North Cascades

MARKETING THE WILDERNESS: DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

Cascade and Thunder Creek Mining Districts

MINERAL RESOURCES: MINING

Cascade Mining District

Before the second gold rush was underway in the Ruby Creek Mining District, prospectors were traveling up the Cascade River in search of minerals. George L. Rowse (also spelled Rouse), John C. Rouse, and Gilbert Landre located the first mining claims in what became the Cascade Mining District. Following a rich ledge of ore above the headwaters of Boston Creek in 1889, Rowse and Rouse staked the "Boston" claim and Landre staked the "Chicago." [104] A fair number of miners made their way into the area and located claims along the numerous streams feeding the Cascade River. An 1891 inventory of the district lists approximately 26 claims; by 1897 the number had doubled. [105]

"Nature has done more for this district than sciences, brains and money could ever have accomplished." So stated Paul W. Law in his 1892 report on the Cascade and other mining areas in Skagit County. The sizable district was described as consisting of the north, middle, and south forks of the Cascade River and Thunder Creek, accessible from Seattle and Tacoma by a succession of steamers, railroads, and stages to Marblemount:

From here [Marblemount] the traveler will enjoy a good pack-horse-trail to Eldorado [Mineral Park?], a distance of 21 miles. Eldorado has a P.O. [Post Office] and also a miners supply store; and from this point it is 8 miles further to the summit. The trail leads all the way along the Cascade River through a rich growth of timber unequaled for density of wood suitable for mining and industrial purposes.

Along with the supply store at Eldorado, prospectors could rely on Gilbert Landre for supplies, food, lodging, and companionship. Landre, an early arrival in the area (1888), built a substantial cabin in the dense woods near the confluence of Boston Creek and the north fork of the Cascade River. For many years his cabin served as a hostelry for miners and travelers passing through the area. [106] At one time the building served as a post office. [107] Landre's deteriorated log home stands today despite the loss of its roof. Hidden in the forest near the old trail, the cabin is passed by many making their way up to Cascade Pass via the Cascade River Road. [108]

The most important mining developments in the Cascade River drainage centered around four groups of patented claims, the Boston, Soldier Boy, Johnsburg, and Midas. The Boston claim was located on one section of a rich ledge, and consequently other claim groups, like the Chicago (consisting of six claims), were staked on its various veins, or extensions. Promoted by its owners, Rowse, Rouse, and Sheckler, the Boston lode had "The greatest showing in the district":

In regards to the Boston mine in the Cascade Mining District . . . it being the leading silver galena property in the state . . .

C.E. Bogardus, Assayer and Chemist
Seattle April 4, 1892

As requested I write about the Boston Mine, i.e. what I thought of the mine as a prospect when I saw it in the fall of 1889, before there had been any work done on it. I have spent thirty-five years in the mining business. Have examined mines in Colorado Mountains, New Mexico, Wash. & several of the mines in the Cascade Range, and will say this much for the Boston. It is the finest surface prospect I ever saw in any mining country . . . I have no interest in the Cascade Mining District; but I think when it is properly developed it will be the greatest mineral producing district in the U.S.

Richard Jennings, Mining Engineer,
Fairhaven Coal Mines
Sedro, April 4, 1892 [109]

Retrieving ore from the Boston mine was tedious work. In the Chelan Leader (August 31, 1894) George Rowse was noted as ". . . making one trip a week with ten horses, packing ore from the Boston mine to the head of the lake [Chelan]." The successful years for the Boston mine were short-lived, however, and the owners sold their interests in the mine to a succession of owners. The other three mining groups -- the Soldier Boy, Johnsburg, and Midas -- were owned and operated by the Silver Queen Mining and Smelting Company. [110] With a total of fourteen claims, this company had the largest single investment in the district at the time. [111] Their development efforts included the construction of adits hundreds of feet in length piercing mountainsides, and permanent quarters, "made in a substantial manner with a view to permanency" near the Johnsburg claims, about one-half mile from Gilbert Landre's cabin. [112] Among all the claims, the Midas group showed the greatest degree of development. By 1893, a 50-foot adit had been driven to extract silver. A spur road to the mine was built off the main Cascade road, and later a frame cabin was erected at the site, appearing to date from the 1920s or 1930s. Through the course of many owners and years, the Midas mine next became the Diamond, and finally the Valuemines, the latter operating well into the twentieth century. Although 625 feet of tunnel were added between 1968 and 1973, mining activity was greatly restricted subsequent to the establishment of the national park. Today, the site lies in ruins. The cabin is an empty shell, and remnants of this sizeable operation litter the land. The 1890s aspirations of large-scale commercial success were never fully realized in the mines of the Cascade District.