The Nighthawk Mine Pushes for Production
With the stamp mill steadily pounding away, the Nighthawk mine increases its workforce to hunt for gold in the mountains.
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Jack Gormley, supervisor of the Nighthawk mine, recently received instructions from Henry D. James to deploy a large power drill in the tunnel face and a smaller drill on the drift. Currently, a dozen men are working on the property, and the Nighthawk mill is the only one in the county not currently idle. While the ore being milled is low-grade, a recent short run from tunnel No. 2 yielded an ounce of gold, a promising revelation for the operation. The company aims to extend the tunnel to reach deeper ore bodies, which they believe will ensure the mine's future and provide a steady, profitable income.
“If the Nighthawk can only be made self-sustaining until that time when it is able to pay dividends, then the reputation of the country would be made.”
The Nighthawk mine was part of the early 20th-century boom-and-bust mining economy in Okanogan County. While modern Oroville has pivoted away from industrial mining, the struggle to make small-scale regional operations 'self-sustaining' remains a familiar economic refrain for rural Washington towns seeking to secure their own prosperity.
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