Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/761

 COAL-FIELDS. 743

a superstitious fear of it. Rogue River John, on seeing Jewett throw a piece of the rock upon the tire, left his house, and could not be induced to return. Portland West Shore, Nov. 1878, 73. The owners erected a furnace capable of retorting six hundred pounds per day to test the mine, and obtained an average of forty dollars worth of quicksilver from this amount of ore. The mine was then purchased by the New Idria company, which put up two fur naces, capable of retorting three tons daily. The assay of the ore yielded from sixty to eighty pounds of pure quicksilver per ton. Fuel being plenty and cheap made this a profitable yield. The mine was owned entirely in Ore gon. The officers were A. L. Todd president, A. C. Todd secretary, J. P. Gill treasurer, J. W. Jackson superintendent, T. S. Rodabaugh agent. Gill, Ilodabaugh, and Jackson composed the board of directors. The cost of open ing up the Nonpareil mine was $40,000. Roseburg Plain-dealer, Sept. 20, 1879. Partial discoveries of tin have been made in Douglas county, but no mine has yet been found. Among the known mineral productions of the southern counties are marble, salt, limestone, platina, borax, and coal. The latter mineral was discovered about the same time near the Columbia and at Coos Bay.

The first coal discoveries at Coos Bay were made in 1853 near Empire City and North Bend. The first to be worked was the Marple and Foley mine, about one mile from the bay, which was opened in 1854. It was tried on the steamer Crescent City in May of that year, and also in S. F., and pronounced good. S. F. Alta, May 6, 12, 1854. The first cargo taken out was carried in wagons to the bay, and transferred to flat-boats, which conveyed it to Empire, where it was placed on board the Chansey for S. F. The vessel was lost on the bar in going out, but soon after another cargo was shipped, which reached its destination, where it was sold at a good profit. This mine was abandoned 011 further exploration, the next opened being at Newport and Eastport, in 1858. James Aiken discovered these veins. The Eastport mine was opened by Northrup and Symonds, and the Newport mine by Rogers and Flannagan. The early operations in coal at Coos Bay were expensive, owing to the crudi ties of the means employed. The Eastport mine Avas sold in 1868 to Charles and John Pershbaker, and subsequently to another company. According to the S. F. Times of March 6, 18(39, the purchasing company were J. L. Pool, Howard, Levi Stevens, I. W. Raymond, J. S. Dean, Oliver Eldridge, Claus Spreckels, and W. H. Sharp. Rogers sold his interest in the Newport mine to S. S. Mann. These two mines have been steadily worked for sixteen years, and are now in a better condition than ever before. Several others have been opened, with varying success, the Southport mine, opened in 1875, being the only successful rival to Newport and Eastport.

The coal-fields at Coos Bay appear to extend from near the bay to a dis tance of five miles or more inland, through a range of hills cropping out in gulches or ravines running toward the bay, and on the opposite side of the ridge. The strata lie in horizontal planes, having in some places a slight in clination, but generally level, and have a thickness of from eight to ten feet. They are easily reached by from three to five miles of road, which brings them to navigable water. The same body of coal underlies the spurs of the Coast Range for hundreds of miles. It has been discovered in almost every county on the west side of the Willamette, and along the coast at Port Orford, Yaquina and Tillamook bays, on the Nehalem River, and in the highlands of the Columbia. A large body of it exists within from one to seven miles of the river in Columbia county. Discoveries of coal have also been made in eastern Oregon, near Canon City, and on Snake River, three miles from Farewell bend. Roseburg Independent, Nov. 1, 1879; Oregon Facts, 15-16; Corvaliis Gazette, April 13, 1867; Portland West tihore, Feb. 1876, and Jan. and March 1877; S. F. Mining and Scientific Press, Dec. 14, 1872; Gale s Resources of Coos Count;/, 45-56; Browne s Resources, 237; Resources of Southern Or., 10-12.

With regard to the quality of the coals in Oregon, they were at first classed by geologists with the brown lignites. This name, says the Astortan of Aug. 29, 18/9, is an unfortunate one, as it is now proved that the coals cal