CHAPTER XXXII.
MINERALOGY OF OREGON.
The valuable minerals of Oregon are: first, the precious metals, gold and silver; and second, copper, lead, iron, coal, marble, and salt. There are also various earths and stones useful for manufacturing purposes, and doubtless minerals of greater value concealed in the almost wholly unexplored mountain ranges, which the further development of the country will bring into notice.
Concerning the formation of the metals, more especially of gold, there are many theories. The age of the rocks associated with gold must serve as an indication of some value in pointing out its origin; the most probable theory of which seems to be, that, at a period when great changes were going on in the shape of the earth, the upheaval of mountains and overflow of volcanoes, certain vapors contained in the earth being forced by heat and pressure into the fissures of rock already hardened. Or even into the substance of rock not yet solidified, became precipitated in the form of gold upon the walls of the cavities which shut them in. Much of this gold was subsequently set free by the action of the water, and is found mixed with sand and gravel, or earthy matter, in old river-beds or valleys between high mountains. Much of it still remains in its original position, and has to be got out of the rock by blasting and crushing.
The gold-fields of Oregon lie along the bases of, or in close neighborhood to, its mountain ranges; and there is no mountain chain which has not somewhere along it a gold-field, more or less productive. As to the mountains themselves, in Western Oregon, their rugged nature and impenetrable covering of timber have prevented their being prospected. It is only in the placer diggings of the southern counties, and the beach diggings of the coast counties, that mining for gold has been carried on to any extent.
After the rush of '49 to the gold-bars of the California rivers had made miners and experts of a hitherto purely agricultural population in Oregon, they began to find indications on their own soil of the existence of the precious metal. Traveling overland to and from California gave them opportunities of observing the nature of the country, and it was not long before the gold-hunters stopped north of the California line. As early as 1852 good placer diggings began to be discovered, and for a number of years were worked with profit. They still yield moderately, but are chiefly abandoned to the Chinese miners, who content themselves with smaller profits than our own people.
Jackson County is divided into several mining districts, the gold being placer and coarse gold. Formerly some nuggets were found not far from Jacksonville, worth from $10 to $40, $100, and even $900; but no such discoveries have occurred of late.
The annual production of gold in Jackson County is a little over $200,000. About five hundred American miners and six hundred Chinese miners employ themselves in washing out gold dust. It will be seen, by averaging the amount produced among the number producing it, that it can not be, on the average, a paying business.
Of the quartz ledges, some of which are of undoubted richness, very few have been worked at all, and those which have, only very imperfectly. In one of these, the Gold Hill vein, a few miles from Jacksonville, $400,000 was taken out of a "pocket," after which the lead was lost, and the mine abandoned. From this pocket was taken a kind of gold peculiar to the deposit of the Cascade Range, called "thread gold." It is found in pockets, or basins, or chimneys of rotten quartz, occurring in veins of pure white quartz; and is really a mass of pure gold-threads, often in skeins, that, when examined under a glass, seem to be twisted—often arranged so as to resemble the bullion used for officers' epaulettes. It is very much matted together, holding in its tangled grasp small pieces of yellowish quartz. The same kind of gold is found in the Wallamet Valley, on the Santiam River; and in both instances is associated with free gold, embedded in hard, snow-white quartz. The specimens taken from these mines were very beautiful and extremely curious, and ought not to have been subjected to the crushing process; being worth more as specimens than as gold.
Salt, coal, and iron exist plentifully in Jackson County. Quicksilver is reported to have been discovered, but, so far, has never been worked.
Josephine and Curry counties furnish gold in about the same proportion to the amount of labor expended, that Jackson docs. Its quartz leads have never been opened to any extent. One of the most promising mineral productions of these counties is copper, which, if not too pure to work to advantage, will yet make this portion of Oregon famous. Curry County embraces some of the most valuable beach diggings on the coast.
Coos County has also its gold, silver, and copper-mines of undisputed richness. But it owes most of its present celebrity as a mineral county to its coal, which, for several years, has sold readily in the San Francisco market; and the supply is apparently inexhaustible.
Douglas County has a gold-field situated on the Middle Fork of the Urapqua, and extending along the several creeks which head in the Cascade Mountains and their lateral spurs. Considerable gold has. been taken out of the Middle Fork, Myrtle Creek, Cow Creek, and Coffee Creek diggings; and new ones are from time to time discovered. Silver is also known to exist in this county, though it never has been mined. Marble and salt are among its mineral productions; but its people being almost entirely an agricultural and pastoral community, little attention is given to any thing except farming and grazing. About where the north line of Douglas County intersects the Cascade Range a gold-mine has recently been opened, which promises to turn out very rich. Already a large amount of the precious metal has been taken out, and the indications continue to be good. This mine is called the "Bohemia."
There are no counties in the Wallamet Valley known as mineral districts. That gold and silver exist in the western slope of the Cascade Mountains is a well-known fact. So far it has been mined only on the Santiam River, where the famous pocket before mentioned was emptied of its contents. Many other lodes were located, but nothing has subsequently been done toward developing them. Other discoveries have been made nearer the Columbia River, in Oregon, and similar ones on the northern side of the Columbia, in Washington. Lead has recently been discovered in Linn County, near the Santiam gold-mines; and it must be regarded as inevitable that the base of the Cascade Kange shall furnish in the future very considerable mineral interests.
The coal and iron of the Wallamet Valley, so far as yet discovered, is found at its northern end, either upon or within a few miles of the Columbia River. Limestone, which is very rare in Oregon, is found in Clackamas County, not many miles from Oregon City. Salt is found in Multnomah and Columbia counties, as also iron and coal. Black marble has been discovered in the mountains on the Washington side near the Lewis River, but has never been quarried. Some very good building-stone is also found in this locality.
Coal crops out frequently on both sides of the Columbia River, from the mouth of the Lower Wallamet to the sea. In the Valley of the Cowlitz there is an extensive deposit, of a good quality for fuel. Its steaming or gas-making qualities have never been tested. In appearance it resembles the Scotch cannel coal, burning freely when lighted at a candle, or in the open air. It has, notwithstanding, a woody structure, which places it among the lignites; and checks badly on exposure to the air. It has not, however, been worked sufficiently to afford a determinate judgment upon its commercial value.
Near the mouth of the Columbia, on the Washington side, at Knappton, is a cement factory. The scarcity of limestone on the north-west coast, and the cost of importing lime and cement from California, caused an enterprising firm of Portland to attempt the experiment of making the latter article from bowlders found in this locality, containing a considerable proportion of the necessary ingredients. The enterprise resulted ill the production of a fair article so long as the supply of bowlders lasted; but since the failure of this material the works have to depend upon a quarry of similar rock in the hills adjoining, and it is not yet determined whether or not the new cement will equal that produced from the bowlders. The capacity of the works is thirty-five barrels daily. Mr. Knapp, the energetic proprietor, has erected a most complete establishment, and intends to carry on his experiments to an anticipated success. Quite recently a silver lode of great richness is said to have been discovered in the vicinity of Astoria; but the working of silver being so expensive, these rumors excite but little attention from that class of people who would have means to develop a mine of this kind; yet the discovery may lead to the future development of mineral wealth in this vicinity.
There are in Oregon and Washington several factories for the manufacture of common pottery; one at Vancouver, on the Columbia, and another at Buena Vista, on the Wallamet. There exist, in favorable localities, the best materials for the manufacture of fine earthenware; clays of great smoothness and fineness; and beds of volcanic substances, which, when fused, would evidently make a beautiful enamel.
The manufacture of salt was attempted, in 1867, in the northern end of Multnomah County, about half a mile from the Lower Wallamet River. The experiment proved highly satisfactory, so far as the quality of the salt produced was concerned; but the capital required to make it a paying, business has prevented its success in a financial point of view. Other salt-works, on a small scale, have been operated in Polk and Douglas counties. The salt made in Oregon is of a remarkable purity; so much so that a specimen of it was taken to the Paris Exposition by Prof. Wm. P. Blake, of the California Commission. The chemists of San Francisco pronounce it pure enough for the uses of the laboratory without being clarified, which no other salt in the market is.
Notwithstanding the amount and excellence of the iron ores of Oregon, they have never yet been made so profitable as they should be. The only works for the manufacture of iron are those located at Oswego, on the Wallamet River, six miles above Portland. The quality of the iron there made is said to be equal to the best Swedish; but the cost of its manufacture, arising from the high price of labor, and also somewhat from some ineligibility in the situation of the works, has prevented their entire success. A better situation for iron-works is on a bay of the Columbia, extending back of the town of St. Helen, in Columbia County, where extensive beds of ore exist in connection with coal, wood, fine water-power, and navigable water.
This is a brief account of the present mineral productions of Western Oregon, sometime, no doubt, to become famous for its manufactures, supplied by its home resources.
The eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains do not, like the western, furnish gold-fields. Whatever treasure the laboratories of the far-distant past deposited in their depths, volcanic overflow subsequently concealed from human research, burying it under many successive layers of eternal basalt. The gold-field of Eastern Oregon is to be found along the slopes and among the ridges of the Blue Mountains, where the marine fossils are not covered over by trap-rock. According to Mr. Condon, the older marine rocks, containing fossils of the Rynconella, Cyrtoceras, and other marine shells, may be considered indicative of the vicinage of gold-bearing rock.
The counties of Eastern Oregon, known as gold-producing, are Union, Grant, and Baker. The mineral districts are located on Powder River and Eagle Creek, in Union County; on the head-waters of the John Day, in Grant County; and on Burnt River and the head-waters of Powder River, in Baker County. Quite recently mineral discoveries have been made in the mountains about Goose Lake, in the extreme southern portion of Grant County, but have not yet been sufficiently worked to test their value.
Most of the gold produced in these counties has been taken from placer-mines, which generally have yielded well. Many quartz lodes have also been located, and a few containing free gold have been worked with good results. Quartz-mining has not, however, been carried on to any great extent in Eastern Oregon, the capital required to get out the ore and erect mills being wanting. It remains for wealthy companies in the future to undertake this order of mining.
Silver lodes, some of great richness, have been discovered in Baker County, a number of which are being worked, but not to any great extent. One is said to have yielded at the rate of over $7,000 per ton, by smelting on a common blacksmith's forge. What its working yield has been, we have not yet been able to learn.
Coal, iron, lead, and copper have been discovered in the mineral districts of Eastern Oregon; without, however, exciting much interest, owing to the precedence given to the precious metals, as well as to difficult transportation, distance from markets, and other hinderances common to newly settled territories.
There are no very correct means of estimating the gold product of Eastern Oregon and Washington. The gold-fields of the north-eastern portion of the Territory have contributed a certain share to the general amount of bullion received by the Express-office and banks, which ship the gold to San Francisco; but it can not be separated from that of Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, or Montana. It is only the gold of Northern Idaho that goes to the California Mint by way of Portland. All the gold of the southern portion of that Territory, and perhaps a part of that produced in Baker County, Oregon, goes to San Francisco by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s stages, overland.
There has been a regular decrease in the shipments of bullion by way of Portland since 1864, when the mining excitement in Idaho and Eastern Oregon was at its height. The shipments of Wells, Fargo & Co. from Portland have been as follows: 1864, $6,200,000; 1865, $5,800,000; 1866, $5,400,000; 1867, $4,000,000; 1868, $3,037,000; 1869, $2,559,000; 1870, $1,547,000. The shipments of Ladd & Tilton, bankers, of Portland, for 1869, were $419,657. There is always a considerable amount of gold dust conveyed by private hands at the close of the mining season, which can not be correctly estimated. Add to this the gold produced in Southern Oregon, which is about $400,000, and the sum total of all the bullion produced in Oregon and Washington will amount, for 1870, to about $2,000,000; whereas, it was probably $3,000,000 for the preceding year. This decrease is owing partly to the exhaustion of old diggings, and partly to the opening of other routes of travel, by which the gold dust is scattered in many directions, instead of flowing through one channel only, as in 1864.
There is no longer any excitement about mining in any part of Oregon, or the adjacent Territories. It has assumed the aspect of a steady industry, and as such will long continue to contribute to the wealth of the State, in connection with agriculture, manufactures, and every form of productive labor.