North Cascades

MARKETING THE WILDERNESS: DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

Ruby and Slate Creek Mining Districts

MINERAL RESOURCES: MINING

Slate Creek Mining District

In the early 1890s, gold was discovered on Slate Creek and a second rush was underway. Eventually the Ruby Creek Mining District became the Slate Creek Mining District, with most mining activity moving eastward from Ruby's mouth to the new district. In his 1892 report on Skagit County Mines and Mining, Paul W. Law noted that, according to the auditor's record, 740 claims had been located during 1890 and 1891 along the Ruby Creek drainage "and some of them have made a good many prospectors happy of the rich finds of 'nuggets' they secured from their claims." Law mentioned that while most of the mining was done by "panning and rockers," several companies worked the ground using hydraulic systems, "as water is available on the both sides of the creek from numerous of [sic] mountain streams dashing down into the main creeks." [94]