, having effected
consolidation of most of the famous
claims, resumed work in the Pioche-
Phoenix shaft, conquered the water
and sank it an additional 200 feet into
good ore of the sulphide class. But
none of these incidents brought back
the glories of the old days. Phoebe is
still merely hamlet, and will never
be anything more. But it is far from
dead. In fact it has just attained its
normal majority. In it's boom days,
the pioneers set out great number OF
locust, box elder and Balm of Gilead
trees along it's main street and in the
residence quarters. The most of these
have lived and thrived and so, in the
summer, when one looks down upon
the little community from the. hills
surrounding it, the deep green of their
foliage is a welcome relief to the eye
wearied with the browns and grays OF
the adjacent country.
The great vein which gave birth to
the place produced high grade silver
ore from the grass roots along fully
1000 feet of it's length and down to
depth of 600 to 800 feet, below which
the values rapidly declined. Thous'
ands of tons of it's product yielded
from 500 to 500 ounces and more OF
the white metal and made quick for
tunes to lucky owners. The gold con
tent was never of importance. Dow
to 1900 feet, the lode was as dry as
bone. the walls stood well, and the or
ranked from two to nine feet thick
making ideal conditions for the print
Tive mining operations of the day. I'm
ore was a soft granny quartz, tinte'
red and green with iron and copper
land the silver existed mainly in tn
condition of the chloride. Generally
ALSO, there was from to per cen
lead. as carbonate, and, occasionally
quite large punches of this highly de
sirable mineral which always CARRIE
good values in silver.
In a couple of years more, P1och
!. will have attained the very respectapl
|, age of so years. It's citizens are near
Nv all comfortably well to do. Ther
, are more than 80 automobile owner
| among them and the big vein on tn
/ hillside, with it's forks and branches
: still continues to yield to the EFFORT
Of individual owners and leasers.
:, handsome grade school is full of musk
$ Youngsters during the proper season
e Good water and telephone systems al
4 in operation, and, while the place loon
= unkempt and crude to visitors from
4 CITY. there is no poverty and there al
T no slums.
:, Phoebe is not dead by any means
" fact among those who have had e>
nerience and knowledge of commun
Ties of this class in America, the d.
d lief confidently exists that the htt
= town will be jogging along comfor
8, ablv about as now a hundred yea
o hence. 1t takes a long, long time
70 find and extract all the wealth TN
l. nature hides away in any one or the
e rugged western hills.