Twenty a Day: The Gold Rush Pouring Into the Methow

Ed O. Gove and Pat Kearney have returned from the noted Slate Creek mines, where they spent a month. They drove from Spokane by team, going by way of Coulee City, and made the trip in four days each way. There is a good wagon road all the way to within fifteen miles of the mines, which are situated just over the summit of the Cascades. The wagon road follows the Methow River.

“The stampede into that country is the greatest I have seen since the early days of the Coeur d’Alenes,” said Mr. Gove yesterday, “and it is one of the richest gold camps yet discovered. There is no camp in the Northwest that equals it in showing for the amount of development work that has been done.

“The road is lined with people going in, and among them are many families who have with them all their earthly possessions. From what I saw and from conversations I had with merchants along the way, I consider it a safe estimate to say that people are going in there at the rate of twenty a day. They are not all going into the mines, and nearly all the families and many others will settle on the rich Methow lands, expecting to reap a rich harvest raising produce for sale in the mines.

“The Methow is a magnificent agricultural country. The land is rolling, covered with bunch grass, with occasional valleys. Some of the land has been settled on for ten years, but there are many fine farms yet waiting for settlers. One who sees the country for the first time is impressed with its fertility and astonished that it has been allowed to be idle so long.

“Col. Hart, who is known to be backed by abundant capital, and who is presumed to represent Marcus Daly, has bonded sixty claims and is operating on a large scale. He is at present building a wagon road twenty miles from Winthrop to Robinson Creek, and from the latter point will build a trail about fifteen miles long to his mines. He is now employing men on the road and in opening up properties. Work on the property will be pushed on a big scale. All the ore will probably be treated on the ground. No works will be erected until sufficient depth is attained to determine what process will be at work on the ore. It is free milling on top, but may change further down. An expert who is now there told me the cyanide process would probably be the thing required.

“Right here I want to give a word of warning to men who think of going into the camp to find work. While there is to be a great deal of development this summer, the rush is so great that there are now and will probably continue to be ten men for every job. This is the case in every new mining camp. The country is new and is a good field for prospectors, and there are good opportunities for settlers in the agricultural lands of the Methow, but people wanting to work for wages should keep out of there.”