The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1920-04-02
EARLY MINING HISTORY.

The following account Of the first
discovery of mineral In this part of
OkanOgan county, when Okanogan
county was still embraced in the boun-
daries of Stevens county, Is taken from
the Colville Examiner. and was writ
ten by Hon. John B. Slater. than whom
there Is no more competent authority
on the early history of north central
Washington in the state. Nr. Slater
came west in the early SOS hnd locat-
ed at Colville. We met him quite fire.
quently in the early days, bst uD to a
few weeks ago 1t had been Apward Of
25 years since we last saw him. The
interesting history Of early mining is
an extract taken from an article on
"The Earliest Quartz Mining" written
by MIR. Slater, who is historian for the
Stevens county Pioneer association.
for the Examiner:
The first quartz lode in Awhat was
then Stevens county II not the first
in the state of Washington, was To-
Gated under the name of tRl Similka-
meen at point Gin what is now Okla
hogan county, two and oneShalf miles
south of the forty-ninth legree Of
north latitude and on the nOrth side
Of the Similkameen river az what was
known as the Angle cams and was
named the Aurora. The dateyof discov-
cry, as shown by the notifc Of loca-
ton. was July 2. 1878. butSth notice
was not finally recorded with the
county auditor until October 4th fol-
lowing. In the meantime tfe reported
find of gold bearing quartz in sucn
close proximity to Rich Bar on the
Similkameen river, which, had pro-
duced million dollars in placer gold
up to that time. must have created a
great excitement, for 1t IL said that
within three days the rocky area for
several miles along the river was
checkered with mining claims. In the
vicinity on July 5, ]. o. Jackson. j. w.
Crouch, H. F. (Okanogap) Smith,
Chas. Snyder and B. l.. johnson locat-
ed the Similkameen lode, bnd on the
same day another Locations was made
in Angle camp under the name of
Similkameen by numerous parties of
men who dominated their organization
as the Colville company The names
appearing. on the record notice of this
discovery were w. V. Brbwn, w. P.
Winans, Henry Wellington, Capt. E.
Miles, DR.. A. w. Virgins, Francis
Wolf, s. F. Sherwood, w. Barry. Thos.
Earl, A. Thorp. ]. C. Haynes. Harry
E. Young and Guy Haines.
The claim that did much toward eX-
tending the fame Of the camp was the
second location made under the name
of the "Similkameen lode" The terri
torial officials at Olympia had per-
formed considerable service to the
prospectors by furnishing them with
grub stakes" for their perilous expe-
ditions, and the prospectors returned
the favor by locating their benefactors
with them ON many discQgertes, The
tEenlcs Of the owners 60 tiiss- notice
were designated collectively as the
Olympia company. They are here CIV
! en- in the order named on the record:
"No. 1, J. A. Gallagher, 200 feet"
No. 2, S. Garfield, 200 feet" Garfield
was delegate to congress from 1867 10
1869
mo. 8, Daniel Braly. 100 feet" Bra
ley was county auditor of Stevens
county at the time.
mo. 4, J. G. Haynes, 200 feet" The
name of Haynes was stricken. evident
ly because he was a British subject,
being Judge Of the provincial court at
Osoyoos, B. G.
"No. 8, M. Thomas. zoo feet"
"No. 5, Elwood Evans. 100 feet"
Evans was secretary of the territory
from 1862 to 1867.
"No. 5, Frank Tarbel], 100 feet"
1'arbell was territorial treasurer from
1877 to 1880.
General Milroy. 100 feet" Probably
Lest. Col. w. J. Milroy, who organic
ell the territorial militia.
No. 6. E. Ferry i0J feet p. P.
| .4-v
and first elected state governor. for
whom Ferry county was named.
| Nc. 6. H. G. Struve. zoe feet" Struve
was territorial secretary 1878
"No. z Thomas Reed. 100 feet"
Thomas M. Reed, territorial auditor
1877-88.
"No. 7, w. Wait, 100 Feet"
| All of the discovery notices except
eor the Aurora, We're filed with the
county auditor at Colvlle for record
yuly IA, 1873.