The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-01-25
.DEATHOF DAN |. NJ CRATH
AP|ONEER MINING MAN
DEVELOPED RAY-JEFFERSON-
LARGELY INTERESTED IN
OTHER PROPERTY.

Daniel l.. McGrath, pioneer OF the
Occur dAlene district and one who
gave the best years of his life to
development of mines on Beaver
creek, was found dead in his room at
the McGrath apartments last Satur-
day about noon. Heart failure is
given as the cause of death, which is
believed to have occurred sometime
Friday. He was last seen alive about
900 o'clock Friday morning. For sew
eral years Mr.. McGrath had made his
home in Spokane, but property inter-
ests in this city and district kept him
here most of the time, his family re-
siding in Spokane. He is survived
by his wife and four children, Jessie,
Carrie and Daniel, who live with their
mother in Spokane, and Dewey, who
lives in Los Angeles. The remains
were taken to Spokane Monday for
burial, being escorted to the depot by
the Elks. The funeral was conducted
by the Knights of Columbus.
Came to Occur d'AIenes in 1885,
Mr. McGrath was born in Troy,
Wis, in 1853. In 1882 he came west
and located in Missoula, and was there
in 1883, when news came of the dis
covery of gold on Prichard creek,
which caused a stampede to the new
diggings from all parts of the west.
Young. energetic and eager for excite
ment, Mr.. McGrath joined the rush to
the new Eldorado. He engaged in
placer mining along Prichard creek
with varying success, and with the
decline of gold mining he turned his
attention to the lead-silver deposits of
the South Side. He acquired valuable
interests on Beaver creek, and later
returned to Missoula where he obtain
ed financial support In the develop
ment of the Ray-Jefferson group of
claims. He was a man of wonderful
energy and enthusiasm, and he saw
in the Beaver creek section, including
Sunset. the making of the greatest
mineral producing section of the
Occur d'Alene district. He added to
the holdings of the Ray-Jefferson I'M
til the company owned the ground !
down Carbon creek to Beaver, which |
gave the company a good millsite and !
shipping facilities. He saw Carbonite |
a bustling mining camp. and just be-
low the site of the coming camp he
secured for himself the old Kitty Cav
anaugh ranch a beautiful tract upon |
which he planned to build a modern |
home when his dream came true.
Drive Deem Tunnel
Although considerable ore had been /
developed in the upper tunnels of the /
jefferson. the company found it /
to secure additional capital /
to provide a mill and also to drive a [
tunnel that would give 1000 feet ad-
ditional depth on the vein. It was at
this iuncture that the late E. r. Day /
became interested in the Ray-Jeffer-
son and provided the required funds.
A mill of 400 tons capacity was built,
and with the prospect of shipments
the O.-W. r. & N. built a branch up /
Beaver creek to the RayJefferson
mill. In the meantime the long cross
cut was being pushed ahead. After
shipping 30 or 40 cars of concentrates, I
both lead and zinc. the company was
unable to market its zinc product and (
the mill closed down. The crosscut +
was not successful in finding ore, and +
it was the opinion of Mr.. McGrath
that the vein had not been reached;
but in any event work was discontin-
ued and the property is still idle
Besides the Jefferson, Mr.. Nc .
c.rotb u,as insfr,,rnentai In organizing