The Silver Rush in the Cascades
A new mineral strike in the Cascade district promises rich deposits of silver, lead, and copper, with local mining experts calling it a 'second Comstock.'
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.
The Cascade district has been the scene of extreme activity, following the discovery of rich deposits of silver, copper, and lead. These ores are considered luscious in view of the recent yield of silver. The twenty-eight ounce rock, from the Sam Patch location, twelve miles from the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern branch of the Northern Pacific at Snoqualmie, is in the use of Mr. H. C. Campbell, one of the operators of the mine. My own view of it, when I was in the area, is that it is of great value. The vein is defined, and the rock samples taken by Mr. Campbell show it to be a true fissure vein. He stated that the assays made in Tacoma from these samples are very promising, and the results of the silver and lead are of great value. The vein is of solid quartz and leads to great promise for the district.
“The vein is of solid quartz and leads to great promise for the district.”
The late 19th-century 'silver fever' that gripped the Cascades mirrors the speculative booms that periodically define Seattle's economy. While the technology and resource extraction methods have shifted from quartz mining to digital data, the cycle of frantic regional development remains a persistent feature of the Pacific Northwest.
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