The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-11-15
NEW BUNKER HILL STORY
FIRST DISCOVERED 1878
PRosPECToR WAS
SEVERAL YEARS AHEAD OF
FAMOUS JACKASS.

John NJ Wentworth. of Oroville.
Wash. who claims to be the most
optimistic miner in ONanogan county.
went into the Occur dAlene district
IN 1873 and claims to be the discoverer
of the Bunker Hill x Sullivan mine,
according to story recently pub
nshed in the Spokesman-R Review. He
staked a claim and brought samples
of the ore to Spokane and tried to
sell the mine to Glover. Yeatou and
Cannon who were conducting a small
store He told them the mine was
worth SS.OOO.OOO maybe S5O.OOO,OOO.
Hooted Out of Store.
They hooted me out of the store,
Mr.. Wentworth said in describing the
incident The next morning 1 went
back and told them 1 was going to
make them a new offer. l said: II
you will put up $500 worth of sup
plies my partner and myself will work
the claim all winter. You come up
in the spring and look at it and you
Will sec that you have a great mine
and we will give you half interest
in it,"
"They laughed and jeered. Finally,
Yeaton slid down in his chair and
asked, Young man, how much is that
mine really worth? l told him it
was worth sS,OOO,OOO anyway All
three of the men broke out laugh
ing. was only a young fellow. I
know my face got red. | got up and
left the store The mine has paid
more than $1OO,OOO,OOO in dividends
Ledge Clearly Seen.
you have heard how Dutch Jake
Goetz and Harry Baer discovered that
property when jackass kicked
piece of ore out of the trail. That
story is ridiculous. The ledge was
about Is feet wide and could be seen
running clear across the canyon, down
one hill and up the other. The Bunk
er Hin was on one side and the Sui
livan on the opposite side.
81 was camping on what was
known as Jackass prairie. My part
ner was afraid of bear and wouldn't
go out of camp. The bear were liv
ing on sheep that were being run
through that country. l knew there
was gold over on the St Joe and
wanted to find it. 1 told my partner
to remain at camp and took some
grub and started for the st. Joe. 1t
must have been rs miles across the
mountains l packed a big pone of
bread and some bacon in a sack and
started cut On = creek that comes
down by the side of Wardner L found
big chunks of ore that looked eXcep-
tionally good to me. The brush was
so thick l could not get up the creek.
got out where the brush had been
burned off and walked along the hill
side where l could look down the
canyon. L camped that night at the
summit My partners campfire could
he seen in the distance. Looking down
the canyon the next day 1 saw the
ridge, the present Bunker Hill and
Sullivan lodes. l concluded that was
where the ore in the creek had been
washed down by freshets.
Il took some of the ore back and
showed it to my partner and we went
back and set stakes Ny partner was
a young fellow named Jimmy Pasco.
He had formerly been a dry goods
clerk and came from Massachusetts.
Lead Not Worth Much Then.
when the Spokane men declined
to buy the property we sent a sample
Of the ore to San Francisco for assay
ing. The samples showed s7.65 in sill
yer and on the certificate the assayer
wrote that it ran high in lead, but in
those days lead wasn't worth much.
( was not yet of age and, being unable
to secure a grubstake, nothing fur
Their was done with the claim. Four
years later it was discovered by Dutch
Jake, Harry Baer and Phil ORourke.
"Pasco and myself went to the sum
nit of the old Mullan ridge and found
chloride of silver, but we were look
ng for gold"
Mr.. Wentworth grubstaked a. j.
Pritchard. who created the first Occur
rAlene excitement. Pritchard was an
nfdel and Wentworth would not go
)ut to prospect with him. but gave
him 800. At that time as Mr.. Went
worth recalls. the only men prospect
ng in that district were Pritchard,
.wo carpenters. Irwin and Dobson,
2asco and himself.
81 have got mines today in Okan-
,gan county that have the Bunker
Hill and Sullivan skinned a mile, as
prospects. I don't know what the
irish will be, but the start shows all
he earmarks Of valuable mines"