THE SUMPTER MINER
VOL. I.
SUMPTER, OREGON, JANUARY ji, 1900.
A REVIVAL IN REALTY. ! t0 P"t up a substantial bulldluK on the
north half of the lot adjoining Basche's
brick, for L. Q. Swetland, who holds the
lease. I his will be occupied by a cloth
ing house from Portland as soon as com
pleted. Mr. McLeod will improve the
UX24 ft adjoining his Mill street office,
with a building to be used as a clear store.
work beginning this week.
NO.
21.
NEVER SO ACTIVE AS DURING
THE PAST TWO WEEKS.
Sumptcr Towntitc Company Advance
Prices Ten Per Cent Tomorrow More
Sales Thk Month Than During the Pre
vious Three Many Individual Trans
fers Army of Buyer in Town With
Plenty of Money at Their Command.
PLAN FOR SEWERAGE.
Not In the history of the camp has there
been so much activity in the real estate
market as during the past ten days or two
weeks. The town has been full of buyers
with much outside money at their com
mand, who have quickly picked up at
good prices every desirable piece of prop
erty offered for sale.
Tomorrow, February i. the Sumpter
Townsite Company.Llmlted, will advance
me price of all its property 10 per cent.
This Is the first advance the company has
made since placing Its additions on the
market last September, while the prices of
lots everywhere else have been jumping
up at a head reeling rate. The company
lias sold more lots for more money during
'the present month than during the three
'previous ones, the active life of the cor
poration. Some of the more notable sales this
(week are fifteen lots In block 27, First ad
dition, to McCoy & Richardson, of Walla
Walla; ten lots in the same addition to
William Mason, of Portland; all of blocks
jia and 25, and half of blocks 13
More MOregoniann Duplicity.
I'r. Brock, cltv nhvslcian. w.is called
by the Portland Oregonlan to the tele
phone office Thursday nloht. and Inter.
viewed over the wire, reeardlnir the re.
port that a smallpox epidemic is raging
here. The doctor told that paper that
there has been no case of smallpox here,
and consequently could have been no
ueam irom that disease. Notwithstand
ing this official denial, the Oregoniau pub
lished In ItS issue Of Satlird.1V nil nlleved
telegram from Sumpter stating that there
were a number of cases here, and that
strict quarantine regulations were helm?
enforced.
Importance of Inaugurating
This Work at Once.
ANOTHER SHIPPING MINE.
and 35, same tract, to Albany, Oregon,
parties, through S. N. Steele, formerly of
that place, but now located here; all of
blocks 17 and 19, First addition, to a lady
who came here from the east to Invest;
two lots each In blocks 1 and 4, South
Sumpter, near the railroad crossing on
Mill street, to a syndicate of traveling
men, for all cash, and many single lots.
Fritz & Dwver have made a number of
sales recently. Perhaps the most Im
portant was that of the steam laundry, on
' south Mill street, for $2500. Yesterday
the south half of this lot they sold again.
for themselves they bought the west 22ji
feet of lot 1 $ blk 2,011 Granite street,
next to the Denny lodging house, from
Charles Booth, of Butte, on which they
will build at once.
J. G. Fritz, of Everett, Washington,
who reached here about a month ago
.from Cape Nome, with a pocket full of
soft money received at the Seattle irnvem.
ment assay office in exchange for more of
the northern dust than he could carry
and he can lift a cow has bought the
east twenty-live feet of the lot on which
the Sumpter Hardware company's store is
I situated. He paid $2250 for this property
; and knows that he secured a bargain. He
w ill erect a two-story building there and
; occupy It himself.
I O. C. McLeod tt Company are doing
a thriving business in general real estate
and mining brokerage. Among other
transactions. the. past week, they sold the
lot and building now occupied by the
. blacksmith shop next to the electric light
plant. H. M. Olsen, of Portland, was
the purchaser, and will either 'remodel the
present building or erect a new one at an
' early day. They have leased for two
years the u-foot space on Granite street;
between the Magnolia and Mercer's drug
. store, to T. H. Dunphy, on which is now
being erected a building to be used as a
saloon. The saaw firm has also arranged
Standard Group Has Good Value in the
Three workings.
Zoetli Houser, of the Standard Gold &
Copper Mining company, came in from
the Standard group on Dixie creek today,
and reports active and satisfactory mining
there. Active work was beeun Inst Nov-
ember, and at this time the development
consists ot three tunnels, one of which is
in 100 feet, the other two o feet each, and
a 40-foot shaft.
They are at present workln? In imiul
shipping ore. of which thev have a carload
sacked ready for shipment as soon as the
roau will permit hauling it out. Mr.
Houser says the average assay values
will run 50 per ton in copper and gold.
A sample shown THE MINER man res
embled the ores of the Le Rol, War Eagle
and other mines of the Rossland, B. C.
district.
In thirty days the Standard people ex
pect to be taking ore of good shipping val
ues from three different workings on their
property. Mr. Houser Is anxious to see
tlie new smelter in operation here, as thev
can at once become one of its patrons.
Power Houk Smokestack Falls.
A rope guy save wav while the biir fie
foot smokestack for the new electric light
plant was being hoisted Into position Sm.
urday, and the stack 'came down with a
thundering thud. No one happened to be
under it. otherwise there would have heen
human flapjacks tying loose. A corner of
J. W. Jett's residence was nipped by the
fall, but no serious damage resulted. The
big suck was successfully hoisted Sun-
uay.
Some weeks since THE Mini-h railed
attention to the Importance, almost neces
sity, 01 constructing a system of severs
hi this camp before the snrliiB thaw. The
idea met with instant approval and has
oeen extensively discussed since that
time, citizens and nronertv holder mr.
ally favoring the proposition.
Members of the town council have con
sidered the subject unofficially and are of
the opinion that something should be done
in mis uirectlon at an early day. They
are, however, handicapped for the Imme
diate present by a lack of sufficient funds
in the treasury to prosecute the work.
This condition of affairs Is due to the
fact that large expenditures have recently
been made, Including the navmeut of the
bonus for the construction of the water
works.
According to state laws and the tnu-n
charter, the municipality cannot vote for
oonu ror this purpose without a special act
oune legislature. The legislature does
not meet for a number of months, and to
wait that length of time would defeat one
of the most desired objects; that of secur
ing good sanitary conditions fur the com
ing spring, when thousands of newcomers
will arrive. No feasible solution of the
dlfficuly, based on private enterprise, has
been submitted.
One aldermon has suggested that the
more necssary part of the work be done in
March, the city agreeing with the ..
tractor to pay him in Anril. at which time
a large proportion of the taxes now due
will probably be collected. It Is true that
the revenue secured from this source will
not be sufficient to construct a svstem
such as the camn will eventu.illv need.
but this preliminary work can be so
planned that it will csnstltute a part of a
comprehensive, servlcable system to be
completed later, and the money thus ex
pended will not be wasted.
If this suggestion of the alderman can
be acted on, it will be a wise move on the
part of the council to take stens to tht
end at once. The money will be wisely
expended, not only as a means to insure
the health of the town, but It will add
many times its amount to the money In
vested here by people from a distance.
Whirt Club Entertained.
Lumber and Fuel Company.
The Blue Mountain Lumber and Fuel
company, another of W. L. Vinson's en
terprises, Is announced by a large sign
over the doors of the latter's offices on
Mill street. His saw mill on the north
edge of town has turned out large piles of
lumber and his men have cut and nlled
about 1500 cords of fire wood, which, with
the siaD wood irom the mill, Is now on the
market.
Transformation Scene.
The old Red Front store building for
merly occupied by W. C. Calder, is un
dergoing the complete remodeling process;
nothing except the bare walls and roof
remaining, but when J. N. Cox & Co.
have carried out their intentions, there
will be added to the list of Sumpter liquor
houses one of the finest equipped places
ever opened here..
The members of the Sumnter Whist
club were entertained by Mr. and Mrs.
nenry tassldy, Friday evening In their
pleasant apartments at the home of Post
master and Mrs. Kahler, corner of Colum
bia and High streets. Several friends be
sides the original club members helped to
make the evening enjoyable. The first
prizes were carried off bv Mrs. C w.
Jett and M. E. Thornton; the boobie prizes
oemg captured by Mrs. C. E. Steffen and
c. l.. Manning.
Charity Ball at Bonanza.
Mrs. E. V. Hall and Mrs. Edna Hig
ginson are in town today from the Bo
nanza, disposing of tickets to a lunch and
ball to be given there, in Gelser hall, on
the evening of Thursday, Februarys.
The object of the entertainment is a chari
table one, for the benefit of a worthy
couple who have been sick for weeks.
The few ladies of this camp have had
many cases of sickness to attend during
the past few weeks, and not until now
have they asked for outside aid. Bonanza
Is a large and liberal patron of Sumpter
and Mesdames Hall and lllgginson should
and doubtless will receive generous treat
ment from the citizens of this town In this
matter. A party of ladies and gentlemen
has already been formed to attend the Kill
and others will doubtless go.
Baker City Wants Elk Creek Water Right.
The Baker City council held a meeting
last evening to take action on the pur
chase of the Elk creek water right, and
the water committee was authorized to se.
cure an extension of the option from the
Nelson Placer Mining company at an
extra cost to the city not to exceed fiso,
in addition to the purchase price of f to,
000.
ANGUS M-QUEEN TALKS.
Tcllt of Oregon' Need of a Smelter and
Government Amy Office.
An Associated Press disnatch. dated .it
Portland yesterday, says: Angus Mc
Queen, one of the best known mining
engineers on the Pacific coast, has great
faith In the future of the mines of eastern
Oregon. He said today In conversation
with a party of mining men:
"Eastern Oregon, where I am Inter
ested In a great many nronertlrs. Is. In mv
opinion, the greatest gold producing sec
tion in the Uultrd States. It Is a sh.ime
and almost a disgrace that there Is no
smelter, United States mint or assay office
in the entire state of Oregon. Oregon is
losing credit of mure than at ner cent f
its output of gold annually because there
is no assay omcc or smelter in the state.
Miners send their uuartz. matte and dust
to the Boise assay office, to San Fran
cisco or to Puget Sound, and sometimes
over to Colorado. Those states can vet
credit for that much increase In their gold
output which really was produced In Ore
gon. Portland would be a good point if
not the best for a smelter and an assay
office. There ought also to be an assay
office In Sumpter to catch tlie output of
the Chinese placers, as well as to furnish
a convenient means of exchange for the
constantly Increasing amount of gold
minion irom that camp.
"Oregon's representatives In enmrre
do not seem to realize it, and the people of
the state seem to be asleep over it, and do
not appreciate the magnitude of the void
belts of the state and their great import
ance In the near future. I should think
that thechambers of commerce of Portland
and Baker City would join hands In this
matter and send a delegation to Washing
ton and so strongly present the case that
congress will be obliged to give us an as
say office. With an assav office there.
would no doubt be smelters both in Port
land and Baker City."
Red Men Entertain.
The Red Men had one of their revulm
monthly social sessions at Ellis onera
house last evening, one of more than ordi
nary pleasure to the members and their
friends who attended. A supper was
served, with plenty of "venison," and
other Red man delicacies.
First Miners Union Organised.
The first branch of the Miners Union
to be installed in Oregon was organized a
few days since at Cornucopia, jvith fifty
three charter members. Now look out for
a rupture In the heretofore monotonous
existence of camp life.
Every piece of type in THE Mineu
plant is new and strictly up to date. A
back number jobcan't be done in this office.
Nelll Mercantile company has all kinds
and sizes 111 rubber foot wear.