The Hidden Wealth of the Mountains
Prospectors are scouring the headwaters of the Yakima and Wenatchee rivers, unearthing silver and galena as the mining fever reaches an all-time high.
The story, cleaned up
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Among the surveys that have been made of the ore from the Mount Stewart mountain, none have yielded less than 76 per cent, and most of them have gone 90 per cent. In the same mineral region there are large deposits of galena and silver. Henry Devoe and Jacob Livingston have taken claims on the Black Honeycomb lode, known as the Morning Glory. They brought down for us some very fine specimens of galena and silver. The Morning Glory is situated two and a half miles northwest of Mount Stewart, on the headwaters of Ingalls Creek. Some specimens from the Centennial lode have been roasted in a blacksmith's forge, and when subjected to a heat, blisters of pure silver raised over the surface of it. Mountains are being thoroughly scoured by strangers prospecting for minerals. There are more men in the mountains this year hunting for precious deposits than has ever been known during any former season.
“Mountains are scaled by men, that scarcely any living animal except the mountain goat has traversed, in search of mineral.”
While the 1883 mining boom in the Cascades proved to be more optimism than enduring wealth, it set a precedent for resource extraction in the region. Today, the same mountains are contested not for silver, but for preservation and climate resilience, as modern development pressures clash with conservation efforts.
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