Five Years of Waiting: The Silver Rush That Never Was

"You may say," said Major Albert M. Anderson yesterday, "that it will be five years at least before the Spokane Indian reservation is thrown open by congress to mineral entry."

In that one sentence the well-known Indian agent conveyed a bit of information whose import is known to not a few mining men in Spokane and which will carry dismay into the hearts of many who have had their eyes on what is universally conceded to be one of the richest silver regions in this country, referring to which region a prominent local miner announced recently that he "would not take $40,000 for 15 minutes' start ahead of the rush when the reservation should be opened." That in half a dozen wagon loads he could take out enough ore to support an ordinary man a lifetime.

The coveted mineral lies in Stevens county, of which it has been often said that the ground rings under the footstep, and that nearly every metal in the category exists in quantities to make its owners independent. It has long ceased to be a matter of speculation that the ground is rich and it only remains to be seen to what fabulous figure some of its ores will assay.

For months past up to the time Major Anderson, after a sharp wrestle with sluggish department put a decisive quietus upon the operations, miners from all points in the vicinity were rushing in excitedly and posting their location papers. It took 29 days of the hardest riding for the agent's 22 regulars and a dozen special police to finally clear the ground.

It was President Roosevelt who took a large part in the holding off of the opening of the reservation. In his opinion, and he so recommended, every Indian on the reservation should receive his allotment before the white man was allowed to set foot on the ground for the purpose of ownership.

It will require a year to get the appropriations for which estimates have just been made of the costs of allotting the Indians! it will require 18 months to two years before allotments can be completed; a year to submit the same to congress, and one year in which to make the proclamation.

To the minds of some verily the official mills at Washington grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small.

Major Anderson expects that shortly a delegation of Indians from Nespelem will journey on their own hook to the nation's capital to endeavor to secure recognition of their claims in the matter of the treaty regarding the opening of the north half of the Colville reservation in 1891. The major does not look for any important action on the subject.

Major Anderson left for Washington this morning over the Great Northern.