Historical Gazette, Volume One Number One
Celebrated Geologist Visits Blue Mountains
Sumpter, Oregon 1900
Reports on Gold Camps Swedish born economic geologist studies the rocks & mountains for the U.S. Geological Survey
The following story contains extracts from a report being prepared by W. Lindgren for the U.S.G.S. to be published as soon as he returns to the East. His field experience includes a visit to the famous Mother Lode of California and his reports are thought to be the best detailed of anything available.
Bonanza Mine
"Though some gold-quartz veins are known from the head of Gimlet Creek and other places on the divide toward Granite Creek and Sumpter, the old place in which they appear strongly developed and in which they have been mined with success is the Bonanza District.
"The Bonanza Mine is situated about 10 miles west of Sumpter on the head waters of Burnt River at an elevation of 5,140 feet. The first locations said to have been made in 1877 by a pioneer prospector named Jack Haggard, who sold it in 1879 for $350 to the Bonanza Mining Co. In 1892, the mine was bought by Geiser brothers for a reported sum of $3,000 and worked by them until 1898, when it was sold to the present owners, a Pittsburgh, Pa. for a price believed to have been $500,000. When sold, $300,000 in ore is believed to be in sight. Since 1898, at least an equal amount has been extracted, making a total production well up toward the million dollar mark.
"The developments consists of two tunnels, the upper 1,400 long and 230 feet below the cropping, the lower 1,600 feet long, the latter is the main adit, 338 feet below the croppings, and a shaft is sunk in it 600 feet from the mouth to a depth of about 200 feet. Further sinking is being carried on at the present time. In all, there are probably 10,000 feet of development work.
"The country rock is a fissile black clay slate, striking nearly due east west and dipping 80 degrees South. A little above the town of Geiser, at the mill, this slate is cut by a considerable belt of serpentine. The same rock appears again below Bonanza, toward the diggings of Winterville. To the north and east, the serpentine and clay slate are covered by an andesitic lavas. The veins appear to be exclusively contained in clay slate. The Bonanza vein, cropping on a hill, 500 feet above the mill, and about half a mile northeast of it, strikes north 50 degrees West, and dips steeply southwest. It is traceable on the surface for about 2,500 feet northwest of the main tunnel, but is then covered by an extensive lava area.
"The outcrops are neither wide nor conspicuous, and have been stoped to the surface in several places. The vein appears as one to three feet of quartz between walls of decomposed slate. In depth it widens enormously in places.
"Permission to visit the mine below tunnel level was refused. The following data relating to the underground works were obtained from several persons well acquainted with the mine, and are believed to be mainly correct:
"The ore consists of quartz containing free gold and sulphuretes and has considerable simularities to that of the Red Boy mine. The ore body as a whole forms a mass of clay slate traversed by quartz veins and seams of all sizes. Something like 70 percent is free gold, though it is said that as the depth is increased more concentrates and less are obtained. The concentrates are said to vary from $20 to $60 per ton, chiefly in gold. The average ore is believed to run from $7 to $12 per ton, but lenses of ore eight to 16 inches wide have been mined which ran as high up as $1,400 per ton, and several hundred tons are said to have yielded at the rate of $100 in free gold per ton."
"It seemed as if the mine was worked out when the owners were prevailed upon to cross cut at other places in this adit. These cross cuts from 30 to 120 feet long, into the foot wall side disclosed the presence of a magnificent lenticular mass of (gold) ore of a maximum width of 40 feet and 800 feet long."
Historical Gazette, Cracker Creek Mining District
Rock Worth $160,000
Rich Strike Made in the
Gibraltar
Owned by Paul Poindexter and Claud Basche
Located by the North Pole Mine
Now being Sacked for Shipment
Millsite on Cracker Creek
On September 8, 1900 a wonderfully rich ore deposit was uncovered in the Gibraltar about
150 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. This mine is located near the North Pole in the
Cracker Creek district and is owned by Claud Basche and Paul Poindexter.
Poindexter was out at the property Sunday and brought in a sack full of the rock. It resembles the rich ore found in the Golconda which has made that mine famous.
Ruins of Golconda shaft
It is almost black in color and is studded with free gold, many of the specimens carrying
perhaps 10 percent of the precious metal. A hatful has been assayed and the certificate
shows $160,000 to the ton. How much there is of it is, of course, not known. Poindexter
says it is scattered across the entire five feet in the face of the tunnel. Where the
ledge has been cross cut it averages about 19 feet in width. The rock has carried only
fair values up to this point, $18 to $20 with the exception of at one place, where $260
assays were obtained. Barren rock has been encountered just before this last rich strike
was made.
Four men are now at work taking out an sacking this precious ore, which will be shipped to a San Francisco smelter for treatment. If a few tons of it is secured, there will be a celebration in this town at no distant day. The gentlemen have decided to take the advice of J.H. Robbins and keep their shirt- waist on until the money is in his bank. The Sumpter Miner
To learn what has happened to the Cracker Creek mining district in more recent history, visit the CRACKER CREEK GOLD MINING COMPANY and read the whole scoop. The "Rock Worth $160,000," story, we were told, was a bombast by the editor of the Sumpter Miner whose job it was to pump up the town and encourage people to come to the area.
