Coquille herald., August 22, 1916, Page PAGE FOURTEEN, Image 14

THE COQUILLE HERALD, TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1916.
PAGE FOURTEEN
THE T O M CITY OF POWERS
SHOWS PHENOMENAL UKOWTH
On the second day of May, 1916,
the town of Pow ers was one year old.
A t this tim e its population, according
to Polk's county directory, exceeded
1,500.
Pow ers is located on the south fork
of the Coquille Itiver, 30 m iles from
Coquille, and a t the end of the new
Coos Bay line. The tow n w as con­
ceived and sta rte d by the Sm ith-Pow ­
e rs Logging company, and it is owing
to their en terp rise th a t it has become
w hat it is, a beautiful little city with
perm anent business stru c tu re s and a t ­
trac tiv e residences.
The town is supported cnt.rely by
the activities of the company who c a r­
ry on logging operations h eie on p e r­
haps as larg e a scale as can be found
in the N orthw est, if not in the world.
Between 600 and 700 m en a re em ­
ployed here the y ear round, pushing
branch lines out into the v ast forest
of P o rt O rford w hite cedar which
surrounds the town and in tak in g out
th is tim ber in the shape of logs to be
shipped to the Sm ith m ill a t M arsh­
field w here it is converted into lum ­
ber. A bout 80 carloads of logs a day
a re shipped from this little town th a t
when sawed into lum ber am ount to
from ten to twelve million feet a
m onth. Some idea of the extent of
these logging operations m ay be had
from th e fa c t th a t they supply all the
legs used a t the Sm ith mill, which is
one of the la rg e st saw m ills in exist­
ence.
N ineteen m iles of railroad are a t
presen t i n , operation above Powers
solely fo r the purpose of bringing logs
c u t of the woods. This m ileage is di­
vided into th ree tracks, two going up
on the e ast side of the river and one
on the west.
Sw itch-backs a re employed in reach­
ing the top of these forest-clad rid g ­
es and on one of these lines which
goes to the top of E den rid g e, five
sw itch-backs a re used and th e track
goes up 3,000 fe et in th ree miles.
Most of the track is laid on u six per
cent grade but in som e places it is as
steep as eight per cent, while on the
curves it is seldom m ore th a n four
per cent.
The logs are hauled from the h ill­
side and loaded onto the cars w ith the
aid of donkey engines', about 50 of
which a re in use th ro u g h o u t the
woods. In places th e hauls by this
method are unbelievably long and logs
one and one-half m iles from the trac k
a re draw n through the woods until
they come to the w aiting cars. When
the haul is exceedingly long it be­
comes necessary to relay them and on
the longest ones as m any as th»ee
donkeys a re used.
W hile a g re a t deal of th is tra c k is
only of tem p o rary value and sooner
or la te r m ust be taken up, th ere is
nothing tem p o rary about its construc­
tion. R egulation 9w-pound steel is
used and the tra c k laid has all the
sem blance of perm anency. T his is
done because th e heavy traffic and the
topography of the country tapped
would m ake any o th er kind of a trac k
dangerous. In places deep cuts are
m ade and a s m any as 100,000 yards of
rock have been tak en from a single
cut on these roads, to lessen the
length of the haul. A difficulty e n ­
countered in this p a rt of th e w ork is
the d e te rio ra tin g n a tu re of th e rock
which m akes it necessary to have the
cut much w ider a t th e top th an a t the
W here Powers was Built
g ra d e of th e roadbed.
In speaking of th e probable life of
th e town, A. H. Pow ers, of the Sn ith-
P ow ers L ogging com pany, said:
We
have tim b er enough to keep our cam ps
busy fo r 75 or 100 y ears on th e p re s­
ent scale.” And a f te r one h a s gone
up into the woods along the logging
road and looked out over the m iles of
ground th a t rich why he didn’t w ork
it and become w ealthy. He said he
didn’t w ant ti become w ealthy. He
raid he could .ill a deer any tim e he
needed m eat, th a t he had all th e fish
he needed fo r the catching and th a t
his land w as fe rtile so th a t he could
raise all th e potatoes he needed and
the gold d u st w as alw ays th ere a n i
tow n. I t is ju s t below the fo rk s of
the Sixes riv er. In e arly days the
m iners skim m ed the c o arsest gold
from these bars. Now we are saving
m ost of the values th ey failed to se­
cure.
‘‘In those days th e m iners w ere
term ed w hite iron and which th ey
term ed w hite iron and whic hth ey
about 36,000 inches of w a ter -and 1,000
feet of sluice boxe . I am using rif-
;!es and coo a n u t bre in m y Bluice
boxes to catch th . gold. H ere is a
teblespoonful of the coarse gold. You
will notice th u t It 1 >oks like bran. It
is flat and never o< curs in sh o t form
as th e coarse gold found u t Jack so n ­
ville.
Birdseye View of the City of Powers as It is Today
heavily-tim bered hills, ju s t the edge
of which has been p en etrate d by the
Sm ith-P ow ers com pany, one can see
th a t Mr. Pow ers is not speaking w ith­
out grounds for his sta te m en ts.
A nother in d u stry w hich m ay be­
come im p o rtan t to Pow ers is m ining.
N ot a g re at deal has so fa r been done
along this line, alth o u g h it is known
th a t both coal and gold e x ist in this
locality.
N ot a g re a t distance from Pow ers is
th e Sixes riv er c o untry in C urry coun­
ty, which is alread y fam ous fo r its
m ining. The follow ing is a n in te r­
view w ith C. C. Inm an, of th e Hydro-
Sixes mine, by F red Lockley, in which
he speaks of the possibility of ra il
connection betw een th a t c o untry and
P o w ers:
“ I had heard of th e richness of CTir-
ry county when I w as in Goldfield
and Tonopah,” said Mr. Inm an. “I
decided to see fo r m yself and so I
cam e up here to look th e field over.
I heard th ere w as good ground on the
upper Sixes, so I visited a ran ch er
on the upper riv e r and asked him as
to the placer prospects around there.
He told m e th a t he had some very
rich placer ground on his ranch and
th a t he could g e t 50 cents in coarse
gold to th e pan. Of course you know
th a t to tak e 50 cents to th e pan you
m ust have very rich ground.
“ I had been in th e m ining business
too long to believe a n y fa iry stories
of th a t kind. I asked him if he had
v as ju s t as if it w ere in the bank.
“ He said he p u t in about a m onth
every year w ashing out what he need-
id for his y early expenses. Well, th a t
I sounded too good to be true, so I asked
him to show me the ground from
which he could w ash out 50 cents a
I an. I th o u g h t I hail him there, but
| he got his shovel and gold pan and we
: w ent out to th e b a r and he th rew a
shovelful of d irt in the pan and p a n ­
ned it and su re enough there was a
lcng s trip of coarse gold d u st in th e
1 pan, a t least 50 cents' worth and prob­
ably m ore. I asked him to w ash an-
; eth er pan full. He did so and th a t,
too, w as rich.
“ T hen I asked him to let m e tr y a
pan full. I suspected th a t he had a
hum p of gravel th a t he had salted, so
I w ent to a n o th e r place and dug w here
the gravel and sand had not been d is­
turbed. I panned a pan full and I
could h ardly believe my eyes, fo r I
had found rich e r ground th an he had
l ten w orking. I panned in different
places b u t it all ra n well. I secured
an option on his place and sold it to
th e Sixes M ining com pany and they
are m aking v e ry sa tisfac to ry clean­
ups. T hey have no stock fo r sale,
which is u su a lly an evidence th a t a
claim is rich
"I secured 480 acres fu rth e r up the
river which I am now developing. We
are m ining at th e site of the old town
c f Sixes, founded in 1856, and la te r
m ined by Chi lam en and called C hina­
DONT
th rew aw ay. We call it platinum ¡yid
g e t from $80 to $100 a n ounce fo r it.
Or. account of the w ar, little o r no.
platinum is com ing from the U ral
m ountains in R ussia or in Siberia, so
th e p rice is high. P latinum usually
| occurs w ith osm ium , iridium and iron.
| 1 be old-tim e m iners in throw ing aw ay
| th is ‘w hite iro n ’ and saving the gold
I d u st th re w aw ay a t lea st $6 for every
1 one th ey saved T oday C urry county
is fu rn ish in g the bulk of the platinum
I eing sold.
VFor y ears the placer m iners have
noticed in th e sluice boxes heavy
brow n iron n u g g e ts ra n g in g in size
from a g ra in of w h eat to th e size of a
bean. T hey have throw n these aw ay
a s of no value. A bout a y ear ago a
greenhorn in th e m ining business
ground up in a m o rta r several of these
iron n u g g e ts and upon panning them
discovered free gold and platinum . It
is a sulphide of iron and is rich ir
platinum and gold.
“T he C u rry county black sani
beaches a re fam ous fo r th e ir flour
gold which is too lig h t to be saved by
the o rd in ary processes. Mixed with
th is black sand is a larg e q u a n tity oi
platinum caused by th e erosion am
d isin te g ra tio n of th e iron sulphides
From th e m outh of th e Sixes to the
m outh of E lk riv e r th ere a re count­
less tons of black sand along the
l each covered over in m ost places with
o rd in ary g ra y sand.
“ On m y claim of 480 acres 1 have
m S M
B — —
“ W ithin a y ear we expect the ra il­
road to be extended from Pow ers
down to Eckley and on down the Sixes
to ta p th e splendid body of P o rt O r­
ford cedar along th e Sixes river. I
believe th is road will go on down the
coast to E ureka, connecting w ith the
load from San Francisco there. W hen
the road comes down the Sixes it will
w onderfully stim u la te the m ining in­
d u stry of C urry county.
“ A long the Sixes riv e r th e m other
form ation is m yrtle.
T hrough this
fo rm atio n th ere a re freq u e n t dikes or
in tru sio n s of iron sulphides in the
form of hem atite of iron which c a rry
high values in iron and platinum .
and C urry county will su rp rise the
world w ith the e x te n t and value of its
m ineral w ealth.”
Gives Advice to Managers
William A. Brady delivered an a d ­
dress a t the Motion P icture convention
in Chicago lust week in which th ere is
much sound advice to the producers of
tilm* and the m anagers of theatres, if
their business is to be m aintained upon
a high plane, and become an agency fur
good. A gitation for censorship is the
outgrow th of pictures of an im proper
nature. Unless the m akers of films
turn their efforts in the right direction,
they can expect a censorship more rig ­
orous than any y e t attem pted, notw ith­
standing the fact th a t the acts of cen­
sors in some cities and sta te s have
been unreasonable.
In the motion picture, there is a tre ­
mendous possibility for good. Its pow ­
e r should not be w asted or perm itted
to become an agency of evil. Mr.
Brady is on the right track. He is act
ing for thg best interest* of the p ,.
ducers and the public, when he says,.
“ O stracise the man who m akes an
indecent picture. Drive him out of the
industry. Take him and his filthy stuff
and bury them . R efuse to play sug­
gestive, immoral, dirty pictures and
then, well, the business will reach the
sta g e to w idth it is entitled.
“ The program is the very spine of
your industry.
W reck the program
a id like Sampson, you pub the tem ple
down upon yourself.
“ Every screen is a means to v ast ex­
ploitation power. You men and your
sc re e n s a te il t n i t l i t n i f w iiat o r -
tribution oi- o[ ii ion than even the
new spaper. P ut things on your screen
th a t you w ant your m other and daugh­
te r to sie . D on't play a picture thut
is not fit for your own sister.
Cleanse
yourself, then the motion picture be­
comes the power it was destined to be­
com e.”
i^owers’ New $17,000 School House
POWER
B
W hen seeing Coos C ounty, rem em ber to v is it PO W E R S, th e y o u n g est city
in S o u th w estern O regon and w ith th e la rg e s t p e r c a p ita p ay roll. P ow ers is
th e term in u s of th e new railro a d an d w as a y e a r old th e 2nd d ay of May, 1916.
Population 1500
Port Orford Cedar
Payroll $52,000 a Month
P o w ers lies in the heart of th e great forest of
P ort Oriord W h ite Cedar for w h ich Coos and
Curry cou n ties are ju stly fam ous. From 10
to 12 m illion feet of logs are shipped from
th is to w n ev ery m onth and there is enough
stan d in g tim ber tribu tary to th e city to in ­
sure th is output for 50 or 7 5 y ea rs.
MINING
If you want Good Hunting
Come to Powers
P o w ers has m any valu ab le m ineral resou rces
of her ow n and is the g a te w a y to th e rich
m ining d istricts of Curry C ounty
See Logging Camps in Action
Come to Powers
IN THE MIDST OF THE BIG TIMBER