Bethune’s Report Chronicles Washington’s Early Gold Discoveries

George A. Bethune, the first state geologist, has submitted his annual report to the legislature on the mines and minerals of Washington. Mr. Bethune devotes considerable space to the discovery of gold in this state, which he terms as romantic and deeply interesting as the discovery of that precious metal in California in 1849. To this state is due the distinction of being the first division of the Union in which gold was discovered, north of California, on the Pacific coast. News of the discovery of gold spread like wildfire, and soon the hardy miners in parties of from one to a hundred flocked to the banks of the Similkameen. Old Okanogan City was the embarcadero for the new-found places, and like a mushroom on its natural soil there sprang up in a week a flourishing camp, which, within the first month of its existence, numbered nearly 3,000 souls. The discovery of mineral-bearing quartz is as interesting and absorbing as the discovery of placer gold. To Hon. Hiram F. Smith, now a member of the legislature, Mr. Bethune gives the credit of discovering the first gold-bearing rock in Washington. In his report, Bethune argues that coal abounds in twenty-one out of thirty-three counties. He looks upon the bituminous coals to be found in this state as doubly valuable because of their adaptability to be manufactured into a quality of coke excelled by none he has seen anywhere in the Union. He asserts that the practically inexhaustible supply of iron ore in the state is of even as great importance as the wealth of the more precious metals. He predicts that within less than two decades the output of iron in this state will lead that of any other iron-producing division of the Pacific slope.