Copper World Extension Puts Hopes on a Smelter Test
After years of inactivity and economic hardship, local miners attempt to prove the viability of a massive, long-neglected ore deposit.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Parties are engaged in delivering a car load of ore from the Copper World Extension mine to be shipped to a smelter for a test run. The ore is being hauled from the mine by wagon. G. B. Harpham, who has charge of getting out the shipment, says that the first round of holes blew out over 25 tons. The Copper World Extension is one of the most extensively developed group of claims on Palmer Mountain, and is located on the summit of that prominent elevation only a few miles from Loomis. No development work has been done for a long time; the panic made it difficult to raise money for mining operations. It is the consensus of opinion that the only certain way of demonstrating the true value is to sink to the 500-foot level, or even deeper.
“It is the consensus of opinion that the only certain way of demonstrating the true value of the Copper World Extension is to sink to the 500 foot level.”
This reflects the boom-and-bust cycle inherent to Okanogan County's history, where mining dreams often hinged on the volatile promise of new smelter testing and outside investment capital.
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