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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1956)
ft; 7 1 ... -ft HARD HOCK MINE Examining ore from a rock mine at Jackpot are, left to right, Walt (Bud) Norton, Rhea (Sis) Norton, two of the three owners of the mine, Sherman Rudd and his wife. Vickey. The Rudds, long time friends of Rhea's, have been helping with work at Twice With By ROSIE BOLEY :, Mail Tribune Staff WriUr A twice lost gold mine on the fop of. Blizzard mountain, up Sardine creek beyond Gold Hill, has once again been found nd its contents promise to be among the richest ever discov ered in the Rogue valley The claim, named "Jackpot Placer mine," is owned by Rhea Norton, her brother Walt Nor ton, (everyone calls them "Sis" and "Bud ") and another brother, Charley Norton. VtnturMomi person Most of the credit in finding tti elusive mine apparently be longs to Rhea, a venturesome individual who dislikes being "cooped up" and attracts friends like a magnet attracts metal. Bhea. who will be 57 in August and has been "messing with min ning" in the Texas and Calif ornia region for the past 20 years, one day .happened to rneetj a fellow prospector named "Casey." Casey, whose real name was K. C. (Kit Carson) Beree, was in trouble. His wife was ill and he needed money. When she sees a friend in need of money, Rhea has a habit of hauling out her wallet, emptying it and casually remarking, "Oh, Well, Brother has a pay-day tomorrow." Thus it was that she provided Casey with vitally needed funds am mounting to $1,600 during his wife's illness and subsequent death. During the course of their friendship, Casey told her the tale of a mine in the Gold Hill area that was discovered in 1906 by three Alaska prospectors. The trio filed a common miner's quartz claim for 20 acres. They gave $1,000 to a local rancher, known now only as a "Mr. Eld ridge," to build a road from his cabin in the valley near Sardine creek to the bottom cf Blizzard mountain. From there, they planned to run an ariel tramway to the mining site. Lvave for Alaska Having given the money to the rancher, they left for Alaska, planning to sell their claims there and return to Gold Hill. Their ship, however, hit an ice berg en route and all three were drowned. Eldridge, the only liv ing man who knew the mine's location, had no interest in de veloping it and it stood aband oned for decade after decade. dm.- SHOWS STRINGER Rhea Nor ton points to a "stringer," a crevice in the rocks containing mineral. Jackpot Placer mine is full of the stringers, Rhea said. The mine has been assayed to contain at least 19 different min erals. Strapped around Rhea's waist is a .38 caliber revolver with which she wards off snakes and wild animals. 1 '1 fa .' K.Jw Bl . ill ! ! in i '7- fc Lost Rich In 1922 Casey ran across the rancher while panning out creek crevices, or "sniping in that area. Elridge grew fond of Cas ey, who made his home with him a short while. In time, he led Casey to the "lost" mine Casey removed a few pieces of ore still standing outside the tunnel the Alaskan miners had closed, but was apparently un- enthusiastic over the find. He carried the ore with him for a time, but failed to have it assay ed and eventually tossed it into the creek. Rhea, who had spent half her life chasing similar "lost mine" sagas, listened with interest. Track Down Rumors She had been in the "mining game" long enough to know, "You's got to track down all these rumors. The one you think is fantastic and don't investigate it sure to be the real thing." -Thusvsh and-Casey-set off for Gold Hill. Casey's memory was good. After five hours, they spot ted the pile of ore from which Casey had taken his first sample and the tunnel, which the Alaska miners had hidden. The dirt in the tunnel had settled and the top of the fill was eight inches below the roof. Rhea removed some ore from the pile, panned it and it appeared "lousy with gold." On June 24, 1955, Rhea filed a claim. Although prospecting had led her into more than 100 exploits, including searches for Jesse James' buried loot and hidden Spanish treasures, she had never before made a "strike.". The Gold Hill discov ery seemed a reward for all her past futile efforts, so she called it "Jackpot Placer mine." Braak Trail To Mine Rhea and Casey brought Rhea's brother, Charley, in on the deal and the three of them hacked a rugged trail to the mine. Jackpot lies at the peak of a series of 45 to 75 degree up grades. One day it took Casey and Charley five hour and 30 minutes to push an empty wheelbarrow to the mine . . . "And it had ball bearings and rubber tires," Rhea added. She says the trip from the beginning to the end of the trail is about three and one-half miles, "And sometimes longer, depending on whether you're walking or rid ing." Perhaps a restless spirit, or more likely the difficult climbs, were instrumental in Casey's subsequent withdrawal from partnership in the mine. He had defective lungs and a weak heart, Rhea explained. "Charley and I figured if the mine was big enough for two, it was big enough for three so we brought our brother, Walt, into the deal." At length, the three of them arranged with a logging outfit working in that vicinity to have a bulldozer clear a road to the mine for a "fair" price. Nortons purchased a jeep solely for trips to the mine. It seems doubtful that even jeep could surmount the hurdles of gravity without such verbal encouragement from its owners as. "Come on. baby! Just a little farther! We know you can make it!" At the end of the journey, bruised and skinned occupants hop out of the jeep with such exclamations as, "Yip-e-e! We made it!" Not Without Hardship The Nortons' disaoverr of Jackpot was not to be without hardship. During torrential rains last winter the walls gave way and Jackpot Placer mine was again lost. Meanwhile, a close friend of Shea , Mjl Sbarman Budd, Hi. Jackpot. Standing in front of the prospectors is Bob, Rhea's six-year-old mining companion said to be half wolf. Third partner in the mine, Charley Norton, is currently working In Hoopa, Calif. Gold Mine Ore Found whose acquaintance she had j made in 1942 while working in a California shipyard, arrived with her husband. The Rudds joined Rhea and Walt (Charley had returned to his home in Hoopa, Calif.) and another search for the mine got under way. About two weeks ago the four rediscovered Jackpot and their efforts reaped two-fold re ward. From the mine the prospec tors chipped huge chunks of ore that were speckled with gold visable even to the naked eye. "The rocks we took out of the mine a year ago were assayed to have 10 ounces of gold and 14 ounces of silver to the ton and the gold didn't even show," she said jubilantly. Two Tunnels Made The Nortons have dynamited out two tunnels each about seven feet high and 25 feet wide. In both tunnels, countless., ".string ers are evident. Stringers are mineral-filled crevices of vary ing sizes found in the rocks. "Some people mine stringers six inches wide," Rhea said. "We have some stringers more than a foot wide." Assays show that Jackpot contains at least 19 different minerals and is es pecially rich in gold, silver, cop per and quartz. Jackpot's owners plan to set up a processing mill about a mile and a half from Gold Hill. Rhea says they have already pur chased a "ball" type mill, which will separate the gold from the ore by a series of electrically powered balls. More work on the road will also be necessary be fore the ore can be brought from the mine to the proposed mill. Return to Horns Meanwhile, the Rudds are leaving soon for Louisville, Ky., where they will remain for a few months before returning to work in their friends' mine, and Rhea and Walt left Wednesday for their home in Hoppa. "Hoppa is an Indian reserva tion where we have many friends. If you're ever down there and want to look us up, don't ask for Rhea and Walt Nor ton because no one will 'know who you're talking about. Ask for Sis and Bud and they'll lead you right to us," Rhea said. The reason for their return to California, she explained, is mostly for the sake of finances. "After all, we've got a mine to support now," they said. Walt will work in a sawmill until they have enough money on hand to continue' development of Jack pot. The Nortons put their money in a safety deposit box instead of a checking account as many peo ple do. The reason for this, they say, is that a checking account makes funds too readily avail able. "We can't always just go to the bank and get money when we want to, like on a weekend.. This way we have a cooling off period before we blow every- Army Pares Reservists Washington !U.R) The Army announced plans today to trans fer 500,000 reservists from the ready to the standby reserve, freeing them from any call to ac tive duty except by act of Con gress. Mostly Korea Veterans An additional 475.000 reserv ists will be discharged al together. They are men who served prior to June, 1951, most ly Korean war veterans, whose tour as reservists would soon end anyway.' The Army announced the shakeup in its reserves as a move to buiid up a truly ready re- l-serve force'' of 132,000 reserv- Eisenhower Clears Way lor Visits by Russian Officials Same Kind of Visit Would Be Arranged Washington U.PJ President Eisenhower has opened the way to a series of high-level visits between U.S. and Soviet offi cials if the Russians want them. Indications are the Soviet bosses would like nothing better. The result could be eventual visits to the United States by Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, Pre mier Nikolai Bulganin and Com munist Party boss Nikita Khrushchev. Mr. Eisenhower gave the green light to such exchanges when he told his news conference Wednesday that he would ex tend invitations to Soviet offi cials "on a completely reciprocal basis." Be Ready Soon That apparently means the United States will be ready soon to invite to this country the Russian counterpart of Air Force Chief of Staff Nathan F. Twining. Twining recently accepted an invitation to attend a Moscow air force show June 24. The invitation apparently will go to Marshal V. D. Sokolovsky, chief of the Soviet chiefs of staff, who issued the invitation to Twining. However, the United States appeared to be waiting for the outcome of Twining's trip to see exactly what kind of a visit should be planned for the Soviet leader. , The President said he knew when he agreed to Twining's ac ceptance of the Russian invita tion that he would be expected to reciprocate. Will 'Do Exactly That' "I will do exactly that," he said. Mr. Eisenhower added that he would extend "the same cour tesies, on the same conditions and conducted in the same way." Asked if Zhukov, Russia's de fense minister and an old war time friend of the President's would be invited to the United States. Mr. Eisenhower repeated that the United States will act "on a completely reciprocal basis." Baseball AMERICAN , Cleveland . .,...2 5 . .2 Baltimore 7.r....t!...T..5 10 1 McLish. Fller (5) and Atct ill: Wight. Zuvernik (8) and Triandoi. Chicago 7 13 1 Washington 5 11 1 Donovan, Wilson (7), Pollet (8) and Lollar, Moss (8); Stone. Chakales (8), Ramos 8), Weii ler (9) and Berberer. Kansas City 1 4 2 New York 9 14 I Kellmer. Shanix (4), Ls sorda (7) and Thompson! Tur ley and Berra. Home runs: Berra. Bauar, New York. thing we have on some spur-of-the-moment deal," Rhea ex plained. Interest Grows Rhea's interest in mining grew gradually from a childhood love for the outdoors. She quit school at an early age because sitting in a classroom made her nervous. Instead, she rode horseback all day in the open air, a practice doctors said was good for her weak lungs and nervousness. A childless divorcee, and a barber by trade, she dislikes any form of confining housework and feels most comfortable in a loose fitting shirt and overalls. For jaunts to the mine she car ries a .38 caliber revolver and, when necessary, coldly "cuts down" any wild animal or rattle snake that threatens her safety. She claims her best protector however, is her six-year-old ca nine companion. Bob, which is said to be half wolf. Rhea and her brothers are members of no particular church, yet religion is ever-present in their thinking. Of their appar ent good fortune in finding Jack pot, Rhea says: "It's like bread on the water. We've had lots of hard times, but always some thing good has happened to off set them. Maybe finding gold in this mine was the good God made come to us for helping Casey when he needed that money." ists and national guardsmen available for immediate call in war or other emergency. Ready reserves can be called to active duty by presidential order whereas standby reservists are liable only if Congress declares war or a national emergency. Not Active Participants An Army spokesman said most of the men affected by the Army plan, which will be car ried out during the year starting July 1, have not been actively participating in reserve units. The Army said the aim of the new screening program is to keep in ready reserve units l men who ar physically fct. have Medford 51st Year 28 Pages Russian Lower Columbia Dikes Worry To Flood Watchers Smith Inspects Critical Areas Portland (U.R) Dikes in the Clatskanie and Puget Island areas along the lower Columbia river "weathered the night very well" but they continued to be the focal point of attention as the mighty stream inched down ward slowly. A combination of high tide and 20 mile per hour winds caused concern last night in the lower Columbia area but Army engineers said this morning the dikes held. There was some seep age but "no significant increase," a spokesman said. Protect Farmland Dikes protect rich farmland on Puget Island where from 1,500 to 2,000 people live. The island is downstream from Clat skanie, where not so many fam ilies were threatened. Gov. Elmo Smith flew over the flood by helicopter yester day and termed the Clatskanie Puget Island area the most crit ical. "We might lose a dike or two down there in the next two weeks," he said. The governor called a special meeting of civil defense officials, National Guard officers and oth er agencies to determine what powers the state could exercise to help floodfighters and the possibility of raising funds for distressed areas. Forecaster Optimistie River Forecaster Elmer Fisher was optimistic today. "The situa tion is improving and we are getting mere sure all the time that the crest already has passed," be said. The Columbia today was down another .1 of a foot at Vancou ver, Wash., to 26.6 feet. It dropped .2 at Umatilla to 25.8 and at Clarkston, the Snake river dropped 1.5 feet in. less : than 24 hours. Adding to' the "encourage ment was a report from the Soil Conservation Service that snow packs have been depleted enough so that it would take a double factor of hot weather and a warm rain to cause more peak floods. Annual Meeting Set For School Districts The annual meetings of all Jackson county school districts will be held on Monday. June 18. when school directors for the 1956-57 school year will be elected. The name of any qualified elector may be placed on the ballot as a candidate for school director of a second or third class district. He must file with the district clerk by June 11 a petition of nomination signed by at least 10 persons, or 3 per cent of the number of qualified elec tors voting for the office of school director at the last an nual school election in the district. An acceptance of nomination must be filed with the district clerk by the person so nominat ed on or before June 13. Those interested may obtain petition forms from the office of the county school superintendent or from the clerk of their school district. Application Filed for Radio Station Here Application for a permit to operate a 1,000 watt clear chan nel radio station has been made to the federal communications commission by K. C. Laurence of Chez Real Estate agency. Loca tion of the station is not defin ite but will be south of Medford. The station will serve south ern Oregon and northern Calif ornia during daylight hours. Construction is to begin in about six months with completion within another six months, Laurence, who will be owner, said today. necessary military qualifications and will be available for imme- iate service in emergency. The screening process will remove from the ready reserve men who would be needed vitally in in dustry, research and activities necessary to national health and safety. No Volunteers Dropped No men volunteering for re serve service will be dropped, the Army said. The . Army said the new screening process will be auto matic and persons being trans ferred will be notified in due course. is 3 a MEDFOR' Pc Employment in County Increases Last Month Unemployed in Jackson coun ty as of May 31 was estimated about 39 per cent less than in April and 37 per cent less than a year ago, John J. Patton, man ager of the Medford unemploy ment office, said today. An estimated 590 persons were unemployed at the end of May, he said. Business continued on a steady seasonal rise during May, with most firms reporting business good and getting better, Patton said. Occasional stormy weather interfered with outdoor work, he said, particularly in logging operations at higher elevations: Patton said hiring last month was not concentrated in any par ticular industry,- but was, . scat tered through varieus local in dustries throughout the county. There were no serious and pro longed shutdowns, he added. Construction and logging ab sorbed the greatest number of people going to work during the early 'part of May, he said, but hiring slowed down with fre quent rains in the latter part of. the month. Apparent Weak Spot Patton said the only appar ent weak spot in the lumber in dustry was a drop in plywood prices which caused a few lay offs. In agriculture, most of the activity was haying and orchard spraying, and there was no extra workers required, he said. "The general outlook for em ployment during the next 60 days is very good," Patton said. In some skilled occupations, he said, help already has become scarce, and no new source of workers is immediately in .sight in the local labor market. Agricultural migratory work ers are beginning to appear, he noted, and college and high school students will be seeking work during summer vacations. Pear thinning will get under way this month and probably will require considerable help, he said, and lumber mills prob ably will require additional help when second shifts are started. Professional, managerial and clerical jobs accounted for 12 per cent of the total number of job placements during May, Pat ton said, and skilled jobs ac- Late News Briefs ACCUSATION HURLED Washington (U.B House Democrats today accused the Ei senhower administration of aid ing private utilities in a fight to destroy public power and re move all opposition to "a com plete private power monopoly in the United States." H-BOMB TEST DUE London U.R) Britain an nounced today it will explode its first hydrogen bomb next year. The decision was announced by Prime Minister' Anthony Eden in a statement to the House of Commons. TITO NOT BOTHERED Moscow U.R' Marshal Tito shrugged off as "not important" Wednesday night a congres sional move to cut U.S. aid to Yugoslavia and hinted he would like to visit Washington. POAGE SEES PAYMENTS Washington U.R Rep. W. R. Poage (D-Tex.) said today there is "no doubt at all" that the new farm law provides for soil bank payments to farmers who lost all or part of their 1956 crops to drought, floods or other disasters. .1 JRSDAY, JUNE 7, 1956 Seize . Got Your Ball, Kid" counted for an additional 25 per cent. Industry-wise, he noted, the largest employing group was wholesale and retail trade which accounted for 38 per cent of all jobs. . Southwest District Prepares for Fire Season this Summer The southwest district of the state department of forestry is just about ready for the summer forest fire season, according to District " garden Curt Ncsheim. All fire wardens are now on the job. he said this morning, and several of the 15 lookouts in the district have taken their mountaintop posts. More are going up each day, and all will be on duty by .June 15. he re ported. There are 12 lookouts in Jackson county and 3 in Jose phine. The district includes both counties and a small corner of Douglas county. Fire suppression crews will be ready for action by June 18, stationed at district headquar ters on Table Rock rd., at Lin coln, McLeod and Pleasant creek near Wimer, Nesheim said. Some 70 persons will be em ployed during fire season by the district in Jackson county, and 30 in Josephine county, for a total of 100. Fire hazard is at a minimum at present because of recent gen eral rains, the warden said, but continued warm, dry weather could dry them out rapidly. All recent lightning-set fires that have been spotted have been put out, he said, but there remains the possibility of a few "sleep ers" showing up as the woods dry out. Leukemia Fatal To Admiral Joy San Diego, Calif. (U.R) Vice Adm. Charles Turner Joy, chief U.N. delegate to the Ko rean truce conference, died Wednesday of leukemia at the San Diego Naval Hospital. He was 61. The soft-spoken admiral had been ill since he retired two years ago from active duty and last Monday entered the hospital in a final attempt to defeat the incurable disease. Since his retirement in 1954, the four-star admiral had been living at nearby La Jolla, which overlooks the vast naval installa tions in and around San Diego Bay. Although he spent most of his life at sea, Joy won his greatest fame for the months of exhaust ing negotiations with the Chi nese Communists during the Ko rean peace talks. He served as chief U.S. negotiator in Korea from July 8, 1951 to May 22, 1952 when he was assigned to his last job as head of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. , Five Fishermen Believed Drowned in Snake River American Falls. Ida. !U.R) Five fishermen were believed drowned when their small boat capsized on the Snake river downstream from the big Ameri can Fails dam today. Tribune Price 5 No. 67 Georgians Independence Posters Cause Of Soviet Action First Demonstration Heard in 14 Years Vienna U.R Soviet secret police seized more than 100 per sons in Josef Stalin's home re public of Georgia last week. Western diplomatic sources said today. The seizures were made when posters appeared in the capital city of Tiflis proclaiming an "independent" Georgian Re public. The sources said that cn th morning of May 26 factories, plants and official buildings of the city were plastered with posters reading: "Long live the independent Georgian Repub lic." May 26 was the 37th anniver sary of the proclamation of Georgia's independence in 1919. Workers Seized The reports reaching Vienna said more than 100 workers were seized by the Secret Po lice in a search for members of an underground organization believed to have distributed the posters. An additional, but under mined, number were picked up in a second police raid the next day, the reports said. The sources said the May 28 demonstration for Georeia's in dependence was the first beard of in the West in 14 years. Sim ilar independence demonstra tions were reported from Tiflis and other Georgian towns when the German army approached the Caucasus during World War II. The volatile Georgians also demonstrated violently last March over another issue, the Communist collective leader ship's decision to downgrade the memory of Stalin, who was born in Gori, near Tiflis, in 1879. Killed in Riots Reliable sources estimated that up to 100 Georgians were killed in the riots last March 9 when troops opened fire on waves of pro -Stalin demonstrators wh tried to storm the Tiflis post office. The trouble started March 5, the third anniversary of Stalin's death, when Georgians poured into Tiflis to hold a quiet memo rial service. However, because of the bit ter speech at the 20th Soviet Communist Party Congress in Moscow in February in which Nikita Khrushchev violently de nounced Stalin, there wag con siderable confusion. Propagandists had been sent into Georgia to spread the new party line vilifying Stalin. But, caught between the people's de sire to honor their native son and orders from Moscow not to permit any homage to the dead dictator, officials hesitated and the crowds grew in number. Federal Court to Resume Monday Federal court sessions here will resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the court room in the post of fice building. Court was ad journed late yesterday afternoon by Federal Judge Gus K. Solo mon. Two cases were decided by juries during the past two days. One decision favored Sears Roe buck and company in a suit brought by Mrs. Alvera E. Mc Donald. Yesterday afternoon, a jury decided in favor of Mont gomery Ward and company. Inc. in a suit brought by Nancy J. Copeland. Both suits asked damage for personal injuries. On Monday, the court will hear the cases of the U. S. vs. James V. Adamek, Wilbur Mer chen and Noble Standley, all concerning internal revenue vio lation charges. Weather FORECAST; Increasing cloudi ness LonlrhU Chance Of occa sional liiht showers Friday. Low tonight 48. High Friday 72 Temp. Highest Ysf rdav .. 73 Loweri this Morning 47 Our: Skies Tonight 8unrte 4:3 aja. 7:46 p.m. 4:24 a m. Friday Sunset Moonrlse Friday fw .noon PROMINENT STAR Regulus, In the west 19:17 p.m. The lanet. Jupiter, continues to move nearer ReguJus this month and will pass to the east of that star in Jniy.
