The Slate Creek Boom Shrinks to 500 Miners
Two Fairhaven men return from the North Cascades with word that the stampede to Slate Creek was far smaller than reported — and that snow, unpaid bonds, and a half-built trail are cooling the rush.
Fairhaven, June 22.—Special. B. W. Huntoon and J. C. Cryderman returned last night from Slate Creek, where they went a short time ago to size up the mining boom and look after interests which Mr. Cryderman acquired when he was there last year. They went in and came out by way of the Skagit canyon and Ruby Creek. Mr. Huntoon says there was five feet of snow on the summit of the main range when they left there last Saturday, and it was snowing then. There are about 500 men on Slate Creek, instead of 3,000 as was reported a short time ago, and possibly 500 between Thunder Creek and the boundary north of Slate Creek, in the region which was considered last fall the most promising field for prospectors. Few, if any, discoveries worth mentioning have been made this spring, although the country has been pretty well prospected; but south toward Thunder Creek some very good locations are reported. On the Eureka prospect, bonded by Col. Hart for Marcus Daly, it is said nothing has been done. The bond called for a payment on the first of June, but not a cent was paid, the default, it was reported, being due to a desire on the part of the bonders to obtain better terms. It is reported now that some agreement has been made and that work is soon to commence. The Hart road, from the Methow, is said to be a very good one for twenty miles, and there is an excellent trail for sixteen miles further, except in a few places where it was built through snow over what proves to be pretty rough ground. Work on the new trail in Skagit canyon has been temporarily suspended owing to lack of funds and poor organization. With the construction of two miles more in the canyon the trail will be passable for pack animals or horsemen the entire distance of 50 miles from the Sound to the Slate Creek summit.
“There are about 500 men on Slate Creek, instead of 3,000 as was reported a short time ago.”
The Slate Creek rush shows the boom-and-bust pattern that still shapes Washington’s resource towns: a far-off discovery, a stampede of capital and labor, then snow, unpaid bonds, and half-finished trails. The same question — whether a remote place can build infrastructure fast enough to sustain a boom — echoes in today’s debates over rural broadband, housing, and extraction.
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