The Ghost of the Pesbastin Creek Mining Camp
Decades after a gold rush stampede left cabins to rot, speculators are eyeing the old claims again—but local memory suggests they were never worth the effort.
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.
Thirty years ago there was much preparatory mining work done on the Pesbastin creek, Kittitas county, in building dams, water ditches and houses. The Boise mining excitement, however, caused a general stampede from the Pesbastin district, and the miners left their claims, tools and everything they could not carry away. The old cabins have rotted down, but the dams and ditches still remain, and the camp is again attracting attention. A report is in circulation that good wages are now being turned out in that district and that from 500 to 1000 paying placer claims could be located on the Pesbastin and Eagle creeks. With regard to this, D. J. Schnebley, the newspaper Nestor of the northwest, says that he has often seen the abandoned cabins and other evidences of a mining camp, but has never heard of any marked success of those who ever worked the claims.
“The old cabins have rotted down, but the dams and ditches still remain, and the camp is again attracting attention.”
Speculation remains a constant in Washington history, with historic boom-and-bust cycles repeating from the 19th-century mining camps to today's real estate markets. The skeptical editor’s voice acts as a historical corrective to the hype.
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