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Also known as the Salmon Creek District, the Ruby Mining District is an abandoned mining district in north central Washington State, founded in 1887 by Thomas D. Fuller. The principle mined ore was silver, though, copper, lead, and small amounts of gold were also extracted.
The Moses Indian Reservation was opened to mining in 1886. Almost immediately after, prospectors began rushing into the Okanogan. Out of the many places, one of them was Ruby Mountain. In 1885, a prospector named Thomas D. Fuller built the first cabin in the area in which would later become the town of Ruby. This leads some to believe that he and possible others had been prospecting and mining in the area secretly for some time. He made the first discoveries in the area after the reservation's opening. Others, including Thomas Donan, William Milligan, and John Clonan also made some of the first discoveries.
In 1887, the district was officially named and designated by Fuller and several others. By this time, the Idaho, First Thought, Second Thought, Poorman, Ruby, Butte, Peacock, War Eagle, Fairview, and Lenora mines were in operation. Later mines include but are not limited to the Kansas, Fourth Of July, Arlington, Last Chance, Woo Loo Moo Loo, Keystone, Johnny Boy, Plant-Callahan, Sonny Boy, Hughes, and Nevada. Some explorational digs and smaller mines remain uncharted and/or unrecorded.
In 1893, the price of silver fell to $0.63 an ounce, combined with diminishing silver concentrations the further in they dug, the mines began shutting down after a mere three months of operation that year. Despite the fact silver still existed, it was simply no longer profitable work mining and refining the ore.
The most productive/profitable of the mines were the Fourth Of July, and Arlington mines. Other high producers were the Last Chance, First Thought, and Peacock mines. The years from 1889-1893 were the most productive for the district. Accurate records of production were sparsely created, thus it is unknown the exact amount of output and earnings. An estimated $200,000 worth of silver was mined from the above listed most productive mines around 1890, excluding the Peacock Mine. After the district wide shut down of all the mines, the Arlington Mine was reopened for a brief two years, from 1937–1939, in which made profits of $71,683. The Fourth Of July Mine was also reopened, from 1958-1964. This operation earned a small amount of about $12,000. Unfortunately, records of the all together production/profits cannot be located, and individual records are hard to come by.
Today, the district remains abandoned, though rumors of plans to reopen the Fourth Of July Mine have been circulated, though no real developments have occurred. What is left of the mines is unprotected, meaning they are still open. Although, the Peacock Mine is gated at both adits, and the shafts are guarded by chain link fencing. Other than the Peacock, the mines are left unregulated. Many of which have collapsed. Collapsed mines or mines with a caved entrance include but are not limited to the Kansas, Nevada, Arlington, and Idaho mines. Flooded mines include but are not limited to the Fourth Of July, Idaho, Poorman, and Last Chance mines. Due to infrequent inspection of the mines, there is no data of the status of most of the mines. We can only rely on ones who have explored these mines themselves. For instance, a recent expedition revealed the above data. The Poorman Mine is reported in good condition, besides high iron content water collecting on the floor of the mine, there is no evidence suggesting much has occurred within the mine. Water seepage can be responsible for structural weakening though, and oxygen deprivation. Water can also cover up a winze, which is a shaft within the mine, or entrap dangerous gases in which are released upon disturbing of the surface tension. Always use caution when exploring an abandoned mine.
Ruby is an incorporated town in central western Alaska, situated on the south bank of the Yukon River at the northwesternmost tip of the Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge. It is accessible only by boat or air. A formerly sizeable gold-mining and lumbering town servicing the region, at the 2010 census the population was just 166, with only a general store and post office remaining as businesses, down from 188 in 2000.
Burke is a ghost town in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, established in 1887. Once a thriving silver, lead and zinc mining community, the town saw significant decline in the mid-twentieth century after the closure of several mines.
The Silver Valley is a region in the northwest United States, in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains in northern Idaho. It is noted for its mining heritage, dating back to the 1880s.
Chief Moses was a Native American chief of the Sinkiuse-Columbia, in what is now Washington state. The territory of his tribe extended approximately from Waterville to White Bluffs, in the Columbia Basin. They were often in the area around Moses Lake. The tribe numbered perhaps a few hundred individuals.
Burke Canyon is the canyon of the Burke-Canyon Creek, which runs through the northernmost part of Shoshone County, Idaho, U.S., within the northeastern Silver Valley. A hotbed for mining in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Burke Canyon now contains several ghost towns and remnants of former communities along Idaho State Highway 4, which runs northeast through the narrow canyon to the Montana border.
In the United States, gold mining has taken place continually since the discovery of gold at the Reed farm in North Carolina in 1799. The first documented occurrence of gold was in Virginia in 1782. Some minor gold production took place in North Carolina as early as 1793, but created no excitement. The discovery on the Reed farm in 1799 which was identified as gold in 1802 and subsequently mined marked the first commercial production.
Silver mining in the United States began on a major scale with the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1858. The industry suffered greatly from the demonetization of silver in 1873 by the Coinage Act of 1873, known pejoratively as the "Crime of 73", but silver mining continues today.
Gold mining in Colorado, a state of the United States, has been an industry since 1858. It also played a key role in the establishment of the state of Colorado.
In Michigan, copper mining became an important industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its rise marked the start of copper mining as a major industry in the United States.
In Arizona, copper mining has been a major industry since the 19th century. In 2007, Arizona was the leading copper-producing state in the country, producing 750 thousand metric tons of copper, valued at $5.54 billion. Arizona's copper production was 60% of the total for the United States. Copper mining also produces gold and silver as byproducts. Byproduct molybdenum from copper mining makes Arizona the nation's second-largest producer of that metal. Although copper mineralization was found by the earliest Spanish explorers of Arizona, the territory was remote, and copper could seldom be profitably mined and shipped. Early Spanish, Mexican, and American prospectors searched for gold and silver, and ignored copper. It was not until the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876 that copper became broadly economic to mine and ship to market.
Bodie is a ghost town in Okanogan County, Washington, United States.
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Hecla Mining is a gold, silver and other precious metals mining company based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Founded in 1891, is the second-largest mining company that produces silver in the country. This area is known as the Silver Valley (Idaho). In 1983, this entire area was designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency, because of land, water, and air contamination resulting from a century of mostly unregulated silver and gold mining.
The Bodie Mine is an inactive, privately owned gold mine in Okanogan County, Washington, United States. It is located within a triangle formed by the town of Wauconda, Washington the original town of Bodie, Washington, and the later ghost town of Bodie, on Toroda Road.
The Mount Baker Gold Rush occurred in Whatcom County, Washington, United States, upon the discovery of the Lone Jack Mine. The Mount Baker area was flooded with prospectors which led to the staking of many claims both patented and unpatented. The most notable mines staked soon after the Lone Jack are the Boundary Red Mountain Mine, Garget Mine, Gold Basin Mine, Silver Tip Mine, and the Evergreen Mine.
Ruby is an American ghost town in Okanogan County, Washington State.
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A mining district is a special-purpose administrative subdivision used in North America. Mining districts were organized in sparsely populated, remote areas where mineral and metals mining was a viable commercial enterprise. Initially improvised as a means of self-governance for 19th-century prospectors, mining districts were eventually statutorily defined and still exist.