A Silver Strike North of the Falls Promises a Fortune
Four men from Tacoma and Spokane incorporate the Spokane Mining and Smelting Company on a claim in the Colville country, with assays running nearly $60 a ton.
It is well known that there exists to the north of Spokane Falls a silver belt that promises to cut quite a figure in the mining development of Eastern Washington, and which is to lend its aid in building up this city. Without a doubt the mountain ranges all around and about this place contain deposits of precious metals, as they are connected and included in the mineral belt of Idaho and Montana. About 60 miles north, in the Colville country, men are now hard at work developing a silver claim owned and operated by E. H. Smith, J. M. Buckley, F. E. Smith, and H. Pitt, of Tacoma, and J. N. Squier of this city. Articles of incorporation have been drawn up by these gentlemen and the capital stock fixed at $3,000,000. The name under which the company is working is "The Spokane Mining and Smelting Company." The principal office of the company will be at Tacoma, with a branch office in this city.
Work on the mine has progressed steadily for some time, and the diameter of the quartz taken out indicates increased richness the longer the work progresses. The main body of the ore, after being lost for some time, was struck last week, and shows a very extensive vein — how extensive it is impossible to say until further examination, but the ore in sight is of a quantity to insure a big fortune to the owners. The mines are admirably located, surrounded with an inexhaustible amount of timber and plenty of water all the year around. The quartz can be milled, handled and worked for $6 per ton, which, even at the lowest assay, would yield a handsome revenue to the owners.
The owners sent a number of samples of the ore to San Francisco, which were assayed by that reliable analytical chemist, assayer and bullion melter Thomas Price, with the following report: No. 1 — Gold value, $6.00; silver value, $27.83; total $32.83. No. 2 — Gold, trace; silver value, $59.00. No. 3 — Gold, trace; silver, $59.00. No. 4 — Gold, trace, silver $32.00. No. 5 — Gold, trace, silver, $48.00. No. 6 — Gold, trace, silver, $21.00. No. 7 — Gold, trace, silver, $48.00. No. 8 — Gold trace, silver, $39.00. No. 9 — Gold, trace, silver, $48.00. Striking off an average this gives the rock a value of $59.50 per ton, at which figures there is a fortune in it, which we hope to see the company extract.
“Striking off an average this gives the rock a value of $59.50 per ton, at which figures there is a fortune in it, which we hope to see the company extract.”
The Colville silver belt did produce — but not the $3 million bonanza the promoters imagined. This is the classic Spokane mining story: Eastern capital, a Tacoma office, a Spokane branch, and assays that always look better on paper than in the ground. The Inland Northwest's mineral rushes built the city's banks and brick blocks, and left a legacy of contaminated ground still being cleaned up today.
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