The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1920-12-24
ALL THINGS COME
TO HIM WHO WAITS,

| Charles H. Ballard of Twisp. stop.
ped over In Oroville several days dur
ing the past week renewing acQuaint-
ances with friends of other days and
| Just resting. Be it. known that Mr.,
Ballard as an old timer Is entitled to
place near the head of the list OF the
| Oldest old timers still claiming Okla
hogan county as their home, as he was
| among the first of less than half q
dozen persons that first located at
Conconully. While his activities in the
mining way have led him to stray to
| far fields since he first drove his
stakes at Conconully, including q few
years in Nevada and Alaska, he has
always drifted back to his first love.
When he first came to the coast Mr..
Ballard was engaged at his profession
as a civil and railroad engineer, ana
for a time was connected with spying
out routes on the Northen Pacific
road, when it first carried the rails
over the Cascades, and on Oregon
railroads. He switched from engineer
ing to the mercantile business, In con-
junction with his father, but neither
of the gentlemen having had any pre-
vious experience In that business. ic
did not take them long to 60 broke,
In the menatime Mr.. Ballard had TAX
en- course in assaying, was led to
believe by an enthusiastic prospector
that the coming mining boom was
soon to blossom in Okanogan county.
and he lit out for the prospective
camp of Conconully on horseback
with pack animal carrying all his
worldly possessions, including an as
saying outfit. This was in 1886, and
from that time to the present Mr.. Bal
lard has been engaged in assaying
and mining. with an occasional Job
OF surveying, and as an expert assayer
and authority on minerals he is best
known in the haunts where his pres.
ence has been familiar for many
years.
1t is not our purpose to follow the
ups and downs that have marked Mr..
Ballard's experiences in the north
west, owing to the lack of space, al
though they would be intensely inter-
esting were they enlarged upon by a
more capable hand than our own. His
interests at the present time are
centered in mining property, known
as the Azurite, that he discovered and
located few years ago in the Cas-
cades short distance over the divide
at the headwaters of the Methow, In
this property MIR. Ballard has at last
found what he has been searching for
for years, a high grade gold mine. Mr..
Ballard Is too old and experienced q
miner to be deceived In q mining
proposition, and his investigat tions
have gone so far in this instance that
he is safe in claiming that he has a
real mine and he has demonstrated
that fact through hard knocks and
self-sacrificing endeavor. After salts
tying himself that the mineral was in
the ground by development work and
long series of assays, he went to
work studying out some process for
treating the ore, and after many ex-
periments at last hit upon the right
formula. Without means, he went to
the mine accompanied by his wife,
who has been a faithful partner in
all his undertakings, and with his own
nands fashioned an arrastra, operated
by an undershot water whesl also
his own design and construction, and
with that crude means ground up
some six or seven tons of ore, submit
ting the pulp to cyanide treatment.
with the addition OF some chemical
that is his own secret, and from that
small quantity of ore retorted a gold
brick Of the value Of some $4O0. This
brick is composed of the purest of
gold that any mining man here. and
there are number of gentlemen in
Oroville of Wide and extended mining
experience, have ever seen. In addi-
tion to this interesting exhibit of the
pure quill, Mr.. Ballard has smelling
returns on ore showing that It runs
10 nigh values, and samples of raw
ore showing it to be very highly min
eralized. The size Of the ledge carry
ing this ore is astounding, and indi-
Gates that the Azurite to be one Of
the wonders of the northwest in the
way OF a gold bearing mine. Owing
to lack of funds with which to carry
on development the Azurite is at
present in only a prospective stage.
but sufficient depth has been obtain
ed to demonstrate that the ore is
present In large quantities. and only
comparatively small capital ia nee
essary to place the properly on a
paying basis. With the amount of ore
in sight, and the undisputed evidence
of the values in that ore II the Azu.
rite does not make one Of the richest
mines on the Pacific coast then there
1t little use of further mining In this
state.