So Rich They Locked It in the Bank Vault: A $50,000-a-Ton Strike at Republic
The New Republic mine's second slope turns up ore that assays higher than anything yet reported in the state — and nobody yet knows how far the ledge runs.
Spokane — The richest find of gold ore ever reported in Washington has just been made on the New Republic mine at Republic, samples assaying as high as $50,000 a ton. The find was made on the second slopes between No. 2 and No. 3 levels. Sufficient work has not yet been done to show the extent of the ledge. Some of the ore taken from the ledge was so rich that it was locked up in the vault of the bank at Republic.
“Some of the ore taken from the ledge was so rich that it was locked up in the vault of the bank at Republic.”
Republic, in Ferry County, was built by strikes like this one, and its stone-and-brick main street survives as one of the best-preserved boomtown skylines in the state. The $50,000-a-ton assay was almost certainly a pocket rather than a vein — the classic fate of a mining bonanza — but the image of ore worth carrying to the bank vault has outlived the mine. Ferry County is again a prospecting nameplate, this time for critical minerals.
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