28
CROOK COUNTY JOURNAL'S ANNUAL NUMBER.
adapted to the growing of grasses for live
stock. .j
The lower country is being occupied By
the Pilot Butte Development Co., and the
Desert Irrigation Co., the latter being com
posed of several enterprising residents who
have already constructed a small flume to
convey water to their own lands, and those
in their immediate vicinity. Several other
ditches are being constructed by local enter
prise along Tumelo and Squaw creeks. The
largest work in contemplation along the
Dsechutes is that of the Pilot Butte Devel
opment Co., in the vicinity of the old Fare
well Bend, where a town to be called Pilot
Butte is best laid out. The point selected
is in the partially timbered country be
tween forest and desert a sightly location
easily susceptible of irrigation and improve
ments, and believed to be the best point on
the river to construct log reservoir and saw
saw mills, to manufacture the two billion
feet of pine timber lying up stream, and
probably the only good point for a railway
to approach the stream at grade. The loca
tion commands many advantages and is the
natural intersecting point for the railway
projected up the river and from across the
mountains. A saw mill is being erected and
the Pilot Butte flume and canal will be built
to irrigate the townsite and surrounding
country this season. Extensive work is
planned for extending this canal and for the
construction of another, the Powell Butte
ii,M., which leaves the river a few miles
faither up, and will probably be one of the
largest and most important in the United
States. Preliminary surveys have already
been made to Bear Creek Buttes, Powell
Buttes, and the pass on which water can
some day be conducted to Prineville and the
Crooked River bottoms. Surveys have also
been made of the country between the
Crooked River and the Deschutes, establish
ing the fact that water can be carried from
Pilot Butte across the Crooked River can
yon, near Trail crossing, by a high bridge,
and on the rich plains at Haystack and the
Warm Springs agency. It is not expected
to undertake all this immense work until
transportation facilities justify it, but work
will be prore:uted vigorously about Pilot
Butte, and a bsse established from which to
operate, when the proper time arrives. The
soil throughout this entire section is of basalt-volcanic
ash and disintegrated lava,
free from slate, quartz, hard pan or alkali.
Easy of 'cultivation and becoming a dark
chocolate color "when" wet : "Tinder 1 Irrigation,
and it will never wear out. In the upper
country pine only is found, farther down
pine and juniper (a species of cedar) mixed,
then junipe- and sage brush, then sage
brush only, and all through interspersed
with the famous bunch grass so nutritious
for all live stock.
Near Pilot Rock a peculiar soft stone Is
found, easily dressed with saw and hatchet
and which hardens upon exposure; from this
fine fire plates and chimneys are cheaply
constructed. The essentials for agriculture,
water, soil and sunshine, are here in perfec
tion; also water power, fuel and good water
presage manufacturing of many kinds in the
near future. The climate is milder and far
more tolerable than that of Kansas, owing
to the dryness of the atmosphere and abund
ant sunshine. Though at an elevation of
some 3600 feet, the country is tempered by
the famous Chinook winds. Except in the
mountain and timber country, snow seldom
lies moie than a few days and the thermo
meter seldom drops to zero. Horses and
cattle range out all winter without atten
tion. Except corn (which does not do well
owing to the cool nights) most of the stand
ard crops and hardy fruits can be raised in
astonishing quantity and perfection, though
the country is especially adapted to the
raising of alfalfa, live stock and dairying.
All products now bring unusually good
prices, as the home market exceeds the pro
duct. The advantages of this district are
briefly summed up as follows: Healthful
climate, pure water, fine soil, good and
cheap building material, a river teeming
with trout and water fowl, fine water pow
ers easily developed, cheap fuel, big crops
and good prices every year (under irriga
tion), no destructive storms, drought or de l
uge, no mosquitoes, venomous snakes or in
sects. All that is lacking is population and
transportation, and these are already on the
way.
OREGON KING MINES.
The proprietors of the Oregon King
Mining Co., situated in the northern end
of the county, near Ashwcod on Upper
Trout Creek, the town of Ashwood itself
being an outgrowth of the mining activity
in that section, serve in no small measure
to demonstrate the varied natural resources
of Crook County. Here, in a section which
for thirty years has been a rich grazing and
agricultural region, two years ago was dis
covered by Knight, Hubbard and Wilson,
of Pendleton, Dayton and Walla Walla, the
Silver King vein, upon which the present
workings are based. In November, 1898, a
shipment of ore was made to the Tacoma
smelter, the returns from which were so
gratifying that, as the news gradually
leaked out, mining men were generally at
tracted, and in the following summer the
property was taken over by the Oregon
King Mining Company, a Wyoming corpor
ation. Besides ihe holdings of this com
pany, probably upwards of 100 claims are
being developed, and generally with good
results. A Pendleton corporation is oper
ating a group of claims adjoining the 0.
K. M. Co.'s grounds, and have encountered
good ores, this latter fact being true of all
claims upon which work has been per
formed to any great extent. The veins
generally occur in a tract of augite-audesite,
a knob of about one and one-half miles in
diameter, an intrusion which broke through
and tilted back the crust, this being
sheeted basalts overlain by a thick sheet
of porphyry. The ores occur along fault
lines traversing the tract, and are both
space-fillings and replacements of the
andesite. The surface ores are oxides,
carbonates and chlorides, and at water line
give way to the unaltered ores, sulphides
of iron, copper, lead and zinc, rich, at times
phenomenally, in gold and silver. Some
manganese is also associated with the
ores, the silver usually as. a sulphide, and
the gold mechanically mixed with it all, the
latter having reached in the copper sul
phides values of upwards of $2300 to the
ton. We cannot state the average values
of the ores, but the dumps tell, to a mining
man, of general good ore. The Silver King,
upon which the main development is be
ing done, is equipped with a powerful
hoist and pumps for the workings, and
ample buildings for all conveniences of the
operators, including an elaborate assay
office. The shaft has reached a depth cf
350 feet, is connected by means of a 90
foot drift along the vein, with a 450 foot
crosscut tunnel, which intercepted the
ores at a depth of 170 feet. Three other
drifts at the 100 foot, 200 foot and 300 foot
levels expose the ores in each instance
over a distance of 60 feet on either side of
the shaft, making in the aggregate a grand
showing of wealth. The surface exposure
of croppings indicates a general vein width
of 60 feet, with the rich ores occupying
6 to 10 feet of this volume along the hang
ing side, the entire width, however, being
of concentrating value. These features
have steadily maintained in depth and per
manency is already assured. But one ship
ment of ore has been made since the cor
poration began operating, and but few will
be made, as the long wagon haul is ex
pensive, it being the intention of the man
agement to erect concentrating works, ship
products and eliminate a large item of cost.
This means that before the expiration of
another year, this corporation alone will be
handling a pay roll at mine and mill of
$10,000 to $20,000 per month, and making
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