Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Medford mail. (Medford, Or.) 1893-1909 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1906)
THE MEDFORD MAIL, Friday, March 9, 1906. 2 THE SPLENDID MINING INDUSTRIES OF JACKSON COUNTY. Though Gold was Found Here Some Fifty Years Ago the Mining Industry is Practically in its Infancy. Gold, Silver, Galena, Cinnabar, Coal, Etc., are Found Here. about that time. Tbe Sterling, whloh opened by A. W. Sturgis, now a resi le situated about line miles from deut of Medford, who sold it n couple Mnrtmrd. is oue of the lamest and beat of years ago to the company now produoing bydraullo mines on tbe ooast. From far up in the Sitkiyous water is brought in a ditob over twenty-live miles in length to the Over fifty years havo elapsed slnoe a party camping for tbe night on the present site of Jacksonville, In Jack son oounty, found gold in the bed of the stream beside wbioh tbey wen oamped. It wbb only a year or two after the discovery of gold in Oallfor nia, and the way was lined with ad venturers going to or coming from the gold Holds )f our sistsr state. It did not take long for the news to spread, and within a few months the bills ai,d s llohoB of Southern Oregon wore filled with eager searchers for the hidden wealth of nature. ' After the first disoovery at Jackson ville, other gold-bearing streams were found, all debouching from the range of bills forming the western boundary of the Rogue River Valley and form ing the alvide. between this valley and that of the Applegato. but the early miner simply did surface work With bis primitive appliances he oould do little else. Soon the '-810, 815 and 820 a day diggings" were worked out, a new exoitement sprang up somewhere else and a majority of the gold seekerBmove onward. Southern Oregon's history is no dltfereut in this respeot than that of any other mining district. Then oame an era of Blow, but steady development, and the opening up of large plaoer mines ' It wan still be lieved that gold "in place'' did not exiBt in this seotiou, owing to tbe broken character of the formation, and early discoveries In quartz seemed to bear out this theory, as after tak ing out one or two rioh pockets, the voin seemed to' pinoh out and disap pear. Gold Hill produoed nearly 8100,000 and then quit. Stoamboat did about the same thing, and no con tinuation of the veins wore ever dls oovered. O'her bunches or pooketB wero found, but the early niiuei placed his faith in tbe placer mine, and when water was plentiful every little guloh wae made to yield its store of gold. One of the first to take up hydraulia mining on a large soale were the Sim mons & Oameron and Wimer mines, in Waldo district, Josephine oounty, and these mines are running and pay lug yet. Tbe Sterling, Sturgis (now the Vauoo! and Layton mines, in Jackson oounty, wero also started operating it. For manr years Mr. Sturgis struggled to put the mine on a paying basis, and, in spite of many dloourageinnts, finally bad the sat- pipes and when disobarged from the ! isfactlon of seeing bis efforts orowned nls sluices and with pick and shovel makea little extra money. Not all the big propositions nave been opened yet either. Just tbe other day a company was formd to open up a series of claims on Elliott creek, some thirty-five miles from Medford, whloh have been worked by primitive methods for thirty years. The purpose of this oompany is to put in a oomplete modern hydraulio equipment and work out tbe four miles of oresk bed tbey control. Up to ten years ago littl' if any attention was paid to quartz mining on anything like a large scale. It is true a little work was being don . in ' quent results. In the mineral belt of 'Southern Oregon tue:e are no less ' than twenty quartz mluB being oper ' ated. Some of them nave their own : mills and most of them are paying ' their way, many of them aie doing more. The Oregon Bslle, in forest creek distriot tne Opp, near Jaokaou ' ville.aud tbe Bill N.ve are instinooB of some of the paying mines. In eaoh of these mines tho inuonlnery Is operated by eleotriclty and the works lighted by that means also. Oold is not tbe ouly mineral found in Jaoksou oounty, In fact, so varied a e tbe mineral resources of this sec tion that it is difficult to uauie. all i sou oounty, owing to the expoitatlon of the immense body of copper ore I whiob lies near Its southern border. Tbe Blue Ledge oopper lead has been traced continuously for miles and it : ib believed by expertstbat this Is one ! of the largest and richest bodies of ! oopper ore in the world. At the present j ti in the oompany whloh is develoiug I tbe mine has over sixty men at work jo ustuutly, and will put on more ub ' soon aa bunk bouseB and other build- lugs can be erected for their acoom 1 mo jatiou. A ralln ad is projected ' from Medfoid to this mine, and work will be commenced on it during the looming suinme. Oue advantage that Southern Ore j gon has for tbe miners over most 'other mining regions, and that is j thai there is no season of the year when ttork cannot be carried oujwlth- out interruption. The miner of Southern Oregon never has to wait fur tbe snow to go on? so that he can work, The weather never troubles bim. Tbe variety of minerals found, tbe accessibility uf tbe county, the elim inate and vast undeveloped resources bave caused experts from all over the United States to pronounce this tbe ideal miuing region of the oountry. MINING SCENES IN JACKSON COUNT!', OREGON. nozzle of tbe giant under from 100 to 150 foot pressure tbe furoe is suifkdent to tear up tbe hardest ground and move boulderB several huudred pounds in weight, Tbe Sterling Company oontrols good plaoer ground enough to keep ita giants working for years to oome. A few mlieB away, just a dividing ridf,e betwoen, is the Sturgis, or Vauoe, mino. This property was first with success, and now lives in com-, fortable retirement upon the well- j earoeu iruits 01 uib years ui uruuuut toil There are numerous other placer mines of more or less lmportanoe scattered around through thia sec tion. In fact, there is haraly a foot hill farm on the western side of the valley but haa a guloh where, when water is plentiful, the owner aan set rather a desultory mauner by several parties, but nothing of impovtHnue. However, the attention ol mining men was constantly being drawu to Southern Oregon, from th aooountu of rioh pooketa being from time to time discovered by surface miners "Where there is gold on top of the ground, there must certainly be gold beneath it," tbey reasoned, and their reasoning has been justified by subse- Uold is here in plenty, as above stated. Sliver is found in quanti I ties, aB alBO galena, but no effurt to- ' ward developing such deposits has yet been made. Cinnabar exists and I has been found in paying quantities, I but no systematic development has ' been made Coal also is found, as well as nickel, asbestos and a tbous- , and and one other minerals. Atten- tion 1b no being turned toward Jaok FEATURES OF R0QUE RIVER VALLEY. Conditions that Exist Herc7and Told in Paragraphs, Tbe sugar and yellow pine forests of tbe valley are the finest in the world and oontaln billions.of feet of lumber. Southern Oregou has entered upon a period of unprecedented railway construction. Much of this Is being done by local capital. The Rogue River Valley furnishes the very best of water-power and it is from its swift running streams that the valley Is supplied with electrio power and eleotrio lights. Xbe Rogue River Valley supplies the oity tabl- s witb fine, delicious straw berries from early in tbe season until the middle of November. Tbe fin-st strawberries raised in the world are produced in the Rogue River Valley and the yield per aore is enormous. The eastern farmor locating in the Rogue River Valley shouid preferably engage in the prod otion of such crops as he has been acouBtomed to produce. Then he will only bvae to learn tbe effects of a different climate and different soil. If be has to study a new olimate, new aoil, new methodB and also new crops, he has more to learu at once than one ought to undertake. itl TV fTV TTV T7V fTT TTvW A Slfc IT m 3 ;-a ;-s -a 5, 5. g. -5 --a --a -2 . s. e, -3 9 TS TS 9-- S--1 Sr ') 'if- We Fit the Feet and Finance OUR business is to Fit the Feet aid in older to get the feet to fit it is necessary for us to fit the Finance. That we are doing this is surely demonstrated by our constantly increasing trade. Tho stylish dresser comes to us for fine shoes; the laborer comes to us for the coarser grades; tht farmer comes for the shoe that is suitable for the farm, as do also the rancher and the minor. The children can all be fitted at our Parlor. We have Shoes for all classes of people ami b.-st of all tho Prices are Right. The Shoes that wo handle are made to Fit the Feet as a shoe ought to fit; they are "made on proper forms and our large stock assures the buyer of the correct style. Fitting and selling Shoes is our business. If you aro not already one of our customers give us a call whether-you buy or not and let us show you an up-to-date Shoe S'.ore. SMITH MOLONY I U w $8 O00-'0OW.'OCl0C os S! ,-i The Place to Buy Your Footwear
